Eclectic Change

Happiness is a by-product, not a goal

Earlier this month Tony Schwartz wrote an interesting HBR blog post Happiness Is Overrated. It certainly stirred up a lot of emotions in the comments.  Initially, I was inclined to disagree with Tony, but he was making some valuable observations.  As I have grown older I also discovered these truths for myself.  For the past five years I have never been happier or more frustrated.  Being happy takes hard work! It means doing the right thing each and every moment - an impossible task. It means d...

Chance Favours the Connected Mind

What kind of environment fosters the development of good ideas? This video below looks at this question and provides and overview to the answer from Steven Johnson's new book “Where Good Ideas Come From” People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. We have all heard of the need for incubation but Johnson has observed that this process rarely occurs in isolation. We need to create environments of conversations a...

Who are better leaders? Moms or Dads?

You may be thinking that this is a trick question and perhaps you are right.  For some time now, I have been using the family system as a micro version of what happens in larger organizational systems.   So what better way than to look at the parental role as leader and how it plays out in gender differences?* I begin with the story of my two parents.  The year is 1944, Bletchley Park, England.  My mother at 25 was less than half the age I am now.  She was a Flight Sergeant in the Women's Aux...