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A blog by Ryan Quinn, Robert Quinn, Shawn Quinn, and Amy Lemley

Archive for the ‘Courage / Empowerment / Initiative’ Category

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Full-Bodied Work: Put Both Mind and Body into What You Do and Get a Better Result

Monday, August 20th, 2012

By Ryan W. Quinn

A co-worker of mine once reminded me, as we were both working, of a story we both new in which the main character was challenged for his lack of enthusiasm. Implicit in his reminder was a question: “Should we be more enthusiastic?” I pondered the story for a moment. Then, I took off running.

For the next hour, I literally ran from task to task. My co-worker tried to keep up, but found it difficult to because he was laughing so hard. Every person I encountered for the next hour was surprised by the energy they felt as I approached them. Almost everyone responded positively to requests I made of them—requests that had often been denied in the past. My performance in that hour was higher than it had ever been in any other single hour I had ever worked.

  (more…)

Posted in Courage / Empowerment / Initiative, Creating Opportunities, Energizing the Workplace, General | No Comments »

Authenticity Requires Accountability

Friday, August 17th, 2012

By Robert E. Quinn

Authentic communication is critical to the process of change. I illustrated this point with a group of nonprofit CEOs by using a story about another group I had taught.

In that earlier course, I led senior executives from a Fortune 500 company in conceptualizing their desired future.  I then helped them examine the gaps between that desired future and their own present behavior.  After that, I put them in a situation in which they had to publicly own their shortcomings and declare what personal changes they were willing to make to bring about the collective future they claimed to desire.

As I reached the height of this account, my audience of nonprofit CEOs seemed both fully engaged and deep in thought.  I pointed it out and asked why they were they were so contemplative.

“Because the communication process was so real,” one of them said. “You held them accountable to their deepest moral responsibility, and we never experience that in organizations. We continually posture, but never commit in the way you were asking them to commit.” (more…)

Posted in Communication, Courage / Empowerment / Initiative, Culture, General | No Comments »

Proof Positive: Stop Frowning, Start Smiling, and Watch Your World Change

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

By Amy Lemley

Last week, I read about yet another study showing Botox helped eliminate depression. Paralyze the frown muscles, it found, and you somehow thwart feelings of malaise, hopelessness, and even sadness. As if by magic, study subjects developed a positive outlook, and both subjective and objective symptoms of depression lifted.

Researchers aren’t sure why. It’s not vanity—in this most recent study, the subjects chosen weren’t seeking cosmetic improvement (one even said he preferred his unaltered look despite feeling less depressed). It’s possible mood and its expression may be a biochemical two-way street—with each capable of prompting and reinforcing the other. Or perhaps people who frown less have more favorable interactions with others, which makes life seem less bleak.

Can something as small as changing your facial expression banish negativity and allow you to embrace the positive? (more…)

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Being Your Best Self at Home: How Exchanging Positive Feedback to Transformed a Father-Son Relationship

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

By Shawn Quinn

Can we separate who we are at home and at work?  I’ve worked with many professionals who believe they can.  More and more experiences have led me to think it may not be possible.

In many of our executive education leadership training programs, Lift Consulting runs an exercise where people receive feedback about who they are at their best from people in all different aspects of their lives—at work, yes, but also with their families and friends, within their neighborhoods, communities, and other groups in which they interact.

When they read the positive-only feedback, our participants recognize that though they have different roles in different parts of their lives and may adjust their style, certain traits remain consistent. Who we are fundamentally comes through in all aspects of our lives. (more…)

Posted in Communication, Courage / Empowerment / Initiative, Creating Opportunities, General, Learning, Positive Parenting | No Comments »

“What would you do if you had 2% more courage?”: The Right Question at the Right Time

Monday, July 30th, 2012

By Shawn Quinn

I recently was working with a senior partner of a multinational firm.  In this firm, the power structure sits within each country in the firm.  Every so often, the country firm goes through a process of narrowing the list of candidates who can take over as leader of the country firm.  Then the partners in that country vote to determine who the next leader will be.

