walking alongside many courageous and compassionate leaders -— leaders walking different, yet similar, paths! Their profile: women, men—50-50; from every region— Africa, North and South America, Arab States, Asia, Europe; two below 30, half in their 30s, a third in their 40s, and six above 50 years of age. They are from different professions—clinician, activist, actor, manager, CEO, economist, religious leader; and from different sectors—citizen, media, academia, business, government, civil society, non-government organisations, UN agencies and faith-based organisations. The skills, competencies and inner capacities articulated hereafter apply to all. I have n... posted on Jul 20 2012 (17,707 reads)

to see him like thatI had faith that someday he would recover but man oh man it was lonely I wished every single day that I could just walk around with a sign like this... because on the outside I looked like I had EVERYTHING GOING FOR ME I looked like I might just have a perfect life but I was hiding a very painful secret… Well, a lot of other things happened too. You can imagine what might happen over the years while we have a 7 acre farm, a pretty big international business that we own with lots of employees, a life that  HE managed before his accident, while he just let me do the fun and creative stuff. Now we had lots of medical bills, lots of sorrow and ... posted on Mar 19 2013 (75,032 reads)

world. Photo by Tom Wang / Shutterstock. In the last 100 years, we got very confused about happiness. This is no small thing. The way we define happiness drives what we do, what we’re willing to sacrifice, and how we spend our money and our time. This confusion didn’t just happen. Advertisers spend billions spreading the illusion that more stuff will bring us happiness. And policy wonks of all political stripes—but especially those connected to business interests—spread the message that economic growth leads to well-being. Both are false promises that have instead been undermining the very conditions that could lead to sustainable happ... posted on Mar 13 2015 (34,505 reads)

that we do. The opposite of work is idleness. But very few of us know what to do with idleness. When you look at the way that we distribute our lives in general, you realize that in the periods in which we have a lot of money, we have very little time. And then when we finally have time, we have neither the money nor the health. So we started thinking about that as a company for the last 30 years. This is a complicated company with thousands of employees, hundreds of millions of dollars of business that makes rocket fuel propellent systems, runs 4,000 ATMs in Brazil, does income tax preparation for dozens of thousands. So this is not a simple business. We looked at it and we said, le... posted on Apr 15 2015 (31,210 reads)

all have things that we want to achieve in our lives — getting into the better shape, building a successful business, raising a wonderful family, writing a best-selling book, winning a championship, and so on. And for most of us, the path to those things starts by setting a specific and actionable goal. At least, this is how I approached my life until recently. I would set goals for classes I took, for weights that I wanted to lift in the gym, and for clients I wanted in my business. What I’m starting to realize, however, is that when it comes to actually getting things done and making progress in the areas that are important to you, there is a much better way to do thin... posted on Jun 22 2015 (38,165 reads)

about 100 times less than five centuries ago all over the world. “Look at NGOs; the rise of the NGO is the true revolution of the 20th century. There are millions of NGOs and people who spend their time trying to do something for others, so why do we not give more attention to that?” This vision means, Ricard believes, that we are perfectly placed to start tapping into what is already a part of us, to create something better: happier societies, a more compas- sionate business environment, and a less damaging approach to the environment. Environment While he had not initially planned to include the environment in his work, Ricard tells me that the book took a... posted on Feb 20 2016 (26,940 reads)

famous studies, she found that it was possible to lower obesity and diabetes in chambermaids, who spent their entire days in motion, by essentially helping them name their everyday activity not as work but as “exercise.” And her book, Counterclockwise, tells the story of her experiment to demonstrably turn the clock back on age with a group of men in their 70s and 80s. [music: "Sunrise" by Hauschka] MS. TIPPETT: You do, I think, quite often work with organizations, businesses... DR. LANGER: Yes. MS. TIPPETT: ...and you sometimes give very practical, kind of, exercises, thought experiments to people, to put them into this mode. DR. LANGER: Right, and one... posted on Mar 28 2016 (26,284 reads)

here -- I was working in an investment bank in London and I approached this guy who’d failed to comply with what I’d told him to do. He wasn't my direct subordinate, but he ran the computer systems and in order for my program to be implemented, his team had to perform. I started telling him what he didn't do and why he should do it. Those were days when smoking was allowed. He started slowly blowing smoke in my face, till I was literally suffocating. I had just finished business school, and was employing all these traditional negotiation tactics, but they weren’t working. So all of a sudden, as I was choking, I got to the end of my unraveled rope. And in a v... posted on Apr 11 2017 (15,776 reads)

Move the Chains: Daniel Pink on the Science of Staying Motivated “The question you should be asking is, ‘Can I do one small thing tomorrow to make things a little bit better?’ And the answer is almost always yes.” May 25, 2017 One of the world’s foremost thinkers on business and social science, Daniel Pink is the author of several bestselling books on business, work, and behavior. He joined Ryan Hawk, the creator and host of The Learning Leader Show, to talk about the critical components of sustaining excellence, what it was like writing speeches for Al Gore, and how Dan left his comfort zone to bring his side hustle front and center. This conve... posted on Dec 19 2017 (10,924 reads)

of her most famous studies, she found that it was possible to lower obesity and diabetes in chambermaids who spent their entire days in motion, by essentially helping them name their everyday activity not as work, but as exercise. And her book, Counterclockwise, tells the story of her experiment to demonstrably turn the clock back on age with a group of men in their 70s and 80s. [music: “Sunrise” by Hauschka] Ms. Tippett: You do, I think, quite often work with organizations, businesses, and you sometimes give very practical exercises, thought experiments to people, to put them into this mode. Ms. Langer: Right, and one of the things that I’ve recently spent some ... posted on Apr 2 2018 (17,677 reads)

