The Productive Pause

03/20/2020

PAUSE to Listen.

This podcast explores how 'Honest Abe' was able to learn and lead simultaneously, communicate deeply-held values and principles and self-regulate (!) under enormous pressure and grave uncertainty. Enjoy.

HBR Ideacast: Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Emotional Discipline

03/20/2020

PAUSE to Reflect.

A key to agile leadership is the ability to separate your IDENTITY as a leader from the CONTEXT you are facing. Changing conditions inevitably impose challenges; and we are wired to defend our interests, status and self-definition. Recognize your personal reactions. Set aside self-concern. Step into creative action.

Decisions that limited testing for the pathogen blinded the U.S. to the outbreak’s scale, impeding the nation’s ability to fight it through isolating the sick and their contacts. Here’s how it happened.

03/10/2020

PAUSE for Connection.

The iceberg metaphor - what lies below the surface often escapes our attention.
The heart - a center of knowledge, power and understanding. Too often, its insight lies beneath our conscious thought.

03/10/2020

PAUSE to Reflect.
Coaching feeds the flame of insight and understanding. It feeds motivation, fuels productivity and clarifies your thinking.

When you give someone an unsolicited solution (advice!), you think you are adding illumination. Imagine if in reality, you are diminishing the flame of inquiry or the light of progress.

Three reasons your words of wisdom probably aren’t worth very much.

02/27/2020

PAUSE to Learn: The Power of WHY questions.

When skillfully used, WHY questions can be potent tools. But they are not for every situation or conversation. As a coach, I'm very careful with WHY questions. They have the tendency to throw us into our heads where the voice of judgement or justification can dominate and derails our process.

But when it comes to PURPOSE and generating INTENTION or investigating how REASON or hidden AGENDAS are giving you the run around, the WHY question has no equal. It is simply the sharpest tool available.

Have you taken the time to get clear for yourself why you want to be a leader? Or, are you waiting to get to a particular level or actually have people reporting to you before that question seems relevant? Consider that: “Why do you want to lead?” is a question you should be asking yourself earl...

12/19/2019

Pause for Authenticity!
Love that Rousseau works his way into this post.😀

How can a character-based leader deliver genuine authenticity? There are many ways, but these four methods particularly stand out.

12/19/2019

Pause to Connect!
Watch out for these the habits of relating - NOT!

Everyone has off days, but if you’re regularly doing any of these things, it may be time to implement a change.

12/02/2019

Pause to Reflect: working skillfully with the body is essential to sustainable growth and durable change.

You are not just thinking with your brain.

12/02/2019

Pause for Plasticity! Amazing.

How the Brain Can Rewire Itself After Half of It Is Removed

New scans showed how the brains of people who had a hemisphere removed in childhood continue to function.

11/30/2019

Pause to Influence: this article is SO much better than its' title!
Here's the gist:
Listen to people.
Get them to think about their own experience.
Highlight common humanity.

There is a nice video on a technique called 'Deep Canvassing' where you follow up data questions by asking Open Ended Questions, then...... Listen! Follow up with more Open Ended Questions. This engages the active processing in the responder and creates learning that is more durable b/c they come to the conclusions themselves.

How to argue better, according to science.