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

Glass Half Full Or Half Empty, Who’ll Go Get More Water?

Posted on12 Aug 2010

Tagsassumptions, attitude, change, emotions, fear, gain, glass, joy, loss, metaphor, perspective, problem solving, sales, glass half full-half empty metaphor

Comments9

People use the glass half full or half empty metaphor in many ways. I use it much in problem solving workshops. For the most part...

Difference Between Instinct and Intuition in Decisions

Posted on09 Aug 2010

Tagsaggressive, cognition, competitive, control, dominance, emotions, innate, instinct, intuition, maternal, men, music, nurture, paternal, perspective, process, protect, song, survival, women

Comments0

Often, I’m asked about the difference between instinct and intuition. Part of what makes the question hard is gender bias. Men prefer “instinct” over “intuition”...

Chance Encounters And The Repackaging Of Synchronicity

Posted on05 Aug 2010

TagsJohn Hagel, quantum mechanics, The Power of Pull, The Economist, technology, synchronicity, networking, Lang Davison, John Seely Brown, intuition, emotions, connections, coincidence, Carl Jung

Comments6

The July 24, 2010 Schumpeter column of The Economist discussed the book, The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things...

How Challenging Assumptions Every Day Improves Problem Solving

Posted on02 Aug 2010

Tagsproblem solving, practice, perspective, mindset, decisions, assumptions

Comments2

Experts often cite challenging assumptions as a great problem-solving tip. It helps one think outside the box. Yet, they don’t say much on how to...

Real-time personality assessment case study

“Which Box Do You Want to be In?” Personality Assessment Case Study

Posted on29 Jul 2010

Tagsconnotations, definitions, emotions, feelings, function, insight, motivation, Personality, team building, word choice, Real-time Personality Assessment Series

Comments0

Word choice tells much about personality. This personality assessment case study shows how this works. It can help identify personality types according to other models...

How Intuition Influences Thought Processes All The Time

Posted on26 Jul 2010

Tagscognition, emotions, feelings, Influence, intuition, restaurant, subconscious, thinking process, Thoughts, compass intution analogy

Comments1

Intuition influences thought processes all the time. Many times people just don’t know it. As behavioral economics and other social-related sciences are discovering, people aren’t...

How Can Writing Down The Problem Help Solve It?

Posted on22 Jul 2010

Tagsassumptions, definitions, example, presentation, product, question, sales, training

Comments6

One of the best problem-solving techniques I learned is writing down the problem. Doing this as detailed as possible helps by: Putting the problem in...

Business is Personal and Why There’s No Way Around It

Posted on19 Jul 2010

Tagsapproaches, assumptions, business, decisions, emotions, feelings, intuition, money, personal, Personality, rationale

Comments2

How many times have you heard, “This isn’t personal, it’s business”? A key assumption underlying an intuitive approach is that everything people do, think or...

Shopping for Rationales to Justify Wants and Desires

Posted on14 Jul 2010

Tagsrationale, want, subconscious, problem solving, Personality, knowledge, justification, intuition, emotions, desire, decisions, cognition, approaches

Comments2

Virtually all of our decisions are emotionally based. Therefore, as we saw in my previous posting, Decisions: Roles of Intuition and Cognition, intuition plays a...

Inherent Conflict Between Talent and Large Organizations

Posted on09 Jul 2010

Tagsorganization, The Atlantic, technology, Talent, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), special forces, size, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Personality, military, Imperial Grunts, freedom, employees, corporate, business, action

Comments1

An inherent conflict exists between talent and large organizations. They box it in. I first came across this in the landmark book by T.E. Lawrence...

Knowledge is Power, Not!

Posted on02 Jul 2010

Tagsmotivation, emotional triggers, use, thinking process, Starship Troopers, seminars, Robert Heinlein, power, learn, knowledge, inertia, improvement, cognition, action

Comments3

In Robert Heinlein’s science fiction book, Starship Troopers, the instructor, Mr. Dubois says, “One can lead a child to knowledge but one cannot make him...

Source of Greatest Resistance to Technology in the Workplace

Posted on27 Jun 2010

Tagsrelationships, The Economist, technology, strategy, skills, sales, process, perspective, organization, mindset, military, management, intuition, Influence, Dean Kamen, customers, attitude

Comments0

The source of greatest resistance to technology in the workplace is mindset. It shows up as applying technology in old ways. It’s subtle and unconscious....

5 Knowledge States To Assess Facts and Information Better

Posted on19 Jun 2010

Tagsaction, awareness, decisions, knowledge, perspective, poker, prevention, problem solving, prove, quantify, reason, unknown, warfare

Comments0

While helping a non-profit, a board member said, “We can only deal with a problem if we know there is one.” Here, understanding knowledge states...

How Processes Reduce Need for Talent and Its Cost

Posted on14 Jun 2010

Tagscooking, employees, expense, management, money, painting, procedure, process, rules, Talent

Comments3

A CEO of a 150-employee services company made this astute observation: processes reduce need for talent, and thus, reduce labor costs. This company requires highly...

An Intuitive Understanding Of Weaknesses in the Scientific Method

Posted on07 Jun 2010

Tagslaboratory, scientific, relationships, reality, prove, product, process, problem solving, morale, leadership, innovation, guarantees, experiment, emotions, business, belief

Comments0

Weaknesses in the scientific method cause its usefulness to fall far short of people’s belief in it. In other words, hype exceeds reality. Yet, it...

Mike Lehr’s Blog

Glass Half Full Or Half Empty, Who’ll Go Get More Water?

Difference Between Instinct and Intuition in Decisions

Chance Encounters And The Repackaging Of Synchronicity

How Challenging Assumptions Every Day Improves Problem Solving

“Which Box Do You Want to be In?” Personality Assessment Case Study

How Intuition Influences Thought Processes All The Time

How Can Writing Down The Problem Help Solve It?

Business is Personal and Why There’s No Way Around It

Shopping for Rationales to Justify Wants and Desires

Inherent Conflict Between Talent and Large Organizations

Knowledge is Power, Not!

Source of Greatest Resistance to Technology in the Workplace

5 Knowledge States To Assess Facts and Information Better

How Processes Reduce Need for Talent and Its Cost

An Intuitive Understanding Of Weaknesses in the Scientific Method

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