I thought about putting something clickbaity for the title. Along the lines of: “6 tips you MUST use for virtual working,” or “5 keys for running virtual meetings like a boss,” or even (retch) “4 things all successful managers do in virtual teams,” but I decided to go for something that sounds less like a Forbes article. So, here‘s the pitch for all of us office-worker types: let‘s all just try to be decent at this virtual coworking thing. Ok?
Those of us lucky enough to still have jobs and income should make the most of our (limited) opportunity to…
As I entered the new year, I, like many souls around the world, started wondering what the new year would bring. I did not think it would bring pandemic. But this is not about that. The global disruption of COVID-19 is far too serious and fresh for me to tackle. This is more on the lines of a lighthearted thought-exercise to peel my eyes away from the hellscape on the news. Where was I…ah, yes, a u-turn back to lighter topics: innocently wondering what 2020 would bring…
My wondering took me wandering down some delightful internet trails, like models for…
If you’ve ever worked in a very corporate environment like me, you know that it has a tendency to suck the soul out of things. A bit like a vampire that drains your energy or a vacuum cleaner that filters out the human particles, leaving only bureaucratic dust, Corporate Earth can be a drag. Layers upon layers of processes and galactic-scale distances between efforts and real impact make everything feel uphill on Corporate Earth, a bit like climbing a Penrose staircase.
With all that process climbing, it can be tough for residents of Corporate Earth to take time to pause…
Diversity is good. It helps our groups with creativity, problem-solving, and learning to communicate. Yet many societies build structures that hinder diversity (often unintentionally). And most people have a difficult time adapting emotionally to differences in those around them.
In other words: diversity is really hard to navigate. Why?
America’s pattern of exclusion and repression of minority groups is a reprehensible part of our legacy. But I am not equipped to delve into those areas. I focus here on more banal cases of navigating diversity in groups and organizations that have good intent but still struggle.
America is rife with…
A vampire is hard to kill. Just look at the relative indestructibility of Dracula or (to get a bit meta) the continued relevance of the insidious Twilight saga. These vampires (or books, in the case of Twilight) get stabbed, shot, punched, hacked, slashed, critically lambasted, etc. but only some very specific conditions will kill them for good (ex. wooden stake to the heart, a brave editor, etc.). And often, just when the hero’s think they’ve FINALLY done it, the vampire gets resurrected for the sequel… exhausting.
How frightening it must be to face a foe that seems dead, but won’t…
Lots of unpacking to do here.
What do I mean by “diversity?” To be diverse, means that the subject in question (i.e. the thing being labeled “diverse”) includes many different forms of a specific or various attributes. The “attribute” can be anything: a color, a language, an economic status, a religion, a fashion-style, a political allegiance, or a way of thinking. Diversity is highly relative. What is “diverse” for one subject, may not be considered “diverse” for another.
But enough abstraction. In this case, I’m focusing on diversity in our business organizations and our society.
When I say “diversity,” I…
Why is it so hard to practice mindfulness or meditation (aka the trendy health topics that Big Tech will eventually find a way to co-opt)? Well, let’s see…SO MANY REASONS.
It could be the dizzying amount of stimuli in our world. It could be the One Ring of Sauron that lurks in our pockets, constantly tempting us to check Instagram or look for the 97th time whether So-and-so has responded to our WhatsApp when we know they haven’t. It could be the countless cognitive biases influencing and nudging our mind toward certain things. It could be the thousands of years…
Prepare yourself. I’m getting ready to make an excessive number of metaphors and analogies about a topic that many people find annoying: culture.
Here’s a choice analogy to start with. Culture is like a butt. They exist everywhere but it’s difficult to look at your own. It is extremely important to how our body functions, yet we don’t like to talk about it. Perhaps another go? Culture is like stagnant water that’s been sitting in a barrel for too long. It can cover every surface and still be hard to see. You hardly notice it when things are going well…
Travelling is as important to our intellectual growth as it ever has been. The best way to become “smarter” is not to memorize facts or do repetitive processes like our school systems teach. Machines will replace us in repetitive processes eventually anyway… The best way to grow wiser is to broaden our knowledge in settings that challenge preconceived notions and encourage us to think and act. Few things provide that type of setting better than traveling.
In our society, the internet and social media offer an extremely false sense of experience and exposure. We face mental distractions and pressures prior…
Two coworkers are having a disagreement about team strategy. Let’s say it has something to do with whether to allocate limited resources toward in-house development or to pay external suppliers for development. It’s a perfectly polite conversation: everyone is acting like an adult and no one is calling the other an idiot for suggesting such things. Let’s even assume that cognitive biases are not playing a huge role in preventing the colleagues from reaching common ground (an impossible assumption, but bear with me).
Still, they strongly disagree about the options and they can’t seem to make progress toward understanding the…
