Manipulators in everyday life are not necessarily bad people. You might admire or even love a manipulator (they are frequently found in family contexts), but feel tormented by their constant conniving. I’ve dealt with a variety of difficult people over recent weeks, like the needy, controlling and aggressive, or the disrespectful, moody and procrastination-prone, but for many of […]
What a hot topic. Everyone seems to be handling a difficult person — whether it is a staff member, team colleague, customer or their manager. Or they have a difficult person in their personal lives. Certain types of difficult people affect us more than others. For example: Angry, aggressive, abusive, bullying; Moody, tired, depressed, teary; Uncommitted, unmotivated, […]
Emotional intelligence or ‘EI’ (colloquially described as EQ) is essential for human development. EQ — skills we can develop The historic privileging of technical problem-solvers is gradually making way (thanks to the work by pioneer Daniel Goleman and many others) for equally valid social and emotional skills. Progress on the work front is piecemeal. I have been […]
Glass half full or glass half empty? Why, glass half full, according to some. Norman Vincent Peale and before him Dale Carnegie made their fortunes extolling the power of positive thinking many years ago, and their influence has pervaded workplaces all across the world. Carnegie’s philosophy went beyond simplistic “don’t worry, be happy” mantras — his Depression-era book How […]
“Men are from Mars, Women from Venus” was all the rage during the 1990s. Whether there’s actual proof that we are emotionally wired differently is yet to be conclusively proved (especially with gender fluidity much more highlighted these days). Controversially, according to psychologists Bobbi Carothers and Harry Reis, men and women are from Earth! Are women […]
The old saying “never complain, never explain” could be changed to “never blame, never complain”, but would people ever do this? Of course not. Blaming and complaining causes stress We all do our best, but standards and expectations vary. It often boils down to the fact that while people might share a common language, there are codes, […]
Energy fuels our lives, our housing, transport and infrastructure needs, through coal, wind, solar, gas, water and so on. Psychologically, humans respond to a similarly wide range of sources. The key to successfully powering yourself will vary over the course of a lifetime. As a kid, you may have loved blockbuster movies, going on hikes, […]
Around the world there have been debacles caused by automation. A Michigan government agency wrongly accused 20,000 people of fraudulently seeking unemployment benefits. Imagine the angry clients! Centrelink started the year badly. An upsurge of complaints about its over-zealous, frequently inaccurate robo-debt collection methods might hopefully spell an end of misplaced bureaucratic faith in automation — and […]
You are churning inside – No one realises how angry you are. You’ve exploded in a team meeting and everyone’s ducking for cover. You’ve just received a bad email and instantly responded back with rage. Being angry or caught between two very angry people is debilitating. To be angry is human, but being constantly angry or […]
