Goals & Practices

Life and Work Continues in the Age of COVID [Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Jim Bruce, Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. Jim may be reached at [email protected].] Since March, […]

Working in a leadership incubator – don’t waste the opportunity [Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Justin Sipher, Program Leader, Leadership Coach and Consultant at MOR Associates.  Justin may be reached at [email protected].]   This past spring and summer 2020 was a powerful and complex time for participants in our various MOR leadership programs.  Like your […]

We heard your feedback + growth [Today’s Tuesday Reading is by Dr. David Sweetman, MOR Associates Leadership Coach and Consultant.  David may be reached at [email protected].] How our world has changed in the past three months!  We at MOR, like the rest of the world, have been working diligently and thinking strategically in adapting to our […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Jim Dezieck, MOR Associates Leadership Coach and Henry Gabriel, Associate Director of Finance, University Information Technology Services at Indiana University. They may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].] The photograph above answers the question: ‘how do we measure value?’ The joyful smile of a newly celebrated centenarian connecting from her nursing home room […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is by Rick Fredericks, MOR Associates Program Leader and Leadership Coach.  Rick may be reached at [email protected]] It is not news that MOR will push you to adopt beneficial practices.  I am honoring this quest personally by building a stay at home practice.  This makes sense considering my unholy trinity of risk factors: […]

[Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates.  He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. He may be reached at [email protected].] “On December 31, 2019, China reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in people […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Sarah J. Buszka, Critical Infrastructure Service Lead, University of Wisconsin – Madison.  She is a current participant in the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) MOR Leaders Program.  Sarah may be reached at [email protected].]   In her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth successfully proves that effort […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is by Mike Sullivan, MOR Associates Program Leader and Leadership Coach.  Mike is also an avid ultra-marathon runner. Mike may be reached at [email protected]]   To Run is to Risk Failure You’re reassessing and setting new goals for the year. Will these goals reveal what’s truly possible for you? MOR Associates is […]

An early 20th-century New Year’s resolution postcard1 put it this way:          Your New Year’s Resolution          Resolve to renew all your old resolves.          And add a few that are new.          Resolve to keep them as long as you can.          What more can a poor man do. People have been making “resolves” or resolutions, promises, commitments, plans, pledges, aspirations, aims, designs, etc. […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is an essay by Matthew E. Mooney, Assistant Dean for Teaching, Learning and Technology the at Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business. His essay first appeared as a leaders program reflection last fall. [Matt may be reached at <[email protected]>.]    I’ve so appreciated previous reflections. It’s comforting to see that while we are […]

Last week the Tuesday Reading, On Being Grateful,1 focused on showing appreciation and called attention to a quote from Robert Emmons, University of California, Davis psychologist and author: “Feeling gratitude starts off with the realization of what we have received from others and what it has cost them.”2   This led me to suggest four ways that […]

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, […]

… to be truly effective, you need to be!   Bill Taylor, Robert J. Smith Professor of Accountancy at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business and an expert on subjective performance evaluation, has said it this way: “… I’m convinced that if you truly want people to elevate their performance, you have first to […]

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. […]

… they surround us   No matter where you look, you will find both unwritten and written rules – rules at work, rules that are personal to you, rules for your family, rules about your social interactions, rules at home, rules everywhere. Some are “written” by others including your organization, and many, likely the majority, by […]

“Humble listening” is among the top four characteristics of leader.1  —  Jeff Immelt, Former Chairman and CEO, GE.  “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”2,3     —   Henry Ford.  “To […]

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 […]

… Which do I need?   I’ve been working on a rollout plan for a new major application. And, before I present that plan to the clients, I need to give the presentation a test run. I can ask my test audience to give me feedback or I could ask them for advice. What do […]

Been gobsmacked1 recently? You are in a team meeting and make a proposal you believe is well thought out. You feel your work is solid. A coworker viciously attacks your proposal. Or, a friend, who also is your boss’s, boss’s boss, unexpectedly calls you early one morning to strongly admonish you for a comment you had […]