If you are concerned about America’s future, as I am, I highly recommend reading Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America, published in late May. It is the best book I’ve read on what ails the U.S. Beyond insights into how we arrived at our current state, it offers a hopeful vision for the future and positive steps that can be taken by individuals and by the government.

The author of Crisis of the Common Good is not an academic, historian, or sociologist but a sitting U.S. senator, Chris Murphy (D – Connecticut). Because he is a politician, I want to be clear that my endorsement of this book is not a partisan one. I care about good ideas, not party affiliation. I previously wrote an enthusiastic review of Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal — a book published in 2019 by then U.S. senator Ben Sasse (R – Nebraska) that covers remarkably similar ground. The fact that a conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat independently arrived at such closely-aligned diagnoses of what ails America should itself tell us something important: these are not partisan problems, and they will not yield to partisan solutions.

I don’t tend to pick up the latest book written by a politician. What piqued my interest, however, was the book’s subtitle that implies human connection has a role to play in our nation’s health and that it is worth pursuing with intention. For more than twenty years I have been consistently advocating for the need to increase positive human connection in the workplace as a means to address chronically dismal employee engagement and relationally-broken work environments whose negative effects spill over into our non-work lives. What perspective would Chris Murphy, a man who has spent the last twenty-seven years as a representative of the people — serving first in the Connecticut House then Senate, followed by three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 — bring to the topic?

Quite frankly, as I read the book I was relieved and encouraged to see that a public figure has such a deep grasp of the issues he raises and writes about them with such clarity, supporting his arguments with hard evidence and data and bringing them to life through anecdotes of everyday people. Senator Murphy is a knowledgeable and intelligent man with a talent for analysis and communication.

I also want to acknowledge upfront that while Murphy is someone who looks to find common ground across the aisle, he has been a vocal critic of the current president. In the Introduction, Murphy states his opinion that Donald Trump is “a symptom, not the cause, of America’s spiritual unraveling.” He has strong things to say about President Trump and his impact, not surprisingly, but it is not the focus of the book.

Connection, the Common Good, and the Crisis

As I have argued, and make the case for in my book, Connection Culture, human connection is a superpower that makes people smarter, happier, more productive, and more resilient in coping with stress while insufficient human connection leaves people more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, addiction, suicide, and violence. My work has focused primarily on how leaders can cultivate connection within organizations — their teams, companies, and institutions.

Senator Murphy’s book powerfully complements that work by addressing the broader societal and policy dimensions of our disconnection crisis. Together, these perspectives suggest that rebuilding connection in America requires action at every level: in our workplaces, yes, but also in our neighborhoods, our governments, and our national culture.

In an interview with Katie Couric on May 26, 2026, Murphy phrased the crisis this way:

[The common good is] the idea that each one of us is healthier and happier if we live in a community that is also healthy and happy, in a country that has been taught over centuries, but particularly over the last few decades, that all that really matters is your individual health — maybe just your individual material health. In fact, what makes us happier and more fulfilled is when we’re doing well but our community is doing well too. And we increasingly live in both an economy and a culture that is selfish, that involves a kind of rapacious “me first” individualism that in the end, I think, leaves all of us feeling kind of empty and adrift.

Last year I wrote a private report on the state of America and what might be on the horizon. As I wrestled with “How did we get here?”, I identified a number of contributing factors, including rising spiritual and social isolation; the prevalence of chasing wealth, power, and status over valuing family and community; increased corruption; and the threat that addiction to technology crowds out time for in-person interactions. Murphy’s analysis contains many of these same themes.

Murphy captures the arc of our national drift with striking clarity: “Over the past fifty years, we have become a wealthier and more just country in many ways, but we have also retreated from shared prosperity, social contracts, and strong communities, building altars instead to profit, efficiency, consumer culture, technology, elite credentialism, and winner-takes-all politics that consecrates corruption.”

