We live in an era of filters—Instagram filters, corporate filters, “professional” filters, even spiritual filters. Each of these layers can feel like a necessary costume for moving through the world, but over time, they harden into something else: a Synthetic Self. Your Synthetic Self is that version of you built to gain approval, avoid [...]
Art Kliner, Jeffrey Schwartz and Josie Thomson have written an important book, with the main premise being that the inner voice of strategic leadership is the "Wise Advocate". The Wise Advocate involves "stepping back and being thoughtful: looking at your own situation, and yourself in it, with all the commitment and information of an insider [...]
“Don’t believe everything you think!” This is one of the insights from Dr. Marilee Adams, founder and CEO of the Inquiry Institute. Adams has written a thoughtful book, Change Your Questions Change Your Life, that posits that “the questions we ask either expand our mindsets, opening us to exciting new possibilities, or constrict our mindsets, [...]
Dr. Gabor Maté has written a must-read book, When the Body Says No - The Cost of Hidden Stress. The book presents overwhelming research that concludes that all the baggage that we have buried deep within our brains has a huge cost. Maté explains that this cost is often in the form of a wide range [...]
Leonard Mlodinow has written a tremendous book, Subliminal - How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior. One of the important topics covered in the book is the accuracy of your self-perception. It turns out that we have an inflated assessment of ourselves - called the "above-average effect". Mlodinow writes, "Ironically, people tend to recognize that inflated [...]
Rasmus Hougaard has written an excellent book, One Second: Enhance Your Performance at Work with Mindfulness. Hougaard believes that we all have the ability to control our own minds rather than have our minds control us. His book focuses on practical uses of mindfulness training in the workplace. The key is to train yourself in [...]
