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Welcome to Conflict Managed. I'm your host, Merry Brown.
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This week on Conflict Managed, we welcome Csaba Toth. Csaba's work began with
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a failure that changed how he understood leadership.
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He lost his first business, and after assuming that speaking the same language,
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having strong qualifications, good intentions, and what seemed like common sense
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would be enough to lead people well, it was not.
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That experience pushed him to examine why intelligent, capable people can still
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misunderstand one another, why some teams thrive while others quietly unravel,
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and why so many transformation efforts fail despite significant investment.
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Having grown up between cultures and worked across very different organizations,
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Csaba saw how personality, cultural background, bias, motivation,
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and psychological safety shaped the way people make decisions and work together.
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He founded ICQ Global after noticing a persistent pattern.
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Organizations were investing in training without data, coaching without diagnosis,
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and culture change without meaningful measurement.
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The result was often short-term enthusiasm with little lasting change.
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Csaba went on to create the multi-award winning ICF accredited Global Disk Growth
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Zone and Game Changers framework.
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Together, they help organizations measure nine key biomarkers of high-performing
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teens, including personality, cognitive diversity, psychological safety,
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motivation, and the behavioral patterns that can quietly derail performance.
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Good morning, Csaba. Welcome to Conflict Managed. Good morning.
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Thank you so much for having me. Morning for me, afternoon for you.
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It's wonderful to have the technology to talk to people around the world.
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So I would like to hear all about what you are doing and the work that you're
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doing to help people have better and healthier and more productive work environments.
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But before we get there, I would like to hear about the first job you ever had as a young person.
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Wow. Okay. So my father used to be an engineer. So when I was 14,
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13, I was working with him.
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No, technically for him. He made it very clear. So I was digging the ditch and
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carrying stuff. So that's when I started. That's probably the first kind of
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half official job that I had.
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And what was that like working for your father? honestly kind of disappointing
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because i think there's a stage where you put your parents on a pedestal and then,
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you treat them as superhumans and then you see them in real life you realize
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maybe they are not and it's not even their fault it's ours because it was our story perspective,
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and it's a test we are running on other people even though they have no idea
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we're doing that and probably they do the same thing to us as well so that was
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an eye-opening experience definitely.
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When you work with your heroes, and that's the saying, you should never meet your heroes.
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That kind of experience. That's also an interesting time in life,
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when you are moving from childhood to early, you know, well,
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at 14, you're not an adult, but you're moving.
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And so now all of a sudden you see things in a different way.
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And the world of work is such a way of crystallizing just a lot of our expectations.
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What we think is going on, what should be going on, how should we be treated,
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how should we be showing up.
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And those early experiences can really, we can bounce a lot of other experiences
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off of as to what story, I love that, what story are we running in the background
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as to what should or shouldn't be happening.
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That story can change because that time the story was more like a horror movie.
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I didn't like it. I was frustrated.
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But looking back now, I think there was a really strong foundation that I learned
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how to work hard, how not to complain at least officially, and how to put the
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work into something that I really wanted.
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And, you know, not aiming for comfort, but maybe safety and security,
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which is a slightly different concept.
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So we have that power to change the story. And I think this is what a lot of people forget.
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And they often use the childhood stories as an excuse but for how long can you
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do that and what's the benefit,
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that's excellent i love that the idea that we can change
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stories and and i've
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seen that in myself with work i was in one work experience that,
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was really difficult but looking back i see that i was giving my power away
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i was blaming other people,
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and having distance and being able to see what could i have done differently
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oh it turns out there's a lot of things i could have done or conversations i could have had and,
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and it really has changed that experience for me.
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At the time I did suffer, but now I see that I was complicit in my own suffering
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and that I prolonged it and I could have done something different about it.
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And there's something about perspective and the idea that even the past is in
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flux because it's how we're viewing it. And as you so eloquently said,
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how is it serving me a particular narrative?
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That is very true. However, I don't think that is the norm, because I don't
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think that a lot of people are aware of this topic.
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They don't know that they can change the story.
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Like, you know, Ray Dalio said that pain plus reflection equals progress.
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So the pain is given. We get it. Reflection?
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I think that's out of stock most of the time. so a lot of people go back to
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the same circle experiencing the same things and instead of taking responsibility or taking control.
