As some of you may know, I’ve been studiously writing a multi-part essay on “Capturing and Captivating a Mostly Distance-Learning Audience.” The platforms are webinar and teleconferencing and the unprecedented program success (in terms of “spin-off gigs”) has been surprising. I've been trying to understand how the setting and structure of these two recent programs has affected my presentati...

The Stress Doc begins a series of essays on a leadership tool not always recognized: the capacity for purposeful and playful (and, yes, sometimes provocative) humor. The series begins by placing humor within the context of his “Passion Power” Model. The Doc begins to lay the ground for the motivating power of psycho-humor, followed by a definition of humor. Finally, the essay begins to flesh out two new concepts...

So, I’m thinking about rebranding – both as an overall conceptual strategy, and practically, to respond to a rapidly evolving speaking and writing business/social media environment. Several factors are coming into play: Professionally, I’m in a state of flux, wanting to explore new presentational arenas for projecting a message beyond my Stress Doc personae, having walked that talk for several decades. A...

When my architect friend heard that I had left all the preliminary sketches of my intricate verbal/visual-spatial Mandala Model 2.0 on an interstate bus, her immediate reaction was, “Oh, crap.” (See Linked-In or Facebook or email stressdoc@aol.com for the essay “Mandala Vision.”) Mine was even stronger: “Oh, ____!” All those hours of work over the course of a week– drawing a m...

Today’s world is 24/7, wired and always on and often cycling between upgrading and reorganizing--if not outsourcing and downsizing. And as company mantras become “do more with less,” it’s no surprise that more and more people are struggling with job stress and burnout. The Erosive Spiral The classic set-up for burnout is a professional or personal situation that places high ongoing demands and...

You never know when an everyday encounter can turn into a magical – “play it forward, sideways, as well as up-and-down” – moment…like yesterday. I had just completed a first-time exploratory business meeting with a counselor colleague at a Panera’s restaurant. We were discussing the possibility of developing training and workshop and retreat programs. The meeting was pretty lively; a mutual sharing of experience and skil...

Q. Dear Workforce: How do we repair broken trust? As a facilitator of leadership training, I know trust underlies a foundation of success. But what practical fixes does this entail? --Trust Deficit, HR training analyst, Colorado Springs, ColoradoA. In this time of organizational restructuring, rapid operational-technological change and economic uncertainty rebuilding trust is definitely a challenging and not uncommon ta...

The Reorg Rag“The Reorg Rag” was first penned in the early ‘90s, as decentralization and downsizing was sweeping the federal institutions in Washington. In 2010 and now today, it’s “déjà vu” all over again. Talk of budget cuts, furloughs, RIFs (Reduction in Force), and sequester along with Congressional inertia (or is it small-minded yet “strategic incompetence?”) never goes out of style. The disorienting, existential to...

“Cutting-Edge” Strategies for Reorganizing or Downsizing:The Stress Doc’s Top Ten Tips for Tip-Top ManagementWarning: This satire may be hazardous to the ironically impaired.We inhabit an era of organizational restructuring or downsizing, or better still, rightsizing, or most on target, what I call “frightsizing.” The challenge for top management is having the savvy and guts to gut much of your workforce while still maint...

This past year we have witnessed how imbalances and stressors in nature may suddenly erupt producing devastating consequences. While not as cataclysmic, work-family-life imbalances and pressures may manifest in confusing, overwhelming and destructive, even life-threatening, emotions and behaviors. As one Nepali community leader articulated: “We too will erupt if our life gets out of balance, if we deplete ourselves, run...