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

Cooperation vs. Self-interest (Pt 2): Context – The Great Influencer

As we saw with pigeonholing and tasting food, context influences us greatly. This extends to people’s inclinations to collaborate. In support of this, the July-August...

Real-time Personality Assessment (Pt 2): Important Qualities

Posted on26 Sep 2011

Tagsassessments, behavior, conversation, decisions, people, Personality, Real-time personality assessment, word choice

Comments6

The downside of many personality tests is that you need to administer them. Yes, some will teach you how to assess without doing that, but...

Illusion of Free Will Revisited

Posted on22 Sep 2011

Tagsbehavior, biology, David Eagleman, decisions, evolution, free will, genetic code, nature/nurture, Personality, psychology, rational actor theory, rationale, subconscious, technology, The Atlantic, The Economist

Comments3

I decided to revisit the illusion of free will after running across two other articles reinforcing it. As technology and research methodologies advance, we are...

Positive Thinking as Myth

I’ve seen positive thinking do much harm to some folks; if they can’t keep their smiley face on, they feel they’re failing. Moreover, if they...

Inverted Problem-solving Technique

Posted on15 Sep 2011

Tagsquestioning techniques, problem solving, Fred Reinfeld, decisions, Complete Chess Course, chess

Comments0

The inverted problem-solving technique (IPT) involves looking at the opposing aspects of a problem. To see IPT’s value it helps to write down the problem....

Cooperation vs. Self-interest: Which Reigns Supreme?

Posted on12 Sep 2011

Tagsbusiness, cooperation, Cooperation vs Self-interest Series, Elizabeth Kolbert, Harvard Business Review, intelligence, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Michael Tomasello, problem solving, self-interest, team intelligence, The New Yorker, Yochai Benkler

Comments5

Recently, Harvard Business Review focused its July-August 2011 issue on collaboration. It connected so well and deeply with my own experiences that I decided to...

Beauty as Power (Pt 4): Subliminal Influence

Posted on08 Sep 2011

Tagsadvertising, attractiveness, beauty, Beauty as Power Series, employees, feminine, loan applicants, marketing, masculine, merchandising, physical, plaintiffs, power, prisoners, quarterbacks, retailing, subliminity, The Economist

Comments0

Beauty’s power often influences us without our knowledge and thus distorts our decisions. In other words, we think we are making them based upon objective...

Emotional Self-defense for Sensitive People (Pt 7): Team Intelligence

Sensitive people (SP) can increase team intelligence in very much the same way mortar makes brick and stone walls stronger. Since diverse teams tend to...

Correlation between Excellent Performers and Flattened Growth

Posted on01 Sep 2011

Tagsunawareness, Thomas DeLong, Talent, skills, Sara DeLong, risk, Paradox of Excellence, organization, Harvard Business Review, fear, decisions, awareness

Comments2

As people’s careers progress, they tend to become more risk adverse, less willing to accept challenges. Much is because they feel they have too much...

Names and Our Unconscious Biases

Our names unconsciously influence people. We humorously smile at actors who change their names making them more appealing. Yet, some people relate because they wish...

Who’s the Better Problem Solver?

Posted on25 Aug 2011

Tagstraining, Talent, problem solving, learn, better, advice

Comments2

Person A has solved a hundred problems while Person B has only solved five. Who’s the better problem solver? The answer is B, but the...

People Easily Make False Confessions

When we approach problems too logically and reasonably, we tend to place too much faith in the dominance of consciousness and to discount subjective influences...

Rude More Powerful than Respected

Posted on18 Aug 2011

Tagsleadership, Harvard Business Review, Darth Vader, Dark Side, Batia M. Wiesenfeld, Adam D. Galinsky, management, Why Fair Bosses Fall Behind, Star Wars, Stalin, Sara L. Wheeler-Smith, respect, power, positive, negative, Naomi B. Rothman, morale

Comments5

People often marvel that more managers don’t use inexpensive morale builders. Of course, many of the same also wonder, “How did that person become a...

Eloquence Trumps Honesty in Trust & Likeability Wars

Posted on15 Aug 2011

Comments0

Intuitive approaches often work because we don’t believe they do. Advertising is an excellent example: it influences us because we often believe it doesn’t. This...

Emotional Self-defense for Sensitive People (Pt 6): Defeatism & Courage

Posted on11 Aug 2011

Tagsdoubt, The Bad Sleep Well, sensitivity, sensitive people, negative thinking, negative, feelings, fear, encourage, emotions, Emotional Self Defense Series, emotional self defense

Comments0

We can easily defeat sensitive people by encouraging their negative feelings. Since they are so sensitive, these feelings can easily overwhelm them. Under these conditions,...

Mike Lehr’s Blog

Cooperation vs. Self-interest (Pt 2): Context – The Great Influencer

Real-time Personality Assessment (Pt 2): Important Qualities

Illusion of Free Will Revisited

Positive Thinking as Myth

Inverted Problem-solving Technique

Beauty as Power (Pt 4): Subliminal Influence

Correlation between Excellent Performers and Flattened Growth

Names and Our Unconscious Biases

Who’s the Better Problem Solver?

People Easily Make False Confessions

Rude More Powerful than Respected

Eloquence Trumps Honesty in Trust & Likeability Wars

Emotional Self-defense for Sensitive People (Pt 6): Defeatism & Courage

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