If you read my newsletter Unleash Your Potential, you know that I recommend The Secret. I even posted a p.s. to The Law of Attraction here too.

Recently I found a great post on the Learnoutloud.com blog that links to tons of audio resources on The Secret specifically and the Law of Attraction in general.

This post and these resources are highly recommended.

Also posted in Learning.

Labels: Law of Attraction

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There is more to March Madness than just basketball.

As the final teams compete today for the NCAA Sweet 16, here are a couple of observations and lessons from the tournament so far.

Butler moves to the sweet 16 playing as a team. If you are a basketball fan, you have to like the way they play. Tough, smart, hard nosed and as a team. Few teams in the tournament will come closer to reaching their potential than will this team. Yes, the Butler campus is just a few miles from my home, but that doesn't change the fact that watching how they play together is a lesson in teamwork we can all learn from.

Indiana University lost to UCLA last night and their season (and for the seniors their career) is over. In the Indianapolis Star this morning, their coach Kelvin Sampson is quoted as saying, "There are alot of tears in the locker room. Kids that don't cry don't invest." What more could any coach or leader ask for than for their players or team to be invested? It begs the question, how invested are you and how invested are those you lead?

My alma mater, Purdue University plays defending National Champion the University of Florida in less than two hours. They are the biggest underdog of the day, according to the odds makers. Carl Landry, their team leader and star player was quoted in a press conference yesterday saying "I know everyone has pretty much counted us out, but this is the NCAA Tournament. If a few possessions go our way and the ball is going down, Florida has no chance."

Confidence is an important component of performance whether you are shooting baskets or shooting photographs for a marketing campaign (or doing anything else). Confidence is an under-appreciated attribute for us in the non-sports world.

I don't know what will happen in the game today (though I'll certainly be rooting for my Boilermakers), but I do know that the confidence of Carl Landry and his teammates will serve them well.

How much do you trust the strengths of your teammates?
How hard to you play?
How invested are you?
How confident are you?

There is more to March Madness than just basketball.

All you have to do is look.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Teamwork.

Labels: basketball, sports leaders, sports teamwork

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You may think that building teams is something we think about in corporate settings, but that athletes who have played a team sport their whole lives might already have that concept nailed.

While their experience may give them a leg up, this article about the Los Angeles Angels will give you a good feeling that team building can and does occur everywhere. This article talks about how Angels manager Mike Scioscia uses spring training and meetings to build his team beyond the field of play.

The article also talks about how Scioscia's strategy builds leadership too - as a couple of past team leaders are no longer on the team.

Whether you are a baseball fan or not, you will find this useful and instructive.

Also posted in Leadership and Teamwork.

Labels: baseball, sports leaders, sports teamwork

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It seems everywhere I look, turn or listen I find messages about gratitude. I've always been a person who tries to "count my blessings" and be grateful for the wonderful (and even the not-so-wonderful) things in my life.

I believe that when we need greater lessons and understanding of a topic or idea, if we listen, those lessons will be made available to us. The more I "notice" lessons on gratitude, the more I'm convinced I was ready for deeper lessons.

I have in the past few months become more disciplined about being in a state of gratitude and reminding myself of the things I am grateful for each day. There is no question that this practice is making a difference in my life.

This is not just a personal "feeling better about myself and my world" topic either - there is loads of research that shows that when we are more grateful we build relationships more effectively, communicate more positively and are more effective and efficient. Note this recent post in Curt Rosengren's wonderful Occupational Adventure blog.

It describes a fascinating study of the tangible benefits of being grateful. I encourage you to read it.

Here is an exercise to try today. Before your next meeting, take 2 minutes to write down five things you have to be grateful for over the past two weeks. These can be small or large things - it doesn't matter. Notice how you frame issues and communicate differently in the meeting.

Once you have done this for yourself a couple of times, take a bigger risk (it really isn't a risk but it might feel like one right now) and ask everyone in the meeting to do the same thing.

This isn't a sharing exercise - reassure people that they won't be asked to share what is on their list - it is a personal gratitude exercise.

Taking this action will create a new energy and focus for your meeting. You will create more ideas, and more positive, encouraging conversation.

This is just one example reflecting on your gratitude. (If you are immediately interested and want some other ideas go here.) In the coming weeks and months, I might well have more to share in this area. But even if I don't, this one exercise can make a positive difference in your life when you do it.

Also posted in Creativity, Customer Service, Leadership and Teamwork.

Labels: gratefulness, gratitude

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It seems that in every organization I work they claim to have more acronyms than any other organization. Actually, they all seem to have equally large numbers of them. We even have them in our own small organization. Acronyms are a series of letters used as an abbreviated form of a longer phrase. CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), and LSU (Louisiana State University) are three examples.

You have likely thought of many examples as you read the above paragraph.

