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Category Archives: HAPPY WRITING

How culture shapes different types of empathy

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It is useful to differentiate between sympathy and empathy as the basis to also understand better how culture itself (amongst other factors) shapes cultural empathy. This is important also to define and assess more subtle aspects of empathy as it becomes increasingly imperative in education and disciplines such as global talent management. Empathy (like sympathy and compassion) is related to human emotions as a reaction to other individuals’ plights [1]. … Continue reading →

Cultural intelligence (CQ)

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This article describes the relationships of cultural intelligence (CQ) with other types of intelligence, motivation, and leadership behavior. Mindfulness provides for a conceptualization of intercultural competence. CQ is a useful competency for acculturation challenges as required for expatriate talents in multinational enterprises. People used to minority status, people from more diverse environments, and those with higher CQ experience more positive acculturation and psychological well-being. For Global Talent Management CQ is … Continue reading →

Developing Cultural Empathy: Perspective Taking

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This article reflects on example biases that could impact one’s intercultural behavior and decision making and how the role of the media is shaping ideas about cultures. Finally, specifics of the European culture are analyzed as relevant for global talent management issues. Culture is an unconsciously learned way of thinking and living of a particular group of people that reinforces that worldview through its in-group similarity [1]. To change ‘cultural … Continue reading →

Developing Human Capital: Success and Failure in Learning

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Psychologists in the past have conceptualized talent as an IQ-like cognitive ability [1], and practice focused on the view of human achievements to be limited by innate characteristics [2]. Human cognitive processing is indeed universally depending on sensory abilities, often biased and unaware of its own mechanisms, and limited to a relatively bounded range of working memory capacity [3]. However, these innate factors are not directly encoding skills, but the … Continue reading →

Job analysis and its role in global talent management (Incl. insights from Japan)

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1. The role of job analysis in Global Talent Management 2. Japanese tendencies and the focus on people vs. positions 3. Towards systematic talent identification 1. The role of job analysis in Global Talent Management The identification of talent is a central aspect of Global Talent Management (GTM) practices in multinational enterprises (MNE’s) [1]. Job analysis respectively competency analysis constitutes a required input for talent identification [2]. However, traditional job … Continue reading →

Talent (on other than the individual level)

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Some job performances (e.g., the financial results created by investment bankers) is often depending on external factors and is therefore at least difficult to explain and can serve as a reminder that causes of performance often need to be found on other than the individual level alone. This is interesting as it leads to less intuitive notions of talent such as team talent. Also, example conditions under which collective talent … Continue reading →

Operationalization of the Concept of Talent Management (TM)

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Summary. Talent can be framed as either something that people possess (object approach) or something that people are (subject approach). Human capital may come from the historical meaning of a ‘talent’ in Latin and Greek of measuring the weight of a significant amount of gold or silver. Talent in the form of intrinsic learning motivation only realizes when sufficient encouragement and support exists. Inclusiveness is a feature of strength-based TM and … Continue reading →

To truly love a child

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I have lost the child Of a lonely man Not in an accident nor war A suffering psyche of scar Has lost peace to seed Fear’s possessive greed Of a mother’s doubt what could be If she were free To truly love   I have won the children Of all world’s men Not by fighting back to win A loving heart within Has found peace to share Forgiveness to take … Continue reading →

Connected

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The curtain of tears is the entrance to the light that connects us in eternity. Verbunden Der Vorhang aus Tränen ist der Eingang zum Licht, das uns in Ewigkeit verbindet.

Developing Distributed Leadership (DL) for Social Change

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(1) Distinct Co-operative Governance Challenges, (2) Distributed Leadership (DL), Self-awareness, Servant Leadership, and Safe Learning Spaces, (3) Empowerment for Service, Democracy, and Value-based Management, (4) Accountability for Strategic Leadership Processes: “Leading is a function, not a status.” Distinct Co-operative Governance Challenges Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and Co-operatives that are run according to cooperative principles, face distinct challenges compared to governments or for-profit organizations. About 90 percent of contemporary leadership research is … Continue reading →

Beyond happiness

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I was looking for happiness and found meaning. When I accepted meaning, happiness became meaningless.

Why People Justify Social Systems That Disadvantage Them

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The paradox of the disadvantaged justifying authoritarian systems It can seem paradoxical that people often justify the existing social system even when this comes at personal and collective costs [1]. System Justification Theory (SJT) provides a framework to understand what the motives and contexts behind this phenomenon are [2]. SJT posits that an underlying ideology is motivating the justification of social order in a way that contributes to the often-unconscious … Continue reading →

Cross-Cultural Transformational Leadership

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In an increasingly interdependent world, global leadership understanding for international collaboration [1] is vital for the development of cross-cultural leadership [2]. This essay provides some hints on what might be determining leadership prototype’s effectiveness from different global perspectives [3]. Universal and culture-specific features of transformational leadership Transformational leadership facilitates change through shared vision, intellectual stimulation, and support of individual’s aspirations [4] and is therefore essential for solving contemporary threats that … Continue reading →

Positive Change Through Rewarding Virtue vs. Punishing Non-Compliance

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Men have made millions of laws to punish crimes, and they have not established even one to reward virtue; Virtue being a product not of the command of law, but of our own free will, society has no right whatsoever over it. Virtue on no account enters into the social contract; and if it remains without reward, society commits an injustice similar to that of one who defrauds another of … Continue reading →

Leading the Threat of Change

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Change: Improvement or loss? Choosing not to change risks failing if change is understood as improvement [1]. In organizations, mainly the investors, but also drivers like competition, globalization, technology, and employees require change [2]. Change always signifies loss that prompts threatening emotions, which cause resistance. Therefore, resistance to change needs to be understood from an individual’s emotional perspective [3]. For example, people mostly don’t alter their change decisions related to … Continue reading →

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer: Inspiration for the Leader in All of Us

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Father of Motivation and Sage of Maui The life and work of author and speaker Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, who died at the age of seventy-five in 2015, provides the opportunity to reflect on leadership from a holistic perspective beyond a specific organizational setting or national politics. Dyer’s many best-selling books on the practical psychology of personal development towards a positive transformation for all of humanity [1] brought him the … Continue reading →

Traveling

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Traveling Visiting individual existences Natural, awakening places Kissing compassion and potential Inspiring mysterious doors Everywhere Escaping forced appearances Sterile, lulling spaces Sucking possession and control Depressing golden gates Far away

Compassionate leadership: If we all ‘lead,’ we don’t need ‘managers’ anymore

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There are significant differences between leadership and management In our contemporary world both leadership and management may be required and co-exist in different situations, but the identification and understanding of their distinguishing features is important if we want to use both of them effectively and eventually think about shifting the emphasis towards managers who are real leaders too. Having been in diverse leadership and/or management positions in educational institutions and … Continue reading →

Self-Leadership and ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’

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Content Self-leadership process and the ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ Emotional self-leadership and authenticity Educational, physical, health, stress, and coping benefits of self-leadership Self-leadership competences in leadership development, recruitment, and work performance Self-leadership process and the ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ Modern leadership at increasingly challenging workplaces tends to move away from the mere function of supervising employees but aims to empower the workforce to improve organizational effectiveness, … Continue reading →