Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Your seed of actions and words toward your children will produce a harvest. Salay Kekula, Author, Secrets to Reaching Your Destiny Continuing forward, we now know some ground steps to begin to inspire greatness in those among us. We must practice what we preach...
Being Seen, Heard, and Understood
Psychological safety, trauma-informed functioning, emotional intelligence, and mental health are common organizational focuses today. At the root of these are the need for a deep understanding and establishment of, conditions that foster peace, joy and love in people...
Help! I Dread Work and I’m the Boss!
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln The leadership style that starts in childhood is at the heart of why 55% of people are disengaged and 16% are actively...
It’s ALL About Customer Service… Or Is It?
“You’d corner me in your conformity but even in dormancy I’m sleeping with enormity, stretching the belly of the earth and everything I was born to be.” ― Curtis Tyrone Jones, a veteran, coach, motivational speaker, and author When I hear...
Shame: Don’t Kill the Messenger!
“Each and every time the grace of devastation enters our reality, we have an equal opportunity to either cement the falsehood of limiting beliefs or to allow limiting beliefs to melt away by walking through the fire of our most epic disaster.” Matt Kahn, Author of...
Why Servant Leadership Can Sometimes Be Top Down
“The goal of many leaders is to get people to think more highly of the leader. The goal of a great leader is to help people to think more highly of themselves.” ― J. Carla Nortcutt, Professor When it comes to being human, no matter age, experience, title, or...
Why Systemic Change is Hard
“The system of patriarchy is a historic construct; it has a beginning; it will have an end. Its time seems to have nearly run its course—it no longer serves the needs of men or women and in its inextricable linkage to militarism, hierarchy, and racism it threatens the...
Unresolved Psychological Contracts
“If others tell us something we make assumptions, and if they don’t tell us something we make assumptions to fulfill our need to know and to replace the need to communicate.” ― Miguel Ruiz, Author, The Four Agreements A psychological contract is beliefs people...
Manipulation
“Arriving at the destination is more than just having the map.” Judy Ryan, CEO LifeWork Systems Manipulation has gotten a bad rap. We often feel insulted and become defensive when we or someone we love is described as manipulative. The common belief is that...
A Fool with a Tool is Still a Fool
“A fool with a tool is still a fool.” Grady Booch, American Software Engineer In any situation involving significant transformation, the most important change process is the one within, one’s mindset. In my 12-month culture transformation process people often...
Your Greatest Barrier Is Your Pain Tolerance
“…Sometimes I suspect that what had really happened was that we became more resigned, more cynical, raised our pain thresholds as we lowered our expectations. All in all, we settled for less.” Emma Donoghue, Playwright It’s no accident we often hear, “no pain,...
Can Love Be Here Too?
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.” —Brené Brown As I work with clients on their personal and professional development or help friends and family who are working through issues, I find many people push...
Seize Opportunities Within the Great Resignation
“The true test of character is to live win-win even when promoted to positions where win-lose is possible.” ― Orrin Woodward If you search google, you’ll find The Great Resignation is defined as an informal name for the widespread trend of a significant number...
Stop Protecting Your Reputation
“The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.” ― Napoleon Hill ...
Shifting Social Power Relations
“To reflect upon the present as history is to understand that history may now be made by default. Understanding that, we no longer need accept as “necessary” the lesser evil. We no longer need to accept historical fate, for fate is a feature of specific kinds of...
Episode 11 – Living the Life You Want
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In my work with clients, I often hear people say, “how can I motivate this person to do what they’re supposed to? They’re lazy. They’re unmotivated.” The truth is people are always motivated. They’re just not always motivated to do what YOU want them to do.
In this episode, Judy and her guest, Tara Gregor, founder and CEO of Breakwell, a resource hub for holistic wellness discuss a very different and highly effective approach to motivation. Old models and external motivation tactics simply don’t work anymore. So, if those don’t work, what does? Tune in to this podcast to learn a new approach.
Episode 10 – Leaders Driving Culture Change
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In my work with clients, I often hear people say, “how can I motivate this person to do what they’re supposed to? They’re lazy. They’re unmotivated.” The truth is people are always motivated. They’re just not always motivated to do what YOU want them to do.
In this episode, Judy and her guest, Tara Gregor, founder and CEO of Breakwell, a resource hub for holistic wellness discuss a very different and highly effective approach to motivation. Old models and external motivation tactics simply don’t work anymore. So, if those don’t work, what does? Tune in to this podcast to learn a new approach.
