Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Hera Hub ... an inspired workplace for entrepreneurs







What is Hera Hub?

"Inspiration, collaboration, and resources 
to launch and grow your business"

herahub.com\phoenix

Shatha Barbour is using her passion and 
previous life/career experiences 
to create opportunities 
for entrepreneurs in this new coworking space.  

It's a convenient location 
right off of the 51/Highland 
and walking into the space 
feels like fresh air, light and an art gallery 
all at once.  


Visit and find out more!











Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Over Easy !


 

 

 

Over Easy

What a great place with excellent (large) English Muffins and outstanding service!
I haven't written about breakfast since Matt's Big Breakfast - 
it's SO much fun 
to be around people 
who are good at what they do!

And, Over Easy is more than breakfast 
in an 1) ideal location 
for 2) meeting with someone from anyone around the Valley … 
at 24th and Camelback.

See you there!









Repeating Ourselves ~




Do you find that you repeat yourself 
as if saying what you believe is possible again will make it so?  I do.  

So, to have something new to say I'm going to write about 
Over Easy 
and 
Hera Hub 
next !





Monday, May 28, 2018

Memorial Day 2018 - A quote from Patton




While Patton wasn't talking about creating organizational progress, entrepreneurship or positive social change, his quote may hold insights into how to make sure we are part of achieving results we aspire to or ... 
at least we aren't in the way of 
what we say we're working toward.

Lead Me, 
Follow Me, 
or Get out of My Way ~ 

George S Patton (1885-1945)

_______________

Another applicable quote attributed to Patton:  

If everyone is thinking alike, 
then somebody isn't thinking.

__________________________

What do you believe about Patton?  
What will people think of us in 20, 50 or 100 years?
What are we honoring and celebrating today?

_______________________










Saturday, May 26, 2018

Why doesn't anyone say anything?








Is it because they don't notice?

Is it because they think there will be punishment for speaking up?

The best way to puncture the power of the group is to speak up ... 
resist normative and informational conformity if you want to be part of meaningful work.

If you notice, speak up.


The best way to avoid criticism 
is to say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.
- variations of this quote are attributed to 
Aristotle and Elbert Hubbard

Friday, May 25, 2018

The Today Show today - Darius Rucker, too ~





School is out for summer and I'm having coffee and watching the Today Show 
for the first time in years.  

I just saw the story of Stacey Cunningham
 as the first female President of the New York Stock Exchange and 
now I'm watching Darius Rucker singing country music 
for a crowd of primarily white people.  
Next, Rose McGowan will be on the Megan Kelly show 
discussing the arrest of Harvey Weinstein. 
And, last week, Meghan Markle became the Duchess of Sussex. 

Today on the Today Show, I see individuals 
who did not accept boundaries 
that others may have told them 
were impossible to cross.   

There is injustice in our country 
and throughout the world ... 
we can see it.
There is opportunity in our country 
and in parts of the world ... 
we can see it.

What do we look for and focus on?

What messages do we send to each other about the existence of boundaries 
and how does that propel or inhibit individual accomplishments 
of people we care about?

How can we empower individuals to 
overcome injustice and create opportunities for themselves?

How can we reduce injustice and increase opportunity for everyone?

What role(s) will we take in our own lives and on behalf of others?

Who are 
WE 
and what do our methods for
creating positive social change
 say about 
US?
__________________

The great new song Darius Rucker is singing?  
For the First Time
























Stacey Cunningham 2018 - what explains her success?







Stacey Cunningham
President of the NYSE

One of the last assignments in my face to face Psychology 132/Psychology and Culture classes is writing a Sociocultural Narrative where students share 
how culture has shaped them (sociocultural perspective) up until this moment in life and 
how they are choosing to move forward (cognitive perspective).

How would you explain Stacey Cunningham's success?

How does Stacey Cunningham explain her journey from her role as a 19 year old intern to the first female President of the New York Stock Exchange?

How many perspectives/lenses can we use to explain "success" and how can that inform experiences/influences we create to increase human thriving across endeavors?


* on the Today Show, Stacey said she hopes there comes a day when a female's success isn't newsworthy ~


Thursday, May 24, 2018

Can the United States lead the world in celebrating and advancing diversity of thought?




My hope is that the United States - based on our freedoms and current role(s) in the world can increase our leadership in demonstrating potential benefits of diversity of thought.  I'm weary of "critical thinking" as a topic for current events, local and global, when much of what is labeled critical thinking seems to be "I'm critical of thinking that doesn't match my own culture/mental schema"; simpleton approaches that my students (aged 16 and up without Phds) work to overcome in Psychology 132/Psychology and Culture - a class with no prerequisites.

When our politicians and news media aren't even demonstrating basic levels of complexity in their thinking and Americans are inhaling puffs of information (propaganda) from their favorite sources, I believe (one of my broken record messages) we are becoming less sophisticated which makes us more and more vulnerable to us/them rigidity that undermines our ability to use our creative thinking to solve local through global issues.  My students in week 4 of the semester could do more thoughtful news analysis with Hofstede's cultural dimensions than many of our "experts" and senior news anchors accomplish with their years of education and experience.

