ORA ET LABORA. “Pray and work.” This ancient phrase of Benedictine monks became the motto of Clan Ramsay. I’ve always liked it. It reminds me that work itself can have a higher purpose. In fact, we were working in the Garden of Eden. We had three jobs–all part of the plan. Work is something worth doing. This article quotes Teddy Roosevelt: Far and away …
Training employees classically … like Mr. Miyagi
In training your people, have you skipped one of the three main steps? I’m referring to the ancient method of classical education known as the Trivium, the “three roads.” You might call it the Karate Kid method. The Three Roads You know what society called classical education as late as the 1800s? “Education.” It’s just how education was done. Modern …
If you measure happiness, what are you measuring?
Happiness and engagement go hand in hand for employees. An influential business book, “The Happiness Advantage,” has suggested that for over a decade now. Last week we talked about surveys to measure happiness and how dialogue gets to the heart of things more effectively. Talk with your people. But just what is happiness? What is engagement? Enter this article: “In …
Surveying your people vs. talking to them
I’m going to utter a heresy in this article. At least, it’s a heresy to many of my colleagues working on culture. A manager recently talked to me about helping his team collaborate more. I asked him what he would get out of that. As often happens in coaching, I was surprised by his answer. I thought he would say …
Why you need a coach but your ancestors probably didn’t
Let me make a prediction: You are busy. This isn’t something I could say with 100-percent certainty in the past. But at some point in the 1900s, it became true of virtually all of us. It’s so true that FranklinCovey makes a lot of money offering The 4 Disciplines of Execution to people and organizations constantly under threat from what …
Podcast 109 – Crucial Conversations: Start with the heart
When you identify a high-stakes, emotional issue with strongly opposing views … how quickly do you discuss it? Or do you resort to “silence or violence?” As promised last episode, welcome to our series on how to have difficult conversations. We are using the excellent “Crucial Conversations” as our inspiration. Whether you have to tell somebody they smell bad, discuss a …
Work is not your god, but God wants you to work.
“Your Work Is Not Your God: Welcome to the Age of the Burnout Epidemic.” That’s the title of an essay by scholar and ex-professor Jonathan Malesic. He wrote a book about the subject. The essay is definitely worth a read if you can pardon the F Word toward the end. The title of Malesic’s essay implies that we have made …
Anxiety, screens, social media … and great books
Hip Socket exists to help clients grow more organized, more confident and more influential. And that growth only happens after they wrestle. Wrestle with what? We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing what we are up against. Sometimes it’s acknowledging how burnout is a huge part of the modern condition. It’s why screen time is so dangerous. …
Podcast 96: The Workplace Book Club – ”Nothing beside remains”
What will be your legacy? Your organization’s legacy? On this week’s Workplace Book Club, we look at a poem. (Just like AMC did for the sake of a hit TV show.) Even in the workplace, are there things that last? Mike and Mark are #twoguyswithoutlookswithbooks. The excerpt and study guide for this episode, “Nothing beside remains,” is available for free …
Damning words about screen time
I don’t normally share longer essays, but this one is worth the read: “How Digital Youth Became Unhappy–and Dangerous–Adults.” The gist: Well-off parents, especially those working in technology, LIMIT screen time for their kids. The article goes so far as to compare screens’ effects on the brain to crack cocaine. We’ve got the addiction ourselves, don’t we? Gallup just reported …