of hierarchies and promotions, where everyone is trying to get ahead and may be reluctant to acknowledge their reliance on—or express emotions to—their co-workers.  “We tend to think of organizations as transactional places where you’re supposed to be ‘professional,’” says Ryan Fehr, an assistant professor of management at the University of Washington, Seattle, who recently published a paper summarizing the landscape of gratitude in business. “We may think that it’s unprofessional to bring things like forgiveness or gratitude or compassion into the workplace.” Yet evidence suggests that gratitude and apprecia... posted on Jul 4 2018 (10,498 reads)

strategy and the goals for next three years. In one of those retreats I had a great thought: The most important company in my life is me, so, why not hold this same kind of retreat for myself? Every year, since 1991, I’ve spent two days by myself to reflect on my mission in life, and to face that great philosophical question: What is the purpose of my life? Is it money? Is it professional success? Is it something else? During these retreats I follow the same format we follow in our business retreats, only this time the company’s name is José Juan SA. JR: And after some time you decided to share that personal process with more people... JJ: Yes, while I was tea... posted on Sep 2 2018 (15,427 reads)

poorest people, the most disadvantaged areas to serve. And now you move to Hoi An, another traditional city. Have you ever hit a very low point facing great changes, and how did you come back? Giang: The low point was that after working in Hanoi for about five years, I got burnt out too. I felt like we are working against a big stone wall. Our organizing efforts in poor part of the city and disadvantaged areas are often challenged by the harsh local authorities, especially with some business interest. For example, for the abandoned land which we turned into a park, somebody else wanted to use that as a parking area for their cars. So our efforts to turn it into a park is met with... posted on Sep 5 2018 (3,825 reads)

the legal system would not support him and that work, he resolved to do something, and that became Mercy for Animals. Over the last 20 years, that organization has become an important group to assist in the move away from factory farming and the worst practices of animal agriculture to create a more kind, compassionate, and gentle human presence on the planet through the foods we eat. He also founded the Good Food Institute, which has become a formative group to change our institutional and business approaches towards agriculture and using technology to replace food animals. He co-founded a start-up of sorts, or fundraising vehicle, to support efforts to reduce suffering for animals thro... posted on Dec 5 2019 (5,059 reads)

is very much a grassroots organization at the city level. For example, in India we have a small movement in Bangalore, and a much bigger movement in Pune, in Mumbai and Delhi, in the larger cities that are growing in leaps and bounds. It’s almost always a concern for people who want to make a significant change, so in Pune, Delhi and Mumbai education is at the forefront of interest, and last year I went to India twice offering workshops and programs in schools and universities with business curricula. I did some work at the Management Development Institute outside Delhi, and SOIL, the School of Inspired Leadership, which has a master’s program in business and community dev... posted on Aug 18 2021 (3,160 reads)

Mayuka Yamazaki, a high-level business executive, ikebana — the ancient Japanese art of floral creations — is not just about arranging flowers. It is about attuning to the wisdom and beauty of nature and enriching our experience of being human. As a master of the art, she explains that ikebana is a word derived from the verb ikeru (to bring alive) and hana (flowers), or combined, “letting flowers live.” For over 20 years, Mayuka has been letting flowers live, and most recently, she has brought this practice to help restore wholeness to schools, international organizations, communities, and most notably, corporations. As a young child in ... posted on Jan 10 2023 (2,252 reads)

became a scientist because I wanted to save lives and I wrote poetry to save myself. My book of poems, The Whisper, is a lyrical conversation I had with the tiny voice that I had ignored for years while I climbed the corporate ladder. [From the book's blurb] Poems written by an executive who could no longer ignore the tiny voice inside herself that had an important message for her and the business world. The Whisper is a poetic engagement with the intimacy and audacity of being here human, alive. It reminds of what it is to hide from the world, and in doing so becoming hidden to our own selves. An invitation to integrate the many and multitudes that make us whole and avoid our se... posted on Oct 7 2023 (4,009 reads)

you sure you aren't making a mistake?" I had just announced to one of my dearest friends that I planned to walk away from Wall Street and my seven-figure salary. "Yes, I'm sure." But was I? Years earlier, I had moved to New York City with a degree in music and a husband who was beginning a Ph.D. program. My first job, and the best job I could get, had been as a secretary at a brokerage house. By working 70-80 hours a week, taking business courses at night, and doggedly pursuing a jump to the professional track, I finally got a break, and moved into investment banking. When I decided to leave Wall Street, I was the Senior Media and Telecom analyst for Latin America... posted on Sep 4 2011 (15,222 reads)

Melville's father was skeptical when his son first said that he wanted to use the profits from his successful summer lemonade stand to start his own soda company. Aaron Melville, who teaches business classes at a local college, did not believe his 9-year-old autistic son was ready to run his own business. Kent was determined to do something to help others with autism, however, which inspired his father to reconsider. Aaron described on a Facebook page for the organization, why he decided to help his son start Kent's Soda after initially encouraging him to wait until he was older. Kent pondered that for a minute. He then looked at me and said "Dad, ... posted on Mar 15 2012 (27,070 reads)

data for "impact" reports, illustrating how their ideas are not only innovative, but scalable. It's a numbers game to grow and, if possible, grow exponentially. That's the sign of success — numerical growth. Everything needs to have scale. Scalability is like sustainability now — another simple concept made far too abstract and complex. Yet, what used to be sustainable can no longer be so because we live at roller coaster speeds. The small-town businesses struggle against the giants because they cannot "scale" or, perhaps, they don't want to. Hence, as consumers, we have to decide do we go for the local "brand" or the... posted on May 22 2012 (15,698 reads)