How do we make sense? Researchers and scholars have been trying to understand how we make sense of our experiences for ages. Chris Argyris and Donald Schoen created the ladder of inference model to describe human decision-making. This model shows how we become consciously aware of available data and attribute meaning to that data, ultimately […]
Category: Motivation
Time for a Restart?
For the past two weeks, I have been restoring my Bike E to a ridable condition. It was in a sad state from sitting dormant in my garage since Fall 2015. It needed some serious TLC, two new tires, and an air shock rebuild. My first ride after the restoration work was genuinely joyous! I […]
Stop Trying to Fit In
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. Oscar Wilde There is a real problem with trying to fit into a role or corporate culture that is misaligned with your values. Fitting in takes more willpower than you have available. You cannot tap into your natural motivation to find the role satisfying. You cannot force yourself […]
How to Create Excellent Performance
What Does Excellence Look Like? “I don’t understand why three of my sales reps can be so much more successful than the rest of my team,” shared my coaching client, who is a senior sales manager at a large international firm. “What do your rock stars do differently than your garage band players?” I asked. […]
Collaboration Requires Character
I recently enjoyed a fascinating conversation with a psychologist colleague of mine, Ann Daniel. She has invested a great deal of her professional career advising a major health care network on how to live out the network’s behavioral expectations for effective working relationships. One key element which Ann teaches is the importance we all place […]
Living by Remote Control
My wife and I sometimes refer to our television’s remote control as the wand of power. Whoever possesses the remote control can dictate the information flow to the big screen in our living room. This morning as I was straightening up my reading table, my attention focused on the remote control. It occurred to me […]
Motivational Intelligence 101
10 Basic Facts About Motivation No one can motivate someone else. All motivation is intrinsic (belonging to their essential nature) within each person. We are each motivated to behave in ways we believe will adequately satisfy our desires for 16 common human needs. How we meet our most intensely desired needs becomes our habits and […]