» Mists and mellow fruitfulness

… from emotional intelligence at work

Newsletter 23 : 5 october 2009

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Greetings
Welcome to our newsletter. We like to offer a change from other newsletters which do demand an awful lot of reading…

Quotations of the week

Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

All by Henry Ford, manufacturer of motor vehicles

Emotionally intelligent principle of the week

eiw teaches a number of principles which it would be useful, helpful to live by. The important point of these principles is that their usefulness is independent of whether they are true or not (though, we believe they are, by and large, true). This time, it is:

Be the change you want to see in the world

This well known saying [attributed to] Mahatma Gandhi encapsulates one of the most important ways of being. We cannot expect others to do something if we aren’t prepared to do it ourselves. This applies as equally to the international renunciation of nuclear weapons as it does to our personal relationships. What we see is missing is what we are called to give. If something needs to be done, it is useful – it improves the general good – if we take responsibility for doing it ourselves. We may not necessarily be able to carry out the action, in which case we need to find some one who can. This is a great principle for improving teamwork.

Video of the week

Fascinating TED talk by the great Oliver Sacks about the hallucinations of visually impaired people. Very interesting in relating the physiological aspects of seeing with the mental activity of imagining.

News items of the week

Jeremy has acquired a new SME client in Bristol, and we hope that her application for funding under the LMAS scheme for this work will be smiled on favourably. Meanwhile, another client in Corsham has continued with leadership and management coaching for some months beyond the initial scheme, showing the value both to coaches like us and to clients of this funding.

Kay and Jeremy had an excellent meeting with Jonathan Evans, SW regional director of Skills for health, last week where we presented our Getting it together training programme. This is aimed at NHS bands 1-4 staff though it is widely applicable in both the public and private sectors. It covers EI related subjects like stress, difficult people, and assertiveness. Jeremy had previously received a warm reception from Mandy Shobrook and her JIF committee when he presented Getting it together in the regional health authority.

Joke definitions of the week

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

Glibido: All talk and no action.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

From the Washington Post‘s Mensa Invitational which asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Music video of the week

Having sung this work (Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat), I can attest that this is a superb public performance by the Kosovo Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Rafet Rudi.

Contributions always gratefully received.

If you have been, thank you for reading.
Kay and Jeremy