He frames these objects of worship, if you will, as cults that are harming America. Cult is an interesting word choice as it evokes a strong, sometimes blind, devotion on the part of followers to a belief, cause, or a leader or group of leaders when, in reality, the cult doesn’t deliver on its promises but only benefits those at the top. Murphy draws a distinction between striving to make a profit, embracing capitalism, and recognizing the reality of global trade with adopting the single-minded pursuit of profit as a dominant and driving force that has served to concentrate wealth (and power and influence) with a few and leaves many at a disadvantage. In the cult of profit, for example, a company is deemed successful if it is profitable even if it treats employees poorly and does not contribute positively to the community where it is located.

In the book, he identifies six areas to be aware of:

1. The “Cult of Profit” and the harm done by prioritizing profit over people.
2. The “Cult of Everywhere” and the harm done by widespread rootlessness, when people lack connection to a community.
3. The “Cult of Technology” and the harm done by addiction to our devices.
4. The “Cult of Consumption” and the harm done by focusing on accumulating possessions rather than connecting with and serving others.
5. The “Cult of Credentialism” and the harm done when a college degree is unaffordable and then people are excluded from jobs they could perform well simply because they lack a college degree.
6. The “Cult of Corruption” and the harm done by the dishonesty, cheating, and self-dealing that pervades many positions of power and influence today.

“Americans across the right-left divide share similar worries about our false cults,” Murphy writes, “and similar hope that we can undo their hold over our nation.”

What Can Be Done

Combatting disconnection and cultivating cultures of human connection in our homes, schools, workplaces, communities, and nation will help Americans thrive. It will take individual and collective effort.

Senator Murphy sees a role for government: breaking up the monopolies strangling our economy, regulating technologies that are, in his words, “polluting our children’s brains,” and rebuilding the public institutions — schools, libraries, parks, and transit — that once stitched communities together.

Importantly, Murphy argues that each of us has a role to play too. We have agency. We can decide that our neighbors’ well-being matters, not just our own, and reach out to get to know them. We can get involved with a local faith community, shop at local merchants and connect with the people who work there, coach youth sports, volunteer in the schools, and attend public meetings of our town government. Small acts of presence and investment, multiplied across millions of Americans, can begin to rebuild what has been lost.

Throughout the book, Murphy casts a vision of communities where people know one another and do life together — celebrating the good times and supporting each other through the inevitable difficult seasons we all face. He offers many practical ideas for how we can nurture these connections.

I’ve experienced this. Growing up, there were periods when my family moved frequently, making it difficult to form lasting connections with the people and communities around us. During those times, I felt alone. In contrast, my wife, Katie, and I have lived in our community for 27 years. I love that almost everywhere I go in town, I run into people I know. We raised two daughters here and have been deeply involved in our church, the schools, musical groups, and other community organizations. With friends, we have celebrated birthdays, weddings, school sports and plays, communions, baptisms, and B’nai Mitzvahs. We have served alongside others through our church and local YMCA, and we have been there for one another through the hard times — divorces, illnesses, and loss. We’ve been on the receiving end too. Katie is a four-time cancer survivor and I will be forever grateful for the many people in our community who prayed for our family, brought us meals, provided transportation for our daughters when I needed to be by Katie’s side, and offered countless other forms of support and encouragement. Their love in action forever bonded me to them and to our community.

Crisis of the Common Good, with its call to be motivated by “we” rather than only “me,” deeply resonated with me. Senator Murphy’s excellent book — and his voice on these issues — is just what America needs right now.

Photo by Andrew Moca on Unsplash

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Have you ever experienced a moment of clarity in your own life as you were swept up in reading a good book? Maybe it was the way a person behaved that gave you insight into an issue you were wrestling with or something a character said that resonated with you.

Some years ago, George K. Kaufman and Lisa K. Libby published a fascinating article in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology titled “Changing Beliefs and Behavior Through Experience-Taking.” They explained ”experience-taking” as “the imaginative process of spontaneously assuming the identity of a character in a narrative and simulating that character’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors, goals, and traits as if they were one’s own.” Their research found that reading narrative can result in “experience-taking” that produces changes in self-judgments, attitudes, and behavior that align with the character’s on the written page.

