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Hell isn’t other people, hell is trying to change them.  Unfortunately, that’s the crux of every argument in human history. It always boils down to one person silently asking another, why can’t you be more like me?  And so, if you want to deepen your reservoir of empathy and care, start by never assuming other people are having the same experience you’re having. No matter how tempting it is to…

One of my clients is an insurance company who specializes in writing policies for farms. Their claims department abides by the motto: If it’s grey, we pay.  Meaning, if there’s ambiguity whether the policy covers a claim or not, the priority favors the customer, not the company. If it’s not clear from the available evidence whether an insurance claim is genuine or not, the company still pays out.  This…

Innovation starts with pursuing our own thoughts in the privacy of our consciousness.  Answering the questions life is asking us. And the good news is, this process doesn’t require extraordinary effort, merely habitual attention.  Debono, the godfather of innovative thinking and creativity, once released an obscure book about this very issue. It contains dozens of previously unreleased, privately subscribed issues of his lateral thinking newsletter from the early eighties, outlining strategies for…

We assume that proselytizing and soapboxing will result in people rolling on their backs with their paws folded, waiting for us to rub their bellies.  That if we can just finagle a way to steer the conversation in direction that satisfies our agenda, eventually, people will see the light and come to their senses and embrace our worldview.  But as it turns out, most people don’t want to be…

Progress equals happiness.  Even if you’re not certain where you want to go yet. Even if you don’t know what it will look like when you get there.  At least you’re on the path. And that’s the most important thing.  Because with any form of progress, be it dull or spectacular or somewhere in between, you automatically create earned feelings of joy and meaning and engagement and satisfaction. And…

Anxiety is never a one size fits all experience.  There are as many triggers, intensities, frequencies, responses, durations and forms of anxiety as there are people to experience them.  And so, the question isn’t whether or not we become anxious. That bug bites each of us eventually. The question is how easily and quickly and effectively we calm down after becoming anxious.  For example, I’ve had experiences where anxiety took…

Reacher once observed that that anything can be reverse engineered: If one human or group of humans put something together, then another human or group of humans can take it apart again. It’s a basic principle. All that’s required is empathy and thought and imagination.  That’s why I keep an innovation journal. Been doing it for years. It’s an ongoing list of ideas for products, services, inventions, businesses, organizations and other…

I once overheard a psychiatrist say that she refused to be a shrink from the wrist down.  Meaning, when her patient came through the door, she wouldn’t just default to writing scripts and pushing pills. Medication management certainly helped, but it wasn’t only house on the block.  The overall goal was to achieve true healing by treating the whole person. And that required much more than just the doctor’s…

Feel better knowing that you don’t have to save the world.  That you don’t have to say something about everything. And that although you secretly hate people who don’t see what you want them to see, who don’t receive your gifts in the way that you want them to, the reality is, evangelism is not your occupation.  You can’t assume anybody wants what you have. You weren’t put on…

Music is not a competition. There’s no winning or losing. It’s much more significant than that.  Wooten’s inspiring parable about finding your song inside states it perfectly.  Musicians do not have to be believed in. We do not have to be trusted. Our music speaks for itself without the listener having to know anything about us. Music touches people’s emotions in a way that nothing else can. And when people find a…