What are intelligence, creativity, and talent? How can we measure them? Are they innate, or learned? And how can we each uncover our own? Scott Barry Kaufman tackles all of these important questions and many more in Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. I found the book compelling, well-researched, and powerful, especially because Kaufman speaks both from his read more…
Seeing a talented employee walk out the door almost always means costs ahead – costs in the form of recruiting, interviewing, training, learning, and/or team building. And in most cases, those costs (and the disappointment on both sides) might have been avoided by applying some specific insights provided by neuroscience and the science of happiness. read more…
How do you motivate employees? How do you keep them happy and engaged? The Progress Principle The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work presents compelling evidence that most of us are failing to use one of the most powerful tools of all: progress toward clear and meaningful goals. read more…
In my last newsletter, I shared tips for setting smarter and more meaningful goals for the New Year (or any time of year, really). Perhaps some of your goals have to do with your happiness, at work and beyond. If so, I want Happy Brain Science to provide you with great resources and support to read more…
It’s that time again: New Year’s resolutions. The science of happiness tells us New Year’s resolutions are a worthwhile ritual. Goals are vital to motivation, engagement, and happiness, at work and beyond. Statistics suggest that people who explicitly set goals are ten times more likely to reach them. Still, while up to 62% of Americans read more…
Gratitude beyond Thanksgiving. The month of November calls for a focus on gratitude, but the topic is actually an evergreen in neuroscience and positive psychology, relevant all year. By now, several scientific studies have been indicating the effectiveness of so called “gratitude interventions” in increasing our level of happiness. A gratitude intervention is simply an read more…
One of my favorite parts of workshops is applying brain research to get the audience involved and learning more. An example of this is getting audiences into small groups for discussion of how they will apply what they’ve learned. I try for groups of six or less people, because research indicates that in groups that read more…
First of all, I mean passion for your work, not your colleagues! If you want help getting passion with your colleagues, you want a different blog! 🙂 Passion for your work is about energy and meaning. It’s getting energized by your work, and finding–or creating–the meaning in your work. Start with some basics. As I read more…
You start an email to your boss, “Dear total moron.” If a minute later you decide not to send it, you have one particular part of your brain to thank: your prefrontal cortex. This part of your brain is prime brain real estate. (It’s roughly speaking just behind your forehead and the thin layer marked in read more…
We: How to Increase Performance and Profits through Full Engagement is titled so because the authors view employee engagement as a partnership between employees and their employers. I couldn’t agree more. The authors were, at the time, executives at Kenexa, which offers employee engagement surveys and consulting. Early on the authors argue strongly that paying read more…