I’m not surprised. Many books by or about leaders I admire have had a positive effect on my beliefs and behaviors. I may never be the president of the United States trying to pull together a splintering nation, for example, but reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin reinforced my approach of listening to divergent opinions when seeking to make optimal decisions, especially in an environment of division and distrust.

What’s on your summer reading list this year? Personally, I gravitate toward non-fiction books. No surprise, I tend to read them through the lens of connection, looking for attitudes, uses of language, and behaviors that connect people and help individuals and groups thrive. Here are three books I highly recommend that I believe will inspire and bring out the best in you. By stepping into each of these great leader’s shoes, you can learn things that will benefit your own career.

American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company by Bryce G. Hoffman
Kudos to Bryce Hoffman for capturing the miraculous turnaround of Ford Motor Company in such engaging detail. Hoffman sets the stage by describing the toxic culture that existed at Ford before Alan Mulally arrived to be its new CEO in September 2006. From the start of Mulally’s presence at Ford, he demonstrates that he is not a stereotypical CEO. He’s sensitive to and respects the dignity of all stakeholders, irrespective of status and power. He speaks the truth. In implementing his Working Together management and leadership system, Mulally led the transformation of Ford from near bankruptcy to one of the most profitable automotive companies in the world and the #1 automotive brand in the U.S. Among other things, this book helped me see, as Alan’s parents instilled in him early in life, “by working together with others, you can make the most positive contribution to the most people.”

My Personal Best: Life Lessons from An All-American Journey by John Wooden and Steve Jamison
There are quite a few books on the legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden, one of the winningest coaches in history. I am especially fond of this one because it tells Wooden’s life story — the back story, if you will, of the life experiences and people who influenced him and the development of his “pyramid of success” and “personal best” philosophy. Wooden’s love for his wife, Nell, and for his players will inspire you. He had a profound impact on his players, including the superstars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, as evidenced by the relationships he had with them long after they put the ball down as a UCLA Bruin.

Wooden strove to develop players who had the desire to challenge themselves and give their best efforts to prepare to win. “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail,” he told them. To Wooden, “Success is peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.” Their competitive greatness would not be reflected in the final score of a game but in the work they did to become the best player, and person, they were capable of becoming.

A teacher-philosopher-coach, Wooden realized that defining success was only part of it. He would need to show young people how to achieve it and that led him to articulate the 25 attitudes and behaviors in his Pyramid of Success. He explained that they were “a combination of personal qualities and values that I believe are intrinsic to making the effort to reach your potential as a person.” They are relevant beyond the world of sports, such as Team Spirit (A genuine consideration for others. An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all), Intentness (Set a realistic goal. Concentrate on its achievement by resisting all temptations and being determined and persistent.), and Alertness (Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve.). Some 75 years since Coach Wooden first settled on these particular qualities and arranged them in the iconic triangular shape, his Pyramid of Success continues to motivate people. (Observant fans of the series “Ted Lasso” would have seen it taped to the wall in the office Coach Lasso shared with Coach Beard.)

This book helped me see that we don’t always control outcomes but we do control our own effort, and when we give our best effort over time, positive results tend to come.

Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk
This book makes people aware of Abraham Lincoln’s lifelong struggle with “melancholy “(i.e. depression) and his determination and ability to carry on through adversity and trials, including the death of his son Willie, his wife Mary Todd’s struggle with emotional health issues, and times when the Civil War was not going well for the Union. Shenk’s thesis is that Lincoln’s experience living with depression gave him the strength of character, and especially the humility and perseverance, that made him the great leader he was. The chapter on Lincoln’s mindset titled “Comes Wisdom to Us” is a masterpiece that helped me in my own journey of faith.

I hope you will pick up one or all of these books in the coming weeks. Let me know what you think of them by emailing me at mike@connectionculture.com.