This particular partner was among the candidates who could be voted in as country leader.  He had some concerns as he considered the difficult moves he believed these challenging economic times required.  A reduction in the number of partners—the very people who woulve vote for or against him—was just one of them.  (more…)

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Define the “Situation,” Find Your Motivation

Friday, July 27th, 2012

By Ryan Quinn

One of the things I spend a significant amount of time doing as a professor is research. Academic research projects are usually big, long, and ambiguous. They can take years to complete, and what you thought you were doing when you started the project is seldom what you end up having done when you finish. You get extensive negative feedback throughout the process, but it is seldom clear how to respond to it.

Losing motivation is all too easy in circumstances like these—which are not limited to the academic world, but exist with many other kinds of projects, too. (In fact, in some ways, it sounds a lot like parenting.)

The situation keeps shifting. But what is a “situation” exactly? Could the right definition firm up your motivation and spur you on to action? (more…)

Posted in Courage / Empowerment / Initiative, High Performance, Innovation and Creativity, Learning, Lift / Fundamental State of Leadership | No Comments »

Engaging Others When the Economy Sucks

Friday, May 11th, 2012

By Schon Beechler

Many employees around the world live in a world of fear—the fear of not knowing what’s going to happen next, the fear of losing their jobs, the fear of not being able to provide for their children, the fear of having few or no options left when the bottom drops out of their lives.  Their managers likewise live in a world of fear—of losing of their own jobs, of having to fire good people, of watching all that they and their colleagues have built disappear before their very eyes.

How can executives inspire and motivate themselves and those who work for them when so much fear is in the air? This was the question I posed yesterday to a group of senior executives at a major global financial institution. (more…)

Posted in Courage / Empowerment / Initiative, Culture, Energizing the Workplace, General, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership Education and Development, Leading Change, The Meaning of Work | 1 Comment »

Positive Deviance and Virtuousness on the Campaign Trail: What Would You Do If You Were Running for President?

Friday, May 4th, 2012

By Shawn Quinn

Eight billion dollars. Some predictions say that’s how much will be spent in this year’s U.S. Presidential campaign. Eight billion dollars. Just to get the job.

I got to wondering: If they were to apply some concepts from the field of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS), how might Mitt Romney or President Obama approach running for President differently during this election? (more…)

Posted in Agility / Adaptation, Communication, Courage / Empowerment / Initiative, Leading Change | No Comments »

Truth Tears: The Joy of Knowing Deeply

Saturday, April 28th, 2012

By Robert E. Quinn

A woman came to see me. She had been reading my book Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within. She talked about how the book spoke to her soul. I listened and asked questions. She told me how hard she had struggled to find her professional identity. She had changed majors several times as an undergraduate. As a professional, she has shifted her focus several times. This has led to deep introspection.

In recent times she has found great meaning in the field of organizational development. When she read Deep Change, everything started to come together in a new way. She referenced one particular passage that she had read over and over; t’s about facing our own hypocrisy, making self-change, and finding the power to make a difference in the world (If you’d like to read it, turn to pages 78 through 79).

As she spoke of this passage, her eyes filled with tears. She started to apologize. Then she said something shocking: “I bet a lot of people cry in this office.”

(more…)

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When Ideas Don’t Come: Appreciation

Friday, April 20th, 2012

By Ryan W. Quinn

Managers and students often come to us with essentially the same problems they’ve bringing up since the dawn of time: the “impossible boss,” for example, or the “belligerent co-worker.” They purport to be coming to us for help, but in fact they are presenting what they consider deep down to be a lost cause. They have already convinced themselves that the situation is impossible. There’s simply nothing they can do about it. Their intent, really, is to complain, not to seek a solution. There isn’t one.

As I discussed last week, sometimes situations are impossible. I suspect, however, that impossible situations are less common than people think. “Impossibility” actually means that I have come to an impasse and what I really need are new ideas. That was the theme of yesterday’s blog entry, and will be the theme of today’s as well.

(more…)

Posted in Agility / Adaptation, Courage / Empowerment / Initiative, Creating Opportunities, General, Innovation and Creativity | No Comments »

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