If you are stressed out, washing your hands or wearing a mask won’t stop you from stressing others out. Your stress can spread. It’s bad enough that you are stressed, the last thing you want to do is to stress out your team. Here are some ideas from Harvard Business Review* on things you can do to protect them – to make sure you are not contagious. Figure out why you … [Read more...] about Stress Inoculation
Create Your New Normal
In these teleworking, sheltering in place, social distancing, COVID-19 days, we need to move past crisis mode – if possible – and into a new kind of normal. NOTE: this does not apply do those of you in the medical field who DO need to treat each day like a crisis. We all greatly appreciate all the sacrifices you are making for our collective health. And, I know that some … [Read more...] about Create Your New Normal
Prahalad’s Leadership Lessons
C. K. Prahalad (1941-2010) was a brilliant professor, consultant, and business leader. The other day I came across an old article he wrote in Harvard Business Review – these ideas are timeless: *Understand the importance of nonconformity. Leadership is about change, hope, and the future. *Display a commitment to learning and developing yourself. Leaders must invest in … [Read more...] about Prahalad’s Leadership Lessons
“Leading” a Whitewater Raft
With respect to an issue related to COVID-19, a colleague recently emailed me “Thanks for your leadership on this.” My immediate reaction was “I don’t really feel like I’m leading anything. I feel like I am riding in a whitewater raft – and the waves are treacherous!” The current environment is a lot like a whitewater raft voyage: *Lots of unknowns – who knows what is … [Read more...] about “Leading” a Whitewater Raft
Lessons from the Spanish Flu Era
We are in uncharted territory in these COVID-19 times, but can still learn from the past. The last World Pandemic we had was the Spanish Flu in 1918. So, I thought I would interview my two grandfathers who were born in the 1890s and lived through this. What can we learn from their experiences? My paternal grandfather, M. E. Sheehan, essentially invented the gig … [Read more...] about Lessons from the Spanish Flu Era