The Danger in Larger-Than-Life Heroes
“The danger in larger-than-life heroes is that many get affixed to their perceived status and achievements to the cost of themselves and others.” Judy Ryan, CEO LifeWork Systems I have met leaders who have accomplished great things. They have turned around...
An Inclusive Culture is a Winning Culture
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr What a noteworthy time to be a business leader, witnessing...
Is Your Free Will Actually Free?
“Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.” ~ C.S. Lewis Many people are aware of choices they make. What they don’t realize is that unconscious beliefs have also formed when they...
Are Your People High Performing?
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” Michael Jordan “You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self-motivation.” Homer Rice As a business leader, you...
Use of Power
“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.” ― Mahatma Gandhi “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” ― Abraham Lincoln I was not sure whether to call this...
Mentoring to Develop Your People
“Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off” Jeffrey Pfeffer In our culture transformation model, a key concept is ongoing monthly mentoring to...
Do You Have a Powerful, Positive and Helpful Ego?
“If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and, in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.” John Lennon The notion of ego is often used to describe the harmful expressions of ego. We all...
Are You a Transactional or a Transformational Leader?
“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” Sam Walton Transactional leadership or transactional management is the part of one style of leadership that...
Why Ditch Annual Performance Appraisals
“You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both of those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self-motivation.” Homer Rice, a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator Today one of my instructors...
Rip Out ALL the Roots
“There is a law that man should love his neighbor as himself. In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it he must perish.” Alfred Adler To exact improvements in our society, we all must become...
Episode 8 – If Not Punishment, Then What?
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Power Distance Index – Managing Relationships with Authority
“Some societies and religions have a tendency to expand the moral circle and to consider all humans as belonging to a single moral community.” Geert Hofstede, Social Psychologist I was re-reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers and he hit upon a theme I see a lot...
Globalization – Embracing Our Oneness
“Accordingly, globalization is not only something that will concern and threaten us in the future, but something that is taking place in the present and to which we must first open our eyes.” Ulrich Beck, German Sociologist and Social Scientist I am writing this...
Task Ownership
“The educator must believe in the potential power of his pupil, and he must employ all his art in seeking to bring his pupil to experience this power.” Alfred Adler, Psychologist Task ownership Task ownership is when a person is accountable to recognize and adopt...
Episode 2 – Are You a Puppet Or Powerful?
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Episode 1- Spitting in the Soup
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This topic is designed to challenge basic norms we’ve held sacrosanct for centuries. These are the four control models described in this episode as widely promoted means to cultivate good citizenship in homes, schools, churches, and workplaces; really everywhere. This episode helps listeners to recognize these as the impediments they are and that they need to be dismantled and replaced with new models.
Spitting In The Soup
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People are always motivated. It’s not anyone’s job to motivate others. People can control themselves. They can do what’s right and don’t need approval or shaming to do so. They don’t need to be enabled. The problem is we don’t have faith in people nor do we know how to effectively teach them to pick up responsibility for things that are theirs to own. When we learn to do so, others can become accountable, caring and fully engaged, making a positive difference in your business.
The Path (Back) to Being Authentic
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their...
It’s Never Too Late…To Create A Life You Love
“It is not always sunshine that splits the seed cleaving the armor, releasing the shoot. Darkness makes the heart’s case fragile. Pain breaks it open. Courage teases out the leaves and life unfurls and expands, thrusting upwards into light.” -Heidi Thomas, Call the...
Honesty is the Best Policy – or is it?
“Failure of an employee to speak up in a crucial moment cannot be seen. This is true whether that employee is on the front lines of customer service or sitting next to you in the executive board room. And because not offering an idea is an invisible act, it’s...
Why Transparency CAN Become a Bloodbath
“Killers aren’t always assassins. Sometimes, they don’t even have blood on their hands.” ~ Ruta Sepetys, Author I once knew a school teacher who quit her job teaching 8th graders (which she loved) to work for my company transforming school cultures where...
Discarding the Monster Box
“A man who picks up a cat by its tail will learn a lesson he can learn no other way.” ~ Mark Twain Your business will improve if you remember some important facts. One is that we are all more alike than different. The other is that we must all put away the monster...
Google’s Former Head of HR Issues a Warning
All Business Owners and Leadership Teams Should Read Culture matters, now more than ever. Laszlo Bock shares three reasons the timing has never been better to invest in your organization’s culture. Culture influences decisions, and decisions make or break...
Managing Evolutionary Change
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ― Albert Einstein “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who...
