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Knocking Out Negativity

2021-04-09T10:17:48-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Self, Nina Bowman, Paravis Partners|

Naysayer.  Pessimist.  Negative Person.  Chronic complainer.  Glass Half Empty Kinda Guy.  We’ve got more than a fair share of names for those folks who just can’t see the bright side of things.  They are often the first to tell you why your great idea won’t work. When you set goals with them, they give you every reason why the goal can’t be met – doing so even before they’ve had a chance to think about new ways to address hurdles.  We all know who they are.  In fact, I bet a few names are immediately coming to mind!

I’ve spent a good amount of time listening to my clients complain about the pessimists on their teams.  “He just can’t get out of his own way” shared one senior executive. “She takes up so much of my time and energy, always having to convince her of the positive possibilities.  I just wish she could explore things first, before she gives me 10 reasons why she can’t do something”, said another executive.  As a facilitator, I always want to be given a heads-up on who “they” are so that I can neutralize their impact on a group.  The bottom line? Working with pessimists can be hard work, testing the skill of even the most savvy manager and leader.  So, how do you manage the naysayer amongst you?

My Direct Report is a Naysayer

It may be tempting to first ask, “what can I do to change them?”, but the place to start is with you.  As a leader, your role is to inspire those around you and to build confidence in the vision and plan you have set forth. Have you taken the time to listen and understand your direct report’s concerns and to share your vision in a way that resonates with this person? Have you shared honest and constructive feedback on what your direct report is doing and how it is impacting the business?  Do you take the time to set ground rules in group meetings which foster positive thinking and a solution – oriented mindset? Do you look for opportunities to engage your naysayer by having her develop your back-up and risk mitigation plans? If after assessing your own efforts, you are still scratching your head about what to do, try running some coach interference.  Give specific examples of your naysayer’s behavior and how it impacts you and the rest of the team.  If the person is willing to explore a change, help them to identify concrete ideas for suppressing the urge to criticize.  For example, when the urge arises, they can count silently to five, then ask three supportive questions of their co-worker.

If all efforts fail, and the impact on morale and productivity of the team is significant, it might be time to change the players on the bus.

I report to a naysayer

My condolences!  You are likely exhausted from working overtime as you find ways to work around your boss.  You might even have had to work back-door channels to move your project far enough along to prove to your boss that success is possible.  To increase your odds of success while working for a boss who swims in pessimism, try meeting them where they are. Make the effort to anticipate concerns and questions.  Then, bring a plan that addresses those concerns.  Can you change your boss?  It’s unlikely, especially if that same pessimistic behavior keeps your boss from having the kind of open and candid discussions that are required to foster better working relations.

The good news?  Bosses with a pessimistic or negative outlook tend not to get as high on the corporate ladder.  Why? Well, no one wants to follow them! A sense of realism, practicality and an ability to see and mitigate risks are important skills to bring to the leadership table, but not at the expense of hope and inspiration.  

Oh no!  I think I’m a naysayer!

Congratulations! You’ve just crossed the first hurdle! You are aware of your tendency and behavior to be less than positive.  Now, do you care enough to change things? What’s the cost of your pessimism? Do you miss out on opportunities? Do you notice how your approach dampens the mood and decreases productivity in your organization? Do you recognize the connection between your negativity and potential health concerns?  Are you simply tired of feeling unhappy?  The costs of being a naysayer can go far beyond simply annoying a colleague by stopping their ideas right in their tracks.  

When you decide the costs are too high and you are ready for a change, try spending more time with positive people and living two entire weeks in complete optimism.  At first, it won’t be easy telling your spouse, “Yes, I think your way could work. Let’s try it for a few days.”  or a co-worker, “Yes, I see the many benefits to your idea. Let’s discuss how it will help the organization.”, but I guarantee that by the end of the two weeks, you’ll have good reason to continue the experiment.  You may notice a greater connection to people and lower stress. And that feeling we call “happiness”? Well, it may not be that elusive after all!

– Nina Bowman

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Operating at the Intersection of Personal Interest and Company Interests

2021-04-09T10:10:10-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Others, Leading Self, Nina Bowman, Paravis Partners|

In recent years, study after study has told us that across the globe the majority of workers are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and find their jobs more a source of frustration than fulfillment.  In the US, the numbers are better, but still show an astounding number of workers who either feel checked out or hate their jobs. Given the hours spent at work and the negative impact on productivity, it’s no surprise that the issue of employee engagement is top of mind for most organizations and often comes up in some form or fashion in our coaching engagements. While the reasons for the lack of engagement are plentiful, one thing is clear; we are far from finding and operating at the intersection of personal needs and company needs. Addressing the challenge isn’t simple and requires that each individual, and those who are tasked with keeping the interests “of the whole” at heart, dig a bit deeper to find common ground.

