What’s the most effective way of converting rivals into allies in the workplace? Most executives who find themselves at the sharp end of a rivalry will turn to reason, presenting new facts, logical arguments and fresh incentives for a more collaborative relationship....
The British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion once claimed that in any genuinely therapeutic encounter, there should be two rather frightened people in the room. The analyst, who knows they must contain emotions and anxieties in both self and patient, and the patient (while...
Imagine you’re asked if you’d invest in the company whose annual report is below: If you’d bought its stock four years ago, you’d have quadrupled your money by now. But did you notice what box you were thinking in while reading these figures? This exercise is...
One of the founding pillars of Gestalt psychology is that human beings only perceive something as figural (noticeable) by perceptually de-privileging the “ground” (background) from which it has emerged. Study the latter more attentively, however, and the immediate...
Let’s look at the third step of Professors Beshears’ and Gino’s change management model: understanding the underlying causes of the defined problem. Two questions are critical here: is the problem mainly due to people failing to act (i.e. insufficient motivation), or...
There’s a curious fact about decision-making: most of us often make the wrong ones. If you’re trying to decide what to order at a restaurant, the consequences probably won’t be that severe. However, if you’re in a leadership role and you’re trying to enhance employee...
