Biblio
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(2008). The Positive Power Of Negative Thinking.
252. Abstract
"I should make clear from the outset that I don't think defensive pessimism is the ultimate solution to the world's problems, or even to I problems of any particular couple or individual. Defensive pessimists are neither saints nor paragons, and defensive pessimism has both costs and benefits. People are different, and what works well for some people may not work well for others—that's the point. (And what works well in some situations may not work well in all situations.) The costs and benefits of any strategy depend on who is using the strategy and what the circumstances are."
(2008). Innovate Like Edison: The Five-Step System for Breakthrough Business Success.
"The most innovative contemporary workplaces welcome humor and play and the most bureaucratic ones invariably take themselves too seriously. Overseriousness is a warning sign of mediocrity and bureaucratic thinking." (p. 124)
(2008). Love the work, hate the job: why America's best workers are unhappier than ever.
"Although [Dan Pink] did cite the use of long-term temporary workers at companies like Microsoft as examples of a problem, not a promising new trend, he exaggerated the extent to which short-term employment and self-employment were voluntary. After all, how many downsized executives, professionals, and technicians describe themselves as 'consultants,' rather than as job hunters, because admitting they were laid off sounds perilously close to labeling themselves 'losers'?" (p. 53)
(2008). Nice guys can get the corner office: eight strategies for winning in business without being a jerk.
"If there is an implicit agreement from the top down that excellence always comes first, then the primary criteria for judging ideas will always be excellence—not who talks the loudest or blows the most smoke." (p. 244)
(2009). JBoss at Work: A Practical Guide.
(2009). Billy Budd.
"Now envy and antipathy, passions irreconcilable in reason, nevertheless in fact may spring conjoined like Chang and Eng in one birth. Is Envy then such a monster? Well, though many an arraigned mortal has in hopes of mitigated penalty pleaded guilty to horrible actions, did ever anybody seriously confess to envy? Something there is in it universally felt to be more shameful than even felonious crime. And not only does everybody disown it, but the better sort are inclined to incredulity when it is in earnest imputed to an intelligent man. But since its lodgement is in the heart not the brain, no degree of intellect supplies a guarantee against it."
(2009). Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things.
"If individual human beings can form forceful and persistent mental models, organizations or groups of people seem to be able to do so on an almost unimaginable scale. A person has secret doubts and fears. An organization has the emotional life of a reptile." (p. 93)
(2009). Michael Moore: America's Teacher.
"But we spend eight to ten to twelve hours of our daily lives at work, where we have no say. I think when anthropologists dig us up 400 years from now—if we make it that far—they're going to say, 'Look at these people back then. They thought they were free. They called themselves a democracy, but they spent ten hours of every day in a totalitarian situation and they allowed the richest 1 percent to have more financial wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined.'
Truly they're going to laugh at us the way we laugh at people 150 years ago who put leeches on people's bodies to cure them."
Truly they're going to laugh at us the way we laugh at people 150 years ago who put leeches on people's bodies to cure them."
(2009). Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography.
"Corporate bodies do not look for their strength in ideas and in the values of the people for whom they are responsible. They try to achieve the greatest possible uniformity. They believe that in this way they hold the greatest power, offensive as well as defensive." (p. 224)
(2009). Without a Job, Who Am I?: Rebuilding Your Self When You've Lost Your Job, Home, Or Life Savings.
"We remind ourselves that by acting on values such as compassion, honesty, and forgiveness, we realize our real worth—the worth that is deeper than that associated with job, career, or material success." (p. 10)
(2009). The Miracles of Mentoring.
"Mentoring is a work of the heart. It is a desire to build community, to inspire hope, to share success, to enrich life." (p. 131)
(2009). Primal Management: Unraveling the Secrets of Human Nature to Drive High Performance.
"Leaders who help employees master their professions provide a vital mental-health service because the penalty for being deemed incompetent is chronic, unremitting pain. As I said before, incompetency is not an option for skill-based creatures such as ourselves. Human beings are not designed to be lazy malingerers. Rather, we are designed to struggle, strive, and master the survival skills of the group." (p. 142)
(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)
(2010). The Blame Game.
"Our findings showed that blame was contagious, but not among those who felt psychologically secure. So try to foster a chronic sense of inner security in order to reduce the chances that you'll lash out at others."
(2010). Can Being Creative Improve Your Health?.
"Highly creative individuals have long noted the salutary effects of creative activity on both physical and mental health. Many types of creative work can relieve stress and enhance positive mood, two major factors in promoting good health."
(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."
(2010). The Myths of Innovation.
246. Abstract
"Good managers of innovation recognize that they are in primary control over the environment, and it's up to them to create a place for talented people to do their best work." (p. 105)
(2010). Her Place at the Table: A Woman's Guide to Negotiating Five Key Challenges to Leadership Success.
"To our surprise, many of our informants reported having troubled relationships with key leaders. From their perspective, these leaders were difficult and had earned their reputations for psychologically abusive behaviors. To work with them they had to make clear—right from the start—the kind of treatment they expected (and would tolerate)." (p. 79)
(2011). A Reason (and Season) to Stop Shunning.
"One of the least discussed aspects of bullying and mobbing, and perhaps the most powerful and damaging, is the practice of shunning."
(2011). Why chronic comparing spells career poison.
"To a certain extent, ambitious professionals have always engaged in what I refer to as reverse schadenfreude—being pained by other people's success."
(2011). Why Your Boss Is Wrong About You.
"Under such a system [of performance appraisal], in which one's livelihood can be destroyed by a self-serving boss trying to meet a budget or please the higher-ups, what employee would ever speak his mind? What employee would ever say that the boss is wrong, and offer an idea on how something might get done better?
Only an employee looking for trouble."
Only an employee looking for trouble."
(2011). Rock Then Roll: The Secrets of Culture-Driven Leadership.
"Nothing I can say will be more important to remember than this: you need an enemy. They can be real or imagined, but you need one." (p. 110)
(2011). Wounded By Reality: Understanding and Treating Adult Onset Trauma.
207. Abstract
"Finding a way to tell trauma is always a tricky business. Whether it's a memoir, a biography, or a narrative spoken to a therapist, finding the words to describe it, to relive it, to bear witness to it, and ultimately to make meaning of it, is no small feat. Sometimes words are too much, sounding shrill or mawkish; more often they are not enough, becoming numb and impersonal. Either way, meaning has been leeched out of them."
(2012). The Rise of the New Groupthink.
"Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption."
(2012). Victory Secrets of Attila the Hun.
159. Abstract
"An organization's worst enemies are seldom external. Rather, the most deadly and damaging threats come from those who are so driven toward power that their political maneuvering can destroy the very group in which they seek authority." (p. 44)
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