Christmas Day, December 25, is the largest holiday in the world, observed by billions of people. For many, this is a religious holiday, celebrating the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, the son of God. But the holiday has transcended religion, becoming a cultural holiday marked by the exchange of gifts and secular icons such as […]
I used to live in Hawaii, on the island of Maui. At least once a month, I would drive a few hours on the winding road around the island and spend a day or two hiking and camping in the rain forest. I would follow a trail, or make my own, weaving through bamboo forests […]
The end of the year is drawing near again and it’s time once again to begin thinking about those dreaded year-end employee performance evaluations. These meetings, usually accompanied by some kind of documentation, are a kind of report card for employees—a chance for managers to assess the performance of their workforce, and a chance for […]
Every ten years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human services takes a collaborative approach to aligning health institutions from across the country on massive health goals. The initiative is called “Healthy People” and every decade they invite people from a broad variety of health institutions to collaborate on identifying the most important health goals […]
Today’s article is featured on Positive Psychology News Daily. “Context matters” for understanding human wellbeing. This has been a recurring theme of this blog in recent months. It was one of my key takeaways from the International Positive Psychology Association conference in Philadelphia, and it was the topic of a new book called “Situations Matter” by Sam […]
Last week, at the International Spa Association annual conference, the spa industry got a good immersion in what positive leadership looks like. The first day’s keynote speaker was Bert Jacobs, the CEO (Chief Executive Optimist) of Life is Good. In case you aren’t already familiar with the Life is Good brand, it is a clothing […]
This week, I am at the International Spa Association annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. I’ve been excited about this year’s conference because Tony Hsieh will be the keynote speaker on Wednesday. I’ve been a fan of Tony’s for a while (see “Why Zappos is the Workplace Utopia of the 21st Century” and my article on […]
The recent Occupy Wall Street movement has been successful because it does something that our political system has been unable to do: align people around shared beliefs and values. Unfortunately, our current political system is not very good at aligning politicians and citizens to work together towards common goals. The focus seems to be exclusively on battling over areas of disagreement. […]
Most of my friends that study and practice positive psychology will cringe at the headline of this article. They will cringe because they know that “The Secret,” a trendy best seller that teaches positive thinking as a way to get what you want out of life, is basically a bunch of new age mumbo jumbo […]
Most employers understand their relationship with their employees as being based on a simple employment contract. The employee is provided with a compensation package including a living wage and a certain amount of benefits and in return they are expected to fulfill certain functions of the job, usually outlined in an employee handbook and/or a […]
