Michael Newman and I have mentioned Professor Antonio Damasio several times on this blog. Besides being one of the leading neuroscientists of the XXIst century, his work is compelling for leaders of today. One aspect, in particular, touches the topic of decision making. More concretely, to us business leaders, how do we “move our people from intention to action”? In…
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Psychology & Leadership
When you let your people go, who takes care of those who stay?
Friday January 27th, 2012 0 commentsAs I recently mentioned, my professional “Deep Intent” comes from the sad memory, of seeing brave and respectable men begging my grandfather for work, because of a sudden closing of their coal mines in Southern Belgium. Laying people off, no matter how economically justified and how much courage it takes from the leader to do so, should always be considered…
2012: Our opportunity to unveil the Hero within ourselves!
Saturday January 21st, 2012 4 comments“Strategy is not about guessing the future but preparing for whatever it will be!”. Many of you have heard our friend and partner Nick van Heck claim this. And preparing our organizations, start with preparing ourselves, as leaders and human beings. Many of you know the fascination that the work of Joseph Campbell has on me. Campbell was a university…
Narcissistic? Psychopathic? Or humble? Choose your style…
Saturday November 5th, 2011 2 commentsIn which population do we find the highest percentage of people with psychopathic tendencies? Not in jail, not in gangs but… in Boardrooms!!! This is the surprising stand that one of the world’s most respected specialists in psychopathy, Professor Robert Hare, takes in his book published in 2007, “Snakes in suit”. Of course the statement is provocative and does not…
“How Loss Aversion may unconsciously impact our strategic thinking”
Friday October 21st, 2011 1 commentWikipedia provides the following definition for the psychological phenomenon known as Loss Aversion: “In economics and decision theory, loss aversion refers to people’s tendency to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. Some studies suggest that losses are two and a half times as powerful, psychologically, as gains. Loss aversion was first convincingly demonstrated by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman”…
“How Dilemmas Management will help your strategic thinking”
Saturday October 15th, 2011 0 commentsIn a recent discussion, a psychiatrist friend of mine elaborated around the notion of “choice” and I found it particularly relevant to our professional lives: “Many people at the executive levels display one form or another of perfectionism. They are therefore very hard on themselves and their people. Referring to the risk aversion theory (which I was checking with him),…
“We’re Number one: What could we possibly learn from you?” by Michael Newman
Saturday October 8th, 2011 0 commentsOur success comes from being smart; yours is simply due to luck. We benefit from our carefully crafted strategies; you just happened to be in the right place at the right time. We are confident; you are arrogant…. Dismissing the opposition is a comforting pastime, but becomes a real danger if they are hungrier than us. In the Enablers Network,…
Five steps to Death
Saturday October 1st, 2011 4 commentsI am profoundly grateful to those wonderful people who manage to summarize otherwise long and repetitive business books, in an article of 4 to 6 pages. A great company for this is obviously “Executive Book Summaries” (and now you know how consultants appear to find the time to read so many books…) Recently, I received from our partner Ben Clayton-Jolly…
So here comes the Depression again… Watch your unconscious reactions!
Saturday September 24th, 2011 2 commentsIs the crisis really back or not? For some, it increasingly seems that Stock Exchanges’ agitation (leave aside ethics and rationale) is cut off from the reality of those who really work and create value. And for others, suffices to study some leading indicators to be entitled to be seriously concerned again… In the recent months, I met with executives…
"I had no choice…"
Sunday May 1st, 2011 1 commentLinda Perrat is one of the most amazing coaches I know. I meet her when unusual challenges take place, at personal or professional level in my life and always leave her Parisian office/apartment looking positively at options about the future. Ever since I met her, she strongly refused and corrected me when using: “I don’t have a choice” sentence: One…