» Happy new year

… from emotional intelligence at work

Newsletter 11 : 27 january 2009

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Welcome to our newsletter, particularly if you’re a new subscriber. Back numbers are now available on the website. Our policy is to offer a change from other people’s newsletters which do demand an awful lot of reading…

New year’s resolution quotations of the week

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Seneca

People often say to me that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing… that’s why we recommend it daily.
Zig Ziglar, American motivational speaker

Video of the week

Cheers

We’ve been enjoying – OK, Jeremy has been enjoying – watching old episodes of Cheers on DVD. Whilst maintaining a consistently high level of humour, this series is so good at charting the ins and outs of a relationship between two people neither of whom is able to commit to it. Worth starting at the beginning and taking in the first five series.

(Lots of snippets on Youtube – just search for ‘cheers sam diane’.)

Pareidolia of the week

Pareidolia is when the brain interprets what the eye sees as something other than it is. This is an extraordinary example. Is pareidolia a good metaphor for the way we ‘deliberately misunderstand’ the communications of others, often unconsciously so that we are not even aware that we are doing it?

Newsletter of the week

10 things you didn’t know last week : 10 actions for the coming week

If you’re not a subscriber to the TEN newsletter, do try it. Just send an email with ‘subscribe’ in the subject line to mail@askten.co.uk.
Commendably brief and entertaining (now you know where we got the idea from).

Training course of the week

Make the other person more important than you

This one of the deepest principles we use in our work. In line with Chuck Spezzano, we call it the leadership principle and, once you know what to look for, you can find it all over the place – from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (whose motto is ‘Serve to lead’) to the Bible (Philippians 2:3).

We now offer a half day inhouse course specifically aimed at groups of people who work together.

If you only had to discover one thing with us, we would want it to be this.

Emotional issue of the week

My ranting, ineffective manager is driving me to despair
Here’s a classic problem which would benefit from the application of some emotional intelligence. Read the question and ponder the issue before reading the answer. Where are the manager’s issues coming form? And the questioner’s? What would your advice be? Why? How would your view differ from that of the ‘expert’ (assuming it does)?