[Life Back West] March 2014 – The Six O’Clock Club

Ask any priest, competitive athlete like Michael Jordan, or experienced traveler.iStock_000019334536Medium

Rituals done with intent bring meaning to life.

They also work, doing things like boosting performance and making things go better.

Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton noted in Scientific American that “investigations by psychologists have revealed intriguing new results demonstrating that rituals can have a causal impact on people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.Read the rest

[How to Improve Your Leadership Skills] “Everything On One Calendar Please”

Just as  former basketball superstar Michael Jordan, investor Warren Buffett, or businessperson Oprah Winfrey wouldn’t handicap themselves by taking their second-string game to work (e.g. imagine Buffett: “No, we just invest in companies whose names begin with M-Z), you want to take your best self to work and life. It means bringing the whole you – not just a part of you – to life.Read the rest

If You Only Had ONE Job Interview Question to Ask? – Revisited

The question “If You Had Only ONE Job Interview Question to Ask” was posed this past May. The suggestion merits revisiting based on an aside Carol Dweck made this past week when I caught her presentation at my son’s grade school, Marin Country Day School.

Dweck’s research – which has more depth and vigor than I’ve distilled here – has pointed to the existence of two types of mindets – that of a “fixed” mindset and that of a “growth” mindset in children as well as adults.Read the rest

Naismith’s Pride: Teamwork Spells Success

Eight United States teams – four men’s and four women’s – of sweaty, baggy-shorted collegiate basketball players will be running up and down a wooden court that is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide trying to claim the winner’s trophy in what’s known as basketball’s Final Four over the next few days.

Basketball, more than any other sport, is the ultimate team experience: nothing else comes close in the way five players must play well together and the lessons for business are endless.Read the rest