Photo by Alexandra Fuller on Unsplash

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If anyone has a pulse on the business book landscape, it’s Wally Bock. The author of the Three Star Leadership blog and a professional writing coach, Wally reads and reviews many books each year. His wisdom and practical advice have made his articles some of our readers’ favorites on the Connection Culture Group blog.

I was honored that Wally chose to include the second edition of my book Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy and Understanding at Work on his list of the top 5 business books he read in 2021.

Check out Wally’s full review and see his other recommendations.

The post Connection Culture Recommended as a Best Book for Business Leaders appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

I am thrilled to share that two of the leading book summary organizations in the world – getAbstract and Soundview – have just published summaries of the second edition of my book Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work. Even better, getAbstract rated the second edition as 9 out of 10 and it was selected as an “Editors’ Picks” representing one of the “best of the best”! In addition, Connection Culture is included in the Best Practice Institute’s Holiday Book Recommendations.

You can check out both of the summaries, as well as a Q&A interview with me published by the getAbstract team, at these links:

• getAbstract – Connection Culture Second Edition Summary
• getAbstract – Interview with Michael
• Soundview Executive Book Summaries – Connection Culture Second Edition Summary

If the abstracts pique your interest, why not consider giving the book as a holiday gift this year – to yourself, a colleague, or a loved one who would benefit from the message? You can purchase the paperback or audio book edition through Amazon or find the paperback at other retailers.

The post Exciting News About My Latest Book appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

Today is National Book Lover’s Day. To celebrate, Michelle Tillis Lederman, author of The Connector’s Advantage, recommended Connection Culture as one of her 10 favorite books.

Here’s the list:

• The Empathy Edge – Maria Ross
  
• The Membership Economy – Robbie Kellman Baxter
  
• How Women Rise – Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith
• Stand Out – Dorie Clark
• Pause – Rachael O’Meara
  
• What Do I Say Next – Susan RoAne
  
• Ask Powerful Questions – Will Wise and Chad Littlefield
  
• Connection Culture – Michael Lee Stallard
  
• Croissants Vs. Bagels – Robbie Samuels
  
• The Digital Mystique – Sarah Granger

The post 10 Books Recommended for National Book Lover’s Day appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

“It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.” – Will Rogers

In his latest book, Under New Management, David Burkus challenges a number of conventional business practices. These practices include, but are not limited to: the “customer first” mentality, non-compete agreements, email, standard vacation policy, office design, annual performance appraisals, and even the need for managers.

Under New Management is well worth reading. Below, I zero in on three practices Burkus addresses.

Management Focus on Employees First

Vaneet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies (HCLT), jettisoned the “customer first” mindset and replaced it with “employees first, customers second.” Burkus describes HCLT’s practices in the book.

John Mackey of Whole Food Market has described this mindset as a virtuous circle. He said management’s job is to take care of employees and the employees’ job is to take care of customers. This leads to profits that take care of shareowners who in turn reward management with additional investment to expand their activities to serve customers.

I like this mindset because too often the “taking care of employees” link is left out. This is why two-thirds of employees in America today are not engaged at work.

Hire as Team

Burkus says the best leaders bring their whole team into the interview process, unlike the conventional approach in which the specific manager makes the hiring decision. He cites Whole Foods as an example. Each Whole Foods store has 8-10 teams grouped into functions, including produce, meat, and checkout. Potential new employees go through phone interviews, one-to-one interviews with store leaders, and panel interviews with recruiters, managers and select employees. Once associates come on board, the store leader places them on a team for a trial period after which a two-thirds team member vote is required to finalize team membership. This process applies in stores and in the home office.

The only company I have worked for that employed a team approach to hiring was Morgan Stanley. Based on my observations, it resulted in identifying new employees who best fit the culture so I’m a big fan of this approach, primarily because the more employees who interact with a potential new hire, the more input on whether or not  the new hire shares the values.

