Biblio
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(2004). We Got Fired!: . . . And It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us.
"If I have one piece of advice to young people, it's to break rules. Let's first assume you are delivering way more than what is expected of you. You have to do much more than the expected to compete today, because there are plenty of people out there happy to do the minimum. If you are already overdelivering, and breaking a rule will help you deliver more, then go ahead. Ask yourself a question: Will breaking a rule really help everyone out, not just myself? Is the answer yes? Then go ahead and break the rule. I'm not talking about doing anything criminal or unethical. I mean not following some stupid policy or convention. You'll have more fun and everyone will learn more. Most of all, you'll deliver more." (p. 264)
(1993). Sharkproof: Get the Job You Want, Keep the Job You Love...in Today's Frenzied Job Market.
"So you got fired.
You can take the hurt and anger you feel and use it constructively. To prove they made a mistake when they let you go. Think. And do. Prove those critics wrong, wrong, wrong. Keep the vision of their pinched little faces handy, where you can get at them when you need them. Make them eat their words. Show them your stuff. Get mad. Get going. Get even.
Payback time is coming." (p. 248)
You can take the hurt and anger you feel and use it constructively. To prove they made a mistake when they let you go. Think. And do. Prove those critics wrong, wrong, wrong. Keep the vision of their pinched little faces handy, where you can get at them when you need them. Make them eat their words. Show them your stuff. Get mad. Get going. Get even.
Payback time is coming." (p. 248)
(1996). Learn to Earn: A Beginner's Guide to the Basics of Investing and Business.
"Chewing gum and candy companies, such as Wrigley's, can thrive on recessions, because as Mr. Wrigley himself once said: 'The sadder they are, the more the people chew.'" (p. 84)
(1998). When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses: How to Survive in a Crazy and Dysfunctional Workplace.
"This is not the first time you've heard how an evaluation report mashed the brains of an employee. Why so powerful? It's this. The assessment of performance comes from the one person above all others who can most affect the emotions of an employee, one's supervisor. That changes the meaning of everything. That document can alter reality: Good can become bad, up can become down, and smart become dumb." (p. 135)
(1966). On Aggression.
"Aggression elicited by any deviation from a group's characteristic manners and mannerisms forces all its members into a strictly uniform observance of these norms of social behavior. The nonconformist is discriminated against as an 'outsider' and, in primitive groups, for which school classes or small military units serve as good examples, he is mobbed in the most cruel manner." (p. 79)
(2005). Crunch Time: 8 Steps to Making the Right Life Decisions at the Right Times.
"Through experience and observation, I've learned and counselled that people who are hostile and belligerent often have developed their 'offensive' posture as a form of defense. These individuals lash out to keep people from further hurting them, possibly discovering and uncovering their vulnerability, and/or from seeing how hurt and rejected they truly feel. Time and again, their defensive behavior is used as a buffer to protect the raw feelings hidden within. In essence, these individuals appear to believe that: 'If I attack you first, I might scare you off, and you won't get to me. Thus, I'm safe for the moment from hurt, disappointment, rejection, etc. Safe from people seeing the truth.'
Another defensive strategy that I deal with on a regular basis is that of withdrawal or apathy. In these cases, individuals appear to withdraw from life and/or appear not to care, in order to conceal their low self-esteem and their intense fear of feeling more rejection and pain. These individuals, in some respects, take the opposite approach in order to protect themselves. They get out of the game altogether. If they don't get up to bat in the game of life, they can't strike out. If they don't put themselves into the contest, they can't be judged—and be rejected. These individuals appear as if—or say—they don't care. But deep down, they care, and once cared—big time. But as a result of past experiences of perceived or real rejection, they've chosen to never let themselves, or their expectations be rejected or dashed again. By withdrawing from it all, they're better safe than sorry." (p. 197)
Another defensive strategy that I deal with on a regular basis is that of withdrawal or apathy. In these cases, individuals appear to withdraw from life and/or appear not to care, in order to conceal their low self-esteem and their intense fear of feeling more rejection and pain. These individuals, in some respects, take the opposite approach in order to protect themselves. They get out of the game altogether. If they don't get up to bat in the game of life, they can't strike out. If they don't put themselves into the contest, they can't be judged—and be rejected. These individuals appear as if—or say—they don't care. But deep down, they care, and once cared—big time. But as a result of past experiences of perceived or real rejection, they've chosen to never let themselves, or their expectations be rejected or dashed again. By withdrawing from it all, they're better safe than sorry." (p. 197)
(1976). New Ways of Managing Conflict.