Upgrading Our Human Systems
“The time is now. Because in this time of change, the world needs every one of us to stand in our power, reach our highest potential, share our gifts and be the best that we can be. Humanity can no longer accept antiquated definitions, labels and metaphors about how...
Hispanic Heroes
Note: While this article was written for Autentico and focused on Hispanic leadership, the concepts within are applicable to all people. “You are not lucky to be here. The world needs your perspective. They are lucky to have you.” Antonio Tijerino, CEO, Hispanic...
Is Love More Powerful Than Hate?
“You are a child of God. You’re playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.” Marianne Williamson I often ask, “How many of you see struggles...
Mentoring: Your Competitive Advantage
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” Steven Spielberg When we work in organizational culture change, our clients initially focus on the new concepts and tools in our...
Breaking the Addiction to Approval
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” Friedrich Nietzsche Someone recently asked...
Is Your Workplace Psychologically Safe?
“In general, only a child who feels safe dares to grow forward healthily. His safety needs must be gratified. He can’t be pushed ahead, because the ungratified safety needs will remain forever underground, always calling for satisfaction.” Abraham Maslow You see it...
Devil’s Advocate and Brutal Honesty
“Never play the Devil’s Advocate. Your words could be the difference between success and failure in someone else.” Ingrid Weir Too often I hear people say, “I’m going to play Devil’s advocate now” to which I quickly reply, “Please don’t. The Devil has too many...
The Crucial Role of Honor, Dignity and Respect
“Do the best that you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou All one has to do is turn on the news or get on social media to see that honoring oneself and one another and treating oneself and others with dignity and respect are...
Teal Organizations
The Teal paradigm refers to the next stage in the evolution of human consciousness.[1] When applied to organizations, this paradigm views the organization as an independent force with its own purpose, and not merely as a vehicle for achieving management’s...
Just Use Common Sense, Or Should You?
A woman was preparing a roast and as was her common practice she cut off both ends of it and threw them away. One day her husband asked, “Why do you always cut off the ends and throw them away?” to which she replied, “That’s how my mother always did it.” The man then...
Kinds Of People You Need
“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” Harry Truman No matter what your role, you have an important mission and vision to fulfill at both work and home. You also...
Meeting Our Needs and Those Of Others
Our Basic Social Needs: Belonging and Significance Beyond basic survival, we all want to experience a healthy sense of belonging and significance through our four core social needs: to feel powerful, lovable, connected and contributing. These four...
The Courage To Be Disliked
“When we least expect it, life sets up a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back....
Teal: The Future of Business Management
It is helpful to better understand the characteristics of teal. Self-management is one of the primary factors of teal.
Your Secret Weapon: Informal Influencers
To get these influencers to model the desired behaviour, you need their buy-in. Gather them together for a closed-door session and explain why their role is crucial. Often, it just takes an open conversation to help them understand the new cultural changes. If they...
DUP Global Human Capital Trends
This workforce is changing. It’s more digital, more global, diverse, automation-savvy, and social media- proficient. At the same time, business expectations, needs, and demands are evolving faster than ever before. While some view this as a challenge, we see it as an...
The Rise of The Social Enterprise
THE SYMPHONIC C-SUITE: TEAMS LEADING TEAMS Senior leaders can’t afford to work in silos in today’s complex, dynamic environment. The goal is to act as a symphony of experts playing in harmony—instead of a cacophony of experts who sound great alone, but not together....
Reciprocal Care in Hierarchical Exchange
Leaders play a key role in creating a work environment that enables employees to fulfill their creative and innovative potential, generate new ideas, and implement those ideas. This is a challenging task because generating and developing novel ideas often involve...
The Ideal Millennial Work Environment
There are a number of things that guide millennials in the workplace. They want to be happier than their parents, find more purposeful work and work with better companies. Millennials want their companies to align with their values. But with all these desires, what...
The Agile Cultural Shift
Today’s rapidly changing, digitally infused markets and the intensifying fight for customers demand that organizations execute with unprecedented speed and agility. To address this reality, enterprises are looking for an edge; and, for many, that edge is embracing...
If Not Punishment, Then What?
Toxic Shame is a neurotic, irrational feeling of worthlessness, humiliation, self-loathing and paralyzing feeling that has been inflicted onto an individual through repeated, traumatic experiences often, but not always, rooted in childhood. When shame becomes...
Intention Equals Results
“The truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.” Winston Churchill Intention is a function of our minds and is a causal activity. In other words, whether we use our minds consciously or...
