Most organizations lack organization. They are filled with individuals pursuing personal adrenaline, comfort, safety and recognition. Focus further breaks down through the competing priorities of departments, hierarchy and stakeholders. Occasionally, however, we glimpse an organization beautifully aligned. It was Mother’s Day 1995 on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA. We were the final boat out of
Sometimes life prompts us to ask: what progress am I making? Am I moving closer to my vision of what’s worthwhile, or am I (even inadvertently) moving farther away? Most of us have a natural tendency to keep score. The question is whether we’re measuring all of the right things. I’m learning to add dimensions
A Native American parable tells of a boy who asks his grandfather about pain and fighting in the world. His grandfather explains that we all have two wolves in our heart, battling each other to the death: one wolf represents hope, joy, peace and love whereas the other wolf represents fear, anxiety, hatred and darkness.
A friend told me a couple of months ago that I was “shoulding on myself”. It occurs to me that I live with voices in my head that bombard me with shoulds, need tos, have tos and what ifs. While a healthy respect for rules, constraints and expectations helps to guide behavior, sometimes I just
Concise messaging results in more relevant, collaborative and effective communication – especially in meetings. To help me with this, I wish I had a Twitter character-counter inside my brain. Last week, I sat quietly in a team meeting listening to perspectives while I formulated mine. When just enough confidence in my point of view intersected
Disappointment: the difference between what we expect and what we get. Events, circumstances and people disappoint us and we disappoint ourselves. To move from disappointment to contentment, we have to process our emotions and surrender our expectations. This Mother’s Day, my wife Kari was supposed to be entering her third trimester. We miscarried that baby
The Greek word for “anxiety” is merimnaō, which means to be divided or distracted. Leaders today face so many external and internal disruptions that anxiety, by the Greek definition, is nearly unavoidable. Anxiety depletes energy and confidence and makes courageous decisions difficult. One way to minimize anxiety is to pursue the opposite of division and
Joy is an uncomplicated word. It’s the feeling of goodness that comes from being fully alive. And it can be present regardless of circumstances – pain or pleasure. Wouldn’t it be cool to create joy all over the place – at home, at work, in the community and in ourselves? One way is through lasting
I want to be comfortable. I like my daily routine and sleeping in my own bed. I want to be around people like me and do things I’m good at doing. But the truth is, I know that comfort is at odds with being fully alive. Last week, we took the kids to Disney World.
I have two selves: one wants to drive under the speed limit, the other groans and tails people who drive slowly; one wants to spend the last hour of the day with a hot bath and a good book, the other wants to answer emails until my eyes hurt. Paradoxically, I think I would be
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE