Cultivating Your Own Personal Advisory Board

Do you have your own personal advisory board? If this isn’t a term that’s familiar to you – or you instinctively understand the concept but find it odd – you’re certainly not alone. We all have a wide variety of people who provide input into our lives, including colleagues, family, friends, and acquaintances, but ourContinue reading “Cultivating Your Own Personal Advisory Board”

100 Ice-Breaker Questions for Any Group Gathering

Each week in our newsletter we include one question you can use as an ice-breaker for conversations with colleagues at the beginning of meetings, or to post on your internal workplace messaging platform. Some serious, some silly, but all with the intention of leading to further conversations and building community. With so many of usContinue reading “100 Ice-Breaker Questions for Any Group Gathering”

Applying the Banquet, Potluck, and Thanksgiving Models of Leadership

While the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US has a controversial history and our cultural retelling of it is inaccurate, the traditional Thanksgiving meal can help us reflect on how we lead others. So this week, as we approach the holiday, we’ll partake in our own annual tradition of revisiting the ideas of Banquet Leadership, Potluck Leadership, andContinue reading “Applying the Banquet, Potluck, and Thanksgiving Models of Leadership”

Building Bridges through Serious Play

Last Wednesday morning – about 90 minutes after the Presidential election results were announced – two colleagues and I opened an in-person two-day corporate retreat for 48 senior leaders from around the country and elsewhere in the world. If you read the last few Building Bridges Leadership articles, you won’t be surprised to know thatContinue reading “Building Bridges through Serious Play”

While We Wait…

At the time of writing, polls for the 2024 Presidential Election have not yet closed. And when you read this, it may still be days before a definitive result. We are, in the words of Dr. Seuss, in “The Waiting Place”: “Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come,or a plane toContinue reading “While We Wait…”

Busyness – The Toxic Badge of Honor

When someone asks how you are, does your mind instantly bring to mind the word “busy”? If so, you’re not alone. Busyness is a constant feeling in so many of our lives. Indeed, it’s a vortex that we seem to get sucked down into more with every passing season. For a small number of us,Continue reading “Busyness – The Toxic Badge of Honor”

“It’s All in the Debrief”

What comes to mind when you hear the word “debrief”? If you watch spy movies, it might be James Bond passing by Miss Moneypenny on the way to let M know what transpired on his latest mission. In your work environment, it may look more like a closed-door meeting following the end of a projectContinue reading ““It’s All in the Debrief””

Bridging Differences through Food

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”

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”?”

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”