The Dark Side of Optimism

For many years we have been hearing how optimistic people are more successful than pessimists. Research has shown that they live longer, are more content and are better employees. This has borne a wave of Happiness Indexes, Strengths Based Approaches and Positive Psychology, all of which are incredibly valuable approaches to assessing and developing people….

Sacked Doorman – UPDATE

Last week I wrote a post on what we could learn from being too nice and how it could impact our relationships and performance. The story was focused around Ralph Body who was a doorman at an exclusive New York apartment block. He was sacked for being too nice to the tenants in his block….

Lessons From The Doorman’s Sacking

Ralph Body was going about his usual business last Sunday when he got the news that he didn’t see coming. He was no longer required, asked to finish up his shift and not come back. While this may not sound unusual the reason Ralph was terminated was because “he was too nice”. Being employed as…

Why Are Our Elite Athletes Derailing?

Why is it that we see so many of our sporting heroes leaving stellar careers only to derail their post sport life for seemingly obscure reasons? Research shows us that between 60%-80% of NBA and NFL players go broke within 5 years of their retirement, despite earning between 1.9 to 5.15 million per playing year….

Is This The Secret to High Performing Teams?

Relying on functional matches in high performing teams doesn’t ensure success. New research from Hogan Assessment Systems (specialists in personality profiling) suggest that psychological roles and the matching of those roles are critical to success. Within the variety of functional and psychological roles there is “space” for individuals to contribute and play their natural role….

Saying Sorry – Could It Be Just That Easy?

Recently a major Australian telco, Telstra, came under hacker attack which caused them to shut down their website and email service to thousands of customers. In addition to this customers had been forced to wait in long phone queues to have their passwords reset and have their services reactivated. The problem arose at a poor…

Personal Motivation – Don’t Fail This Test

In recent Harvard research it has been found that paying someone based on results may not be enough. There are other factors at play which impact performance, engagement and tenure. Assistant Professor in Negotiations, Markets and Organizations, Ian Larkin has found that a final hurdle to motivation is that rewards offered are considered “fair” when…