by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, How to Set Goals
According to an article by Michael Shermer, Ph.D. in the September 2007 issue of Scientific American, several elements are needed for a movement or an idea to gain acceptance:
- The idea takes a stand for something, not against something, and is based on a positive assertion.
- The idea uses an intelligent, rational approach to tackle myths and raises consciousness and awareness.
- The idea embraces the uniqueness of self and others, and it requires us to respect each other.
- The idea encourages exploration, experimentation and a sense of adventure.
— Carole Carson
Here’s a radical idea:
getting fit is fun and contagious
LA Times
January 12, 2009
by Tony Mayo | Leadership Development, Recommended Books
Here is my take on a classic novel about personal transformation along with some intriguing exploration of paradigms, human perception, and frames of reference.
First, this blurb…
Thanks so much for putting this into words. It is the most concise and accurate analysis of this work that I have ever read. The Razor’s Edge has been my favorite book for many years. I re-read it often. And now I will be able to look at it with a fresh eye again.
Thank you. Terrific work.
–Jack Randall Earles, playwright
Top Executive Coach Tony Mayo’s essay on
The Razor’s Edge
by W. Somerset Maugham
The Razor’s Edge is often described as the story of Larry, a war veteran who forsakes a comfortable life in Chicago “society” for a vague spiritual quest. It is better appreciated as a portrait of his acquaintances, whose conventional lifestyles are starkly contrasted to the path walked by the seeker. Some readers have wished to know more of Larry and criticize the space and attention Maugham lavished upon the “ancillary” characters. Instead, The Razor’s Edge illuminates the spiritual path by focusing on people more like the typical reader, people who do not give up materialistic Western striving. The best way to see Larry is to look at what he is not.
This narrative technique succeeds wonderfully in the masterful hands of author W. Somerset Maugham, best known for Of Human Bondage. Rather than simply lay out the details of Larry’s explorations and development, which, being spiritual and internal, would be rather dull to watch, Maugham reveals Larry by dissecting the contrasting behavior of his associates.
The Positive Aspects of Negative Space
This reminds me of the artist’s exercise of drawing “negative space” instead of the object itself. By carefully sketching only those parts of the background visible around the figure one creates a suggestive (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Executive Coaches
Phrontiers of Quantum Physics
Quantum physics says goodbye to reality
20 April 2007 …physicists from Austria claim to have performed an experiment that rules out a broad class of hidden-variables theories that focus on realism–giving the uneasy consequence that reality does not exist when we are not observing it. (Nature 446 871).
More at: http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/11/4/14
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, Team Manager Skills
The news item below is a bit technical, so here is the gist:
Every cell in our body is continually sensing and responding to tiny chemical, electrical, and temperature changes created by nearby organisms without physical contact. As a result, cells alter their physical structure in response to the presence of other living things, including reshaping themselves to move toward or away from their neighbors.
A single atom or molecule, without even touching the cell, can move it.
When great big bundles of such cells get close, as in (more…)
by Tony Mayo | Quotes and Aphorisms
From a Buddhist perspective, the description of reality provided by quantum mechanics offers a degree of freedom to which most people are not accustomed, and that may at first seem strange and even a little frightening. As much as Westerners in particular value the capacity for freedom, the notion that the act of observation of an event can influence the outcome in random, unpredictable ways [i.e., Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle –Editor] can seem like too much responsibility.
It’s much easier to assume the role of the victim and assign the responsibility or blame for our experience to some person or power outside oneself. If we’re to take the discoveries of modern science seriously, however, we have to assume responsibility for (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Executive Coaches
Chris Peterson, Ph.D. reports that the character strength that distinguishes the best leaders at West Point is the capacity to love and be loved.
* * *
Jane Dutton’s work shows that “high quality connections,” which she acknowledges can be understood as love, are the difference between low performing and high performing workplaces.
—Dave Shearon
Soon after I began my work doing one-to-one executive coaching with CEOs I noticed a particular sensation that was present after most of my meetings with clients. I experienced a distinct flavor of (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, For Executive Coaches, Recommended Books, Stress Management
One of my favorite radio programs and podcasts is the non-denominational, non-doctrinaire Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett. Krista interviews deep thinkers with important ideas about the essential human experiences of awe, eternity, and community. Every show leads me to reflect deeply and, very often, to live a happier, more involved life. I consider it one of the most nurturing practices of my continual development as an executive coach.
A recent guest was Esther Sternberg, Ph.D., an expert on immunology and stress. She relates the remarkable history of stress’s role in health and healing. It seems that every culture has always known that emotional and physical stressors contribute to (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Salespeople
I am a great fan of the social networking site for professionals, LinkedIn. It is a powerful business tool. While discussing its use and value with a group of business people whom I was coaching, I made a promise to write recommendations for everyone in the group.
I was, as usual, feeling drained and tired by the time I got back to my office after facilitating the executive coaching session. I wanted to keep my word, so I spent about an hour writing 30-50 word referrals for each of these clients and posting them on LinkedIn. Then I got on with my usual work.
I noticed that something important that night; (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Executive Coaches, Recommended Books
The 
renowned author of The Tao of Physics weaves a yet broader tapestry of reality in The Web of Life. Capra’s readable survey goes beyond quantum physics and eastern mystics to encompass biology, consciousness, and the ecology of the entire earth. From chaos and complexity science, through Heidegger and the Systems Thinkers, right up to the Gaia Theory, Capra explains in fascinating detail the key ideas of twentieth-century philosophers and scientists whose insights may be propelling all of us into the post-modern era.
The Web of Life:
A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems
by Fritoj Capra
Selected excerpts from the book. [My comments in brackets.]
p. 6 A social paradigm, which I define as “a constellation of concepts, values, perceptions, and practices shared by a community, which forms a particular vision of reality that is the basis of the way the community organizes itself.”
The paradigm that is now receding has (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, For Executive Coaches
…the killer apps that have really worked on the web have always been about connecting people to one another. So, whether it is instant messaging and e-mail as communications to connect people to one another, whether it’s photo-sharing as a way to connect people to one another through photos, or blogging as a way to connect people to one another through the words, people have always been social and the killer apps that have really succeeded on the web have always been social.
Google’s Joe Krauss in
Knowledge@Wharton
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