Manage to Engage

Over the past few episodes, we’ve gone through the process of examining what’s “normal” in our lives. For many of us, normal is chronic overwhelm, emotional conflict, or physical discomfort.   And the only reason we accept that reality, a normal we don’t even like, is that we’re even more terrified of change than we are uncomfortable.   Today we’re going to start making change happen, in spite of...

We like to tell ourselves that we don’t like difficulty, that we want things to be different... but we sure don’t act like it. In reality, humans are terrified of change, and often we’re more terrified than we are made uncomfortable by our current situation.   We just accept that the current dysfunction is better than not knowing – and every problem in the world, every problem within a person, can...

Last week we discussed why one of our greatest strengths as human beings – our ability to adapt to almost any situation – doesn’t always serve us or the people we manage.   And really, as a species, we’ve allowed an entirely dysfunctional normal to take root, characterized by a constant state of war and conflict   So today we’re going to look inward and interrogate what we’re accepting as “normal”...

It’s amazing how human beings can live in any climate in the world, learn to cope with physical discomfort on a daily basis, and go through the day in a constant state of overwhelm – and, quite often, we do!   Adaptability is undeniably one of our greatest strengths as animals on this planet Earth, but there’s a shadow side to that... because we tend to normalize even those things that are against...

Do you see the pure potential of every human being that works for you? When you can see something greater than even they can see, and you hold that for them, you are taking responsibility for your role in developing them.   To help you do that, we’re going to frame each of your employees as a TV show, and that pure potential you see is the end of the series. How can you use your curiosity, your qu...

One of the most important and underutilized aspects of developing a new practice is examining the obstacles that tend to get in the way. So before we start exploring how to run development meetings that do work, we’re going to use this episode to acknowledge why most development meetings actually DON’T work. I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes .

In the last episode, we discussed the power of embracing curiosity as a spiritual practice and personal value. I want you to keep that in mind over the next three episodes (or go back and listen if you haven’t already) because being curious and asking questions are integral components of development meetings that work.   In any leadership position, it’s really easy to fall into the trap of telling...

In the last episode, we revealed the Why behind asking great questions: it’s a tool that helps people get to where you want the to be, without telling them how to do it.   And today we’re going to explore how you actually use this tool more effectively by embracing curiosity as a practice. Being curious is a powerful way of being, and questions are powerful tools, but unless you embrace all of thi...

We discussed the Zen story of the monk two episodes back, which demonstrated the way your actions elicit the behavior of the people around you and the way you experience life. So if you play the role of a supervisor (as opposed to a manager) and just tell people what to do, they’re just going to do what you say.   But is that really who you want working for you? Is that really how you want to beha...

Really good questions are like spotlights: they reveal what’s hiding in the darkness, or what a person can’t see about themselves. As a manager, this is an invaluable tool for creating accountability and helping employees learn how they show up in the world – in particular, how they make excuses.   Excuses stand in the way of dreams – and don’t you want to help the people you manage, including you...

We’ve lost the art of asking great questions, but over this four-part series we’re going to get back into practice.   Why is the art of asking questions important? Asking great questions is an expression of curiosity and the desire to learn. You don’t grow without being deeply curious. And you’ll find that your curiosity elicits curiosity in others and inspires them to grow as well. For managers,...

Our workforce and society is in the process of revolution: casting off the archaic slave labor mentality that has been chained to work throughout most of human history.   And this cycle of conditioning only breaks when the manager says no, instead offering the deeply-craved but seldom-asked-for salve of accountability to their people.   Today we’re going to wrap up this series on what people reall...

As managers, it’s important to get a little insight into what the people you are managing want, whether those people happen to be employees or yourself.   And right now, I can tell you one thing that people don’t actually want: to stay the same and be complacent. So today I want to talk about the manager’s role in giving people what they really want, even if they don’t know it themselves. I’d love...

I offer weekly member webcasts, online courses, and mentorship at Clear And Open.com because it’s my truth that, with the right tools, anyone can eliminate the people, money, and time problems holding them back in business. And I share parts of these webcasts and courses on this show because I want to help you, too. If you’re enjoying the show and learning from it, I’d love your feedback. If you a...

Marketers know a lot about how human beings think and operate, some of which you may not even know about yourself. For example, most people have no idea what they really want – or, more accurately, most people have some ideas about what they want, but they don’t really know.   Marketers also know that humans make purchasing decisions emotionally and then rationalize them afterwards – but, for some...

Over the past three episodes, we’ve established how the cycle of disengagement leads to supervision and why supervision is a completely unnecessary waste of resources that enables mediocrity.   To conclude this series, I want to offer you the antidote to this problem – meta-supervision – and discuss how it will help you better manage yourself and others. I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave...

We internalize our points of view on the world, turning perception into identity. So when we hate working for the man and think work sucks, we become a person who works for the man and resents it.   That’s the context I want you to understand as we start defining what supervision really is and creating more awareness around how it negatively impacts our lives. I’d love your feedback. Click here to...

In the last episode, I shared my theory on the cycle of disengagement. Today we’re going to go over the unique ways disengagement manifests in our lives and how we can start creating a new, more productive dynamic to disrupt that cycle. I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes .

Society conditions us to crave supervision… and hate it. School, work, authority figures – they all contribute to disengagement in various forms, priming us to both invite and resent “the man” for watching over us.   So to start this four-part series on management, supervision, and meta-supervision, I want to share my theory about how disengagement works, and why I think this cycle of disengagemen...

To conclude this series, I want to talk about the gradual and constant nature of learning – even for teachers. You can know a heck of a lot about something, even be considered an expert on a subject, and still be learning it.   Learning is not binary, and it doesn’t serve us to think about it that way. I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes .

We’re conditioned to believe that knowing equals change. However, knowing is just the first step towards change. In this episode, I deconstruct this conditioning so that we can build a better understanding of the learning process. I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.

In the last episode, we established that learning is not just about memorizing knowledge – it’s also about developing new skills and achieving greater awareness, and this kind of learning, this personal development, is much more effective at preparing us to overcome life’s challenges.   But over the last few decades, personal development has pretty much become mainstream, and as a result, a huge i...

As children, we are taught that schooling is learning – all memorization and regurgitation. But when we grow up, we find out that there’s a lot more to learn if we want to develop relationships and succeed in business.   Today, I want to untangle this confusing mess and separate the process of memorization from the concept of learning – and discuss the consequences of conflating the two. I’d love...

If you’ve listened to the past three episodes, one thing should be painfully clear: annual plans don’t work, and we’re wasting our time and energy when we try to make them work. But we have big goals and big things we want to accomplish, so we do need some sort of plan!   To conclude this series, let’s take a look at plans that do work – and the prices you will have to pay to make them happen. I’d...

For part three of this four-part series on why annual plans don’t work, we’re looking at the difference between a goal and a plan (and, really, why successfully executing a plan as it was planned isn’t the most important thing). I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.