Courage, passion, ethics, and resilience are inarguably components of confidence. While some are born with these comprising attributes, many others need the direction and encouragement of our teachers, our parents and our friends, who instill confidence. Improvisational comedy functions on a theory called “Yes, and,” where members of a troupe build off of one another when they’re on the stage. They have to embrace and escalate zany and uncanny ... Continue Reading »
leadership
The Brilliance of Resilience
Want a challenge in steadfastness? Try being resilient. Naysayers may have frequently told you that the odds are against you or that your plans will never come to fruition. They've likely told you to play it safe and to steer clear of certain risk. However, extraordinary people understand how to ignore these voices and how to proclaim self-assigned success. While resilient individuals sometimes suffer disappointments, they rebound. They don't ... Continue Reading »
Foster a culture of gratitude
This post was first published in Harvard Business Review. In the movie Remember the Titans, Coach Herman Boone takes his high school football team to the battleground of Gettysburg. Having inherited a fractured and divided squad, Coach Boone implores the players to “take a lesson from the dead. If we don’t come together, right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were.” Coach Boone then establishes the primacy ... Continue Reading »
The value you create: Your raison d’être
This post was first published by SmartBrief. Value creation is the raison d’être of any business entity. How do you accurately assess the value of a company? What dimensions are the most important for determining company value? How do you calculate a company’s long-term prospects for success? Many analysts use a broad definition of value creation, and they include in it the calculation financial factors (e.g. financial statement analysis, ... Continue Reading »
How to Use Optimism to Defeat Adversity
This post was first published in Forbes. I asked executives, in a series of interviews, about the most difficult professional situations they had faced as leaders. One chief executive discussed the effect of 9/11 on the operation of his airline company. Another told of taking his company into bankruptcy. A former CEO reviewed how his company’s stock price had plunged from a high of $48 dollars to mere pennies in less than a year. Other ... Continue Reading »
Helping Others – Helping Ourselves
by Christine M. Riordan, Ph.D. This post was first published in theglasshammer.com on December 17, 2014 “One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.” Lewis Carroll How do you actively back, encourage, and support the people you work with – whether you are a boss, co-worker, or subordinate? Social psychologists call behaviors we engage in to help others at work - prosocial ... Continue Reading »