The Individual

One Gallup report indicated that many individuals are sleep walking through their work-life. In fact, if the numbers are correct, there is a good chance that many of you are one of those people. You get up, go to work, do your job, but don’t feel any real connection to the work or to what really interests you. You are simply doing what you think you have to do.

As I’ve had the opportunity to work with executives over the years, I’ve noticed a few common issues that impact one’s ability to operate at the intersection of personal and collective interests. The most significant issue is that many individuals have trouble defining their core interests. When asked about their interests and what truly energizes them, a blank stare often emerges, or they begin to define their interests in terms of an accomplishment (i.e. “I want to be promoted to EVP.”) or an expectation (i.e. “I need to focus on more strategic work” or “It would be good for me to -“). More often than not, however, the individual shifts the focus of the question and begins to share what they do not want to do. The pattern of getting stuck in the language of what we don’t want, instead of articulating what we do want is one that cripples the process of finding alignment. After all, if we can’t articulate for ourselves what our interests and passions are, we cannot begin the process of alignment.

Clarifying one’s real interests takes work and requires careful observation of self. It also requires deep honesty and a willingness to explore the assumptions and beliefs that cloud our understanding of what truly energizes us.

Company Interests

As our executives explore employee engagement with their “leader” hats on and look to ensure that the enterprise as a whole gets its needs met, other patterns that hinder alignment are observed. In coaching executives who aspire to enhance how they engage their staff, it is not unusual to hear silence when asked if they know what is important to and what interests each member of their team. Many have not asked these critical questions or engaged in conversations to deepen their understanding of what motivates each person. Some executives don’t think to ask the questions, others steer clear of the questions for fear of opening a can of worms that they can’t manage or fulfill for the employee. The end result of either approach is that no meaningful understanding of what is needed to reach and motivate each person exists.

If leaders are going to truly tackle the challenge of engagement, they must engage in direct and deep conversation, asking each person questions such as, “Which aspects of your role do you get excited about?  If you could design the perfect role for you, what would that look like?  In what ways would you like to grow over the next year or two?  What kind of work drains you?”. The idea isn’t to meet all the needs of every employee but to have the knowledge to create a better fit for each employee when possible and to have proactive conversations when alignment can’t be reached.

Finding the intersection of personal interests and company interests isn’t always possible and unrealistic expectations on both sides can abound, but more often than not, engagement can be significantly improved by having honest dialogue, exercising a bit of creativity, and proactively acknowledging when the role needs to tilt toward the company’s interest or the employee’s interest.

– Nina Bowman

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The Un-Promotion Promotion

2021-04-09T10:17:05-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Self, Paravis Partners|

You’ve been promoted!  The words you’ve waited to hear.  Your hard work has paid off!  There are outward trappings of the promotion – the official announcement and congratulations from colleagues, perhaps a new office, a new title on new business cards, attendance at different meetings.  All of those are signs and symbols, a sort of rite of passage that usher one into the next level.  It’s typical to take stock at these times – what does this new title really mean?  How does a VP act?   What new expectations will people have of me?  We often coach people as they are preparing for and adjusting to life with a bigger title.  When one’s role changes, there are a host of leadership needs to consider to be successful at the next level.

But what happens when the “promotion” isn’t really a promotion, but rather when the organization grows around you?  No dinner was held in your honor, but one day you wake up and realize your job is much different than it was a year ago.  Perhaps a new round of funding means that your team of 20 people in product development has suddenly become a team of 35.  A new key account that doubled the size of the company also means there are more people to talk with, influence, and keep in the loop on decisions.  Or the new strategic partnership now means you have three offices in three different time zones.  Your title hasn’t changed.  You still sit in the same old office, yet suddenly your job seems much more complex than it used to be.  You’ve gotten the “un-promotion” promotion!

The most crucial element to successfully navigating the un-promotion is recognizing the change, and approaching it as you would if you were formally promoted.  It may have snuck up on you, but now that you’re here, take a step back and take stock of what’s different.  This is no time to stay on “auto-pilot”, assuming what you’ve done up until now will lead you to success in a new operating mode.  What should you consider adjusting?