If we cannot articulate the other person's perspective as well as they can, 
we are NOT nimble perspective takers/thinkers … 
we are not even close to being in the realm of critical thinking.  

In other words, if we can't say it as well as they do, this is evidence that we are evaluating another perspective through our own filters/lens/worldview rather than being able to enter into another person's logic/perception.  
How can we be critical of (simpleton), or think critically about (sophisticated)
something we do not understand?

_________________________________________

News this week .... 

North Korea and what happened with negotiations?  

Who should be trusted and who should be investigated from the
left and/or the right - 
campaigns, DOJ, FBI, White House?

What do our political ad campaigns say about us
beyond what we think might win an election?

The City of Philadelphia and Catholic Charities' approaches
to foster care and adoption?

The NFL and the National Anthem policies for the 2018-2019 season ?  

Who should have won The Voice?

________________________________________________


The world is watching and listening to 
our politicians and our media.  Who are WE?

Who can we learn from and what can we figure out together
as sophisticated thinkers?

I hope that we'll do better together next week.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Is that expensive swirl of activity going to work? GP +/- CRM?




Got CRM with your GP?

Millions of dollars are being spent around the country on 
Guided Pathways programs.  
Of the campuses/systems that have been successful, how much of the implementation has been based on effective use of CRM?  
How well are the rest of us reading between the lines of the "success" data and how that "success" was actually achieved?

For those colleges who are not up and running 
within this movement yet, 
what if we spent our money on effective use of CRM rather than creating our own customized mammoth that lacks the wisdom of implementation and adaptability/customization for individual student and advisor strategic conversations?  

What if higher education learned from consultative sales organizations on how to help specific customers, our students, achieve their goals ? 

Hope we all have the minimum equation of:
GP + CRM = Effective Implementation for Individual Students



Monday, May 21, 2018

What type of leader are you looking for?





Need a specific style of leader right now?
How adaptable are the leaders among you?

Some Preliminary Vocabulary ... 

Leadership
A social process where an individual purposely influences others' behaviors and relationships

Effective Leadership
Typically a measure of outcomes/performance of a leader's team/group/organization

Power
A person's potential influence over others' thoughts and behaviors

Types of Leadership to Discuss ... 

Transactional Leadership
A form of leadership where the relationship between leader and follower(s) is largely based on exchanges that reinforce the pattern's continuation

Transformational Leadership
A form of leadership that causes positive emotions and positive change in social systems and leads to value creation that is more than would be expected from additive human resource metrics (i.e, synergy/better than expected results

Authentic Leadership
Styles vary dramatically but what is common to authentic leadership relates to transparent and honest sharing of who the leader is allowing for trust and positive relationships to build.  

Servant Leadership
Adhering to internal values with a drive to serve followers and other stakeholders.

Bureaucratic Leadership

Often found in highly regulated environments, government and/or healthcare where following rules is  the norm.   Good at preventing lawsuits, not typically very good at innovation.

Charismatic Leadership

Personality and charm may seem to overlap with Transformational Leadership, but charismatic leadership tends to be seen as less impressive (e.g., not as associated with results and sometimes associated with lack of developed teams where things fall apart when the charismatic leader is no longer present).

Situational Leadership

A theory that asserts leaders adapt their style based on the current situation.  It is difficult to assess leadership adaptability.





Is that a program?






Good Stewards protect public funding from these 3 types of "Programs"

Check the Box Program
Activity that meets superficial goals, but does not create meaningful impact (think of statistical significance without clinical relevance or jumping through accreditation hoops without relevant student impact)

Smoke and Mirrors Program
Activity that is so superficial (or just a brochure without any activity at all?) ... this borders on or exemplifies fraud. 

A La Carte Program
Activity that occurs without anything leading up to it or occurring after it ~ perhaps a one day speaker program or a workshop that doesn't connect with any pre/post strategy or impact.  






Again ... where are we getting our news?

And, when do we do our critical thinking?

We are at great risk of not understanding what is happening around us and wasting our time on us-them arguments that prevent us from finding a better/the actual truth together.








Thursday, May 3, 2018

A good question to ask ...






What's in it For My Students ?


What is a hostile workplace?





Perspective:  Hostile ?

Hostile Workplace  

"Harassment becomes unlawful where 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive"  (US Equal Opportunity Commission)

For more information on protecting your organization and/or yourself:
US Department of Labor













Notre Dame on Flourishing in Service ...









Research from Workwell at Notre Dame

Flourishing in Service:
A Guide About the Science of Wellbeing for Humanitarian & Global Health Workers

While this work is focused on those in care-giving positions, how can these insights guide all of us toward engagement and meaning in the workplace?

https://workwellresearch.com/media/images/Wellbeing%20at%20Work_JLKKeOX.pdf