Sunday, August 17, 2008
HARMONY books & movies
What books and movies would you recommend to someone strong (or weak) in Harmony?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Donald Clifton, Ph.D. 1924-2003
Father of Strengths Psychology and Grandfather of Positive Psychology
Peter F. Drucker, 1909 -2005
"The idea that there are "well-rounded" people, people who have only strengths and no weaknesses ... is a prescription for mediocrity if not incompetence. Strong people always have strong weaknesses. ... And no one is strong in many areas."
Subscribe To This Blog
Posts
Comments
Peter F. Drucker Quote:
"People-decisions are time-consuming, for the simple reason that the Good Lord did not create people as "resources" for organizations. They do not come in proper size and shape for the tasks that have to be done in organization - and they cannot be machined down or re-cast for these tasks. People are always "almost fits" at best. To get the work done with people (...) therefore requires lots of time, thought and judgement."
2 comments:
People with Harmony can make great leadership contributions, especially in emotionally sensitive organizations like customer service teams, health care providers or when they are assigned to turn around a business where there are a lot of negative emotions.
I am afraid though that leaders with Harmony have to learn how to deal with conflict. In his book "Hostage at the Table" veteran hostage negotiator and leadership professor George Kohlrieser provides some very helpful insights. I quote from the front flap:
"Conflict is a part of our everyday human behavior that stems from a basic fight-or-flight instinct. Too often, however, we believe that conflict is something that must be avoided at all costs; this tendency to suppress conflict can spark a cascade of negative emotions that eventually derail managers, leaders, and organizations.
...
Step by step, (the author) outlines the seven key factors that anyone can use to remove the blocks that stand in the way of resolving tough problems..." and so on.
While I was a bit disappointed with Daniel Goleman's classic "Emotional Intelligence" for lack of practical examples, his book "Primal Leadership" (with the co-authors Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee) offers much more practical advise. I am not sure whether I agree with the author's premise that emotional intelligence can be substantially improved by anyone, let alone become a strength. I believe it has a lot to do with talents, such as Empathy, Harmony and Positivity. For this reason, I strongly recommend it to people with these talents.
I quote the book: "Our analysis suggest that, overall, the climate - how people feel about working at a company - can account for 20 to 30 percent of business performance".
"In general, the more emotionally demanding the work, the more empathetic and supportive the leader needs to be. Leaders drive the service climate and thus the predisposition of employees to satisfy customers."
Post a Comment