  1. Vision: Becoming crystal clear on your vision will likely become more important in a more complex organization.  Having a clear message that you communicate regularly, compellingly, and consistently is necessary to keep everyone aimed in the direction you intend.
  2. Communication strategies —Consider how you may need to communicate differently.  For example one-on-one drop-by conversations may now need to be formal meetings with different departments represented.  You may be called upon to share your vision with larger audiences, requiring a new set of presentation skills.
  3. Managing more senior people — If your team has grown substantially, you may need to implement a new layer of management.  Consider what is different about managing managers or managing leaders of functions.  How you delegate and what you hold them accountable for is likely going to need to shift.
  4. Listening — In smaller organizations, you may just know what’s going on across the company rather organically.  As an organization grows, you may need to learn to “listen” to what’s going on more intentionally by checking in with key people, asking more questions, becoming more accessible, and learning to read between the lines.
  5. Consider your Ripple Effect — As you find yourself multiple layers from front-line staff, recognize that the perception of you has likely changed.  You may feel like “little old you”, but others may see you as the “big boss” when there are other managers in between.  Be aware that your actions, energy and decisions will be more closely scrutinized and will have a larger ripple effect throughout the organization.

If you find yourself leading greater complexity, take a moment to take stock of what’s different about your job right now, and how you may need to lead differently because of it.  Doing so will ensure that you make the most of that un-promotion.

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L25: How to Reengage in Leadership When You’ve Reached a Plateau

2021-04-09T10:09:25-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Self, Muriel Wilkins, Paravis Partners|

For the past year, I have been running really hard. Literally. I signed up to run five distance races over seven months. My workouts have been consumed with running, running and more running — Four times a week, religiously. While I finished all my races with personal bests, I found myself at a plateau. Not tired, just plateaued. Not as engaged, not getting as much of a return from the running regiment that had so motivated me a year ago. So recently, in order to catapult myself out of my plateau, I’ve started a new workout to supplement my running. It’s called T25 (yes, from the infamous Shawn T for those of you in the know). T25 is a workout that is 25 minutes a day. That’s it – – 25 minutes. Five times a week for 5 weeks. Each day is a different workout. Shawn T’s thesis is that if you really focus for 25 minutes every single day for 5 weeks at a time, you’ll get results. My first reaction was “25 minutes? Really? There’s no excuse. If I can’t find 25 minutes in my day, something is fundamentally wrong.”

So I started my 5 week journey to break out of my doldrum. As I sweated through my workout on day 5, week 2, a thought occurred to me – many of the leaders we work with find themselves at a plateau, especially at the end of the year. They’ve been driving hard since the beginning of the year, yet they’re not as engaged and not getting as much out of themselves or their teams. Taking a personal retreat or sabbatical to reenergize oneself may be out of the question but what if leaders embarked on their own 5 week personal journey to catapult them out of their plateau? 25 minutes of focus, five days a week for 25 days. How would they feel? What if there was a T25 for leadership – Leadership 25 or L25, for short?

If you are still reading and L25 has piqued your interest, I invite you to join the L25 challenge. Here’s a roadmap for you. Each day focuses on a different “workout”. Spend 25 focused minutes reflecting and jotting down your thoughts on the questions for each day. Remember, this is focused energy – – no interruptions, no distractions, no email, no multi-tasking. After all, it’s only 25 minutes. You’ll have to put your all into that short amount of time to get the most out of it.

Day 1: Cardio – Focus on your Heart

  1. Why do you do this work? What purpose does it serve?
  2. How does your work align with what is personally important to you?
  3. What would make the alignment even tighter between what your heart feels, what you want and what you do?

Day 2: Speed – Focus on your Priorities

  1. What are your priorities for next week?
  2. What trade-offs are you making next week and are they aligned with your priorities?
  3. How does your schedule reflect your overall priorities?

Day 3: Total Circuit – Focus on your Vision

  1. What is your vision for your team/organization?
  2. What are you doing that is in support of that vision?
  3. What are you doing that distracts from that vision?

Day 4: Strength – Focus on your Value

  1. What is the value you bring to your role?
  2. What would be lost if you were not the one in your role?
  3. What would be gained if you were not the one in your role?

