A very special dinner
The next time you’re having dinner with friends and want to go beyond small talk, consider this exercise. You may discover something extraordinary about your friends—and about yourself.
“Who authorized this?”
What do you do when your boss cares more about control and preserving their authority than about doing what’s right for the company and its people?
Unsafe at any level
I used to think a new generation of employees would, inevitably, make companies more open and collaborative, maybe even kinder.
But what I see is that young new joiners don’t change the company. The company changes them.
Unless you stage a kind of positive intervention.
#ICelebrateYou
In a few minutes, on the first Wednesday of each month, you can brighten someone’s day and create ripples of positivity and kindness.
Here’s how.
WOL Circle Workbooks now in SPANISH and FRENCH
Our newest translations make it easier to connect and empower more people in more places.
“You can’t see the wonders that are coming”
When you’re fearful or lacking confidence, “What if?” can be a scary question.
“You can’t see the future coming—not the terrors, for sure, buy you also can’t see the wonders that are coming, the moments of light-soaked joy that await each of us.
Yenny at the Coffee Shop
What makes someone care more about their job? About the people they serve?
Yenny’s story shows how intrinsic motivation, pride of workmanship, and a sense of community can fundamentally change how you view your job—and enable you to have a positive influence on thousands of people. Even in a New York coffee shop.
What happened to “Working” in the past 50 years
50 years after Working captured the experiences and yearnings of everyday workers, the themes remain the same. Our search for feeling effective and fulfilled—for meaning—isn’t new. Helping people with that search is as important as ever.
The Voiceless at Work
We must seek ways to give a voice to "those that never sing" so they can offer “all their music in them.” When we humanize the workplace in this way, we make work and life richer for all of us.
“We don’t think we have something to share.”
It’s such a waste, and not at all uncommon. I meet many smart, experienced people, working in modern companies, who limit their opportunities and effectiveness by standing quietly on the sidelines, waiting to be asked.
What would you have told Bettina?
Ms. Williams at Window #4
The US post office has almost 600,000 human beings working there. On average they may come into contact with dozens of customers or colleagues every day.
What if more of those 600,000 employees were like Ms. Williams? What kind of difference would that make?
Your one word for 2024
Your one word can be a kind of guidepost, something that reminds you of the direction you want to head in. It can be another way to express what you intend to do and be.
What will your one word be? Where do you want to go this year?
Connecting the dots: Manifesting meaning in 2024
It isn’t always clear how your different interests and jobs fit together, but as Steve Jobs said in his now-famous commencement speech, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.“
Here’s where my dots are taking me in 2024. Heading into the coming New Year, I hope your dots lead you somewhere wonderful, too.
“Activating the culture”: A path from values to everyday behaviors
Most cultural transformation programs don’t change very much.
What’s usually missing is a chance for employees to work out how the values applied to their particular job and context; to actually experience what it would feel like to be “One Company”; to provide at least some answers to “What’s in it for me?”.
Social learning programs can close these gaps, particularly when they have three specific elements.
The killer chickens that lay a lot of eggs
Breeding chickens for their individual egg-laying ability led to vicious attacks and mortality rates of 50% or more. If you want more eggs, you need chickens with other skills beside being good egg-layers. You need chickens who are able to get along with other chickens.
“What profound treasures are hidden”
Inspired by two companies where employees actively seek out, connect, and grow the positive potential of their work and each other. “Give employees space and time for development, and thus give them wings.”
New Work New Culture
Frithjof Bergmann’s vision for “New Work” was bold and ambitious, a fundamental rethinking of jobs, pay, and markets. All of it, he proposes, needs to be reimagined and fashioned from scratch.
Today’s New Work initiatives may fall short of his vision, but they can fulfill his promise of enabling people to “be more alive” at work.
Everybody Matters
When it comes to how their employees relate to each other and to the work they do, Everybody Matters serves as an inspiring example of the way things could be.
“How did the TEDx talk go?”
“How did the talk go?” I was terrified and worse. Here’s the process I went through and what I learned in case it might help you prepare for something similar.
When you smile at the universe, the universe smiles back
I used to think of the universe as a rational, uncaring machine. If this, then that. And given that our world, never mind our universe, is so large, I couldn’t see how we could make much of a practical difference.
But as I grow older, I’m not so sure. And that’s changed how I act throughout the day.