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They run into the same issue they blame other people and you know they keep
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collecting evidence that this is life it's like that i knew that,
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and they never level up and it's not their fault because we don't learn about
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this at school we learn about facts and figures that are already out of date
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by the time we finish the course,
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but we don't learn about the mindset and that would be I think a slightly different
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world if it could and if we should have done it,
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I love that because, right, you said the paint is given.
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So what happened, the fact of whatever happened in the past or what is happening, that's fine.
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But what do they mean, right? That humans, we're meaning makers.
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And so we decide what it means. We decide how we want to think about something
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or how important or unimportant it is. And I think you see that a lot in a work
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environment. I will talk to somebody and they'll say, everybody thinks this.
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And i think to myself most probably not right you think this and that is very
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important and we can start to unpack that and why are you giving this why are
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you valuing this in a particular sort of way
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but we just really assume a lot about,
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what is happening and that we're having universal experiences and that there's
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one correct way to interpret a set of events,
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i think this is where the models are really important because when you have
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a framework then you can break down a complex reality into more manageable components and.
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It's just easier so i really like this concept from i think it's a,
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in buddhist philosophy that can show and satori that there are two different
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types of pain because like we said pain is given it's coming but you have an
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option because you can choose to get uncomfortable,
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to face challenges so you can learn you can level up,
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because then the other pain is coming anyway the big slap in the face and then
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you have no other options what you have to manage so that is coming anyway so
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now the question is how ready and prepared you are by the time you get there
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just because i close my eyes i put my head in the sand,
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i'm not going to avoid it it's just going to hit me harder and i think once
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we understand that we can reframe that reality because if you look if you listen
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to your brain it cannot tell the difference if you are running away from discomfort,
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or danger. For the brain, it's pretty much the same thing.
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So as soon as you experience something uncomfortable, the brain says, no, run away.
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But we can override it because once I make it clear to myself that when I push
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my boundaries, it feels uncomfortable, but it's safer because I'm becoming more,
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I have more skills, I'm more prepared.
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So it's painful, but positive, then I can override it.
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But if I don't have this information and I listen to my gut feeling and I'm
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authentic and whatever explanation we can come up with, then I'm not doing it
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because it's not safe. No, it's not comfortable.
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But it's safe.
There's a big difference.
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I love that because a lot of times we sit in the discomfort,
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right? We equate discomfort with pain. Pain is bad. Pain is to be avoided.
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But we don't think about that. And this is efficacious. What could I get from this?
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And the fact that it's unavoidable, we are going to have catastrophes in life,
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really difficult situations.
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That is unavoidable. And in fact, the more we try to avoid it, the worse it becomes.
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It's like, if you see you know you're noticing something in your body and you
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don't want to go to the doctor because you don't want to know what it is and
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if you would have gotten treatment six months or two years before maybe it wouldn't be,
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you would put have been able to treat it better or and so to prepare right so
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we know disaster is coming it's
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not if but when if we prepare for it it doesn't mean the disaster isn't.
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Bad, but it is manageable. And we can, a lot of it is the reframing of it.
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I now have tools to think about what my options are instead of just being run
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by my emotions at the moment.
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I think this is exactly the challenge that we know the theory,
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but you know, it's easy to preach about fasting when you're full,
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but when you're hungry, then it gets difficult.
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I think one of the most extreme examples i had when i really had to practice
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was when it was six years ago when i got a phone call in the morning that my
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father passed away but that day i also had a workshop,
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and i thought okay so i know what's happening i know the theory i know the shock is coming,
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i'm going to do the training because the next day probably is going to be much
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worse i thought that's exactly the time when i have to practice what i preach,
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it wasn't the best day ever definitely but i grew a lot,
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and then that's the power of the knowledge not just the knowledge itself but the ability to use it,
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because a lot of people have information but no transformation and that's the
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issue i love that information no transformation we are swimming in information
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if you want to know about just about anything where you can find it but,
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you know we have the world's
knowledge in the palm of our hand and yet what
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do we do with it uh what good does it do to us so,
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how do you move from i know and let's talk about it in a work environments and
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how to have how to show up and and move through the world at work and.
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Have, you know, develop our reputation, our professionalism,
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have healthy work environments.
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We know a lot about leadership. We know about what we shouldn't,
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shouldn't be doing. And then there's the gap between what we might know and
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what we actually do. How do you bridge that gap?