Day 5: Stretch – Focus on your Progress

  1. What are you most proud of from this past week?
  2. What are you most looking forward to next week?
  3. How do you feel?

It’s not enough to make the resolution to get engaged and expect it to happen. You’ve got to put your work into it. After all, how many folks will get physically fit just by watching a workout vs. actually doing the workout? If your level of engagement has plateaued and you’re looking to lead with a new sense of passion, commit yourself to 25 minutes a day of non-negotiable, focused energy to yourself and your work.

As for me, I’m on week 3 of T25 and feel the difference already. The final results are TBD but somehow I think no matter what the numbers show, the plateau breakthrough I yearned for will happen. I hope it does for you too.

–  Muriel Wilkins

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Hit the Pause Button: The Half-Year Reflection

2021-04-09T10:16:17-04:00April 8, 2016|Amy Jen Su, Leading Self, Paravis Partners|

It’s hard to believe that we are almost half way through the year!  At these junctures, it’s the perfect time to hit the pause button and step back to reflect.  There is a pace and rhythm we get into, and it’s easy in the lull of that rhythm to fall into auto-pilot and to “fall asleep” to what is happening.  The beauty of hitting pause is that we have the capacity at any moment in our lives to self-correct, recalibrate, and make a different set of choices.

We invite you to therefore, pause, pull way back from what you are “doing” and make sense of what you have done so far.

  1. Acknowledge. What has happened so far this year?  What have you completed?  Who have you been with?  What have been your favorite experiences?  Too often, we are onto the next thing.  The to-do list and the objectives not yet fulfilled loom large.  We allow ourselves to believe that we’re only as good as our next gig, next win, or next deliverable.  But in reality, a lot has happened.  You’ve accomplished.  You’ve gained new skills.  You’ve grown.  You’ve met some great people along the way.  Write these down.
  2. Integrate.  As you write down your reflections, consider what you have learned.  What have you learned about what you enjoy doing, what gives you juice and renewal in your life and work?  What skills are you most excited to use now?  How can you update your own perception of yourself to who you are at this very moment?  Pull up your bio and update it.  Add to your resume.  Add to your life vision statement or personal manifesto.  Don’t wait for something like a yearly performance review cycle or the need to do a job search.  Do this, not as an evaluation, but as a celebration and integration.
  3. Notice the blind spots.  As you scan the year, look at the trend-line against the various areas of your life – physical health, relationships, finances, work, etc.  Where have you spent your time and energy?  Is this in alignment to how you want to live your life?  Is there a miss somewhere?  Habits can be hard to break and we are pulled by the gravitational forces of where we are most comfortable or feel safe versus what’s most important to us.  Is there one domain of life you tend to ignore or dismiss when life and work get busy?  How can you bring some additional attention here?
  1. Recalibrate. Here’s the fun part – we still have another half of the year to go! For once, time is on our side!  Based on this reflection, where do you want to continue your efforts? What do you need to recalibrate?  What will have to change to make this change possible?  Do you need to make a different set of decisions?  Do you need support from others?  Give yourself permission to stop the hamster wheel and get off.

The half year reflection can be done from a number of vantage points:  for yourself or the leadership role you serve in, for your team/staff, or for your family.  As you look back, we suspect you’ll be blown away by the creativity and effort that has already been expended to date.  By acknowledging and integrating, you create some space around you to breathe and relax.  With new space, the blind spots and points of recalibration for the year become clearer.  And, with clarity, all becomes possible as you move forward.

– Amy Jen Su

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Avoiding the Third Rails to Leadership

2021-04-09T10:18:27-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Self, Nina Bowman, Paravis Partners|

Growing up as a kid in New York City, I quickly learned the ins and outs of staying safe while taking advantage of the wonderful things the big city had to offer. Riding the subway in NYC was a rite of passage that came with its own set of rules. Stay alert at all times. Keep your belongings close to you. Avoid direct eye contact. And, if you ever find yourself in the unfortunate situation of falling onto the subway tracks, steer clear of the deadly Third Rail! This advice was helpful and allowed me to navigate the city without incident.

Working with leaders over the years, I’ve learned that being given a heads up on the unwritten rules and third rails to leadership can make the difference between success and failure in business. We tend to be aware of the obvious career derailers, such as being overly arrogant, not performing or being politically inept, but there are several other “third rails” that are less obvious and have led to the slowing of many a career.

