Our twice-monthly posts are designed to spark dialogue. The voice of the reader caps the blog posts for 2023. Based on these subjective analytics, here are the insights that prompted our readers to elevate conversations.

Those of us who keep bookmarks in more than one book are at risk for spending more time learning than we are actually applying the lessons to daily life. Many of the books I absorb and recommend to others (including the books I’ve authored) tell you what to do and why to do it. They don’t, however, activate change on their own. Insight and action are very different competencies.

The growth mindset approach doesn’t work very well with people who have decided to stop growing. It’s the classic H.R. interview when the candidate claims ten years of experience only to discover they’ve accrued one year ten times. It happens with individuals, couples, teams, and organizations – they sacrifice development in lieu of whatever the benefits of staying the same are. Sadly, it equates to the choice to die early.

There is simply nothing more fundamental to relationships and team wellness than trust. It is also the hardest element of connection to both earn and maintain. Since everyone has been burned at some point in their past, it often only takes a small breach to devolve the connection back to negative territory. The chance that a teammate will lower their guard again after a violation, no matter how minor, is slim. You had – and lost – your chance.

Who would you put up to bat in the bottom of the ninth with bases loaded and down by a run? Would you deploy the player who is eager for the chance or the teammate who fears pressure? Expectations influence outcomes. If you think your project is likely to fail, the chances of failure increase. Likewise, if you expect success, your odds go up. Why is this true?

When you consider the fight/flight/freeze options that our instincts select, remember that you don’t have a choice. When an emergency occurs, no one stops to consider their response options. Our next action (or inaction) is already wired into our neurology. You’ll either go toward, escape, or become a statue with all five senses consuming data. Look back on any crisis in your history and review your response if you are interested in learning how you are built.

The Tiffany Dome was originally crafted in 1897 when the current Chicago Cultural Center opened as the then Chicago Public Library. At 38 feet in diameter, the dome holds 62,000 pieces of glass inside 243 sections. A complete restoration was finished in 2008, allowing natural light to enter the space that had been blocked since the previous restoration in the 1930’s. Teams of all shapes and sizes can learn a few things from this wide-scale, multiphase project.

Like a musical hook, there are catch phrases people say that become earworms. They come from parents, mentors, teachers, and coaches. They are kernels of wisdom that simplify our complex world. They end up on posters, mission statements, and locker room bulletin boards. They shape our perspective whenever generic guidance is needed. Below are a few examples of ‘truisms’ that, upon further review, may not be true after all.

School districts and sports teams are examples of teams that evolve in seasons. Every year, they have a new blend of talent and a different flavor of customers. The offseason (summer for schools and winter for baseball teams) allows a chance to reboot culture and reenergize spirit. When the new season kicks off, most everyone is optimistic and, fortunately, mostly recovered from what went wrong last year. The chance to start fresh is real, yet the likelihood of regression to last year’s unhelpful themes is high. Here’s a roadmap for a true restart.

The clinical and organizational worlds merge when teams are under pressure. The lens through which we measure adaptability is both strategic and psychological. Sometimes we use the perspective of workplace wellness by focusing on culture. Other times we zero in on human coping skills and view the world through a behavioral health perspective.

The older you are, the more likely it is that it’s both. There’s a window of opportunity in adulthood to shift direction. Once past that window, most of your energy serves to keep things the same, no matter how miserable. Pain gets normalized over time. It’s easier to endure a known discomfort than it is to risk the consequences of change.

We are enjoying a historic period of leadership succession as the Baby Boomers gradually age into retirement. Professional service firms often employ mandatory retirement thresholds when 62-year-olds need to find new career paths regardless of whether they are ready for a transition. Many of these colleagues are just reaching their peaks. The consequence is loss and change. When this unfolds, we lose much more than the person and their talent.