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So when it comes to mindset and especially cultural intelligence,
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then we have a specific term for it, and that is uncommon sense.
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Because, you know, when you talk to someone and you feel that,
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wow, that person has common sense, so smart, then usually what we mean by that
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is, oh, they think like us, that's such a good feeling. It doesn't make them
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smart, it makes them familiar.
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But this is exactly what the brain likes.
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So when we talk about uncommon sense, it's the ability to see the same situation
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from different perspectives, so you can make better decisions,
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and then you can choose to respond instead of just reacting.
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So in a more professional way, that's cognitive and behavioral flexibility. And that's the key.
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That instead of reacting, I can double-check. Is that what it really means?
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What would be the optimal way of responding instead of just reacting based on
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past experience and triggers?
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And that's the difficult part. That tiny half a second when we use,
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for example, this pain and intense feeling as an anchor, as a reminder that,
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oh, stop now. Have a look.
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Don't be automatic. so we are not against this because you know biases are mental
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shortcuts they exist for reason,
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they're quick efficient but they're not always correct so that's why the general
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rule is that use the pain or frustration as an anchor as a reminder that's exactly
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when you have to stop for a second and practice.
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I want to talk a little bit about this idea of uncommon sense,
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right? You know, there's the saying, common sense is not so common.
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And I think it's exactly what you're talking about. When somebody is speaking
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my language, when somebody is, you know, we are on the same wavelength.
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And I think, well, gosh, they're so smart because yes, that's exactly right.
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And then when we are, so the uncommon sense is seeing and hearing difference,
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different ideas, things that don't resonate with us right away and instead of
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just rejecting it but pausing considering,
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and then making so so that we can have more informed decisions is that another
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way of thinking about what it is that's the theory,
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but in practice that looks slightly different because,
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here we talk about cognitive diversity which is technically the only layer of
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diversity that has proven benefit in terms of performance so for example if you and me disagree,
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then clearly there are different perspectives and that's exactly the potential
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for success or disaster it depends on how we can make it work because if you think that you are right,
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then obviously i'm wrong obviously and i think the same way but if we ask the
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right questions because i know that if you think that you're right then there
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is a reason for it so i can ask you what is it that you can see and i cannot
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what do you know that i don't.
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And if you can do the same thing now we can see the same situation from different perspectives,
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but here the question is important not who is right or wrong because this kind
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of binary thinking is the root of all evil,
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but everything is on a sliding scale so the quality of the questions determines
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the quality of the answers we get so it's not a competition it's not you or
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me but is there an even better solution because if that's the question we ask nobody can lose.
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But does this happen in real life?
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When was the last time that you had an argument with someone and you said,
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oh yeah, that's a good idea. Let's do that.
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You have to be really open-minded or truly terrified. So usually these are the two options.
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So cognitive diversity is just the potential. The benefits are not automatic.
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They are not based on common sense and good intention.
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And this is where we have to talk about homophilic diversity,
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which is one of the strongest forces in team dynamics it sounds like a disease
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but it just means that that we like and trust people who are similar to us people
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who think like us that's what the brain likes,
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and we have plenty of case studies so you have a bunch of different looking
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people who think the same way i mean that's excellent for marketing put it on
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a website fantastic but when it comes to innovation or strategy it can backfire
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and that's the problem with that.
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I love that you point out, so if you and I disagree, I think I'm right by nature
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if this is what I think, and you think you're right.
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And sometimes I think we misunderstand what knowledge is, we misunderstand belief,
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and I should have a strong set of, a robust set of beliefs, and I would hope the same thing for you.
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But a lot of times when we think, oh, somebody has a robust set of beliefs,
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then they are dogmatic in the sense that they're brick walls.
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And one brick wall against another brick wall, right? But if we think differently
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about the nature of belief, well, of course I believe what I believe to be true
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or I wouldn't believe it, that is how it goes.
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But if I can insert curiosity or humility or proper pride, so of course I think
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I'm right, and yet I'm open to listening.
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I'm open to asking those curious questions. As you said, what information do
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you have? I love that. What do you see that I don't see?
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And of course, the spirit in which that is asked instead of arms crossed,
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you know, what's going on? but like really wanting to know.
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So how do we get people in that space to want to know instead of people just
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fall in line because we're great and we have great ideas and they should do what we want them to do?
