When you say someone has a reputation for something, what do you mean? Whether it's positive or negative, a reputation is generally when people share what they repeatedly hear or see and come to know about you from things you do. Either from personal experience or via others. They’re super...
When Michael Garcia bought drinks at a Starbucks drive-through in February 2020, one of the venti-sized cups of scalding hot tea fell into his lap. He claimed the lid was loose and the cup wasn’t properly wedged into the drink carrier. The resulting third-degree burns to his private parts required skin...
Habits and rituals can look similar. They’re not, and I’ve focused on the habit side of things for too long. That changed when I read The Ritual Effect by Professor Michael Norton. Norton says, “One automates, the other animates”. Elaborating that “Habit is the what. It’s something we do. … We...
Once you know what your values mean, you can begin the climb to mastery. Still, the gap between the bottom two layers of the pyramid and the top three is akin to calling the Grand Canyon a ditch. The chasm is so rarely bridged because it takes concerted discipline and consistent effort. These...
The famous 19th-century fable says a frog in boiling water will jump out. However, when put in tepid water that slowly increases in temperature, the frog will not notice the change and will die. Spoiler. It’s not true. A frog placed in boiling water will die immediately, and when cooler water...
The word steppe comes from 15th-century Russia and means ‘further origin uncertain’, which neatly captures the nature of values. While they’re often presented as fully formed imperatives. They’re not. It’s an ongoing process to find them, understand them and use them to guide choices every day. But first. Vast and often...
Values. Everyone has them, but not everyone knows what they are. The resulting gap can drive a wedge between what you say and do. Which matters. Because there are definite benefits in them becoming how you do things. One look at companies that stand alongside what they believe even when there’s...
From day one, Sue landed like a firecracker. After the grind of a tough few months, co-workers said they loved her enthusiasm and energy. Yet despite that promising start, excitement dissipated once the honeymoon period ended, and after a few more months, it was clear she wasn't going to work out. Like...
“The primary organising dynamic in life is identity. The first act of life is to define a self, whether a micro organism or a human being. How we humans define ourselves determines our perceptions, beliefs, behaviours and values."Margaret Wheatley 1 The word identity was first recorded in 1560–70 from late Latin identitās meaning...
It's time for a values reality check. Coming to work for you doesn't mean you get to tell me my values. I've had them long before I met you, and they'll still be around when I leave. Yet that's what too many organisations try to do. I've written countless words about values over...