Prosocial
Being a prosocial human means acting in the best interest of our communities because serving the public good is more important than advancing our own agenda. Cooperative economist Stefano Zamagni argues that seeking to help the world is an emerging…
12 Ways to Bring More Joy to the Workplace
Workplaces are not synonymous with joy. According to Gallup and everyone else who measures this stuff, 85% of the global workforce is not engaged or actively disengaged. This is concerning enough on its own, but Gallup has also found that…
Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s Career Advice is Dangerous
Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is dangerous. He blows up relationships like he blows up planes. My theory is that his career advice is dangerous, too (not unlike another action hero I’ve written about before). Here is some evidence from the original…
The 10 Qualities of Respected Rebels
Years ago, one of my mentors, Brian, told me about a powerful professional persona called “The Respected Rebel”. A respected rebel thrives as a benevolent disruptor and innovator while honouring the chain of command. To be one means pioneering bold,…
Three Ways to Cultivate the Art of Possibility
The art of possibility means imagining what can get done or might be achieved by opening ourselves up to a variety of options in life and, generally, being a hopeful person. From my perspective, it also means inspiring others to…
How to Rise Above Gossip
Seth Godin, as he does, wrote a great blog post about office gossip. Eleanor Roosevelt – allegedly – said that “great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” People talking about people is often referred to…
Five Community Building Lessons from Trees
There are a lot of community building lessons from trees that we can (and should) apply to our worklife. Here is an example of how trees take care of each other: It’s been said that the measure of a community…
Joyful Resilience
Hard things reveal character and unlock potential. Also, hard things to align in our worklife are joy and resilience (we don’t often experience elation when we’re bouncing back from setbacks or reflecting on failure), even if we want to work…
Four Leadership Lessons from our Reconciliation Journey
As a member of Vancity’s leadership development program I am on a journey to become a better leader. Engaging in deep self-reflection, peer-mentoring and self-directed learning with the intention of creating new habits that help me to be more present,…
Stop killing it
Describing how we kill stuff like exams, exercise routines, and/or big meals, reflects a shortcoming of creativity in North America (where such phrases are used most often). I believe that we should stop “killing it”. The casual language and colloquialisms…