"The leadership and other processes of the organization must be such as to ensure a maximum probability that in all interactions and all relationships with the organization, each member will in the light of his background, values, and expectations, view the experience as supportive and one which builds and maintains his sense of personal worth and importance." (p. 108)
Likert provided this quote from his book of 15 years earlier, "New Patterns of Management", and refers to it as the most fundamental of all his leadership principles.
Likert provided this quote from his book of 15 years earlier, "New Patterns of Management", and refers to it as the most fundamental of all his leadership principles.
(1978). Control your depression.
"Psychological prevention is a much neglected area. There is so much need for giving services to people who are hurting that we do not take the time to prepare those who are not hurting to live life in effective ways. If we did, we might be able to prevent many from becoming casualties. The savings in therapy time and money—not to mention human suffering—could be enormous. Perhaps some day 'psychological impact statements' will be as familiar to our ears as 'environmental impact statements.'"
(2001). Weaving complexity and business: engaging the soul at work.
356. Abstract
"How then do we begin to generate caring and connected relationships at work? We begin with awareness. We begin by being aware of the world of relationships and by paying as much attention to these micro dynamics in organizations—how they influence social processes and psychological health of individuals—as we currently do to macro issues, such as economic performance and strategies." (p. 305)
(1996). The Rights of People with Mental Disabilities: The authoritative ACLU guide to the rights of people with mental illness and mental retardation.
"A reasonable accommodation is an alteration in the work environment that will enable the employee to perform the essential functions of the job. The accommodation must be practicable and reasonable in terms of cost to the employer and ease of accomplishment; in the words of the ADA, it cannot be an 'undue hardship' to the employer. The accommodation can be physical, such as a ramp up a few steps or and amplification device on the telephone. For people with mental disabilities, the core of reasonable accommodation is an adjustment to the work environment that will enable the person to perform at a productive level. These can include such changes as:
- Flexible scheduling
- Reassignment to a different job
- Changes in the physical location of work
- Alterations in supervision
- Unpaid leave for therapy
- Sensitizing coworkers
(1973). The Great Jackass Fallacy.
"People will avoid, evade, escape, deny, and reject both the jackass assumption and the military style hierarchy, for few people can tolerate being a jackass in a psychological prison without doing something about it." (p. 13)
"...then the managerial task becomes one of alliance with the ego ideals of employees one supervises rather than fighting the individuals or manipulating them in the psychological prison that is the contemporary hierarchical environment." (p. 105)
(1975). Executive Stress.
"The cost of self-doubt in dollars and frustration is beyond computation. Despite their capacity for zest and spirit, uncounted numbers of people endure what they experience as dead-end traps with quiet desperation. They want to do something bigger and more exciting than what they are doing, but they are either afraid or don't know where to begin. They are trapped by barriers they cannot see and hindered by psychological glasses that distort their perception of themselves. The tragedy of having given up on themselves is that so many could use what seem to be barriers as stepping stones to gratification. Too much self-doubt blinds us to the opportunities around us. Without knowing where to start pulling oneself out of the psychological trap, even the person with considerable self-confidence has difficulty doing so." (p. 74)
(2006). Harry Levinson on the Psychology of Leadership.
"When people in defeat deny their angry feelings, that denial of underlying, seething anger contributes to the sense of burnout.