Authentic Power
Do you trust people to want and choose to be caring, and accountable without coercion? Do you make it your mission to develop their initiative or to control them instead? Consider today’s research quoted in an article entitled The Rise of American Authoritarianism...
How Do You Know?
“When the student is ready the teacher appears. When the question is asked then the answer is heard. When we are truly ready to receive then what we need will become available.” John Gray, Author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus One of my favorite movies is...
When Winning Turns Into Losing
“How tricky is this ego that it would tempt us with a promise of something we already possess.” Jim Carrey My daughter, a practicing attorney, was recently offered a great job in a small boutique law firm and was enjoying the process of getting to know the staff,...
Emotional Presence: It’s Good Business!
“The affairs of the heart are directly connected to the brain and it’s theheart’s natural intelligence that must be unfolded for the brain to operate with greater efficiency.” Magical Child, Joseph Chilton Pearce, Plume, 1992 Imagine...
Be THE Decisive Element
“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or...
Commit to Personal Responsibility
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one...
Embrace the Edge of the Unknown
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” Helen Keller For most business owners, living on the edge of the unknown is a familiar feeling...
Right Under My Nose
“Developing an awareness of life beyond your immediate surroundings brings a healthy restlessness which, if infused with peace and used well, can be a foundation for positive change in the world.” Dadi Janki, Brahmakumaris Chief Auto-Pilot: Operating In A Blind...
Accountability IS Happiness!
“While it doesn’t sound too exciting, I believe happiness is being 100% accountable for your life.” Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love I couldn’t agree more. Being accountable is taking 100% responsibility for your relationships, your motivation,...
Like PB and J, Freedom WITH Responsibility
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents What would our world be like, (including our homes, schools and places of business) if...
Become the Best Version of YOU!
“The actual processes of individuation—the conscious coming-to-terms with one’s own inner center (psychic nucleus) or Self—generally begins with a wounding of the personality and the suffering that accompanies it. This initial shock amounts to a sort of a...
Loved AND Lovable
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Elizabeth Appell In my work, I help people take the risk to blossom. I tell business leaders, employees, educators and parents that all people have...
Be Your Most Imaginal Self!
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” Proverb Consider the following ellipses from the books “Butterfly,” by Norie Huddle, and “Waking the Global Heart,” by Anodea Judith. Caterpillars are consumers that eat non-stop. They...
Become the Hero You’ve Been Waiting For
“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” Arthur Ashe Too many people stubbornly believe it’s necessary and justifiable to use...
Get More Selfish!
“Whether you believe it a moral imperative or enlightened self-interest, securing the conditions that will lead to a healthy, prosperous future for everyone is a goal I believe we all share.” Bill Gates We are often appalled by selfish people. They grasp...
Your Powerful Agreements
“Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive –to be alive and express what we really are. Just being our self is the biggest fear of humans.” Don Miguel Ruiz “There is no neutral. We are either part of the...
Motivation From The Inside Out
“Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to because THEY want to do it.” Dwight D. Eisenhower For centuries as a people, we have opted to use control measures such as command-and-control management (eliciting fear and...
Millennials: Canaries In The Coal Mine
“Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden & Civil Disobedience A canary in the coal mine refers to a time when canaries (birds) were carried down into mine...
Keep Moving Forward Into Transformation
“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, keep moving forward.”Martin Luther King Imagine you commit to construct conditions in which creativity, caring, and exceptional results...
Be Unconsciously Competent
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us”. Joseph Campbell, Author Often, we are afraid to make even positive changes because we have...
The Education Of Our Children
“Consider the kingdom you have made and judge its worth fairly. Is it worthy of a child of God? Does it protect his peace and shine love upon him? Does it keep his heart untouched by fear and allow him to give always, without any sense of loss? Does it teach him that...
I Can’t be a Good Boss & a Friend too
“To power up the whole system involves learning to bring the heart and mind into a creative joint venture. Heart intelligence supplies balanced strength and allows more of one’s individual spirit — the passionate actualization of one’s core values...
Cruelest Three Words: “Get Over It!”
“The purpose of all relationships is to create a sacred context within which you can express the fullness of who you are.” Neale Donald Walsh In my work, the greatest setbacks and arrested development of people is connected with a preponderance of...
Men & Women Leading Together
“In the end, what will hurt the most is not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King, Jr. I sent a TED talk to a male friend, entitled Violence Against Women; it’s a Men’s Issue, by Jackson Katz. I was deeply...