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The answer to this question is not going to be pretty, because I think there
00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:45.920
is a real pandemic, and that is low self-esteem, the lack of self-inclusion.
00:16:45.920 --> 00:16:47.730
And I think that is the biggest obstacle.
00:16:48.142 --> 00:16:52.170
Because if you cannot trust yourself, if you don't like yourself,
00:16:52.170 --> 00:16:56.660
if your self-esteem is low, then admitting that something is wrong,
00:16:56.660 -->
00:17:02.576
that you were wrong, or somebody is right, makes the world much more uncertain, and we cannot have that.
00:17:03.377 --> 00:17:08.160
So step one is to build the foundation which is you to give back the agency
00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:12.690
to people because that confidence that certainty should be coming from inside
00:17:12.690 --> 00:17:14.006
because if you outsource it,
00:17:14.722 --> 00:17:19.550
that's really fragile that's really stressful because if my self-esteem depends
00:17:19.550 --> 00:17:23.319
on your approval or on my results or something else.
00:17:24.749 --> 00:17:29.240
That's a problem then i cannot be authentic i cannot admit that i'm wrong then
00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:33.090
i'm going to outsource all my power to someone else that's when people can be
00:17:33.090 --> 00:17:34.866
manipulated taken advantage of,
00:17:35.349 --> 00:17:39.720
and that's not ideal so we have to build that foundation but how do you do that
00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:44.040
because if you don't know how something works how do you optimize it and most
00:17:44.040 --> 00:17:46.759
people have no idea about their own mindset,
00:17:47.557 --> 00:17:50.900
they use it like my granny used to use her smartphone you know they can use
00:17:50.900 --> 00:17:53.730
a few apps believe it all but they don't know it's a supercomputer,
00:17:53.730 --> 00:17:56.496
they don't know how to upgrade it, they don't know how to fix it.
00:17:57.746 --> 00:18:01.100
And this is exactly what we are working on. So how can we make this process
00:18:01.100 --> 00:18:06.610
as uncomplicated and practical as possible, so people can actually use it? Hmm.
00:18:08.317 --> 00:18:12.564
Low self-esteem, I think that's really interesting to think about.
00:18:12.564 --> 00:18:14.995
I've been thinking about retaliation at work.
00:18:15.866 --> 00:18:19.164
Why do people not have difficult conversations with a colleague,
00:18:19.164 --> 00:18:22.939
with someone that reports to them or their boss?
00:18:23.566 --> 00:18:27.380
And one thing I've been coming across lately is fear of retaliation.
00:18:27.490 --> 00:18:29.899
If I say this, then they're going to retaliate.
00:18:30.288 --> 00:18:33.644
And that's all different kinds of fears that people experience about why they're
00:18:33.644 --> 00:18:34.954
not going to have a difficult conversation.
00:18:34.954 --> 00:18:39.164
But I've been thinking about, oh gosh, what to do about this?
00:18:39.164 --> 00:18:42.724
If the other person, I've been thinking in terms of emotional intelligence.
00:18:42.724 --> 00:18:48.614
But I wonder if another way, maybe an older way, to think about emotional intelligence,
00:18:48.614 --> 00:18:51.034
and of course it's not all about self-esteem.
00:18:51.034 --> 00:18:55.984
But if somebody is outsourcing how they're going to feel about themselves and
00:18:55.984 --> 00:18:57.654
they're looking just for outward
00:18:57.654 --> 00:19:01.389
markers, that need any kind of disapproval or any kind of pushback,
00:19:02.045 --> 00:19:08.906
they're going to need to shore up their own agency by possibly putting you back in your place.
00:19:10.095 --> 00:19:15.976
And the fear of retaliation. I think a lot of the fear of retaliation is catastrophizing
00:19:16.276 --> 00:19:18.494
and may not be there, but it is also there.
00:19:19.383 --> 00:19:24.706
Can you tell me about how you see talking about emotional intelligence and low
00:19:24.706 --> 00:19:29.692
self-esteem where they dovetail? Or are you getting at the same thing or different aspects?