If top executives fail to see these problems as serious, they may worsen the situation. If a company offers only palliatives like meditation and relaxation methods—temporarily helpful though they may be—victims of burnout may become further enraged. The sufferers know that their problem has to do with the nature of the job and not their capacity to handle it." (p. 29)
If top executives fail to see these problems as serious, they may worsen the situation. If a company offers only palliatives like meditation and relaxation methods—temporarily helpful though they may be—victims of burnout may become further enraged. The sufferers know that their problem has to do with the nature of the job and not their capacity to handle it." (p. 29)
(1976). Psychological Man.
"In displacement or substitution, we vent our feelings on a convenient but inappropriate target. This is the attack which follows projection. Scapegoating is just one variation of this mechanism. Managers frequently unload their disappointment in themselves onto their subordinates." (p. 36)
(2000). The Cluetrain Manifesto : The End of Business As Usual.
"Conversations are where intellectual capital gets generated. But business environments based on command-and-control are usually characterized by intimidation, coercion, and threats of reprisal. In contrast, genuine conversation flourishes only in an atmosphere of free and open exchange." (p. 15)
(2004). Fear and Other Uninvited Guests: Tackling the Anxiety, Fear, and Shame That Keep Us from Optimal Living and Loving.
"Blaming is the easiest way to ruin your career. It's surprising how many people blame when it never benefits the blamer. If you observe the best employees or bosses, they don't blame, they just talk about the facts of what happened with another person." (p. 107)
(2010). The Power Trip.
"This [study result] suggests that even fleeting feelings of power can dramatically change the way people respond to information. Instead of analyzing the strength of the argument, those with authority focus on whether or not the argument confirms what they already believe. If it doesn't, then the facts are conveniently ignored."
(1999). The Long Road to Forgiveness.
"In contrast to justice and acceptance, forgiveness is not only the recovery of our spirit, but also the enlargement of that spirit—somehow, some way—to imagine the humanity of the injuring person. And why would we want that?
In a great injury, something is broken, psychologically or spiritually. The break not only erodes our sense of living in a fair world, corrupts our experience of our own worth, and fragments our control over our own lives and emotions; it also fundamentally damages our faith in the worthiness of others. It is that loss of the other that we absorb, and somehow transform, in forgiveness."
In a great injury, something is broken, psychologically or spiritually. The break not only erodes our sense of living in a fair world, corrupts our experience of our own worth, and fragments our control over our own lives and emotions; it also fundamentally damages our faith in the worthiness of others. It is that loss of the other that we absorb, and somehow transform, in forgiveness."
(2001). Ethics for the New Millennium.
260. Abstract
"And whereas a vision properly motivated—which recognizes others' desire for and equal right to happiness and to be free of suffering—can lead to wonders, when divorced from basic human feeling the potential for destruction cannot be overestimated." (p. 72)
(2009). The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics.
"Our democracy is presently being threatened by the politics of obedience to authority, the very thing that democracy was invented to counteract....Democracy is too important to leave the shaping of the brains of Americans to authoritarians." (p. 120)
(1965). The Divided Self.
"The component we wish to separate off for the moment is the initial compliance with the other person's intentions or expectations for one's self, or what are felt to be the other person's intentions or expectations. This usually amounts to an excess of being 'good', never doing anything other than what one is told, never being 'a trouble', never asserting or even betraying any counter-will of one's own. Being good is not, however, done out of any positive desire on the individual's part to do the things that are said by others to be good, but is a negative conformity to a standard that is the other's standard and not one's own, and is prompted by the dread of what might happen if one were to be oneself in actuality. [emphasis mine] This compliance is partly, therefore, a betrayal of one's own true possibilities, but is also a technique of concealing and preserving one's own true possibilities, which, however, risk never becoming translated into actualities if they are entirely concentrated in an inner self for whom all things are possible in imagination but nothing is possible in fact."
(1989). How you really get hired: The inside story from a college recruiter.
"I am not a soapbox person, but I have seen so many employees mourn the loss of a job with the same feelings experienced with the loss of a loved one—guilt, frustration, anger, and finally acceptance. Americans often make the mistake of transposing who they are into what they do. You are many things: friend, spouse, neighbor, church member, card carrying ACLU member, co-worker, parent, advisor, and...Marketing Manager. The essence of you will never be reflected in your job title." (p. 188)
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