Tal Ben-Shahar - EVE
22
Tal Ben-Shahar
Transcript of Tal Ben-Shahar - EVE
Tal
Ben-Shahar
Positive
Leadership
www.happinessstudies.academy
Focusing On What Works
“The aim of Positive Psychology is to catalyze a
change in psychology from a preoccupation only
with repairing the worst things in life to also
building the best qualities in life.” Martin Seligman
Reframing Questions: The Case of At-Risk Population
• Traditional psychology (Post-WWII)
– “Why do these individuals fail?”
• Positive psychology (1980s-)
– “What makes some individuals succeed despite
unfavorable circumstances?”
Learning From What Works • Successful children
• Resilience
• Superkids?
• Ordinary characteristics, extraordinary results – Set future goals
– Giving/volunteering
– An optimistic outlook
– Identifiable role models
– Strength focused
– Physical exercise
“We see what we look for and we miss much of
what we are not looking for even though it is
there... Our experience of the world is heavily
influenced by where we place our attention.”
Stavros and Torres
Reframing Questions: Senior Women Partners
Traditional approach – What causes senior women to defect and disengage?
– Why do women who are more than good enough on
skill, talent and education not make it? What are the
barriers and how do we fix them?
Positive Psychology approach – What is it that positively distinguishes the women who
do make it to senior roles and are thriving, successful
and satisfied?
– What learnable, buildable capacities do they have?
2005: ~ 13% women partners
2010: 41% appointed partners are women
Reframing Questions: Senior Women Partners
“The most serious mistakes
are not being made as a
result of wrong answers.
The truly dangerous thing is
asking the wrong question.”
“The most common source of
mistakes in management
decisions is the emphasis on
finding the right answer rather
than the right question.”
“Although studies have shown that real change can
result from training, most of the time the change
doesn’t seem to be sustained, which is why it is
often called the honeymoon effect. Considering that
more than 60 billion dollars spent in North America
alone on training, this is a sobering observation.”
Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee
Change Is Hard
Reframing Questions:
The Case of Change
• Traditional psychology
– "Why is change mostly
temporary?"
• Positive psychology
– "What do those who enjoy
lasting change do?"
From Self-Discipline to Rituals
"Building rituals requires defining very precise
behaviors and performing them at very specific
times—motivated by deeply held values."
Loehr & Schwartz
From Self Discipline to Rituals
“Incremental change is better than ambitious
failure.... Success feeds on itself.”
Loehr and Schwartz
• Increases productivity and
creativity
• 30 days to a new ritual
• Introduce one or two rituals
at a time
Exercise: Commitments
1. Make a list of rituals
(personal & professional)
2. Highlight two rituals for
immediate implementation
3. Highlight two more rituals
for the future….
“On Monday, don’t tell
me how great it was;
tell me what you’re
doing differently.”
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