Not Developing Yourself. What could be wrong with being focused on getting your work done? At first glance, nothing. However, when we get in the habit of keeping our head down, we become incredibly proficient at doing today’s tasks, but will hardly be ready for the role we need or want to play in the future. To be seen as leader-ready, we must truly BE ready. If your company doesn’t ask you to pull together a development plan for the year, consider doing it for yourself. What would you like to be better at a year from now? What does the next level of your strength look like? What initiatives or projects would help to develop new skills?

Not Being Strategic. Few executives would admit to not being strategic, but the fact of the matter is, we cannot be strategic if we keep jam-packed calendars that are solely focused on handling the day-to-day needs of the business. Strategic thinking requires that we pull back and pause. It also requires a discipline around staying on top of industry trends and gaining comfort with challenging existing views and perspectives. The more we seek to understand what’s happening beyond our own function, division or company, the better we can be at asking the right strategic questions or reframing the issues so that our colleagues can see things differently and understand the long term implications of their decisions. To increase your strategic chops remember to helicopter up and look across the enterprise and across the industry. Challenge yourself and your team to proactively build different perspectives before making key decisions.

Depending on Your Favorite Skill. Yes, focusing on your strengths is a good thing, but overusing a strength or dependence on one particular skill can leave you ill-prepared for handling the complexity required in leading. This third rail can be difficult to digest because it is often what brings us success and visibility in the early stages of our career. The problem with reliance on a single skill or strength is that it will be limiting and isn’t enough to carry us into leadership roles. If this third rail sounds familiar to you, begin by taking a proactive role in your career development. Communicate what your goals and future interests are and ask for opportunities that help to move you in new directions. Select a new skill to focus on each year and develop a plan that includes reading about best practices and practicing the new skill.

Not Delegating. Doing the work ourselves can be faster and more efficient but often means trading long term opportunity for short term gain. It works for a while, and may even garner success early in our careers, but if we maintain the practice we leave little room for growth. How can we take on that important initiative if we’ve positioned ourselves as the only one who can make the day-to-day wheels turn? To enhance your delegation skills, start by understanding why you don’t delegate, get smart on best practices for effective delegating, and make a commitment to delegating a significant project by the end of the month. Delegate to whom? Look no further than that direct report whom you’ve been holding back and give her a shot!

Wearing Your Authenticity on Your Sleeve. Being genuine and practicing your core values is critical to becoming a leader who is comfortable in his or her skin, but just as important is the ability to connect with others. An “I am who I am – just deal with it” type of approach can often be a cover for not wanting to do the hard work of becoming an effective leader. If you find yourself saying “that’s just me”, dig a little deeper to determine if that aspect of you is bringing you closer to others or is building a wall between you and what you ultimately hope to accomplish.

Moving along the leadership pipeline can be challenging, but knowing the third rails can make the journey a smoother ride!

– Nina Bowman

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Book Review: Moments of Impact

2021-04-09T10:08:08-04:00April 8, 2016|Amy Jen Su, Leading the Business, Paravis Partners|

As many of us find ourselves in a constant grind of meeting overload, Lisa Kay Solomon and Chris Ertel’s book, Moments of Impact offers some relief.  On a mission to “eradicate as many time-sucking, energy-depleting strategy meetings as possible – and replace them with inspiring and productive strategic conversations”, the authors add an important new tool to the strategy meeting toolkit.  If you are a leader or someone who helps leaders design retreats, meetings, or important dialogues, then “Moments of Impact” is a book we recommend.

Soloman and Ertel help us to understand that leaders of today need more than just standard meeting or brainstorming session skills, they need capabilities for creating strategic conversations. Below, are some of the distinctions that Solomon and Ertel offer that especially resonate with us:

