Have you ever made a new friend over a meal? Perhaps at an event – like a wedding, a banquet, or party where you didn’t necessarily get to choose who you were sitting next to? Whether that interaction turned into an ongoing long-term friendship or not, did you find that over the course of eatingContinue reading “Bridging Differences through Food”
Author Archives: Ian Jackson
Planning for the Day After Election Day
At the time of writing, it’s just over a month until Election Day here in the US. Wherever you are in the world, I wonder how you feel when you think about that. Apprehensive? Hopeful? Determined? A lot of work goes into Election Day – from poll workers to candidates, from the town level toContinue reading “Planning for the Day After Election Day”
Who’s in Your “Human Library”?
How often have you felt judged by someone you barely know? How often have you formed an opinion of someone based on first impressions, only to be surprised later on as you spend more time with them and get to know them on a deeper level? Perhaps you’ve even had the experience of becoming goodContinue reading “Who’s in Your “Human Library”?”
Algebra and Articulating Decision-Making
How well do you remember middle school or high school math? Was it something you enjoyed? Something you found challenging? Maybe both? A surprising joy for me in recent weeks has been sitting with my eighth grade son as he works on algebra. His work is all done online, so sitting alongside him helps himContinue reading “Algebra and Articulating Decision-Making”
Counteracting Unreliable Work Memories
Your memory is unreliable. Shocker, I know. Life is full, and increasingly full of sensory overwhelm, so it’s not surprising at all that we sometimes forget things – details, things we needed to do, or something somebody told us. Our brains can’t retain every piece of information, and we need to constantly filter out piecesContinue reading “Counteracting Unreliable Work Memories”
You are Not Your Emails (and Neither is Anyone Else)
What forms of communication do you use most often at work? Email, phone, text? Or maybe one of the multitude of team messaging platforms that have proliferated in the last five years? Whatever you use, do you ever find yourself struggling to articulate your message in the way you want to? Do you spend aContinue reading “You are Not Your Emails (and Neither is Anyone Else)”
Workplace Empathy in the New Academic Year
How does the beginning of a new academic year affect you? Even if you don’t have children or work in academia yourself, it might be impacting you more than you realize. If you have children of any age – or if you are a student or an educator yourself – the beginning of a newContinue reading “Workplace Empathy in the New Academic Year”
Creating a Culture of “Tiny Teach” in Your Teams
Do you remember when you first learned to tie your shoelaces? Or how to use a gas pump? Or how to use breakout rooms in a videoconference? Each of these probably wasn’t something you learned on your own, but once someone showed you how to do it, you probably do it regularly without much thought.Continue reading “Creating a Culture of “Tiny Teach” in Your Teams”
Creating a ‘Closing Ceremony’ for Work
How often do you reach the end of a team or solo project that has taken hours, weeks, or even months, and move straight on to the next thing? If this is common for you, is this invigorating and motivating? For some of us, it is – we get momentum and forward motion that kick-startsContinue reading “Creating a ‘Closing Ceremony’ for Work”
What are Your Team’s Fosbury Flop Ideas?
Watching the Paris 2024 Olympics, I have been struck over and over again by the way these games intersect with our everyday lives in the workplace and in our communities. Mental health and self-care continue to be headline topics after rising to the surface at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics; we are seeing much greater discussionContinue reading “What are Your Team’s Fosbury Flop Ideas?”
Building Bridges Leadership 