Ditch Performance Reviews

Everyone knows that the annual performance review is problematic and yet many organizations still employ this practice. Burkus tells the story of Adobe Systems replacing its annual performance review with a more frequent (typically monthly or quarterly) informal “check-in” process that focuses on expectations, feedback, and growth and development. With this method, Burkus says Adobe reported a significant improvement in employee and manager morale.

This more frequent / less formal approach addresses my primary concerns with annual performance reviews. First, they create too much anxiety on the part of employees. With greater frequency, the performance check-in will become part of ongoing communications rather than a big event. The second problem I have is that if the only time an employee hears constructive feedback is during an annual review, there are going to be long periods during which an employee may be unaware he is performing sub-optimally. Frequent check-ins encourage dialogue.

To learn more about research and examples that challenge conventional management practices, pick up a copy of Under New Management and read it with your team.

Note: I received a review copy of this book in advance of publication.

You May Also Enjoy: 

Closing Your Company’s “Leadership Gap”

Why Edward Jones is Built to Last

7 Best Practices to Boost Employee Engagement

The post The Flawed “Customer First” Focus (and Other Management Practices to Question) appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

Kate Otto Speaking

Kate Otto has a message for fellow Millennials. Her work experience at an HIV/AIDS clinic in Indonesia inspired her to research the power of personal relationships. She saw that practicing certain attitudes contributed to developing meaningful relationships at work. These relationships made her more productive and increased her feelings of satisfaction and fulfillment.

Otto went on to found Everyday Ambassador, a network of individuals and organizations that promotes putting down cell phones and tablets, and being intentional about developing meaningful relationships through in-person, face-to-face interactions. Although Everyday Ambassador began as like-minded people wanting to create social change, today it has grown into a movement and a lifestyle praised by activists like pop artist Alicia Keys. The number of Everyday Ambassador’s “partner” organizations is rapidly expanding.

Otto describes people who develop meaningful relationships as practicing “ambassadorship.” Her recent book, Everyday Ambassador: Make a Difference by Connecting in a Disconnected World, weaves in stories of people living out the ambassadorship vision.

We’re not surprised that Otto’s message resonates with Millennials. While popular belief holds that Millennials can’t get enough of technology, when global marketing firm McCann WorldGroup surveyed 7,000 Millennials in 2010, it found that 90 percent of respondents rated meaningful relationships as their greatest need.

Research supports Kate Otto’s view about the link between personal relationships at work and job satisfaction.  The Gallup Organization’s research found that 30 percent of employees have a best friend at work and these employees are seven times as likely to be engaged, they are better at engaging customers, they produce higher quality work, and they have higher levels of wellbeing.  People who don’t have a best friend at work have just a one-in-twelve chance of being engaged.

Below we summarize four practices Kate Otto recommends that can help Millennials boost productivity and fulfillment at work.

1. Focus

To build meaningful relationships, Otto recommends being present and attentive, and not being distracted by trying to multitask on smart phones or tablets. She makes the case that scattering our attention, in terms of projects, is less effective than focusing our efforts on fewer projects and in a more specific direction. “Think about your strengths and talents,” writes Otto. “Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, focus on one thing you do well, and do it.”

2. Empathy

Otto expresses concern about “digital divisiveness” and incivility online that polarizes people, making them less considerate, and works against empathy.  She advocates being intentional about considering diverse views and perspectives, as well as being sensitive to the feelings of others when communicating online.

We would add that empathy strengthens relationships because of its effect on the recipient. When we feel someone’s joy, it enhances the joy he or she feels; and when we feel someone’s pain, it biologically diminishes his or her pain.  These effects of empathy develop more caring relationships that bring people together.

3. Humility

Being a “know it all” who tries to “one up others” works against developing meaningful relationships.  Otto says this is especially an issue today because having easy access to knowledge at our fingertips temps us to become “pocket experts.” She prefers being open to ask others for advice and help, and admitting shortcomings, both of which reflect humility.

