Mental Effort Archive

Solve for Gender Pay, Solve for Sexual Harassment

Solve for Gender Pay, Solve for Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment and mistreatment of women stems from an entitlement culture. Companies who equalize gender pay and create an inclusive culture are not just morally right, they have a competitive advantage by harnessing the best and brightest minds of all people while creating a culture of trust.

Finding Raymond Carver In All Of Us

Finding Raymond Carver In All Of Us

There is value in telling and in listening. If we remind ourselves to be aware, the bonds we seek can be strengthened and while we learn more about our friends, we are learning more about ourselves too.

What's Luck Got to Do With It?

Mental Effort Archive

What's Luck Got to Do With It?

We consider many of our unique attributes when we want to explain why it all worked out in the end. When things don't go so well we're also quick to point to several outside factors. The truth is, much of what we accomplish successfully is also because we got lucky.

Where We Do Our Best Work

Mental Effort Archive

Where We Do Our Best Work

A while back I asked several dozen employees a simple question: >

Wired to Answer Easy Questions

Mental Effort Archive

Wired to Answer Easy Questions

When faced with a difficult question, like the task of measuring your arbitrary happiness, your brain will substitute an easier question to answer.

Now Read This: Omaha Edition.

Mental Effort Archive

Now Read This: Omaha Edition.

Unlike most annual reports, the opening 30 pages of Berkshire Hathaway's report amount to a refreshing and honest letter from the Chairman, none other than Warren Buffett. He offers his investment philosophy, opines about prudent leadership, and shares some of his evaluation of corporate America.

My Problem with "r"

Mental Effort Archive

My Problem with "r"

Somewhere along the way I lost all confidence in writing the lower case "r". To mask the trepidation I would feel as I approached a word with an "r", I began to replace a lower case "r" with a smaller version of an upper case "R".

Squandering Good Intentions - A Tale

Mental Effort Archive

Squandering Good Intentions - A Tale

Event + Reaction = Outcome Maybe the intentions you associate to your boss or co-workers aren't based on fact, maybe you've created them to justify your reactions.

Sustainable Performance Plans

Mental Effort Archive

Sustainable Performance Plans

We need performance sustaining plans for the best of workers, not only performance improvement plans for those failing to live up to expectations.

Cheer For or Cheer Against, You Decide

Mental Effort Archive

Cheer For or Cheer Against, You Decide

We can choose to root against someone hoping to get the desired outcome or we can choose to cheer for our team letting our experience, expertise, and preparedness achieve success.

An Uncomfortable Privilege Walk

Mental Effort Archive

An Uncomfortable Privilege Walk

Our facilitators read questions out loud to the participants. After each question, you either step forward, representing a positive merit, or backwards, representing a disadvantage. "Take a step back if you have ever been sexually harassed". All 34 women took a step back, and I stood still.

Be Mindful of the Turtle's Shell

Be Mindful of the Turtle's Shell

We need to take a lesson from the turtle. Not everyone is going to be as supportive as we'd want. Not everyone is going to recognize the value of the long term vision we have. Some might sling some arrows, and having a hard exterior shell to protect us will be paramount.