Our Life Stories

The world is made up of stories, not atoms. —Muriel Rukeyser We all love stories; we are born to them. They affirm who we are, that our lives have meaning. Stories cross the barriers of time, as well as connect us with others. Our brains are wired to process...

Mentor Coaching and the Neuroscience of Success

The neuroscience of success illuminates how performance revolves around three elements of intrinsic motivation: Autonomy: the desire to direct our own lives Are your managers/leaders facilitating autonomy for their people? Are they coaching self-functioning for their...

We’re Always Teaching Others

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. —Maya Angelou At a Retreat to train an organization to develop its own internal mentoring program, I did a demonstration Mentor Coaching with one of the Mentors. I asked her initially what she wanted to...

No Interest in Buying a House?

I was recently contacted by a personal finance columnist for Reuters who was doing a piece on the motivations and emotions of folks who have no interest in buying a home. That sounded like an interesting topic and premise, so I immediately took it to my research team:...

The Zeigarnik Effect

I recently read a story about the psychoanalyst, Dr. Kurt Lewin, a well-known and published clinician. This immediately got my attention, because he is my psychoanalytic grandfather. In psychoanalytic training, a subspecialty of psychiatry and psychology, each...