So good ole’ Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday, forecasting 6 more weeks of winter. Well, that’s good news, because that means we get to do 6 more weeks of fireside nights, hot chocolate (and other warming beverages ?) and then look to after work bike rides, birds chirping in the morning, and seeing more of our neighbors as we all get out and about more.
I have been reading and listening to audio casts way more than I usually do, and that means I have several cool items to share this week to help you slide through the next few days into the weekend:
- Scott H. Young, author of WSJ best seller Ultralearning, wrote a fast-paced piece for Medium on mental models. Are you aware of using mental models to problem solve, and if so, do any of these prove more useful you than the others?
- As a business leader, are you or one of your management team members coaching someone who complains they aren’t being listened to by their peers or others in the organization? This smart and quick read by one of my faves, Dr. Travis Bradberry, may provide tips and insights to move them to behaviors that may help.
- Do you find yourself missing people in your outer circles as this pandemic drones on? You’re not alone and investigating this phenomenon and how it affects us may help you either shrug your shoulders and say, “Livin’ with it” or realize it’s been niggling at you at take steps to reel those people back in closer to center.
- What if your team doesn’t want to go back to a physical workspace? Big question leads to more questions and lots of complexity, but this Harvard Business Review article by Liz Kislik does a great job of ID’ing issues, giving examples of how they play out, and offering concrete advice for tackling each one. Kudos to Liz for an insightful discussion guide for you and your leadership team.
Do Good Spotlight: NAACP
Once again we’re shining our do good spotlight on an organization that has worked ceaselessly amidst non-stop obstacles to bring racial equity to our country. This week we’re asking you to take a look at the website for the NAACP and consider donating, as we did, to help support the work being done to help move us closer to the goals of equal opportunities and justice for us all. Here’s the NAACP agenda, copied from the website:
Contract for Black America:
- Education: Ensure every student of color receives a quality public education that prepares him or her to be a contributing member of a democracy.
- Criminal Justice: Create sweeping police reform–federal legislation mandating a zero-tolerance approach in penalizing and/or prosecuting police officers who kill unarmed, non-violent, and non-resisting individuals in an arrest.
- Healthcare: Ensure quality affordable health care for all people.
- Economic Development: Address the challenging economic realities facing our communities including poverty, lack of jobs and disproportionate high unemployment, lack of affordable housing, foreclosures, etc.
I hope you have a great rest of the week and whether you’re on team Super Bowl, team Puppy Bowl, both, or neither, I hope you have a great weekend!
