Our Blog
Our blog’s inspiration comes from the work we do, the knowledge shared between our clients and us. It is dedicated to effective leadership.
May we have Leaders who doubt!
I have grown a profound Respect and Love for all the Religions I came across throughout my Spiritual Journey, as long as they do not consider themselves as the sole owners of the Only Truth! I was educated as a Catholic, then taught by a Family Friend to understand...
“When Business, Neuroscience, Philosophy and Psychology meet”
What do US contemporary business writer, Patrick Lencioni, XXIst century most famous neuroscientist, Portuguese Professor Antonio Damasio, Ancient Greece philosopher Aristotle, and Chilean born psychologist and mathematician Marcial Losada have in common, apart from...
“A rising tide lifts all boats: transactional vs. relational”
This old American quote was recently used in her blog by Venessa Miemis. I will come back to it later. I take this opportunity to thank and recommend the work of Jan Gordon who is a internet curator. In other words, she publishes a kind of blog in which she summarizes...
“When my Nemesis becomes my Ally”
Wikipedia describes the Nemesis as “the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris (arrogance before the Gods). The Greeks personified vengeful fate as a remorseless goddess: the goddess of revenge.” When we work with the concept of Campbell’s...
From the International to the Global, From Gutenberg to the Web, Implications for Legitimacy and Communication (by Dr. Daniel Warner)
Daniel Warner was my Professor, a very long time ago. Two years ago, when I was still working with Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil, we reconnected in a large event for C.E.O.'s organized there. Daniel is an astute observer of the macro political world and an influential...
Appreciative Inquiry and the power of the positive (by Marvin Faure)
In my previous post, Social Constructionism and the Power of Engagement, I wrote about how we can create a healthy, upbeat organizational climate by favouring dialogue over monologue. I also built on Michael’s post on the use of language and suggested that if you want...
Social Constructionism and the power of engagement (by Marvin Faure)
I’d like to take the opportunity to build on Michael’s post “The US 7th Cavalry and the Quantum Zeno Effect” and introduce explicitly an idea that has been hinted at a few times here without ever being directly addressed. Michael’s main point was that, very often, top...
“No fancy title this time… Just FEEDBACK” by Michael Newman
One of the main tools of our trade is feedback. We habitually offer it to our clients and to our colleagues and use it to continuously improve our own performance. In fact, this Enablers Network blog exists because of feedback. After the publication of our Engaging...
“Tell me: How will Pathos improve our R.O.I.?”
This is the friendly "punch in the stomach" I received one day from one of my favorite C.E.O. and client. I can not think of a leader who wouldn’t wonder, each day, how she could improve the level of motivation and engagement of her troops. We all want it. We all know...
Engagement also works upward
Whenever invited to design and run a leadership program, I avoid "punishing the participants" by adding an extra project to it. They have already enough work on their plate so that, if every development course ends up by bringing more work to their heavy daily...
The Last of the Kodak Moments by Alan Moore
Alan Moore is one of Gerd Leonhard's partners in the Futures Agency, author of the very recent "No straight lines" book. He recently published an article in the Huffington Post, which I thought was worth sharing with you and that Alan, kindly agreed for us to...
Bonding vs bridging: One of the biggest cause of value destruction
"Bonding vs Bridging": the words come from the work of Lynda Gratton, a Professor of Management at London Business School. Bonding seems to be the most natural and instinctive reflex in humans, when confronted to uncertainty or time of harshness. History is full of...
“The US 7th Cavalry and the Quantum Zeno Effect” by Michael Newman
One of the joys of working in a Network of curious people with widely varying interests is the breadth of ideas that we are exposed to. This provides the environment for the creative collision of ideas2. Regular readers of the Enablers blog will be used to such...
“Flow”: the elusive peak state of motivation and productivity by Marvin Faure
Our partner, Marvin Faure, runs Mindstore Europe. He has recently completed a study on motivation. It is his first publication on our blog. "The unusual feature of this study was that the participants were all known to be highly motivated amateur cyclists in their...
Why “Somatic Markers” are critical to a business leader?
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...
When you let your people go, who takes care of those who stay?
As 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...
2012: Our opportunity to unveil the Hero within ourselves!
"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...
So this is Christmas…
Eugenio Mussak is a famous speaker/Professor/Writer/Philosopher on Leadership. Generosity is his and his wife’s, Luciana, trademark. They are hosting our Brazilian Branch in their own São-Paulo office. I was having dinner at their place recently and Eugenio commented...
The most successful posts of 2011
Our blog is now two and half years old and we would like to thank you all for your loyalty over that period. As you will have noticed, we changed to Mailchimp this year. This company sends you the weekly e-mail and confirms with your filters and firewalls that...
Disrupt or be Disrupted: the Principles of War by Michael Newman
In 1988, as a newly commissioned Officer in the British Army, the world of disruption was my context. As a commander of 28 Royal Engineer soldiers (the famous ‘Sappers’) I was a very small, but I like to think important, part of the NATO master plan to defend Western...
Occupy Wall Street!
When interviewed about the roots of the new "Open Source Economy", I refer back to the 1970's intuitions of then futurist Alvin Toffler, author of truly visionary books such as the "Future Shock" (note the 70's influence of the cover;) or the "Third wave". Toffler saw...
“Engaging Leadership” has been written for leaders who are about to engage their organisations in change."