ARTICLES
Positive Psychology - An introduction
Martin E. P. Seligman
Sheds light on the history of psychology, from its post-traumatic healing focus to positive psychology. Explains questions dealt with in positive psychology and lists the most prominent works and authors.
Emotional Agility
Susan David and Christina Congleton
Emotional agility, the ability to be in touch with your emotional state, pause and distance yourself from in-the-moment emotions, and pick your course of action calmly and deliberately is key for succeeding as a leader. Susan and Christina describe just how important it is and how it works.
Talent Management for the 21st Century
Peter Cappelli (HBR, 2008)
Cappelli concludes that it is time for a new form of talent management to match the current times of uncertainty. He advocates for a talent on-demand systsem that combines make and buy of employees and focuses on developing own employees, but finding ways to increase the return on investment.
What is Missing in Leadership Development
Claudio Feser, Nicolai Nielsen, and Michael Rennie
Quantitative analysis of roughly 500 executive survey responses on why so many leadership development programs fail. The article points out the 40-50 key factors that need to be in place for these programs to actually be successful.
Increasing the Meaning Quotient at Work
Susie Cranston and Scott Keller (McKinsey Quarterly)
Built on the belief that high-EQ, high-IQ and high-MQ (Meaning Quotient) employees boost workplace performance, Cranston and Keller give strategies for how employees can find meaning at work beyond financial incentives.
Decoding Leadership: What Really Matters
Claudio F. Fernanda M., and Ramesh S.
New research suggests that the secret to developing effective leaders is to encourage four types of behavior. This article will tell you just what these are.
Adaptability: 1 Idea, 3 Facts, 5 Tips
Center for Creative Leadership
The Idea: Leaders must adapt to succeed
The 3 Facts:
Adapting is more than coping
Inflexible leaders limit the adaptability of others
Adaptable people show three kinds of flexibility
Read the article for the 5 Tips
How To Test Your Decision Making Instincts
Andrew Campbell and Jo Whitehead
One of the most important questions facing leaders is when they should trust their gut instincts. The article lays out four tests that should be met before executives decide to go with their gut. Click on the article to find out which.
How Ciritical Reflection Triggers Transformative Learning
Jack Mezirow
Mezirow claims that to make "meaning" means to make sense of an experience, i.e., we make an interpretation of it. When we subsequently use this interpretation to guide deicsion-making or action, then making meaning becomes learning.
Experiential learning: What's missing in most change programs
Claus Benkert and Nick van Dam
Successful transformations demand new capabilities. To build them, experiential learning leverages the imtimate link between knowledge and experience.
Manage Your Work, Manage Your Life
Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams [HBR]
Senior executives feel they can't achieve "balance" through constant juggling, which prevents them from engaging meaningfully either at work or at home. The solution si making deliberate choices about which opportunities to pursue in both realms
The Need to Belong: Desire for Interpersonal Attachments as a Fundamental Human Motivation
Roy F. Baumeister and Mark R. Leary
This 1995 literature review is 33 pages long and conclusively supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental , and extremely pervasive motivation.
The Impact of Executive Coaching and 360º Feedback on Leadership Effectiveness
Elizabeth C. Thach
Tracking the progress of 281 executives participating in a six-month coaching and 360 feedback process, this research bit answers the question whether executive coaching really works and whether it helps improve leadership effectiveness and productivity.
Why leadership-development programs fail
Pierre Gurdijan, Thomas Halbeisen, and Kevin Lane
The authors illustrate nicely how much money is wasted because organizations do not sidestep for common mistakes in their leadership development programs:
1. Overlooking context
2. Decoupling reflection from real work
3. Underestimating mindsets
4. Failing to measure results
The Johari Window - Using Self-Discovery and Communication to Build Trust
MindTools.com
This article is a great introduction to the concept of the Johari Window. It hones in on the two key ideas that a) You can build trust with others by disclosing information about yourself and b) With the help of feedback from others, you can learn about yourself and come to terms with personal issues.
The Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions
Barbara L. Frederickson
Frederickson describes the form and function of positive emotions including joy, interest, contentment and love. The article concludes that we are more resourceful when we are in these emotional states compared to being more narrow-minded when being filled with negative emotions.
Shifting Behavioral Habits through Multi-Level Self-Observation
Doug Silsbee
It is not necessary to understand the origin of our habits in order to change them. It is critical to understand their nature. This article describes the nature of habits and the capacity of self-observation to help us, as fundamentally biological organisms, to shift these habits.
What Can Coaches Do For You?
Diane Coutu and Carol Kauffmann [HBR]
Coutu and Kauffmann discuss findings of a survey of 140 leading coaches and the conflicting results to questions like: "Do companies and executives get value from their coaches?" The article also highlights differences to other fields, like consulting and therapy, and tries to outline where the coaching industry may be headed to