idealawg

"Good lawyers. Good leaders. Are they mutually exclusive?"

You now may read an article by Janet Raasch about a talk Mark Beese of Leadership for Lawyers gave at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association. At this link, you can download the article. Raasch's blog is set up in an unusual manner. I clicked on the article title a few times and could not access it so gave up. Later I saw that clicking triggers a download so I had several copies of the article on my desktop. I wanted to warn you about this feature to save you any frustration.

Blog Glob: "Kellogg study: outsiders effective leaders"

Excerpt:

A study by Kellogg Prof. Adam Galinsky challenges the notion that promoting from within is the best option ... .

Galinsky said his research shows a failed course of action by business leadership is often perpetuated by new leadership that shares a “psychological connection” to its predecessor.
...

“The idea of an insider versus an outsider depends on the current state of the organization,” he said.

...

Galinsky’s study, “Vicarious entrapment: Your sunk costs, my escalation of commitment” will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Galinsky said his research centered on the idea of “escalation of commitment,” a theory that was pioneered in the 1970s by former NU Psychology Prof. Barry Staw.

Escalation of commitment is “throwing good money after a bad initial decision,” said Brian Gunia, a fourth-year Kellogg doctoral candidate who assisted Galinsky in his research.

“We were looking at cases in which the initial decision-maker has done something wrong,” Gunia said, “And you, as second decision-maker, are stepping into the decision.”

Gunia said their research showed when the second decision-maker had some sort of “psychological connection” to the first decision-maker, he was “more likely to escalate on (the initial decision maker’s) behalf,” even if it meant following a failed course of action.

Click to read the rest of "Kellogg study: outsiders effective leaders" (Daily Northwestern).

Meditation helps this lawyer to "mediate and inspire"

Corporate Board Member spotlighted 5 GCs, one of whom practices meditation and Tai Chi. He is Leonard J. Kennedy, general counsel of Sprint Nextel. From "Meet Five Great GCs":

The merger [of Sprint and Nextel] has been rocky at times, and Sprint Nextel has suffered through turnover in its corporate ranks, including the loss of its CEO, COO, CFO, and president of sales and distribution. Amid it all, Kennedy has been a rock. “He’s pretty much the only guy who managed to be a constant,” says Profusek. “For a lot of executives in positions as high up as he is, it’s easy to get carried away with how important you are. He’s not one of the people who put you off with how special they are. And maybe if you’re not too full of yourself, you don’t position yourself for a fall.”

Kennedy’s easygoing nature—no surprise in a man who’s been teaching tai chi for over 20 years and relies on meditation as a stress-reliever—has allowed him to both mediate and inspire. Peers describe him as “calm,” “unflappable,” and “not afraid to delegate.” “People who empower other people tend to get the trust of other people,” says Profusek. “Because you’re communicating that you, the boss, have trust in the subordinates.”

Image credit: Corporate Board Member.

How and why to affirm your values: A pivotal process

First of all, the "how" of values affirmation; here's a great exercise to help you affirm your highest values: http://www.affirmvalues.com. And the "why"? As those of you who have attended any of my programs know, I stress the importance of discovering and affirming your values both as an integral part of harnessing your will to make changes in your life and of reducing stress.

For more about harnessing your will, see the first principle here [pdf].

For more about the role of values affirmation in stress reduction, read "Affirmation of Personal Values Buffers Neuroendocrine and Psychological Stress Responses" (Psychological Science) [pdf]. Abstract:

Stress is implicated in the development and progression of a broad array of mental and physical health disorders. Theory and research on the self suggest that self-affirming activities may buffer these adverse effects. This study experimentally investigated whether affirmations of personal values attenuate physiological and psychological stress responses. Eighty-five participants completed either a value-affirmation task or a control task prior to participating in a laboratory stress challenge. Participants who affirmed their values had significantly lower cortisol responses to stress, compared with control participants. Dispositional self-resources (e.g., trait selfesteem and optimism) moderated the relation between value affirmation and psychological stress responses, such that participants who had high self-resources and had affirmed personal values reported the least stress. These findings suggest that reflecting on personal values can keep neuroendocrine and psychological responses to stress at low levels. Implications for research on the self, stress processes, health, and interventions are discussed.

Or take a look at my post Your values: One way to lessen the stress of conflict (Brains on Purpose™).

Have you ascertained and affirmed your values lately?

Still another story on the mental toughness program for soldiers: Akin to our lawyer training

Focus and presence are probably two of the most basic, pivotal and strategic skills for today. That focus must include both focused attention and diffuse awareness—hard and soft focus.

In order to make the shifts in thinking that appear to be the bedrock of this training for soldiers, a person must be watching his or her thinking, i.e., engaging in metacognition. They must be able to focus on their thoughts. I suggest that the skill of metacognition is the real key to mental toughness, and is as important, if not more important, than the thought-shifting soldiers are being taught to do.

If attendees walk away from my contemplative lawyer programs with an increased skill in metacognition, I know they are better prepared to handle stress, balance their lives—and serve their clients. Without that skill, people are governed by habit, runaway emotions, and external circumstances.

A bit more about this highly publicized program for soldiers from "American Soldiers To Undergo Mental Toughness Training" (Medical News Today):

American soldiers are to undergo training in mental toughness or "resiliency" as part of the Army's larger "Comprehensive Soldier Fitness" program, that aims to ensure troops' mental toughness matches their physical toughness.
...

Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, director of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness told the press that the soldier trainers are:

"Learning all the different thinking skills, and how to impart them to other people."

She said resiliency training will help soldiers put worries about money, relationships, health and even tragedy on the battlefield into perspective.
...

Cornum, a physician and soldier with over 30 years of military service, is no stranger to battle stress herself, and probably knows more than most, what it's like to have one's mental toughness challenged.

Over the course of her career she has received many decorations, including a Purple Heart, and she has written a book, She Went to War: The Rhonda Cornum Story, about her experiences in the Gulf War, including what happened during eight days in captivity.
...

"What I learned in those Iraqi bunkers and prison cells is that the experience doesn't have to be devastating, that it depends on you," Cornum wrote in her book.

Buncha short, inspirational movies for you

They are here.

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Image credit: Image*After.

How does our brain sense danger? Is the ability innate or can it be trained?

If you are interested in the answers to those questions, you will want to read "In Battle, Hunches Prove to Be Valuable" (New York Times). Excerpt:

Everyone has hunches — about friends’ motives, about the stock market, about when to fold a hand of poker and when to hold it. But United States troops are now at the center of a large effort to understand how it is that in a life-or-death situation, some people’s brains can sense danger and act on it well before others’ do.

Experience matters, of course: if you have seen something before, you are more likely to anticipate it the next time. And yet, recent research suggests that something else is at work, too.

Small differences in how the brain processes images, how well it reads emotions and how it manages surges in stress hormones help explain why some people sense imminent danger before most others do.

Studies of members of the Army Green Berets and Navy Seals, for example, have found that in threatening situations they experience about the same rush of the stress hormone cortisol as any other soldier does. But their levels typically drop off faster than less well-trained troops, much faster in some cases.

Is this ability to sense and handle danger naturally better in some individuals? Can one be trained to improve?

“The big question is whether these differences perceiving threat are natural, or due to training,” Dr. [Martin P.] Paulus said.

The question is still being studied. This article provides some pieces of the puzzle.

Note: Other articles in this series on Brain Power:

• "At the Bridge Table, Clues to a Lucid Old Age" A study of people 90 and over without a trace of dementia has begun to alter understandings of the aging brain.
• "Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory" An influx of money and talent into neuroscience has led to an experimental drug that could block certain memories.
• "H. M., an Unforgettable Amnesiac, Dies at 82" Henry Gustav Molaison, or H.M., was recognized as the most important patient in the history of brain science.

Image credit: Dave's Eye.

An impressive, unique and very active octogenarian mayor: Inspire yourself by watching this video

She's 88 years old and mayor of the third largest city in Ontario, a city that is debt-free with $700,000,000 in reserves. Asked about reasons for her success, her responses included taking care of her people and keeping taxes down. In the video, this dynamo plays hockey, bowls, and takes part in a music video. Click here to watch Hazel McCallion in action. Like her attitude and philosophy!

Today spend a few moments thinking about the role assumptions play in aging; for some fodder for your thoughts, read my post Should we change our assumptions about elders? Do we know as much as we think we do? Should we say no to aging?.

Image credit: Karma Tube.

Blog Glob: The Mindset of a Problem-Finder - Knowledge@Wharton

Excerpt:

Emory University professors Roderick Gilkey and Clint Kilts have argued that seeking novel experiences helps keep the brain sharp. They explain: "The more things you learn, the better you become at learning. Actively engaging in novel, challenging activities capitalizes on your capacity for neuroplasticity -- the ability of your brain to reorganize itself adaptively and enhance its performance." Problem-finding requires an ability to cope with ambiguity and to sort through seemingly contradictory signals at times. It requires a capacity to make sense of messy situations and a willingness to look at familiar situations from a different perspective. Novel learning experiences often provide us new conceptual models of how to think about a familiar situation as well as new frames of reference. Novel experience can shake our entrenched assumptions. A curious mind that enjoys learning new things may be a problem-finder's most valuable asset.

Successful problem-finders not only exhibit a curious mindset, but they also embrace systemic thinking. They recognize that small problems often do not occur due to the negligence or misconduct of an individual. Instead, small errors frequently serve as indicators of broader systemic issues in

Free report from Harvard Law -- Team-Building Strategies: Building a Winning Team for Your Organization

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law is offering a free report. From the Web page:

In Team-Building Strategies: Building a Winning Team for Your Organization, you’ll discover:

• How to “unfreeze” old thought processes so that real change can happen.
• How to structure negotiation training so that it actually delivers results. (Simply reciting interesting concepts and retelling war stories is not a model for success.)
• How to be certain you understand the key concepts and practical applications of a negotiation simulation.
• What to do when making decisions based on faulty intuition threatens your self-esteem.
• How delegating responsibility without adequate authority can stymie negotiations. (The all-important organizational changes required to help negotiators succeed.)
• Measuring responsibility, accountability and dollar impact. (The essential factors for establishing a well-formed outcome, justifying criteria for success, and rewarding performance objectively.)
• A simple exercise for reducing contentiousness and competition. (Simply adopting this mindset can improve the negotiation outcome.)

Go here to download your copy of the report.