Ms. Otto writes about other matters related to humility, including the importance of recognizing the contributions of others, maintaining an attitude that you can always learn more, and that at times silence may be the best response because it is a way of admitting that we don’t know how someone feels but that we care enough about him or her to listen.

4. Patience

High speed does not equate to high impact.  Ms. Otto observes that our fast-paced, instant gratification-oriented world is at odds with taking sufficient time required to develop meaningful relationships. “Technology might work quickly and simply, but human beings notoriously do not,” she writes. America has become a “survival of the fastest” culture. Internationally, however, patience and thoughtfulness are still viewed as virtues possessed by the wise.

Everyday Ambassador is an engaging book that provides wise advice for more than just Millennials.  In the rapidly changing, hyper-competitive connected world we live in today, Kate Otto reminds us that relationships are what matter most in life and that it’s still people working together, rather than the lone ranger, who advance the human race.

Elizabeth P. Stallard, an intern at E Pluribus Partners, co-authored this article.

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We connect with some people and not with others. Great leaders master how to connect with just about everyone and that’s one reason why people want to follow them.

There are many facets to connection. Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram have written an excellent book titled 5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There is Never Enough Time that provides insight into an important aspect of connection.

The idea is simple. There are five gears that people operate in and when you fail to recognize the gear others are in and shift into that gear, you will fail to connect. Consider the following examples:

• You are focused and deep into working on a project when someone walks into your office and begins chit chatting. They fail to see that they’ve interrupted you and that you would like to get back to work. Result = Disconnect.
• You are in social mode at a party and someone is monopolizing your time by trying to get deep into a topic that they just won’t let go of. Result = Disconnect.
• You are at home watching a great football game that you’ve been looking forward to when you get a call on your cellphone from a friend. You try to drop some hints that it would be better to talk later but he doesn’t pick up on them and keeps talking. Result = Disconnection.

Although the foregoing are examples of people failing to connect with you, there may be times that you are failing to connect with others because you are communicating in the wrong gear.

Kubicek and Cockram and identified five “gears” that people go into. The gears are focus mode, task mode, social mode, connect mode, recharge mode, responsive mode (backing up or apologizing when necessary).

In addition to identifying the five gears and describing each in detail, the book has other insights you’ll find valuable. One piece of advice related to recharge mode is to begin slowly in the morning. Although very unlike me, when I tried starting slowly in the morning, I found that I felt better, had more energy and was more productive. Now I’m trying to make it a habit.

5 Gears will be released on September 8. The 5 Gears masterclass training program is closing tonight at midnight. You can learn more about here.

The post Why You May Not Be Connecting with Others appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

As seen on Fox Business and SmartBlog on Leadership.

Is your boss or a co-worker increasingly irritable, angry, withdrawn or acting in a predatory manner?  Or are you noticing that behavior in yourself? With rising demands in today’s workplace, emotional and behavioral disorders have soared.  In Untangling the Mind: Why We Behave the Way We Do, Ted George, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington School of Medicine and neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health, helps us understand America’s surge in emotional and behavioral disorders, including those we see in the workplace.  Grasping “why” we instinctively react in certain ways is the first step in affecting change. 

From a neuroscience perspective, these disorders arise when the emotional part of the brain (the “amygdala”) overrides the rational part of the brain (the “cortex”).  According to Dr. George, the neuro-connections between the cortex and the amygdala serve to control the emotions/behaviors that have their final pathway in the periaqueductal gray (PAG), a little known structure in the middle part of the brain.  Looming deadlines, unrealistic expectations, unhealthy competitions, certain facial expressions or tones of voice, and even exclamation marks in emails can serve as threats that weaken these neuro-connections.  When you feel threatened, you become more susceptible to emotion-driven reactions such as:

• anger that triggers the fight response,
• fear that triggers the flight response,
• depression that triggers shutdown, and/or
• an absence of emotional anger that triggers predatory behavior.

Research shows that 70 percent of workers in America (88 percent of workers globally) are not working optimally.  In previous articles I have written about steps leaders can take on an organizational level to improve engagement. I have found Dr. George’s work to be very insightful when an individual employee’s extreme emotions or behaviors are disrupting the workplace.

