Who are your spiders?

I've been running regularly over a year now, often in the dark hours before sunrise.  As the weather turns cooler, I can think of only one thing I won't miss about the warmer months:  spider webs.

Insured Victim Effect (a.k.a., no harm, no foul)

Sometimes bad things happen.

• A dead tree falls on a neighbor's fence from an adjacent property.
• An arsonist burns a home to the ground.
• A valuable diamond necklace is stolen.

When we first hear of things like these, our first reaction is often to the event itself and the well-being of the person - we want to make sure the person is okay.  But before we launch into a diatribe about how awful the person or entity is that caused this to happen, it's quite common to interject one quick question:  "was it insured?"

Worry

This time of year tends to reveal worries about things that cannot be controlled.  Some reminders from throughout the ages are below.

Too much of the wrong thing

As individuals matriculate through careers, it is quite common for blind spots to develop.  Some common blind spots have to do with interpersonal relations, focus and direction, and delivering on hard-to-quantify soft skills for the good of the organization.

Are You Done?

A teacher, one of four teachers in an elementary school, is frustrated at work. This teacher, let's call her Carol, is one of four 4^th grade teachers, and is also the newest. She is finishing her first year in this school, and one of the other teachers (her name can be Sally) has been assigned as her mentor.

The three teachers keep their doors open, plan class activities together, and sit together at lunch.

Sally's approach to mentoring revealed itself early in the year. She introduced Carol to the others, and casually said that Carol could reach out with any questions. Sally and the other two teachers continued to plan joint class activities, and talk with one another. When Carol would join their group, she realized that the majority of their time was spent gossiping about other teachers – and Carol wondered if they talked about her when she wasn't there as well.

Carol's approach to teaching is a little different from the others. She closes her door, spends less time outside with her class, and uses teaching techniques that are slightly different from the other 4^th grade teachers – but in line with her pedagogy and prior teaching experience.

Near the end of the school year Carol confronted the other teachers about excluding her from planning the last event, something of a send-off for the students. The three other teachers had planned an event for their classes outside, and excluded Carol yet again. Words were exchanged.

Foreclosures: what you need to know (a re-post from 2007)

This is a piece I had published in December 2007.  As the pundits and reporters spin us out of the Great Recession, I thought it might be interesting to look back at my thoughts from a couple of years ago - as the pundits were spinning us into the Second Great Depression.  Enjoy. :)

-Bryan

Foreclosures: what you need to know

Bryan Seaford©2007

Things we learn by age two

Some friends of mine and I were talking the other day about human development, and how quickly we learn. As I thought more about how we develop – and when we develop, my thoughts turned to a time not too long ago when my son had just turned two years old. By that age, so much has already been learned.

View&Stew: it's all about EQ

Emotional Intelligence is Cool

Daniel Goleman is a psychologist by trade. He's also a bestselling author, sometimes Harvard professor, and even wrote for the New York Times for a while. For the past decade and a half, his focus has been on intelligences beyond the standard measure of IQ, “intelligence quotient.”

Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan & Ferrazzi Greenlight

This past week I had the opportunity to attend a small-group training session with Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan, Managing Director of Training & Development at Ferrazzi Greenlight.  If you haven't heard of Ferrazzi Greenlight, it's a firm focused on strategic relationship management headed by one Keith Ferrazzi, bestselling author of Never Eat Alone and Who's Got Your Back.

In a nutshell, the message is this:  demonstrate generosity, intimacy, candor, and accountability.  :)  Of course, the trick is not knowing the four secret words...the trick is knowing what they mean and how they apply to our individual and corporate circumstances.  In our small group, Jeff painted a picture for us of what that might look like, and took us down the path of thinking through specifically how to realize these goals.

Jeff speaks to groups of all sizes, from our group of ten to stadiums of thousands.  He has a great story to share, and is - of all things - authentic.