The dynamics of energy: where would you...
hace 1 año
I am reading “The Power of Full Engagement” (Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T.) and found some interesting ideas. The authors relate engagement with how we manage our energy. More engaged employees are those who can manage their physical/emotional/spiritual energy better. And “better” meaning balancing periods of stress and recovery.
“Full engagement requires cultivating a dynamic balance between the expenditure of energy (stress) and the renewal of energy (recovery) in all dimensions (physical, emotional, spiritual)”
They studied athletes and describe a study among world-class tennis players. They tried to understand the factors that differentiate the best competitors from the rest and found out that there was almost no difference in the performance during the points. They observed that one of the success factors was the recovery routines between points that the best players do. They observe differences in how they held (Leer más)
The surprising truth about what...
hace 1 año
I came to this video thanks to Leonardo Maldonado, and I needed to share it.
It shows an amazing study that tells us about the motivations at work. As many of us can imagine it is not always about MONEY. It is more about MASTERY and PURPOSE. And I would add recognition that is linked to relationships (social networks).
I let you see it because the way that it is presented is surprisingly creative. It is done by a organization called RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) in UK. I would also recommend the other videos. They are great!
Enjoy the summer!
Who do you want to be? identity, leader...
hace 1 año
About a month ago Bonnie McEwan and Farra Trompeter gave a presentation about personal branding through social media. Some of the questions and statements that are still in my head are: “Do not tweet what you are doing. Tweet what you are thinking” (Bonnie), “Google yourself and see what others are saying about you. Do something to shape your own image” (Farra),” Frame or be framed?” (Bonnie).
After seen the presentation I decided to finally open a twitter account. One of the things that intrigues me the most is that whether you want it or not, your/our identity is up there, in the internet, in so many places that we are not aware of. Our identity is in great part what others are saying about us, what communities we are part of, and who are we connected with (friends, contacts, (Leer más)
What do we, as consultants, want to...
hace 1 año
On our April 14th Change Forum Faculty Panel we held a great discussion about consulting and leadership with three faculty who in addition to teaching, are active outside Milano in the professional field of consulting.
One of the questions during the panel discussion was about creation. A student reflected on how everything we see and do has been created by someone before. So, in that context, the question was about what the panelists believe they have created.
They talked about the creation of a safe and learning environment, as well as creating tools, ideas, and philosophies for people to use in communicating.
One the most powerful changes that we can do in organizations is to create a learning environment, that is a space where clients learn something new about themselves or their organization. This only happens if the relationship established (Leer más)
The Marshmallow Challenge: teams'...
hace 1 año
Why some teams perform better than others? What is important in teamwork?
In this 6-minutes TED talk you can see how collaboration, feedback, facilitation skills, and the identification of hidden assumptions are essential elements in high-performance teams.
I would like to highlight the importance of feedback (again) and how a trial-and-error process gave us feedback to improve the process and the final task. We do not usually embark in trial-and-error strategies. Why? Because it is risky… it entails an exposure to failure… Well, in this video we see how this “risky actions” conduct us to better results. Enjoy it!
Who am I being that others' eyes are...
hace 1 año
I leave you with this amazing piece of Benjamin Zander at TED.
He talks about classical music. He expresses his passion and a strong message about leadership: “the conductor of an orchestra does not make a sound. His power depends on the ability to make other people powerful”.
A leader’s purpose is to awaken possibility in other people.
A leader’s purpose is to make others’ eyes shine.
Giving feedback: much more about me...
hace 1 año
In general it is difficult to give (real, honest) feedback when it is about something that impacted on us in a negative way. Why? Maybe because we feel uncomfortable saying (what we called) “negative” things to another person when we know that s/he did not have “negative” intentions. But feedback is not about intentionality. It is about the impact that what others say and do has on me.
There are two assumptions under this approach to feedback: 1) feedback understood as a “correct vs. incorrect” answer, something that is right or wrong, like a test and 2) feedback understood as something that is only for the one who is receiving feedback, like a present.
If I give feedback thinking in doing it in a “right or wrong” way it could seem internally like a test, with the possibility to fail, (Leer más)
Student Engagement and Communication:...
hace 1 año
As many of you know we are in the midst of a change process: the integration between GPIA and Milano. And we are the protagonists of this process. So let’s say something about it.
We are opening this space for students from both Milano and GPIA to talk about how we (new school students) want to be involved in this “new school”?
We know that there will be changes. This new GPIA/Milano school will be implemented by July 1, 2010, followed by a “soft launch” during the spring 2010 and publicly launch by 2011. Now, we have the opportunity to imagine a certain structure/system/process in which we want to be represented.
There will be a student committee to put together your ideas and recommendations and present them to the Provost. It has to be done before spring break. So, this (Leer más)
What do you mean with "social...
hace 2 años
At the first Tuesdays@2, we heard a very interesting presentation from Professor Antonin Wagner about Capitalism, Democracy and Civil Society. At the end it began a discussion about social entrepreneurs, and I think this could be a good place to continue that conversation.
The question that arose was if entrepreneurship could be viewed as an answer to capitalism (since capitalism has been challenged with the financial crisis) from the third sector or, on the contrary, it emerges from capitalism itself. So the next question was what do we mean with entrepreneurship?
I have not explored this topic in depth, but here are some points to begin a conversation, maybe those who are taking entrepreneurship courses can say more:
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary entrepreneur is “one who organizes, manages and assumes the risk of a business or enterprise." From this we (Leer más)
The Act of Listening
hace 2 años
For my course managing the client-consultant relationship I’m reading “Helping” (Edgar Schein), which is (so far) a great book about relationships, about reciprocation, about life.
Schein begins describing the essence of relationships as an exchange of value and as a role playing. He uses the economic and the theater analogies to illustrate how we relate each other. He mentions that in a relationship the two actors must decide who is “actor” (talking) and who is “audience” (listening) and the situation will define the “value” involved in the interaction.
I would like to reflect on the listening/talking relationship and to highlight the listening as an ACT. Whether in a theater or in a relationship, the listener (audience) is also an actor in terms of he/she is actively listening. What do I mean? When we are listening to someone we are not (Leer más)
