Some good friends were teasing me because I have a high tier frequent flyer card but I couldn’t see the joke. So I suggested to my friends that their banter was just “card envy” But it stopped me in my tracks and made me think when David said: “well my goal is to have bronze”. […]
Author Archive | Anne Riches
What’s the Difference Between My Dad and Going to Work?
As leaders and team members, we have to accept, even though we may not understand the reason why, that we work with people who have fears, real and imagined. Sometimes it’s impossible to know where they come from, how they are generated, why they stay with us, when, where and how they’ll show up. So […]
It’s Not Fair
How many times have you said: ‘it’s not fair’? How many times have you heard others say it? How does it make you feel when you sense injustice? How does it impact your energy and commitment levels? What impact do you think it could have on an employee’s level of engagement with their employer? Neuroscientists […]
Still Crazy After All These Years
Fear is an essential component of our survival mechanism. When we are frightened, our amygdalae become more active and lay down extra memories, richer and denser memories – as part of their way of building up our protective instincts. We need to be able to consciously deal with irrational fears – because our amygdala doesn’t […]
So Close and Then We Blow It
One of the key distinguishing features of great sports champions, great managers and leaders, great colleagues and great friends is that they can hold it together under pressure. They can be relied on to hold their nerve, hold on and persevere to the end of the race, the challenge, the game. How do they do […]
Frankly, My Dear, I Don’t Give a !@#$%
So said Rhett (Clark Gable) to Scarlett in ‘Gone with the Wind’ in 1939. And this line was voted the number one movie line of all time by the American Film Institute in 2005. One reason for its infamy was that it contained a swear word – just about unheard of in a movie or […]
Do You Sabotage Your Own Change Initiatives?
The critical message for us as managers is that when we have to bring about changes in the behaviour of others at work (or at home for that matter) we need to be actively conscious that subconsciously our team’s mirror neurons are watching us for information about how to behave.
Rethinking Resistance
Do your employees like change? When I ask this question of participants in my people management workshops, the answer is almost overwhelmingly no. But when I ask part two of the question: do YOU like change – the answer is usually overwhelmingly yes! Isn’t that curious? What happens when you become the boss? Do you […]
Walk Your Talk or Lose Your Job
“What they say and what they do are two different things.” How many times have you said this yourself or heard others say it about some managers? It always reminds me of the times I got confused and irritated when my mother used to say to me “Do as I say not as I do!” […]
The Almond Effect® – Up Close and Personal
Self-aware leaders learn how to catch themselves in the clutches of The Almond Effect® before it clouds their judgment. This way they mostly avoid making poor decisions based primarily on irrational emotional responses not cognitive thinking.