There are a number of healthy ways people struggling with emotional and behavioral disorders find relief.  One strategy is to reduce sensory input through meditation and prayer, undertaking a relaxing activity, and/or getting away on a vacation. Another strategy is to calm the nervous system by lowering or eliminating caffeine and alcohol intake, taking deep breaths, and/or exercising vigorously. While these actions often provide temporary relief, they do not address the underlying cause.

Dr. George’s strategy entails working with people to identify and address the threat that is the catalyst to their emotional or behavioral disorder. Threats could include “my sales are under plan,” “my boss doesn’t like me,” “my colleagues are excluding me,” “that person is smarter than I am,” etc.  To help people identify the particular threat setting them off, Dr. George has them verbalize what they are feeling and take a personal inventory of their behaviors.  The process of talking through their emotions and behaviors guides people to see whether the threat is real or perceived.  Once the threat is identified, Dr. George aids people in developing realistic expectations and a plan of action. For example, this includes determining whether their boss or colleague is open to addressing the underlying issue.  Throughout the conversation, Dr. George encourages people to enjoy the sense of personal satisfaction that comes from taking active control of the situation rather than thinking of themselves as passive victims.

Using Dr. George’s “talk therapy” approach strengthens the rational brain so that it exerts greater control over the emotional brain and is less likely to be “hijacked” by it in the future.  This approach provides the best long-term solution because it addresses the underlying problem rather than treating symptoms. However, if anger, fear or sadness persists, it may be time to seek professional help.

As you see evidence of “fight or flight,” withdrawal or predatory behavior in your workplace, engage the rational part of your brain through conversation with a trusted advisor to assess and address the threat underneath.  By taking action to help yourself, your boss and/or your co-workers, you will improve your work environment and help improve the performance of your organization.

This article provides a general explanation of complex issues.  I highly recommend reading Untangling the Mind.  If you have questions about emotional or behavioral issues in the workplace, email them to me at mstallard@epluribuspartners.com and I will use future articles to address common themes that arise from readers.

The post New Approach to Reduce Dysfunctional Behavior at Work appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

As seen on Fox Business.

To infinity and beyond: That’s where Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios are headed, provided they maintain the type of leaders that have gotten them this far. Ed Catmull, President of Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios, describes what he’s learned about leadership and corporate culture in his excellent new book, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.

Pixar has been phenomenally successful with the likes of Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and Up, to name but a few of its films. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar to boost its struggling Walt Disney Animation Studios unit. Catmull and John Lasseter, Pixar’s CEO, were appointed to lead the unit as president and CEO, respectively.  With the leadership change, Disney began to produce hits such as Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph.  If any doubt existed that Disney’s magic was back, it was put to rest with the 2013 release of the blockbuster movie Frozen.  Having earned well over a billion dollars in revenue at the box office in its first six months, Frozen became the highest-grossing animated feature ever and moved into the top-10 worldwide highest grossing movies of all time.

The success of Pixar and Disney Animation begs the question: what’s the secret sauce? In a word, it’s “culture,” i.e. the shared attitudes, language and behavior that consistently produce excellence in a given endeavor.  With 70 percent of American workers disengaged today, Pixar and Disney Animation provide a model for engaging and energizing employees by making culture a competitive advantage.

Here are three ways Catmull and his leadership team create a culture that consistently makes great films.

1. Care about people first

Catmull describes a turning point that occurred during the making Toy Story 2. People at Pixar worked long hours, seven days a week over a grueling nine-month period to complete the movie.  By the end of the nine months, one-third of the staff had repetitive stress injuries.  On one occasion, an exhausted artist forgot to drop his infant son off at day care and left him in his car parked in the broiling Pixar parking lot for three hours.  When the child was discovered, he was unconscious.  Fortunately he revived.  The incident traumatized Catmull and others at Pixar.  It forced them to ask the question: What have we become?

