Strategic Serendipity

As I dropped my toddler off at daycare today one classmate was already crying, another was literally on the verge, and two more (including mine) started before I left.  I left with a guilty relief thinking "I am so glad I don't have their job today" and "those gift cards do not even cut it for what they put up with."  You've seen it, one child is crying because he fell and the others cry not necessarily because they are hurt but seemingly out of a type of empathy. It goes the other way, too!  Watch any group of people (male or female) of any age get started laughing and once it gets going it is almost impossible to stop.  There isn't one leader, it is just a ripple of feeling that touches everyone in it's path. It may be a funny story when it happens in a pre-school room, but it happens in the office, too.  Whether you are the CEO or a front-line contributor, your attitude directly impacts every person with whom you come into contact.  And each p...

Typical Scene: Supervisor asks employee to take on X project with a deadline approximately six weeks from now. This is such a typical scene that it really doesn't seem that there is much variation in how the story can go from there, right?  Wrong.  Remember those children's books where you make a choice and then the story progresses from there?  Well let's examine just a couple of ways this typical scenario could go. Scenario 1 :  Sometime in the next 72 hours the supervisor stops by the office and asks the employee for a status update on the project.  Either... (a)...the employee has neatly drafted an project plan and happily shares this with the supervisor, or (b)...the employee says something vague to the effect of "it is on target" and wonders why the supervisor is micromanaging the project.   What is going on in these two very different reactions to the same exact question about the same project?   From a Myers-Briggs Type I...