Friday, March 30, 2012

A Favourite Story: Stress Management!

A young lady confidently walked around the room, with a raised glass of water, while explaining stress management to an audience.  Everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question,  "Is it half empty or half full? "
She fooled them all ...
"How heavy is this glass of water?" she inquired with a smile.

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. To 20 oz. 
She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. 
It depends on how long I hold it. 
If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. 
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. 
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. 
In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." She continued, "and that's the way it is with stress. 
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on." 
"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden - holding stress longer and better each time practiced. 
So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. 
Don't carry them through the evening and into the night... Pick them up tomorrow.”

Thursday, March 22, 2012

We Live In Hope!

So Goldman Sachs managers refer to their clients as Muppets. What a brilliant example of low emotional intelligence. “If only,” says one of my clients, “if only they’d done some AEM work, they would have known not to say such stupid things.”
Contrary to how this quote may appear, I am not blowing my own trumpet, for I do not hold the monopoly on ways of developing emotional intelligence (although AEM has proven to be a most effective way :-) There are as many ways to develop such intelligence as there are ways of learning to manage your stress, ways that would identify snide name-calling as, at best, an unhelpful way to vent stress, ways that would even develop the wisdom to never, ever go there. But alas, Goldman Sachs, along with thousand of other corporations, have not yet recognized that good management includes the management of the stress and emotions that actually, ultimately drive behaviour. How much reputation and money do they have to lose before they ‘join the dots? Will they ever get it? Maybe Greg Smith’s resignation letter will jolt them towards taking a step in the right direction? I live in hope!