DSLeadership LLC

12/15/2022

Lovely article about how salaries are a floor to happiness and not a ceiling.

Of work, weasels, and employee engagement in the nonprofit sector.

08/05/2022

Avoiding Groupthink -- good article from our local paper.
https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Work-Matters-Groupthink-and-how-to-avoid-it-17351088.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-latest-new

05/05/2022

Excellent article for bosses.....

Companies too often think big in trying to improve employees’ well-being. But it’s the little things that can make all the difference.

11/29/2021

From Eric Barker:

Here’s how to improve your personality:

Extroversion: Schedule more fun activities with friends. Forget what your parents said: talk to strangers. And if you get nervous, just remember: you’re not nervous; you’re excited.

Openness: Learn Chinese. Learn to cook. Learn to cook Chinese cuisine. And get some exercise. Lack of it is a major cause of a lousy personality.

Conscientiousness: You don’t need a fancy to-do list. You need more meaningful things in your life. Think about how what you do benefits others. And don’t try to increase willpower; eliminate temptations.

Agreeableness: Build those empathy muscles. To better understand others, better understand yourself. Think about the different sides of your personality. Then spend time with people very different from you.

Neuroticism: Turn your daily worry list into a nightly gratitude list. If you can do that for six months, reward yourself with a trip to Thailand.

11/22/2021

A really wonderful summary of the things I have been working on with my clients for the past year. Enjoy!

Covid has worsened the stress and isolation of modern life, but a few simple ideas can put us on the path to well-being.

10/11/2021

Assigned this Ted Talk on trust by Harvard Business School professor Francis Frei to my leadership students and think it is more relevant now than ever....worth your 15 minutes!

Trust is the foundation for everything we do. But what do we do when it's broken? In an eye-opening talk, Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei give...

10/02/2021

Excellent advice!

Getting work messages in the evening or on weekends can be stressful, but senders often don’t consider them urgent. There’s a way to fix the misunderstanding.

10/02/2021

Excellent advice!!

Getting work messages in the evening or on weekends can be stressful, but senders often don’t consider them urgent. There’s a way to fix the misunderstanding.

09/29/2021

We all need more awe in our lives, don't we?

06/14/2021

From Eric Barker's latest column on quitting bad habits:

Watch your thoughts. They become words.
Watch your words. They become actions.
Watch your actions. They become habits.
Watch your habits. They become character.
Watch your character. It becomes your destiny.

Read more at https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2021/06/how-to-quit-bad-habits-2/

04/15/2021

From Eric Barker's latest posting summarizing Harvard Professor Daniel Lieberman's latest book "Exercised"

This is how to have a long, awesome life:

Exercise is not natural. Neither is being sedentary. We did not evolve to move for no reason but we have been excellent at eliminating reasons. Not moving turns twenty-year-olds in forty-year-olds faster than... well, a lot faster than twenty years.

Mismatch Diseases: Many of the illnesses we attribute to age are not due to age. Live like someone lying in a hospital bed and you will soon be someone lying in a hospital bed.

Sitting, by itself, is not the problem: A standing desk at the office won't do diddily if you're endlessly planted on the couch at home every night.

How much? What kind?: At least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week and weight train at least twice a week. Spend as much time worrying about "too much exercise" as you worry about the dilemma of having "too much money."

Motivation: Create a good reason and socialize. Find something you enjoy doing or that you can attach an immediate reward to. Involve friends to add the lovely component of socializing (and for strategic guilt purposes).

Daniel Lieberman sums it up simply.

Make exercise necessary and fun. Do mostly cardio, but also some weights. Some is better than none. Keep it up as you age.

03/30/2021

Love this Eric Barker newsletter on emotionally intelligent friends. Here's the summary

Here's how to make emotionally intelligent friendships:

Stay in touch: Friendship is not an arena where you want to play hard to get. What are you, a carnival prize?

Gratitude: If we're more kind to strangers than to friends, we are definitely doing something wrong.

Quality > Quantity: Share emotional experiences. That's the secret to those friendships where you can just pick up where you left off.

Budget appropriately: Time is limited. Allocate it wisely. And this is yet another reason to ditch the jerks in your life.

How to party: Eat. Laugh. Reminisce. Avoid small talk. The more the merrier. (And maybe a bit of booze.)

Make your best friend better: You influence each other more than you know. Make yourself better and help make them better, because, in the end, those two are the same thing.

Full blog post is here:

The pandemic has been hard on our friendships. Here's what science says we can do to make them better in 2021...