Enjoying Vacation
July 27th, 2010
Many of us will be taking vacations this summer. And, for most of us in today’s business world, vacations can be a mixed blessing. Many of us find it hard to disconnect. In addition, the preparation to get ready to go and the aftermath when we get back can be overwhelming. This discomfort is widespread, with only 53% of working Americans saying they come back feeling rested and rejuvenated after vacation, and 30% saying they have trouble coping with work stress while they’re away, according to an Expedia.com survey reported in the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading »
What is your relationship to time?
June 22nd, 2010
A colleague forwarded to me a video on YouTube, “The Secret Powers of Time,” which is a talk by Philip Zimbardo accompanied by animation. There is much I found provocative in the talk, and there are two points that particularly struck me. Continue reading »
Do you have what CEOs Really Want?
May 25th, 2010
A recent BusinessWeek article reported on a survey by IBM regarding the leadership competencies valued by CEOs. In the survey, CEOs identified “creativity” as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future. Continue reading »
What are you doing?
April 27th, 2010
Putting it simply, what we accomplish, our performance, is a function of what we do and what we don’t do. I’ll say this holds true for us as individuals and for organizations.
Okay, you may be saying, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is that most of what we do is habitual, and habits, by definition, are unconscious patterns of behavior. For the most part we don’t even realize when we are operating in a habit – we’re on automatic. It’s not that habits are bad. It’s just that we are unaware of them when they are in play, particularly those habits that limit our effectiveness and performance. Continue reading »
Prescription for Success
March 30th, 2010
At Mission Control we often speak about the benefit of being able to focus. It seems that when we are able to focus fully on one thing, we are more energized and at the same time peaceful, our creativity is more available, we feel more satisfied, and we accomplish more in a shorter timeframe. Continue reading »
What are you tolerating?
February 23rd, 2010
In going through some magazines that were in my “Never Doing Now” pile, I read the issue of Fortune magazine in which they named Steve Jobs the CEO of the decade. In addition to wishing I was the one who came up with the iPod, the iPhone, iTunes, Pixar, etc., I considered something I hadn’t considered before regarding Steve Job’s success. Continue reading »
Reducing Organizational “Noise”
January 26th, 2010
I suspect we’ve all had the experience of observing what someone is doing and asking ourselves, “Why are they doing that?” If you are a manager I would be almost certain you have had that experience more than once!
Faced with doing more with fewer resources, as many of us are, the normal “noise” in organizations we have been able to tolerate in the past can now seem more distracting and even debilitating. It can seem that the actions of others impede and even thwart the fulfillment of what is of greatest importance. Continue reading »
Launching 2010
December 29th, 2009
“Life cannot wait until the sciences have explained the universe. We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its coerciveness; it is always urgent, ‘here and now,’ without any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point blank.”
–Jose Ortega y Gasset
While there is much to what Jose Ortega y Gasset has said, the one aspect I particularly feel during this time of year and in this era is that “life is fired at us point blank.” Many of the people I speak with feel the same way. And, it seems that life is accelerating. I am not sure whether it is a function of getting older, the time of year, the economic climate or something else. Continue reading »
What is Important?
November 24th, 2009
Recently several people have commented to me that, given the current economic climate, they have been focusing more on what’s really important. Most of the people who made the comment were referring to a greater focus on family and less of a focus on work.
It often takes difficulty, or even crisis, for us to consider and make choices consistent with what is of fundamental importance to us. We have probably all heard stories of people who, after a life threatening accident or illness, have reoriented their lives around what was important to them and began being more fulfilled in life. Continue reading »
Changing Habits
October 27th, 2009
In speaking with many people who have participated in a Mission Control program an issue that seems to be common is the difficulty in changing habits.
Following last month’s newsletter about multitasking, I have taken on changing a few habits. And, as pointed to in an article from Fast Company magazine that is often referenced in Mission Control programs, it’s not easy! Continue reading »
