Practical Tactics from Neuro Discoveries with Dr. Ellen Weber
Say you find yourself working with peers who cling to obsolete turf. Or perhaps you’re stuck in a rut with a boring routine you feel helpless to change.
In both cases you’ve likely defaulted to operating from your brain’s basal ganglia. which can make every action you do part of the “stuck syndrome.” What if you dared to risk the opposite of blaming others for change you crave from within the stuck syndrome? Continue reading →
Tone tools create goodwill for skilled leaders – even in war zones. 
The body language of leaders’ communication, tone brings a smile of inclusion or adds a snub of rejection. It embodies the warmth of thanks, and also chills your peers with criticism.How so?
Good tone articulates problems with solutions in mind, while poor tone vents about the impossibilities.
Tone turns gunners into givers Continue reading →
What question would start your day on a different path? A trek toward unusual possibilities. What trigger might lead you to drive solutions into new directions? Ask and your brain springs into gear for solutions that tend to elude non-curious minds.
Start where you stand by asking:
If you could lead one improvement without limits where you work, what would you change first?
Teens have finally found a book THEY love!
In fact they’re devouring The Fault in our Stars in droves! The clever part is that teachers love it too!
No book on the market today is teaching teens what they want to know about empathy,friends, trust, belief, and humor – in quite the same way.
Why ignore the treasure so many are calling brilliant? Teens say it’s the only book they ever finished! Let’s catch this thrilling wave to begin a new discourse with our youth and young adults! Let’s showcase their brilliance and willingness to learn from this text!
No surprise. kids already flock to teachers begging them to take up The Fault in Our Stars in class.
And increasingly teachers admit they are already into it – or have just read it – and they speak of literary value at the peaks. 
Here are some brain based ways to capitalize on the CLEVER in our amazing teens and in John Green’s amazing bestseller – The Fault in Our Stars.
Have you read it?
More importantly – have you talked to teens about why they are enjoying Green’s new book so much?
If not, you’ll want to read it before the highly anticipated movie rolls into theaters in June.
I’m re-reading it so that I can develop even more brain friendly tools to engage our young readers because I see endless and open conversations that interest and inspire them and the rest of us.
You?
Conflicts and clashes are as common at most workplaces as black coffee on Monday morning. If you’re looking to axe communication completely though, try ramping up curmudgeonese and then watch its magic spin.
Bickering is usually where curmudgeons nail their hottest acts. Get to water coolers early to …
First, spray conflicts with tone toxins. Let’s say you catch complaints about a policy that sucks in your department. Agree with loudest dissidents – then take cover quick behind the nearest bully.
Or say you overhear workers nitpicking about feeling undervalued. Jump onto a winning side, dodge bullets coming from other curmudgeons, and fire back accusations to anyone who dares to challenge your importance.
Curmudgeon rule #1 – Stay safe by simply spewing opposites of what you really mean. Curmudgeons project their best lethal darts by dosing them with bogus gratitude about having a job at all in these tough times. Continue reading →
Ever wonder why some run with passion at work, while others stick like Velcro to problems? When innovation opportunities stir, why do some dash forward with new talents, while others dash for cover?
It could be as small as reorganizing work shifts for flexibility. Or it could be bold new acquisitions that link diverse cultures. Check out a recent Webinar on this topic hosted by Australian leaders at Macro.com.
Good news is, the human brain comes equipped to build and sustain innovative cultures. The kind of community people crave and productivity feeds on.
You cannot learn to create if you …
1. Say you can’t. The brain creates when you tell it to do something original. Ford was right when he said: “If you say you can or you say you can’t you are right.”
2. Focus on perfect. A brain needs wiggle room to build stepping stones forward on mistakes. The Wright Brothers remind us that these steps may even become successful flights.
3. Whine over problems. To create is to look past a problem and see a possibility. It’s much the way Edison failed dozens of times and before the light bulb lit up his determination for possibilities. Continue reading →
Compare that to reluctance you feel if expected to “show inner thoughts,” when you’re misunderstood or feel criticized… Continue reading →
Relationships may have sunken from tone toxins since your last holiday celebration. Or perhaps gloom got highly contagious. But have you considered how gifts – can kill or kindle moods?
Given freely, gifts create serotonin strategies for festive memories that keep on giving … Continue reading →
Choose it and Use it!
Intelligence could have been what Ford had in mind when he said:
“If you say you can or say you can’t – it’s true.”
See your IQ as fluid or fixed and it will become just that. Daily choices literally fuel or fail your unique multiple intelligences. How so?
Choose to ramp up personal or social intelligences and you’ll use intuition to make decisions that advance your opportunities. Opt for common sense and you’ll use keen insights to share opportunities with friends. The opposite is also true, when you choose discontentment in your own company. Or when you laugh at others yet take yourself too seriously. It starts with a choice for a heaping dose of personal fun that only adds to a more clever you. Just as Ford implied – the brain comes equipped to grow IQ for those who choose it and then use it… Continue reading →
Fear feels like a natural response to facts brandished about without any ability to respond. If you ask a simple – What if ... question though, fear moves into freedom that innovative change-agents enjoy!
A mental barrier to freedom, fear of failure’s understandable when you think about it. Salacious front-liners about why you should fear the current economy threaten to rip off your future career hopes. No wonder a brain’s ethical values become crippled by fearful responses. 
A simple question such as What if I did something different today to impact where I can move tomorrow - can chase fear away. Questions set the stage for brain based tactics that reboot brainpower and add innovation.
Fear comes with peril that shuts down learning like a tsunami takes out entire towns. Harvard Director of Risk Communication, David Ropeik, showed how brains are hard-wired to fear first, and reflect second. Have you experienced a question that offered new directions?
One simple question can move you away from anger over problems into a new tone that leads toward possibilities. Fortunately the brain comes with capabilities such as tone tactics for tough times, that help to create freedom from fearful events. You can learn to look fear in the eye, and when you do so, you often face it’s toothless bite. Your amygdala offers you tools to react to fear with freedom.
The key is to act, rather than settle for fear … Continue reading →
Most people would rather be anywhere but at work. The US consistently falls behind other developed nations in innovative advances. Play is rarely an option for workplace progress.
See any relationship between these three realities?
We put in more hours with more demands and accept more stressors, in ways that limit or flat out halt productivity. We grind talent to a halt, learn to live with corruption in our leaders, and often lack skills to move much of anything beyond gridlock or personal gains.
Each tower represents talent, potential and capabilities. When they sit empty your abilities idle. The opposite is also true. Continue reading →
Use thankfulness as a mental tool to build cool new pathways, by monitoring your inner voice. Include a small dose of thanks, then get ready to alter challenges for a finer step into your day. Check out the power of human-brains-on-thanks – and gratitude follows.
GK Chesterton taught thanks as the highest form of thought, and gratitude as happiness doubled by wonder. You? Continue reading →
Honored to rank in the 50 Best Leadership Blogs of 2013.
Thanks to the generous research by Dr. Jon Warner – we are supported, encouraged and blessed by this kind recognition.
Many good friends and colleagues here in this list, remind us daily to keep on creating and to join together in ways that lead innovation toward a fine place for all.
For me – that always comes back to leading innovation with the brain in mind. You?
So excited my family is here soon — and hope you are all especially enjoying the summer sun!
