Category Association Insights

Creativity, Truth: 3 authors, 5 books that change everything December 15, 2021 Affective Leadership, Association Insights, Astonishing Service, Emotional Intelligence, Spirit at Work, Training One comment

If you are looking for resources to reinforce creativity, encourage honesty and dispel the illusions that undermine performance, I recommend three authors and five books. The first is Daniel Pink. I have read two of Daniel’s four books A Whole New Mind and Drive. The first in particular provides powerful examples of why the “Right Brainers” of the world will be a driving force in designing the future...

Fearless Conversations or Fearful Conciliation’s? December 15, 2021 Affective Leadership, Association Insights, Emotional Intelligence, Keynote Keys, Peer Powered Performance, Training

Using Unrelated Stories to Overcome
Unreasonable Defensiveness

I was recently asked to come up with an approach to safety concerns at one of the largest concrete structures in our country.

The request, as usual, was to be funny, fix the problem, and get out. You have 45 minutes. An impossible objective, but it is entirely my own fault. I am a victim of my own creation. For two decades I have been most widely known as a keynote humorist...

Achieve more Autonomy December 15, 2021 Affective Leadership, Association Insights, Emotional Intelligence, Peer Powered Performance

Todays’ acronym for improvement is AMP to help us remember three primary intrinsic motivations. According to research by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, (pronounced me-HIGH chick-sent-me-HIGH-ee) these motivations are Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.

President Kennedy knew the country needed a great Purpose when he promised to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the decade.

We know he believed in our ability to create Mastery because at the time of this proclamation hi...

Gluten Free Budget Brilliance December 15, 2021 Association Insights, Green Solutions

I have been a meeting planner for over 16 years and have a pretty good grasp of the essentials. My meal guarantee-to-attendee ratio is 95% for the dozens of large meetings and conferences I have planned, meaning lower food cost and less waste for our clients.

We are very good at stretching sometimes unrealistically low food and beverage budgets to make an event work well – not unlike some moms do a couple of days before payday...

Why “Change the Buzz” Bees? December 15, 2021 Affective Leadership, Association Insights, Emotional Intelligence, Peer Powered Performance

Because “Bee-ing” is the single most important, and least understood step in any change involving complex social interactions. Consider these statistics as evidence of our misconceptions about change.

95% of those who lose weight on a diet regain it.
25% of people abandon New Year’s resolutions within one week and 60% do so within six months.
The average person makes the same resolution 10 times without success.
70% of organizational change initiatives ultimately fail.

These exam...