Change

Two days from today on the fourth Thursday of November, people in the United States will celebrate a national day of Thanksgiving. A similar holiday is celebrated on the same or other days by people in many nations.   In the United States, a day set apart for giving thanks has been observed, most years, […]

Recently on TV, I was attracted to a Cascade dishwasher detergent commercial featuring child actress Sierra Richards, who seeing her “mother” rinse off the dishes before putting them in the open dishwasher asks, “just what does the dishwasher do?” This question is an example of thinking critically about what the “mother” in the commercial was doing. […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is an essay by Monika R. Dressler. Director of Academic Technologies, in the LSA Technology Services group at the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. She is an alumnus of the MOR Leaders Program. Her essay first appeared as a program reflection earlier this year. [Monika may be reached at […]

Where are you on the burnout scale — exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy — to fully engaged — energy, dedication, and absorbed?1   In a 2018 paper, Seppälä and Moeller2 introduce a young woman who is in a new workplace. She really liked her new job and was highly motivated to perform well. She undertook, and was highly successful at, organizing a […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is an essay by Dave Acheson, Network Operations, Information Systems and Technology, Chapman University. His essay first appeared as a leaders program reflection earlier this year. [Dave may be reached at  <[email protected]>.]    Since my MOR Associates Leaders Program came to an end, I have struggled to continue the strides I felt […]

In previous Tuesday Readings we have focused on the importance of planning,1 on being intentional about how we use our time,2 and on the importance of regularly moving items from our one To Do list to our calendar.3 Returning to this topic as the school year begins, seems particularly important. Each year our pace seems to be more hurried […]

… Sometimes it is actually better to stop, and not finish. Really? Ever get to a point in a project where the need for the result goes away AND you continue to work anyway. Or, you’ve failed to reach a public goal you’ve set and concluded that you will not be able to reach the […]

…Helpful thoughts for the next steps in your life’s journey   Every year, beginning near the end of May and continuing into early June, there is a flurry of ritual activity at this country’s educational institutions. In the U.S., there are over 4,200 degree granting colleges and universities and over 20,500 high schools who each […]

…and Don’t Do   Over the past several weeks, I have received, and found, a growing number of lists of things mentally and emotionally strong people do and don’t do. At this point, I have six lists containing more than 60 different recommended behaviors or habits that the reader is encouraged to engage. Some of […]

… Let it go. “Holding a grudge is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to be hurt by it.”                                                              —— Mark Goulston, M.D. author […]

… “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”       –  Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher from the 6th century B.C.E. All journeys, whether they are physical journeys by foot, by car, train, or plane, or journeys of the mind where you work small step by small step to solve a problem, resolve an issue, or […]

For the past two weeks, I’ve been writing about pro–crastination,1,2 “willingly deferring something though you expect the delay to make you worse off.”3 Pre–crastination is intentionally completing tasks quickly just to get them done sooner, or to get them done so that you no longer have to remember to get them done. Edward Wasserman calls this the “fierce […]

As I wrote in last week’s Tuesday Reading, “Procrastinators Anonymous: Yes, both I and you are most likely members of this club,”1 procrastination is “willingly deferring something though you expect the delay to make you worse off.”2 I like this definition as it explicitly calls to our minds the fact that procrastination requires a decision […]

… Yes, both I and you are most likely members of this club   Procrastination, according to Merriam-Webster, is to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done. Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences recipient George Akerlof once found himself faced with a simple task: sending a friend and colleague a box of clothes the colleague […]

Self-awareness, one of the key elements of emotional intelligence, is one’s “capacity for introspection and the ability to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals. Self-awareness is how an individual consciously knows and understands their own character, feelings, motives, and desires. There are two broad categories of self-awareness: internal self-awareness […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is an essay by Frances Haies, Assistant Director, Office of Information Technology, Project Management Office, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her essay first appeared as a leaders program reflection last fall. [Frances may be reached at <[email protected]>.]     Since I haven’t had much opportunity to step out of my comfort […]

… That could be a good thing.   “I’m bored.” Now, that’s a sentence everyone has heard, or spoken, or thought many times in his or her life. And, in spite of what you may have been taught, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What might be bad is how you respond.   Wikipedia1 reports that […]

Two weeks ago, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I wrote about gratitude – the importance of expressing gratitude, how to cultivate a practice of showing gratitude, and about the impact our showing gratitude has on others.  After completing that essay, I watched the CBS Friday (November 15) Evening News. The last of the evening’s news items was […]

Eric Abrams is the author of today’s Tuesday Reading.  He is Chief Inclusion Officer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. His essay first appeared as a leadership program reflection earlier this year. [Eric may be reached at [email protected].]   The MOR Tuesday Reading of October 23, 2018 focused on curiosity. Given my role at the Stanford Graduate […]

Over the past year, I have written on many topics, but never on courage. I’m prompted to do so now by a Time Magazine article “America’s Reigning Expert on Feelings, Brené Brown Now Takes on Leadership,”1 which follows the recent publication of Brown’s fifth major book, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.2 Fundamentally, the book […]