Influencing and Problem Solving for Leaders and Others Mike Lehr's Blog

Power in Acknowledging Others

An executive reviews observations about an employee with a manager and concludes, “Tom, you need to support him by doing X, Y and Z.” Manager...

Human Lessons from a Bourbon Tornado

Posted on28 Apr 2014

TagsThe Atlantic, adaptability, control, humans, learn, objective personality tests, people's differences, standardization, Wayne Curtis, individual, silver bullet, Buffalo Trace Distillery, bourbon, tornado

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A tornado demolished a Buffalo Trace Distillery’s warehouse miraculously leaving all barrels of aging bourbon undamaged but exposed to the elements for months. More miraculously,...

Empathetic Psychopaths, Implications for Emotional Intelligence (Pt 1)

Posted on24 Apr 2014

Tagsassessments, brain, cognition, Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence, empathy, happiness, intelligence, psychopaths, Psychopath in Workplace Series, James Fallon

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It has been over twenty years since Daniel Goleman wrote his groundbreaking book, Emotional Intelligence (EI), and close to twenty-five years since researching it. About...

Blinded by the Light, Seduced by Star Employees

Posted on21 Apr 2014

Tagssilver bullet, National Basketball Association, Derek Thompson, Rakesh Khurana, KISS Principle, institutional biases, The Atlantic, team building, Talent, decisions

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Frequently, we warn ourselves against falling for the silver bullet. Problem is that it arrives in many forms, including in the form of star players...

Venting, Wetsuit Analogy

Posted on17 Apr 2014

Tagsconflict, conflict management, dissent, diversity, listen, management, relationships, Talent, venting, venting-wetsuit analogy, analogy collection

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Venting is critical to a healthy culture. Unfortunately, we often characterize venting as “negativity,” “resisting change,” “not a team player,” “not with the program,” “not...

Rehab for Social Media, Email, Texts (SMET) Addiction

In response to my post highlighting SMET addictions, Maya Larson (@connectionsbym), an Etsy shopkeeper, asked, “Is there a 5-step (rehab) program” for it. So, here...

Board War Games Superior to High-tech Simulations

Posted on10 Apr 2014

Tagscomputers, The Matrix, think outside the box, The Economist, rules, quantify, military, low-tech, decision-making process, creativity, computer simulations, complexity, alternatives

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Computer games have all but wiped out regular board games. Why then, do American military officials rely more on board games to analyze military strategies...

Zombies To The Rescue

Posted on07 Apr 2014

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Entertainment often reflects our lives. Sometimes depicting it directly but other times serving to assuage emotions that don’t have an outlet. Just as we go...

Protection from Unwanted Unconscious Influences

Posted on03 Apr 2014

Tagsfree will, Influence, negative, price, sales, smells, subconscious, Twitter, inflammatory rhetoric, decisions, anchoring, control

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Finola Howard (@FinolaHoward), a marketing professional, found my post, “Information You Know Is Wrong Still Influences You,” interesting but wanted to know, “How do you...

Software Softening Our Brains?

Posted on31 Mar 2014

Tagsflying, planes, apps, smart phones, GPS, Intuit's, accounting, Nicholas Carr, software, brain exercising, The Atlantic, technology, problem solving, information technology, computers, brain

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Quick, by hand, calculate: 186 x 3,086 = ? 196,452 ÷ 2,568 = ? Why? For the same reason we exercise. Modern conveniences and technology...

Leveraging Relationships, Manipulation or Influence?

Posted on27 Mar 2014

Tagschange, consumer, conversation techniques, experience, fear, Influence, relationship building techniques, relationships, resistance to change, The New Yorker, Tips Leveraging Relationships in Communications Series, TED Talks, manipulation, McDonald's

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The techniques in this series sometimes have people asking, “Mike, isn’t this manipulation?” My response is, “Yes, it is, but remember manipulation differs from influence...

The Law, A False Sense of Morality?

Posted on24 Mar 2014

TagsU.S. Federal Trade Commission, cognitive dissonance, ethics, financial markets, law, moral, rules, The Atlantic, Twitter, Microsoft, Jesse Willms, Oprah Winfrey, Rosa Parks, Julie Rasmussen, healthcare, patriotism

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Our Twitter exchange regarding a quote of mine encouraged Dr. Julie Rasmussen to suggest that I incorporate it into a post. She found applicability to...

Social Media, Email, Texting (SMET) Addiction

Posted on20 Mar 2014

Tagscreativity, effectiveness, efficiencies, email, Facebook, happiness, Pollyannaism, social media, storytelling, texting, The Atlantic, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, loneliness, SMET Addiction

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A SMET addiction exists for three reasons. First, it’s extremely hard to resist engaging, and SMET has potentially harmful effects, the second reason. Finally, SMET...

Leverage Relationships in Conversations, A Technique (Pt 3)

Posted on17 Mar 2014

Tagsconversation techniques, listen, Refer Back Technique, relationship building techniques, subliminity, training, personalization, conversational strategizing schematic, Tips Leveraging Relationships in Communications Series

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In Parts #1 and #2, we explored the technique by revising and elaborating upon a single sentence: Our new business model helps us deliver better...

Peer-to-peer Marketing Overrated?

Posted on13 Mar 2014

Tagsrelationships, demographics, homophily, Sinan Aral, peer-to-peer marketing, social media, marketing, Influence, Harvard Business Review, friends, decisions, buying habits

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Yes, peer-to-peer marketing (P2P) is overrated but still important as long as we understand what what we are buying: just another channel to create product...

Mike Lehr’s Blog

Human Lessons from a Bourbon Tornado

Empathetic Psychopaths, Implications for Emotional Intelligence (Pt 1)

Blinded by the Light, Seduced by Star Employees

Venting, Wetsuit Analogy

Board War Games Superior to High-tech Simulations

Zombies To The Rescue

Protection from Unwanted Unconscious Influences

Software Softening Our Brains?

Leveraging Relationships, Manipulation or Influence?

The Law, A False Sense of Morality?

Leverage Relationships in Conversations, A Technique (Pt 3)

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