The Power of Mentoring
“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” ― Plato “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be...
The Courage To Change & Grow
“An unexamined life is not worth living” Plato Here it is another New Year’s Day! It’s a time to reflect, re-set, and re-create. We consider our health, wealth, relationships, spirituality, and our purpose and visions. Many get determined to set new...
Successfully Navigate The Future
“The most exciting breakthroughs of the twenty-first century will not occur because of technology, but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human.” John Naisbitt Whether you welcome or resist it, change is happening at the speed of...
Cover Story: Me Too: Unwrapping Abuse Systems
“An insight the size of a mustard seed is powerful enough to bring down a mountain-sized illusion that may be holding our lives together. Truth strikes without mercy. We fear our intuitions because we fear the transformational power within our revelations.”...
7 Unexpected Employee Performance Management Trends To Watch For In 2018
Performance Management is how we’re working together as teams and managing people. We can let the term slip into the meaningless buzzwords bucket, or we can rally around it and commit to building authentic work relationships and nurturing employee development and...
Perceptual Blindness
“Change blindness in the world of facts and knowledge is a problem. Sometimes we are exposed to new facts and simply filter them out. But more often we have to go out of our way in order to learn something new. Our blindness is not a failure to see the new fact; it’s...
The Preponderance of Neglect
“Most organizations don’t fall apart as a result of one big blow. Most relationships don’t end because of one grand argument. Most lives don’t fall to pieces due to one sad event. No, I suggest to you that sustained failure happens as the consequence of small,...
Why Are We So Stuck?
“One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” Arnold H. Glasgow This is a challenging time to be American. On the one hand people are talking about recurrent themes such as inequality,...
Choose You
“Most men (and women) lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still inside them.” Henry David Thoreau It’s difficult for many people, especially women, to choose themselves in their own lives and then they lead lives of quiet desperation. I have found...
Who Says You’re Not Like The Dalai Lama!?
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate… Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” Nelson Mandela How is it that we often forget our true glorious nature and cling to the weakest view of our self instead? It is as if we have these...
Life Is Calling YOU!
“You are braver than you think, more talented than you realize.” R. Bennett I watched a documentary on the pyramids recently and learned something that made me hopeful while confirming what I have already felt intuitively. Despite appearances, we are moving out of a...
Leader-Follower Agility Is Crucial
“Innovation is key. Only those who have the agility to change with the market and innovate quickly will survive.” Robert Kiyosaki “Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react, and reinvent.” Bill Gates Change is happening...
Teal is the Trend. What Color is Your Organization?
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist “Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet.” Henry...
“I’m Sorry You Feel That Way” – “I Never Intended That…”
“If you own the story you get to write the ending.” Brene Brown “We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” George Bernard Shaw Why It’s Never Helpful to Say, “I’m Sorry You Feel That Way…” or “I Never...
Is My Business Agile?
“I submit that there must be a commitment to, practice of, and execution of professional common behaviors and the presence of highly communicated standardized organizational expectations – without which there are no supports upon which the Agile/SAFe bar can be...
What Does “I’m Right; You’re Wrong” Cost?
“Remember, we see the world not as it is but as we are. Most of us see through the eyes of our fears and our limiting beliefs and our false assumptions.” Robin S. Sharma “Don’t Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really...
Bridging Differences For Diversity & Inclusion Excellence!
“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.” — Max de Pree, American...
What’s Love Got to Do With It?
Whether we want to associate love with our businesses or not, the presence of love or the lack of it, plays a powerful role in our ROI. It affects our profitability, health, employee engagement, teamwork, customer satisfaction; all of what makes a business successful....
You Make Sense & Deserve Compassion
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always. Unknown What if you knew every reaction (and even what you fear are over-reactions) you experience is based on legitimate reasons and deserves caring attention and understanding...
Do You (Really) Believe in Win/Win?
“Lead the life that will make you kindly and friendly to everyone, and you will be surprised what a happy life you will lead.” Charles M. Schwab When most people are asked if they believe in and want win/win, they answer with the obvious, “yes.” The challenge is that...
Do You Control or Develop Your Staff?
“If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes.” Henry Cloud Your greatest asset is a team of committed employees. When you are...
Teach them to Fish
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Maimonides The Dilemma Many systems and strategies of the past are no longer effective. Schools were originally designed to cultivate conforming, compliant factory...
