Month: June 2012

6

Listening in the Age of Attention Deficit:Part II

Susan Mazza | 26 June 2012 | Personal Leadership

Listening well is hard work.

To be effective you must be both focused and present.  Yet in this age of “attention deficit” it can be quite hard to create the mental space necessary to really listen to another human being.

Part I considered some of the external distractions you might encounter when you are trying to listen and what you could do to minimize their impact.

However, the outside world isn’t the only source of distractions.  Our internal world brings a whole other set of potential distractions to the equation. 

These internal distractions are perhaps the most challenging of all.  Their source can be your physical and/or emotional state, your beliefs and attitudes, as well as your commitments and concerns.

Which leads me to this week’s listening challenge…

Melissa Whittle (@mwhittle73 on twitter) offered the following challenge via twitter.  It goes right to the heart of our internal distractions:

Silencing internal dialogue and being fully present. [click to continue...]

10

Listening in the Age of Attention Deficit: Part I

Susan Mazza | 19 June 2012 | Personal Leadership

This time in history has been referred to as the attention deficit age.

And it is no wonder.

Everything moves fast and seems to keep moving faster.  There are often so many things we need to do and so many more activities going on at once around us.

It can be quite hard to create the mental space necessary to really listen to another human being.

The mechanics of hearing sound may be simple, but keeping the concentration necessary to process meaning from words and sentences is not.

At least it isn’t for most of us.

It’s one thing to concentrate when you have enough control over your environment to keep potential distractions minimized, for example, when you are sitting alone at your computer or listening to an audio with earphones.

But when you are in a conversation it can be much harder to keep the distractions at bay.

Furthermore you have no control over the speaker – not their speed of speech, the volume, or sometimes even when they choose to speak to you or what they want to speak about. [click to continue...]

9

How to Say No and Mean It

Susan Mazza | 13 June 2012 | Personal Leadership

Do you or someone you know have a hard time saying “no”?

“Yes” is certainly a much easier and more socially acceptable response, especially if you want to be perceived positively and/or as a team player.  It can even feel good, at least in the moment you say it anyway.

Unfortunately, saying “yes” to too many things is also a way to get yourself overcommitted and can lead to feelings of overwhelm and/or resentment.  In fact, saying “yes” can actually end up being more costly than whatever you fear that might be keeping you from saying “no”.

Nonetheless, saying “no” can be very hard for a multitude of reasons, both personal and circumstantial.  You may genuinely want to say “yes” despite having reservations.  Perhaps saying “yes” is your way of making others happy or prove you are committed or worthy.

If someone who is your “superior” in some way, like a boss or teacher, is making the request, you may not even believe “no” is an option.  Depending on the context of the relationship, “no” may not be an option, at least not from the requestors point of view.  In some cases a request is actually a demand in disguise, phrased to be polite or politically correct. [click to continue...]

0

Awakened Leadership

Susan Mazza | 06 June 2012 | Featured Books & Authors

Following is a guest post from Alan E. Shelton, author of the new book Awakened Leadership.  Through the story of his own personal journey from CEO to the ashram’s of India and back, he carries a message of hope that we truly can integrate our personal life, our spiritual selves and our career here and now.

Corporations and Personal Development? It’s Happening!

It’s not unusual to read in today’s media how global companies are cast in the role of Darth Vader. And then we hear the common refrain “If only we could get them to work on themselves”. My message to you is that you are reading old news.

Personal development is being delivered every day into the corporate world because companies demand it. How do I know that? Let me tell you my story.

The Old Way of Separate Paths

At the tender age of 38, I had climbed the corporate mountain. I was a merger and acquisition expert, a CPA, the CEO of a large company, and sought after as a speaker. It wasn’t unusual that I would be quoted in The Wall Street Journal or seen in conversation with the luminaries of the day. [click to continue...]