Do you have weaknesses you just can’t seem to lose? Maybe you interrupt too much? Or solve problems when you should be building relationships? This perspective may help. When clients tell me about their weaknesses, I generally ask them for examples of how the skills in question worked or didn’t work. A common pattern emerges, though it’s not universal. One example is my student/client with great listening skills who interrupted[…] Keep reading →

A friend and I were playing around with logo ideas for the Freedombox project based on this email solicitation from the Freedombox Foundation for T-shirt designs: T-Shirt Designs ————— One of the things we offered Kickstarter donors was a T-shirt. We are thus soliciting T-shirt designs. The theme of the shirt is Community Angels. It would be good to involve our current logo http://freedomboxfoundation.org/images/freedombox_large.png. Sorry, we don’t have a bigger[…] Keep reading →

I like memorable opening lines to books. Good ones can be poetry, or a whole book into themselves. Sometimes they set the tone for the book. Others are simply memorable for their simplicity. Some of my favorite (some from memory so please correct errors): “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant day when his father took him to discover ice.”[…] Keep reading →

How do you handle feedback? Do you take it well? Do you know how to use it? If not, you may be throwing away great opportunities to improve yourself and your life. Many people don’t know how to take a compliment or having their weaknesses pointed out so they avoid feedback. As a coach in Columbia Business School‘s Program on Social Intelligence, I coach a lot of upcoming leaders who[…] Keep reading →

Here’s another lesson from my stylist friend besides how fast even significant personal change can be, possibly obvious to people more stylish than me. He told me a major goal of how you dress is to polarize. At first polarizing sounded counterproductive. Polarizing in a discussion breaks down communication. Why would I want to polarize? Why would I want to repel people? He explained further. Many people dress to fit[…] Keep reading →

As I write, the Union Square Parsons art project is gaining momentum — at $614, we’re over 12% of the way there. Supporting art is rewarding! So is supporting students and making New York City a better place for everyone. Your donation counts. Please check out the page to support it! Spread the link to friends. Enjoy me looking dorky on camera! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/492851406/big-beautiful-public-art-by-parsons-class-in-union

Myth: great personal change or development takes time. You have to understand where you are, your goals, and how to get from one place to the other. Myth: great personal change is hard. You have to overcome hurdles that take time, energy, and other resources. I believed those myths for a long time. I hear people counseling others with them all the time. Now it pains me to hear those[…] Keep reading →