Respectful Workplace Blog

This month we welcome guest blogger Tony Bennett. Tony is an international speaker, coach, facilitator, seminar leader, published author and an expert in training and staff development.

Moving Down the Road Less Traveled

Well, we did it. We elected our first black American to the highest office in the land. And many people didn’t think it could be done. Regardless of your party affiliation, you could really feel the air around election time energized with “cha, cha, cha change…” As a nation, irrespective of party, nearly everyone I spoke with unanimously said enough is enough and it was time for a change.
 
We’ve once again proven that we are ready to embrace the “melting pot” diversity our country was founded upon. Our new President-Elect, Barack Obama will do much to pave the way for more diversity and respect among many segments of our nation and the world, in business and our personal lives.

(more…)

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend an overnight workshop which involved working with horses. Let me be clear, this was not a horse training or riding class, but rather a personal development workshop that incorporated horses into the process as co-facilitators.
 
What I ended up learning was not only a lot about myself, but also plenty about respect – giving and receiving it – from the horses. Establishing respect with a horse is not unlike the dance we undertake to garner the respect of another human being. Horses, like humans, respond to communication that involves both verbal and non-verbal cues to convey respect.
 
(more…)

I have long considered myself a student of brain sciences. I am fascinated by how we store information and learn, how emotion plays a role in imprinting and decision making, why behavior change is so difficult …anything that might eventually permit me a greater degree of mastery over that big, grey walnut-shaped mass between my ears. For those with similar curiosity, it’s a great time to be participating in the business of business. There have been more discoveries about how the brain works over the past 5 years than perhaps the last 150 combined…and more is coming out every day.

Okay, you might ask. So what? While knowledge for its own sake is nice, why is brain science so important? And why now? I’m a pragmatist and tactician by nature. It’s the applicability and bottom-line implications of new information that ultimately determine its value to business. So from my perspective, here are a few new insights from brain research that every leader and manager should be aware of.

(more…)