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It’s time we climbed up a few rungs on our empathetic ladder and learned how to give people the benefit of the doubt. How to concede that, maybe, somebody might be justified in their action. Napoleon famously said that we should never to ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. But why stop there? People are motivated for a thousand reasons that aren’t malicious. Everything from…

We’re all doing whatever we can to make sure that we’re not leaving any love on the table. Linklater poses an apt question in his most memorable film: Isn’t everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more? The short answer is, yes. But in this endless romantic pursuit, we leave ourselves open. Love, this delicious madness, this raging fire, this heavenly frenzy, it is…

Do you over analyze your life, looking to extract nuance and meaning where there is none? You’re not alone. Many of us are constantly on the lookout for these aha moments, as if they’re going to solve all of our problems. That’s the tendency of thinkers who love to ruminate, dream and reflect. We are epiphany junkies. We demand that everything be a grand revelation. We want reassurance that…

When we sing together, regardless of the song or the venue, it means that despite our differences, our bodies are unifying. We are sharing space and breath and time, doing the exact same thing together. That’s why things like chanting, karaoke, church choirs, alma mater fight songs and seventh inning stretches are spiritually powerful experiences. Music creates a firm footing for something bigger to take hold. Our physical world…

Wait a minute, you’re telling me that the best way to elevate my value at this company is to elevate my team first? Absolutely. This approach is what separates the employees who satisfy the most basic expectation, from the company leaders who exemplify the best the team can realistically hope for. And naturally, it feels easier to operate selfishly within our little silo, in the hopes of beating out…

When people are intensely anxious, overly neurotic, aggressively opinionated or highly impatient, my default response is to double down on calmness. And not to chill others out and set an example of unflappable stoic peace and pass judgment on other people’s behavior. The calmness is more of a boundary allows me to tend to my own wellbeing. And to acknowledge and sit with whatever feelings people are having, but…

There are an endless number of defenses mechanisms we can hide behind to keep our true selves at bay. We can hide behind our sense of humor, our mask of indifference, our façade of nonchalance, our precious way of thinking, our false front of humility, our proven history of right beliefs, our constitutional incapability of not shutting the hell up, they all get the job done. Each of these…

All of our emotions are part of the beautiful, ever changing sensation of being alive. And each of us should be proud of having our own feelings about the world. It’s one of gifts we bring to the table. But we should also remember that while our feelings are perfectly legitimate, they’re also completely transitory. Feelings, no matter how strong, do not prove that something is factual or valid….

The problem with a lot of employee engagement surveys is, they’re too narrow. They fail to make a certain empathetic leap and consider the whole person. If want to create an atmosphere worth coming to and a culture worth passing on, then the onus is on each team member to think in three dimensions and consider the holistic impact on their work on the entire organization. Here’s a compilation…

Taoists believe that because nature lacks any goals, it can never fail to succeed. And because nature is never in a hurry, it accomplishes everything. This is extremely difficult for humans to comprehend. Because we have been conditioned to believe that there is some enchanted destination to be reached where we will find happily ever after. Not to mention, that we need to find all the express lanes and shortcuts along…