Work/Life Balance
What helps anyone, anytime, with almost anything? Figure out what you want and learn how to ask for it! From the movie, “How Do You Know?” Watch and learn how you would do this more often. Click on the image below Judy Ryan provides clarity around the...
Realize the Gravity of the Situation
Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments recently made a landmark decision to take a pay cut from $1M to $70K annually in order to pay each of his employees the same. His decision has sparked controversy. What Kind of Workplace Culture Do You Want? As a people, we are at a...
It Just Got Real
When Beethoven looked at the piano keys, he saw a symphony. When Michael Jordan saw a basketball, he saw greatness. When I meet people, I see powerful sublime human systems. I see the unseen, the narrative that is more powerful than the surface. The real deal! And...
Are You Free To Access Your Wisdom?
Most people are less able to access their wisdom than they know. And that’s because they are in survival mode more than they know. We experience various degrees of survival whenever we are triggered, reactive and experiencing our critter state, that part of our mind...
Help People Conceive, Believe, & Achieve
The difference between an idea and a commitment is the difference between knowing about a new tool and using it in your everyday life as a new habit and way of operating. The greatest challenge many of my clients encounter as they improve their workplace culture is to...
Conducting Business From The Heart
When I speak of heart in this article, I am referring specifically to our heart’s purpose, inspired from within, deeply stirring us, leading us to take actions that matter most to us. In my work with clients, I find that many don’t have a clear idea about their...
Books Worth Reading
“Salvation is certainly among the reasons I read. Reading and writing have always pulled me out of the darkest experiences in my life. Stories have given me a place in which to lose myself. They have allowed me to remember. They have allowed me to forget. They have...
Are You Building Capacity for Change?
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” Jack Welch What is capacity building and how does it affect your ability to make positive changes? One of the most perplexing...
Are you Running Your Business from Fear or Freedom?
“Live your life like you use your GPS. Set a course for your destination, make sure your vehicle is in good shape, trust you’ll eventually arrive and be content with the next instruction without knowing what’s after.” Judy Ryan, CEO LifeWork Systems In my work, a...
Power Over? Power Under? Power Within!
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela I was born and raised in Ferguson, MO and recent events there have provided an opportunity to write on beliefs...
Building Caring Connections
“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Theodore Roosevelt “Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people, brings happiness.” Harold Kushner I frequently meet people who want to experience...
What do you Intend to Cause?
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Albert Einstein When I work with businesses, organizations, families, and individuals, people are usually confused by this question: What do you intend to cause? It’s as if the idea...
Could Your Head Be Buried In The Sand?
“I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” Isaac Newton You’ve seen it happen to others and you may have already experienced it yourself: shocking setbacks in running your business. They’re shocking because one day...
A Happy Community Works, Plays, & Serves Together
A Happy Community Works, Plays, & Serves. Leaders determine the happiness of their workplace community. When you think of a happy community, you likely picture good team players that pitch in, are positive and manage themselves well, including their relationships,...
How to Transform Your Workplace
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Albert Einstein “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” Gautama Buddha A healthy organization is based on shared responsibility and values, where managers become...
Shifting From Victim to Victor
“Good people are not those who lack flaws, the brave are not those who feel no fear, and the generous are not those who never feel selfish. Extraordinary people ae not extraordinary because they are invulnerable to unconscious biases. They are extraordinary because...
Rejuvenate Your Ho-Hum Meetings
“Meeting people in a genuine way and feeling like there is a vital and meaningful connection going on makes me come alive.” Sharon Salzberg, NY Times Best-Selling Author Staff meetings provide your employees a unique opportunity to experience four crucial...
You’re Not The Boss of Me!
“Trying to win a power struggle is like trying to win a nuclear war. You may achieve your goal, but not without catastrophic casualties on both sides.” Jamie Raser, Author of Raising Children You Can Live With A man I know refuses to wear his safety belt...
Key to Your Joy: Honor Your Sensitivity
“To feel intensely is not a symptom of weakness…Highly sensitive people are too often perceived as weaklings or damaged goods. To feel intensely is not a symptom of weakness, it is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate.” Anthon St. Maarten, Author ...
Creating a Life YOU Love
“Selfishness is a virtue, unless you think it must come at the expense of others. And why would anyone think that? Oh yeah, that’s what all the people who don’t “get it” told you.” Mike Dooley My purpose is to cause conditions in...
Extraordinary People & Results
“It is not the ultimate achievement that makes you extraordinary; it is what you become on the way to that achievement that people celebrate. Saidi Mdala, Author of Know What Matters Are you experiencing poor relationships? Seeing under-performance and disengagement...