Pixar had drifted into dangerous territory by putting the movie ahead of the wellbeing of its people.  The harm done to employees, and what could have happened to the child, was a wake-up call that solidified Catmull’s core belief that people must always come first.  He identifies three reasons.  First, it’s a leader’s responsibility to protect the people he or she leads from pursuing excellence at all costs and it’s irresponsible to do otherwise.  Second, no organization is sustainable that allows harm to come to its people. The best people will not be attracted to nor remain in a culture that ignores their welfare.  Third, ideas come from people so people need to be the priority.

2. Focus on a purpose that makes people feel proud

Pixar’s purpose is to “make great films.”  Its leaders are unambiguous about communicating this.  Making great films is what attracts people to Pixar.  It makes them feel proud and energizes them.  It’s why they stay.

Brad Bird, the director, and his producer, John Walker, made the critically acclaimed animated film The Iron Giant while working for another studio.  Pixar could see these guys were driven to make great films but knew they didn’t have access to the kind of technology Pixar had so they went after them.  The Incredibles, Bird and Walker’s first project at Pixar, was a homerun.

When Pixar focuses on making great films, profit follows.  Focusing on profit first would lead to compromising the purpose and sucking the passion and energy out of the organization.  This seems simple on the surface yet how many leaders truly understand this and act upon it?

3. Encourage self-expression and diversity of thought

In most companies the overwhelming majority of employees feel that senior management does not value their opinions and ideas.  Not so at Pixar.  Catmull says that great movies are made from the “tens of thousands of ideas” that go into them from beginning to completion.  As such, everyone needs to contribute their ideas and opinions, everyone’s work matters and everyone makes a difference in the quality of a film.

Catmull understands that creativity and innovation are maximized in a community with a rich marketplace of ideas.  The best ideas can come from anyone in the company so leaders must add to the environment whatever encourages self-expression and diversity of thought.  They also need to remove obstacles that diminish the marketplace of ideas.

No detail is too insignificant to Catmull when it comes to creating a culture that encourages self-expression and diversity of thought. Here are a few examples:

Office design that encourages community and conversations – Pixar’s office design builds community and contributes to developing informal ties and the flow of knowledge across the organization. The cafeteria, meeting rooms, employee mailboxes and restrooms are centralized to make it more likely employees will interact with one another. Catmull even replaced an expensive, long rectangular conference room table made by a famous designer because it kept people on the ends of the table from contributing to the conversation.

Open communications – During the making of Toy Story, production managers tried to force artists and technologists to follow the chain of command when discussing the project with others.  The artists and technologists rebelled and started acting disrespectfully to production managers.  It got so bad that production managers no longer wanted to work at Pixar.

Catmull and Lasseter gathered the company and made it clear that going forward decisions made needed to respect the chain of command but “anyone should be able to talk to anyone else, at any level, at any time, without fear of reprimand…people talking directly to one another then letting the manager find out later was more efficient than trying to make sure that everything happened in the ‘right’ order and through the ‘proper’ channels.”

Although it took time for people to adjust to more open communications, by the time Pixar completed A Bug’s Life, production managers were viewed and treated with respect.   Connection, community and unity were restored.

Constructive feedback mechanisms – Catmull writes about Pixar’s “Braintrust” where directors, writers and heads of story come together every few months to review a film’s progress.  Following a screening of the film and comments from the director, his or her peers provide feedback about what they liked and what needed to be improved.  Candor is expected, as is a spirit of helping one another to make great films.  The director is free to act on the feedback or not.  Catmull describes the sessions as being characterized by “frank talk, spirited debate, laughter and love.”

Although earlier in his career Catmull was focused on creating the first feature film to be entirely animated on a computer, today he has found his new calling: to create a sustainable creative culture that will survive after Pixar’s founders are long gone.  “We’re in this for the long haul,” he says, and it’s a “day-in-day-out, full-time job.”  Senior business leaders are wise to follow Catmull’s example.

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