Whether in my personal or professional life, when I observe myself and others around me, one of the biggest personal and professional missteps I witness is being a blocked learner. More than blocking learning, I think of it as repelling learning — as if it were a mosquito or bug. On professional networking sites (e.g., LinkedIn), I now observe, much to my dismay, individuals going out of their way to put other people down and/or intentionally trying to harm other people’s pro

NOTE: For this book review, I intentionally and excessively quoted the authors throughout the post. I do this for two reasons: (1) I prefer to have the authors words speak for themselves rather than me interpreting, generalizing, or inadvertently misinterpreting their intent, and (2) It helps you, the readers, see the quality of their work/their writing. Leaders Ready Now is a book about preparing your leaders faster. “DDI’s global data suggests that when organizations look t

[Note: This post was updated February 2022 for freshness & clarity.] I often find people confusing and commingling the terms “organization development” and “change management”, even I-O psychology experts and authors. To set the record straight and help clear up this persistent and ongoing confusion, I offer this post on the link between Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology, Organization Development (OD), and Change Management. One problem is that different people defin

[NOTE: This post was updated June 2020 for freshness & accuracy] In my former career as a mental health counselor, I encountered many clients who struggled with taking charge of their own lives. While their struggles might have differed, the idea behind helping them was almost always the same, and quite basic. We’re taught to guide clients from seeing themselves as being victims of life’s circumstances to being movers of those life events. In other words, help clients reach d

[NOTE: This post was updated October 2016] “Having an organizational culture that emphasizes ethical behavior can cut down on misbehavior of organizations. Research shows that whether an organization develops a culture that emphasizes doing the right thing even when it is costly comes down to whether leaders, starting with the CEO, consider the ethical consequences of their actions. Leaders with a moral compass set the tone when it comes to ethical dilemmas” (Truxillo, Bauer,

[NOTE: This post was updated November 2016] In “Leading Change,” John Kotter (1996) outlined an 8-Stage Process to Creating Major Change: Establish a Sense of Urgency: Examine market and competitive realities; identify and discuss crises, potential crises, or major opportunities Create the Guiding Coalition: Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change; get group to work together as a team Develop a Vision & Strategy: Create a vision to help direct the change effort;