What we feed, grows. What we focus on creates action, change and momentum. When we focus on what works, more things work. When we focus on suffering, our differences, strife and the such, we see and experience more of the sort. Psychologists have proven time after time that when we focus on the strengths, we get stronger.
Read MoreRight now, the ICO and blockchain space, in general, is filled with visionaries that have deep understandings of technical systems. Many of these visionaries and innovators are cryptographic and software engineering geniuses. That being said, knowing how to envision the outcome and draw the blueprints is only half the equation. Implementing the vision is a whole other ballgame.
Read MoreConferences are a great place to learn and connect with potential clients, colleagues, partners and provocateurs. That being said, conferences tend to have one thing in common, no matter the industry, format or location: The sessions are often delivered in a dry, un-engaging format.
Find out how one group is making the most of their industry conference...
Read MoreWhile it is exciting to focus on emerging technologies, we must not place too much hope in its hands nor invest more time in the development of them than we do ourselves or each other. No technology, policy or law is going to save us. We have to save us. We do this by investing in ourselves and our relationships with each other.
Bitcoin and Litecoin, two of the most promising cryptocurrencies, have made money management from abroad easy and next to free. The more I use Bitcoin and Litecoin to pay for things, goods and obligations, the more and more frustrated I become with the existing banking systems. The various fees banks charge for withdrawals, transfers, wires, maintenance and beyond have consistently increased, with little (if any) benefit to consumers. Luckily, there is a much better system out there that is gaining momentum every day.
Read More"The very institutions whose charter is brokering social trust—banks and governments—have in many parts of the world spectacularly failed to do so." - Natalie Smolenski
Read MoreHave you read Thomas Friedman’s new book, Thank You For Being Late? It is all about how we can thrive in the age of acceleration; this period of time when change is gaining momentum at ever-increasing light-speed pace. This break-neck evolution of all systems -- globalization, technology, migration, etc. -- is the new normal.
If you think 2017 has been a crazy year, just wait for and see what’s around the corner in 2018. While I am not a futurist, I am an early adopter, and if 1% of the global economy and my intuition are right, we are in for an exciting transition that began in 2007, has been gaining momentum over the past 10 years and in the next decade will be reaching mass adoption.
Read MoreI just realized that I am a millionaire.
No, I did not win the lottery, get drafted by a professional sports team or have a tremendous stock portfolio. As of yet, there has been no financial windfall for me in 2017. I am a millionaire in a resource that is far more indispensable - relational capital. My greatest source of wealth is you, the people I am connected to, my network.
After each workshop, intervention, and training I lead, I have participants fill out an evaluation. This is important to me since I work in a myriad of industries, with various sized groups, and with different problems to solve. Evaluating my performance and the impact of my work on my clients is vital. The more feedback I receive on what went well or what could use improvement supports me in enhancing my work with every client interaction. That being said, as I review my latest batch of evaluations and reflect on the many other sources of feedback from previous workshops, I have a clearer understanding of the many ways I can evaluate my impact.
Read More“Job creation” is, once again, a major national talking point. The U.S. economy is strong, yet while unemployment is at a record low, poverty is at a record high. This is because many of the jobs that are available are low-paying, contract-based and/or routine-based (e.g. Lyft driver, cashier).
While our president boasts of bringing back jobs, there is a more sustainable way to support workers. Bringing back manufacturing jobs to the U.S. is not the solution. Those jobs are no longer relevant or reliable. Besides, workers in Taiwan, China and Vietnam, our current manufacturing workforce, will soon lose their jobs too, not to cheaper labor, but to robots.
Read MoreRequests are powerful tools for making things happen, and we often avoid them in our hyper-individualistic culture. Yet, to expand our impact, we must enroll others. When we make effective requests, expectations get clarified, needs get met and thus the objective and relational aspects of our work are improved.
Read MoreCNN reported that Hillary Clinton took 54% of Millennial voters and that 37% of Millennials voted for Donald Trump. In 2008, Barack Obama won 66% of the Millennial vote and in 2012, Barack Obama won 60% of the Millennial vote.
You’ll notice that Millennials were less liberal in 2016 than they were in 2012, and even less so than in 2008.
Are Millennials shedding their liberal values? Have Millennials given up on hope of positive change after eight years of Obama-filled with gridlock and some serious liberal letdowns?
Read MoreTo engage your stakeholders, you must first ignite their imaginations, which will increase their participation, which will foster their commitment to your shared work and the desired results. These three pillars of engagement are broad, so to help ground these concepts in practice, I am excited to share with you the following list of ways to ignite your stakeholders’ imaginations and get you moving down the road to meaningful engagement.
Read MoreWe are at a time when we face many challenges and stakeholders are increasingly polarized in their thoughts on how to solve the issues at hand. This makes engaging certain stakeholders even more difficult. This is why we need become more creative in how we engage each other - our colleagues and our peers across “the aisle.”
Read MoreGenerational stereotypes abound, leading us to believe Millennials are entitled, boomers are tech-phobic, and so on. Yet, these stereotypes, just like generalities about race or religion, limit our thinking. Whether conscious or unconscious, the biases that stereotypes perpetuate lie somewhere between inaccurate to extremely harmful
Read MoreAmerican culture supports & rewards the analytical left-brain thinking; yet it is in the right brain where the magic happens. We can logically think through problems with our left-brain, but how often do we become blocked or stuck on an issue? Or, how often do our solutions actually solve the problem as we intended without creating new problems?
Read MoreIt’s been said that creativity is the survival skill of the 21st century, -- creativity is the multiplier of intelligence and it sharpens our competitive edge. In this day and age, everyone must learn how to be a better problem solver. And this is vitally important because, after all, aren’t we all paid to solve problems?
Read MoreJust as vital as clear goals are for teams to perform, are quality relationships between team members. People working together well need to respect one another, trust each other and feel seen by their colleagues. Recent studies have shown that the most effective teams exhibit the following behaviors:
Read MoreThe importance of clear processes cannot be overstated. By making explicit aspects of your work and your practice, habits are built, standards are met, and performance becomes consistent.
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