There is a lot of cultural lore about the power of eye contact as an influencing tool. Business leaders, salespeople and many others have long been urged and trained to engage in eye contact with their audience – whether that is an individual customer or a convention of thousands. It has been taken as read […]
Read More… from In the Eye of the Beholder-When Eye Contact Fails to Persuade
There is no such thing as a stressful job or a stressful boss; in fact, all stress comes down to something called ‘rumination’ — the mental process of thinking over and over again about a past or future event with which negative emotion is attached. This is the notion put forward by the Center for […]
As ambitious executives seek guidance, and senior executives realise the importance of helping the people who work in their organizations reach their full potential, the practice of leadership coaching and mentoring is becoming mainstream. Shared knowledge and experience can help people achieve their goals and solve problems. Mentoring can add significant value to organizations, improving […]
Read More… from Coaches, Mentors and the Risk of – Rescuer Syndrome
Female leaders often experience ‘identity conflict’, the sense that their identities as women and their professional identities diverge or are incompatible. The problem can be explained by gender stereotypes. Characteristics and behaviours typically expected of women differ dramatically from those typically expected of leaders. Gender role stereotypes tend to ascribe communal behaviours and qualities such as […]
Read More… from Identity Crises: Occupational Hazards for Female Leaders?
Group coaching is known to help break down barriers to communication, build trust and solve specific and practical problems in organizations. An interpersonal learning process, it can create the impetus for change. Its effects can be explained by psychology and psychodynamics. Good coaches use the ‘clinical paradigm’ as a conceptual framework for group sessions. They recognise […]
Sunk cost bias has been blamed for everything from disastrous military campaigns to over-budget public works and is widely acknowledged as a serious obstacle to effective decision-making. Defined as the “tendency to continue an endeavour once an investment in money, effort or time has been made”, it leads people to “throw good money after bad” […]
The concept of negotiation as a ‘battle of the sexes’ is not new; in fact, in the 1990s, MBA students on a negotiation course were asked who they thought had the advantage in negotiations, and the overwhelming reply was ‘men’. This perception has little changed today. But according to this Idea, women have higher ethical […]
Read More… from Ethical Lapses in Negotiations – A Male Tendency
Colour has been found to affect cognition, moods and feelings, all of which in turn can influence consumer decision-making. According to the US-based Color Marketing Group, it can increase brand recognition by up to 80 per cent. Not surprisingly then, numerous studies have focused on the effects of colour in marketing and advertising, clearly demonstrating […]
Have you heard of the ‘pink elephant in the room?’ If you are a woman in the US, you might be one of up to 70% of women that have experienced this: women bullying women (WBW) at work. Although it is unlikely that most women who bully other women consciously decide do so to destroy […]
Read More… from Stopping Women Bullying Women in the Workplace
Hierarchies are everywhere, and the business world is no exception; the distribution of power and status has become a defining feature of today’s organizations. What role, if any, do such ranks play in communication between members of these organizations? This was the thought underlying a recent study led by Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Alison Fragale. Alongside […]
Read More… from Peer-to-Peer Deference in Email Communication
