What makes us who we are? What personalities are we born with? How much of our personality is fixed, and how much can we change? These are some of the questions addressed by the fascinating Star Wars Identities Exhibition, which will soon open in Sydney, Australia, as part of its global… Read More »How the Star Wars saga illustrates personality traits
We all have people in our organisations who don’t receive the recognition they may deserve. The ones who work away in the background, not getting the limelight – yet just as important in determining whether a project or organisation succeeds or fails. The movie Hidden Figures is a great example. It spotlights… Read More »Uncovering the leadership lessons in Hidden Figures
“I’ve been kicked off every team before I even got a chance to prove myself,” laments Eddie Edwards in Eddie the Eagle. Not that it stops him pursuing his unlikely dream of becoming an Olympian. Quite the opposite. Though blessed with little natural athletic ability, Eddie won hearts through his never-say-die… Read More »Soar like Eddie the Eagle with a growth mindset
Movies are awash with tales of the underdog. But Friday Night Lights deals with a very different theme: the pressure of expectation. Set in the tiny Texas town of Odessa, that pressure is heaped upon the Permian Panthers High School football team. Here, football is a religion, and the boys are celebrities:… Read More »Setting expectations in Friday Night Lights
Why are performance reviews often so ineffective? And why can simply omitting someone from your email distribution list generate a strong emotional response? Recent developments in neuroscience can throw light on these questions. The invention of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machines now allows scientists to see which parts of… Read More »Five ways to understand the brain: the SCARF model
Hoosiers (also known in the UK as Best Shot) was an unexpected box office hit in 1985, telling the unlikely story of a tiny high school basketball team who win the State Championship in hoop-mad Indiana in the early 1950s. Disgraced former coach Norman Dale is given a final chance to… Read More »10 key leadership lessons from Hoosiers
Managing performance is often a leader’s least favourite part of their role. Having difficult conversations requires what the military call ‘moral courage’. Some choose to put up with negative behaviour instead. But people want to know how they’re performing, and honest, constructive feedback is critical to creating an engaged and healthy… Read More »Six movie tips for managing performance
If you had to choose one quality for a manager, what would it be? Ask a room of seven different people and you’d probably get seven different answers. Recent research from The Mind Gym identifies seven talents that distinguish exceptional managers. But of those seven, one is most important: Relate, the… Read More »Making a connection: lessons from Mr Holland’s Opus