Wouldn’t we all love to have a dream job? We read about people earning sky-high amounts from their amazing startup, purchasing and inhabiting expensive real estate, travelling the world, being on first name terms with Branson, Musk and the likes. Yep, this is dreaming. There’s also those advertised ‘dream jobs’ (such as being caretaker on a […]
What a hot topic. Everyone seems to be handling a difficult person — whether it is a staff member, team colleague, customer or their manager. Or they have a difficult person in their personal lives. Certain types of difficult people affect us more than others. For example: Angry, aggressive, abusive, bullying; Moody, tired, depressed, teary; Uncommitted, unmotivated, […]
“One bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch, girl” is a puzzling aphorism, but perhaps the Osmonds were just being hopeful. Eighteenth-century inventor Benjamin Franklin saw it the other way — “the rotten apple spoils his companion”. Apples give off ethylene, so as one rots, the others begin to as well, and before you know it, […]
Did you know October 16 was Boss Appreciation Day? Neither did I. Is it a date to add to your calendar? Maybe not. Even in the US where it’s a recognised day, a qualitative survey by Olivet Nazarene University found while the majority of respondents have their boss’ number on speed dial, they don’t follow them on […]
By 2030, the World Health Organisation has forecast depression and anxiety will be the number one healthcare burden, costing upwards of US$1 trillion a year in many countries. Already, studies are revealing a correlation between anxiety, depression and smartphone use — not to mention what smartphones could be doing to our neurochemical balance. The urge to seek distraction People call it ‘smartphone […]
When comparing innovation leaders between countries, a study (of US registered patents since numbering began in 1836) offers some surprising results. As far as being both innovative and having the most patents filed, Taiwan comes out on top, ahead of the others in the top five: Israel, US, Denmark, South Korea and Japan. Australians are pretty inventive, though we didn’t […]
Emotional intelligence or ‘EI’ (colloquially described as EQ) is essential for human development. EQ — skills we can develop The historic privileging of technical problem-solvers is gradually making way (thanks to the work by pioneer Daniel Goleman and many others) for equally valid social and emotional skills. Progress on the work front is piecemeal. I have been […]
If you have a good friend for a colleague you are more likely to be engaged and satisfied at work. Part of being happy at work is having at least a few colleagues with whom you get along well with. For some, these constitute true friendships that transcend location, circumstance and peer level. But for many […]
Glass half full or glass half empty? Why, glass half full, according to some. Norman Vincent Peale and before him Dale Carnegie made their fortunes extolling the power of positive thinking many years ago, and their influence has pervaded workplaces all across the world. Carnegie’s philosophy went beyond simplistic “don’t worry, be happy” mantras — his Depression-era book How […]