Holding Others Accountable
“The committed heart finds a way. The uncommitted heart finds an excuse.” Unknown Your daughter or son agrees to complete a chore and you arrive home only to find it incomplete once again. You ask one of your employees to contribute an important section of your team...
Being Trustworthy Isn’t Building Trust
“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” Stephen R. Covey I teach and consult on the importance of the following eight values that build trust: honesty,...
From Compliance to Commitment
“You get the best efforts from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within.” -Bob Nelson Compliance People used to think of the workplace in terms of the activities and behaviors that employees needed to perform well....
Let’s Break a Rule: the 20/80 Rule
“We all have burdens and we need to learn to carry each other’s burdens, lighten each other’s load.” Ann Romney Improve Your Employee AND Customer Satisfaction Your customer satisfaction is directly tied to your employee satisfaction. Your employee...
It Takes a Village
“Everybody in a village had a role to play in bringing up a child—and cherishing it—and in return that child would in due course feel responsible for everybody in that village. That is what makes life in society possible. We must love one another and help one another...
2. Honesty: Don’t Play Others, Don’t Play You!
“When you face a choice between being polite and being honest, err on the side of the truth. It’s better to be disliked but respected than to be liked and disrespected. In the long run, the people we trust the most are those who have the courage to be sincere.” Adam...
3. Receptivity: Are You Receptive?
“Receptivity and sensitiveness are what makes one’s behavior endearing and enriching. Do not try to thrust your likes and dislikes on others. Try instead, to find out what those around would expect from you and where you can possibly contribute. Rather than...
4. Disclosure: Will You Show Us Who YOU Are?
“Shame derives its power from being unspeakable.” Brené Brown, Author, Speaker I teach eight values needed to build trust: honesty, straightforwardness, respect, receptivity, recognition, keeping commitments, seeking excellence and disclosure. Disclosure, the...
5. Respect: Valuing Unconditionally
“Respect yourself and others will respect you.” ― Confucius This article on respect is the seventh in my series on the eight values that build trust. I always pair the word respect with mutual because one is not possible without the other. In my work with...
6. Recognition: Why is Recognition Important To Trust?
“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” Fred Rogers I have been...
8. Seeking Excellence: Are You All You Can Be?
“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” Aristotle Seeking excellence...
7. Follow-Through: Do I Mean What I Say?
“Intent without action will leave every word that I use to describe my intent as empty and best never said.” Craig D. Lounsbrough Imagine you ask someone to do something and they agree. You count on it, and then come to find they didn’t do it. How are you...
Are You Cultivating Excellence?
National research shows 29% of employees are engaged in excellence. They’re eager, willing, and personally responsible. The remaining 71% are mediocre or actively disengaged… Ghandi, Helen Keller, DaVinci, or simply a neighbor, friend or relative with qualities...
Why Are You Here?
“Believe in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.” Roy T. Bennett, Author, The Light in the Heart You’re challenged by a co-worker, client, friend or child; you’re up against physical, social, financial...
How Do I Deal With That Annoying Person?
“There is nothing so annoying as having two people talking when you’re busy interrupting.” Mark Twain You know that person who cracks a joke at an inopportune moment? Taps their pen on the conference room desk? Stands at your door while you’re on the...
Reasons We Gossip & What To Do Instead
“How would your life be different if…You walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day…You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same.” Steve Maraboli, Author, Life, the Truth, and Being Free Most people...
Kinds of People I Need
“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” Harry Truman An important question to consider is, “What kinds of people do I need and want to achieve my mission and...
Courage to be Imperfect
“Those who have a strong sense of love and belonging have the courage to be imperfect.” Brené Brown Why are we the most addicted, medicated, overweight, and indebted society in history? Brene Brown, researcher, author and speaker on vulnerability, worthiness...
The Dysfunctional Bunch
“Creating chaos provides excitement for some people, especially those who are uneasy with silence, those who distract themselves from their own problems by focusing outward, those who feel empty inside and need to fill themselves up with activity, and those who were...
Who Do You Think You Are?!
Ever encounter those people you feel like asking, “Who died and made you God?” You resist supporting them, thinking and saying anything nice about or to them and even if you don’t generally gossip, they’re the ones you’re most likely to tear down (or rip apart!), and...
Are We Compatible?
Whether in business or personal relationships, a worthwhile question to ponder is what constitutes compatibility? I went to a lecture by Dr. Denbo, a local therapist, who posed this question. Most of the crowd said things like, “Common values,” “Common interests,” and...
