This weekend my daughter was a terror. On the one hand, that’s to be expected.  She’s 7.  On the other hand, every parent wants a perfect stress-free kid.  (And if you ever figure out how to get one, let me know!)  The problem is, in the moment it’s so hard to remember she’s 7, or that what she really needs is to learn the subtle difference in adult conversations verse kid conversations.  It’s frankly much easier to yell, get angry, or put her in timeout. I wish I ...

As I type this there is a debate raging in Washington DC on how to fix the budget.  So much effort has been spent by government officials, lawyers, members of the media and bloggers over this one problem.  (And as far as Washington problems go, it’s probably a good one to spend energy on.  Let’s hope that by the time you’re reading this, they have found an answer.) Yet I can’t help but wonder: why does it take so much effort? It’s not just government where this happens.  ...

We like to think that we’re in control.  That the choices we make are ours and ours alone.  But what if I told you that’s not really the case?  What if I told you simply making a choice in the past was enough to force you to make a different choice in the future? Would you believe me? In an experiment done by Ariely, Loewenstein, and Prelec (2003), that’s exactly what they found.  Our past choices influence our choices in the future.  They showed this by giving people a ...

Monoculture.  No it’s not what happens if you ride a Monorail too often.  Instead, a monoculture is when one thing dominating a region, business, marketplace, or culture for too long.  You’ve probably experienced monocultures before without realizing it.  (Think VHS tapes, or, dare I say, Google.) Monocultures are great when they are thriving.  They can be hugely profitable, very successful, and influential.  But they have flaws.  The biggest is that if you rely on one thing you’re likely to be taken down as the world changes around ...

In a previous post on unrealistic expectations, we talked about all the harm unrealistic expectations can cause, and the fact that we rarely think about how they form. Here we’re going to look at how unrealistic expectations can be fixed. It’s not surprising that stories are powerful. They have a way of lasting long beyond “just the facts.” They often transform how we view the world. So let me ask you, what kind of story do you want told about your organization? ...

Every one of us has ideas about how things are “supposed to work.”  These views impact marriages, raising kids, how we feel about our jobs and even whether we like movies or politicians.  As important as these views are to our lives, we spend very little time thinking about how they form. Take your own work for a moment.  Have you ever wondered why your work email can’t be as functional as your Gmail account?  Or why your company’s website search doesn’t work like Google?  Or maybe you ...

One of my goals this year is to streamline my life.  I know… me and everyone else.  But this year I am finally serious.  I have way too many projects to keep track of, and if I don’t streamline I will be crushed.  Metaphorically speaking I hope. Naturally this means I’ve been looking at everything through an inefficiency standpoint.  What is wasteful?  What adds time and uselessness to my life?  What detracts value? Trendnet does.  You see I bought a wireless internet card from them (which I love).  But ...

It’s human nature to complain.  It’s also human nature to try and appease those who complain.  But this might be the worst thing you can do.  Forget the fact that you’re reinforcing the wrong behavior (would you let your kid go out with their friends on Friday if they didn’t come home last weekend?) The real problem with greasing the squeaky wheel is that we’re destroying our chances of creating change. Whenever we create change, we’re going to produce a lot of squeaky wheels.  People aren’t going to want ...

It’s often said that we “fear change.”  But I’m not sure that’s right.  I don’t think it’s change that we fear.  Each and every day we change.  We eat new foods.  We wear new clothes (I hope!).  We might even take a new way to work or listen to a new song.  The list of things that changes on day-to-day basis is astounding. We don’t fear change. We fear failure. This is why we don’t pursue our dreams.  This is why we don’t bring meaning to work.  If we did, we might not succeed.  Maybe our dream job would turn out to be ...

In the original post on the Myth of Stability I mentioned that people like, perhaps even need, stability.  It's how we predict what's going to happen to us in the future.  It's how we talk ourselves into falling asleep at night.  It's how we get up to face the next day.  Because lets face it, if you knew disaster was just around the bend, would you really feel like getting up? But I must concede, not everyone seems to like stability.  Take, for instance, ...