The value of acronyms is that they create a short hand and help us speak more rapidly. The danger is that communicating with people who don't know them can cause major and immediate communication blocks.

I've done an exercise in the workshops where I have people define a number of "common" acronyms. Perhaps the most interesting thing that happens is that many of the acronyms have two different yet equally valid meanings! Talk about communication gaps.

Acrostics are something entirely different. An acrostic is defined as: "An acrostic . . . is a poem or other writing in an alphabetic script in which the first letter, syllable or word of each verse, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out another message. . . . an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aide memory retrieval." (Thanks Wikipedia.)

Acrostics then are much more powerful than acronyms, because in their order they create meaning and improve the chances we will remember that meaning. I often try to create these in my writing. Yesterday, when discussing a recent article I wrote in Unleash Your Potential, titled, Be a Better Listener With These Great Questions, someone immediately identified a powerful acrostic.

The content at a high level was written as:

Reasons Great Listeners Ask Questions

There are specific purposes for the questions asked when trying to listen more successfully. They fall into four basic categories:

- Questions to confirm understanding
- Questions to learn more
- Questions to understand meaning or feelings
- Questions to encourage and show support

And the acrostic is - Use a CLUE to formulate great questions

Confirm understanding
Learn more
Understanding meaning or feelings
Encourage and show support


See the power of this tool?

(Here's the full article.)

I encourage you to look for ways to creatively see more acrostics, and perhaps fewer acronyms. The effectiveness of your communication will be greatly improved.

Also posted in Creativity, Leadership, Learning, Teamwork and Training.

Labels: accelerated learning, acronyms, acrostics

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Last weekend my son Parker and I played a game of Go.

Parker (14 and a freshman in High School) has been reading about, studying and playing Go for several months. For a variety of reasons he and I hadn't sat down to play since he was first learning.

In a role reversal, Parker was the expert and I the neophyte as we played the game. While this reversal could make an interesting blog post in itself, the lessons I received from the game were stunning. Here are a couple of my lessons and how you can apply them yourself.

1. Seeing patterns. One key to success in Go and many other board games is the patterns that arise as the game progresses (if you don't know Go you can learn more here (or here) think about the patterns a chess expert sees as a game unfolds). Parker, because of his study and practice, could see patterns that I couldn't see. His experience and knowledge help him to interpret the board and the positions of the stones in ways that I can't yet do. I believe the same is true for any expertise.

2. The Curse of Knowledge. As we become experts in anything we see new patterns. During the game Parker was occasionally surprised when I couldn't see or understand something. He was reacting naturally - just like any expert, he couldn't believe I couldn't understand! In Chip and Dan Heath's excellent new book Made to Stick they call this the Curse of Knowledge. I tell people that to effectively teach someone something, we must remember what it was like when we were a beginner. Here's a hint - it isn't easy.

Both of these lessons apply to us as leaders - we see patterns and assume others see them, and we sometimes have trouble communicating things because we "assume" people already know that.

These lessons apply to us as trainers, whether formal or informal because both of these factors play heavily into our success (or failure) in teaching anyone something new, especially when we are significantly more expert than they are.

I'm looking forward to my next game of Go - even though Parker will probably beat me badly - because I know there are many more lessons for me to learn.

Thanks Parker.

Also posted in Creativity, Leadership, Learning, and Training.

Labels: games, reflection

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I've been a lover, collector and reader of quotations for a very long time. I've published quotations with questions to ponder (to help us all turn the quotation into a learning opportunity) for many years. This email service, which used to be delivered five days a week and is now delivered once per week is called Powerquotes.

Today we re-release the Powerquotes website with some great features, including a daily blog of some of the past quotations (with links to the questions).

I encourage you to take a look and join the fun - either the weekly email or the now daily blog.

(For Powerquotes on steriods - where completely different quotations, questions and action steps are offered to you five days a week via email delivery, check out my Powerquotes Plus service.

Also posted in Learning.

Labels: learning, Powerquotes, quotations

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. . . more, you are taking advantage of the Zeigarnik Effect.

Wikipedia describes this effect this way:

The Zeigarnik effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.

Russian Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik first studied the phenomenon after noticing that waiters seemed to remember orders only so long as the order was in the process of being served.

Zeigarnik theorized that an incomplete task or unfinished business creates “psychic tension” within us. This tension motivates us toward completing tasks.

How can we take advantage of this effect?

Use it as a learning tool: As a trainer, leaving people "hanging" before a break or lunch, can arouse greater curiosity to close the loop upon student's return.

As reinforcement of the value of closure: We all want closure and we can often help people drive to that closure when they see a tangible end point that truly means completion.

Use it in a presentation: When presenting an important message, remember the value of the cliff hanger - get people thinking about possible solutions or the answer to a question for some period of time before "closing the loop."


Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training.

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