  1. Moments of Impact brings to the surface the environment we lead in today. The authors share how “military planners (among others) – call it VUCA World – an environment of non-stop volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.” This means that more of the issues we face are adaptive challenges whereby technical answers alone no longer suffice. Leaders must now be able to help groups dialogue to “achieve new levels of clarity and coherence about their adaptive challenge – and help teams toward deeper levels of shared commitment and understanding.”
  2. Moments of Impact is actionable and practical. The book takes a deep dive on the five key principles of a strategic conversation: define the purpose, engage multiple perspectives, frame the issues, set the scene, and make it an experience. The next time you have a big strategic meeting or retreat you are in charge of, reach for this book. Its resource rich 60-page toolkit provides an overview for each of the five principles including key questions to ask yourself, action steps, tips to try, and book resources related to each principle.
  3. Moments of Impact reminds us all that skills that are often considered ‘soft’ or yin in quality are actually what today’s world needs. The authors draw on not only their own experience of helping leaders design strategic conversations but also interviewed more than 100 people who are skilled at strategic conversations. From the rich examples offered, the authors advise us that as designers of strategic conversations, it’s our job “to help nurture the patience that’s required for the group to develop their insights before they start taking action” and that we need to “go slow to go fast”. As experts in this area, Solomon and Ertl offer, “we prefer to leave a session with both strong alignment and next steps. But if we had to choose one over the other, we’d choose alignment every time.” Recognizing the importance of alignment over speed is a significant mind-set shift in today’s fast-paced world and a message we appreciate the authors calling out.

Moments of Impact ultimately highlights the tremendous impact we can have in our organizations by bringing a greater intentionality to our meetings and retreats with others as we seek to solve some of the most critical challenges and questions our organizations face today.

– Amy Jen Su

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Out of Time

2021-04-09T10:07:15-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Self, Nina Bowman, Paravis Partners|

Crazed. Overwhelmed. Insanely busy. Whichever word you choose, it’s hard to escape the feeling that our lives are out of control. It’s no surprise that an increasing number of books are popping up on the Amazon shelves addressing the epidemic of our time – the fact that we have no time. I hear it in almost every coaching conversation, “There’s barely time to breathe here”. “How can I focus on being strategic when I have hundreds of emails to get through and managers constantly knocking on my door for assistance with the crisis of the day?”. “I’m in back to back meetings all day, not sure when I’m supposed to get the work done”.

We can blame the unintended consequences of smartphones, the time-sucking and ironically inefficient nature of email, or the long-term impact of the prior recession which demands more output from fewer people, but the result is the same – we’ve got a problem. We can’t look to our home lives to offer a respite from the chaos, because there too – we have a problem. How many lessons did you shuttle little Johnny to this week? How many meals did you cobble together in the nick of time — the new, “we’re eating later all the time” time?

Addressing the problem requires more than a little tweaking. We need a new mindset, new capabilities and structures, and new practices.

Mindset

We can start by valuing effectiveness and optimal mental condition instead of valuing checking off the “to dos” on our “to do” list. When we focus on getting ourselves to feel optimal we actually expand our capacity to operate.

We need a “stop the madness” mindset where we bring focus to the problem, similar to the focus of attacking that drop in revenue. Go ahead, ask your team to identify top time-wasters and to make a list of what your division can stop doing. Put a halt to the always adding, never subtracting way of business.

Bring a sense of urgency. Understand that the problem is making you and your team sick – literally. The increase in the level of stress and stress-related disorders is growing at a staggering rate. In a recent conversation with a high-performing client in a significant and visible role, he shared that although he liked his work he would need to make a transition soon. It was a choice of living or dying and he was choosing to live.

New Capabilities and Structures

To stem the tide of overwhelm, we must significantly improve our skill on several fronts:

  1. Move from basic prioritization skills to ruthless prioritization. Keep asking the question, “What’s the most important thing we/I need to be doing here?” or “What do I really value in my life?”
  2. Move from passive ownership of your calendar to proactive ownership. Block out your time first. Learn to challenge those who steal your time. As managers and leaders who impact the calendars of countless others (who feel helpless on this front), challenge your organization to the “highest and best use” test. What is the highest and best use of each team member and where will their presence truly impact the top priority items?
  3. Increase your skill at having conversations about priorities.

New Practices

As I walked through the halls of one of our country’s top business schools recently, I saw a sign that read “Mindfulness Meditation Training – 4pm”. I wasn’t sure whether to smile at the fact that these soon to be MBAs would enter the workforce already armed with an important tool or to frown at the realization that they actually needed such practices for coping in our crazy busy world. Either way, it is clear that practices like meditation, deep breathing, regular exercise and intentional, scheduled breaks are key to functioning optimally and with less stress. Ignore them at your own peril.

With focus and intent we can bring a bit more calm into our lives, and it’s not a moment too soon. New brain research shows that our current way of working is actually changing our brains, making the ability to focus harder and harder. If problem-solving and creative thinking (skills which require deep focus) are keys to success, it’s high time we give the problem of overwhelm a serious look.

– Nina Bowman

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