Soul Mates
Like many of you, I’ve always wanted a soul mate – that wonderful partner who in their presence makes me feel connected and whole. The one who really gets me and who’s there for me through thick and thin, for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in...
Longing for the Good Old Days?
“The good old days were never that good, believe me. The good new days are today, and better days are coming tomorrow. Our greatest songs are still unsung.” Hubert Humphrey “Why can’t we go back to the good old days when people knew how to behave?!” While I was...
Can a Team-Hater Engage Employees?
by Julia Paulus (referencing Judy Ryan and LifeWork Systems) SBM, March 2010 I don’t like teams. Back in school, I hated classes when we had to do group projects. My group was always the one where a couple of people did nothing and still got the grade. The same...
Wake up Tickled and Inspired!
“Are you ready to be wildly successful while supporting the same in others? if so… what are you waiting for?” Now’s the time to take these steps so you too awaken tickled and inspired… One of my most significant experiences in 2009 included participating...
What Does it Take to Build Trust?
I’ve delivered many team building workshops to corporations, schools and parent groups in which I focus on the behaviors that build trust and those that don’t. One behavior destructive to any team is gossip and part of my program is an invitation to enter a mind trust...
Better to Give Than Receive?
We often hear the phrase, “It’s better to give than receive” but is it true? The truth is, it just feels safer to give. Without equal ability to receive, a relationship is defined and limited by a certain amount of fear and withholding. I discovered the significance...
Connect to Your Light!
Recently, I took a self-imposed retreat to discover how to more fully operate from freedom, courage and joy. As women, unless the light of love is flowing fully in our family or in our intimate relationships, we’re not fulfilled because loving relationships are our...
Keep The End In Mind
In any situation in which you are uncertain, the first thing to consider very simply is, “What do I want to come of this? What is it for?” The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning of any course of action because the goal is what will determine the...
Pause, Breathe and Check In
Thich Nhat Hahn, a well- known author and Buddhist monk says we are reluctant to visit the home of our self because we are loath to face the pain, sadness and fear we might encounter there. It’s true those emotions are often present. He also says that if we...
Reality & Realist: An Idealist’s Perspective
We give and receive negative behavior based in fear and doubt every day. That’s part of our humanness. Being an idealist in the face of this behavior doesn’t mean we act as if we’ve had a lobotomy or bury our heads in the sand. Being spiritual and...
No I Won’t, You Can’t Make Me!
Power Struggles: Opportunities for Connection Yes, we all know what it is to be in a power struggle, whether it’s with a parent, child, spouse, lover, friend or co-worker. Power struggles are fraught with tension, anger and provocation. The feeling on one or both...
I Want. What Will I Do?
What do I want and what am I willing to do? These are powerful questions that make up the internal dialog of those who have embraced intrinsic motivation; the process of identifying and expressing what one most loves. These are questions of courage, exploration and...
What & Why Emotional Intelligence
We hear a lot of buzz these days about the importance of emotional intelligence (EI). What exactly is “emotional intelligence” and why do we need it? There are 4 main components: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management....
Commitment
“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and...
Vision is Everything
“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin It’s becoming more popular to talk about the power of our vision and the role it plays in creating extraordinary outcomes in our personal and professional lives. Physicists have proven that...
Am I Selfish?
It’s important to ask, “What do I feel and what do I want?” When we neglect to take time to consider our choices we often commit self-betrayal, which then results in betrayal of others… A friend recently called me for advice. Every year her family eats a...
What You Look For You Will Find
One of the great benefits and challenges of growing up is choice – consciously exercising it that is! We are always choosing, we just don’t always ask ourselves what, how and why we are choosing. Our focus makes all the difference. I had a huge aha experience...
Organized Chaos on Purpose
As a child deeply in love with nature, living on the edge of a park, and the 5th child of 6, I knew a lot about chaos, the beautiful, free, creative and exhilarating kind. Starting out free to explore, school at age 5 felt like bitter confinement and at times crushing...
Connection: From Chaos to Community
Connection is to humans what water is to fish; a key to our existence and a cornerstone for our behavior. We are social beings and from infancy we make decisions and set goals in response to our social framework. In community, we make interpretations, then decisions...
Dismantling Bullying Systems
(The story in this article may be an example involving students, but the message for the workplace is just as relevant) “As long as victims and bullies see themselves in diametrically opposed positions, (and they will if we don’t focus on the systems rather than...