00:19:30.632 --> 00:19:33.496
I think we have to talk about the power of the environment here and I've got
00:19:33.796 --> 00:19:38.906
one example so I was doing a workshop in the US and that was for a company they
00:19:38.906 --> 00:19:41.874
bought another one they merged but then the system was still weird,
00:19:42.606 --> 00:19:48.076
so we were standing in a circle and there was one sales guy who said in front
00:19:48.076 --> 00:19:53.276
of everyone own colleagues same company but not he said don't say anything about
00:19:53.276 --> 00:19:57.112
your leads because I'm going to take them and I don't want to do that,
00:19:57.877 --> 00:20:01.176
I asked him why did you do that and he said because the system is set up in
00:20:01.176 --> 00:20:02.945
a way that they get commissioned,
00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:08.001
so you know even though they preach about collaboration the system is set up for competition,
00:20:08.826 --> 00:20:12.986
so you know you can try to be a good person but if the system is not right it
00:20:12.986 --> 00:20:15.966
makes it very difficult because if you had to choose between feeding your kids,
00:20:16.587 --> 00:20:20.941
or respecting your colleagues then probably you choose your kids does it make you a bad person.
00:20:22.056 --> 00:20:25.926
Sometimes we do bad things for the right reason carol dweck was the one who
00:20:25.926 --> 00:20:30.516
coined the growth mindset and fixed mindset, that you can have off the chart
00:20:30.516 --> 00:20:34.036
growth mindset, thinking positive, emotional intelligence, whatever you want.
00:20:34.698 --> 00:20:38.046
But if your environment is not psychologically safe, it's not nurturing,
00:20:38.046 --> 00:20:43.324
it has zero benefits, meaning that you are going to drown in a toxic environment. It's that important.
00:20:43.661 --> 00:20:49.341
So I agree that it is an important skill, but it's not necessarily the solution on its own.
00:20:50.798 --> 00:20:57.514
And yet it seems to be the case that we need people to have that internal locus of control, have that,
00:20:58.516 --> 00:21:02.469
that ability, that emotional intelligence in order to have right systems, right?
00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:06.939
And not just a system in the name, but actually as it works.
00:21:07.537 --> 00:21:12.068
But I think that you're right. I mean, I don't see realistically,
00:21:12.068 -->
00:21:16.253
given human nature, having a completely flat structure and power structure.
00:21:16.921 --> 00:21:19.338
I don't think that's going to work. And so if you're not going to have a flat
00:21:19.338 --> 00:21:23.689
power structure and you're going to be promoting people, then you're already going to have this.
00:21:24.695 --> 00:21:31.808
If I want to be promoted, then there's only so many, right, scarcity resources of promotion, right?
00:21:32.168 --> 00:21:37.018
Just the basic scaffolding of an organization, let alone all the other sorts
00:21:37.018 --> 00:21:40.039
of politics and the way the systems are set up.
00:21:40.486 --> 00:21:45.436
And so there is going to be this me versus you for the one spot.
00:21:46.223 --> 00:21:52.374
How do you set up a system then that addresses,
00:21:53.134 --> 00:21:58.548
is competition that is going to i mean maybe i'm just not thinking about this
00:21:58.548 --> 00:22:03.998
enough but that is woven into pretty much you know if you think about a spine
00:22:03.998 --> 00:22:06.682
right you're gonna have these hierarchies,
00:22:07.378 --> 00:22:11.604
and if i want to go up then and there's one spot and then there's me versus you.
00:22:12.848 --> 00:22:17.698
I think equality is a really good thing it's a fantastic idea but you know somebody
00:22:17.698 --> 00:22:20.106
is always more equal that's the saying so.
00:22:21.747 --> 00:22:24.718
This is what the google research showed as well because they had this idea that
00:22:24.718 --> 00:22:28.608
you know what is the secret of high performing teams and first idea was we don't
00:22:28.608 --> 00:22:32.078
need leaders it turned out that it was a really bad idea yes you need leaders
00:22:32.078 --> 00:22:34.884
you need good leaders so hierarchy is needed,
00:22:35.510 --> 00:22:39.618
how transparent that is and how the information flows that's a very different
00:22:39.618 --> 00:22:43.898
story but if you have limited resources then there is a competition so now we
00:22:43.898 --> 00:22:48.061
work with some companies where that was the exact case and.
00:22:49.146 --> 00:22:53.499
If you can win by yourself, it can turn into a really toxic environment.
00:22:53.987 --> 00:22:58.637
But if they change the bonus system a little bit, so that means that you get
00:22:58.637 --> 00:23:05.086
individual bonus, but your team has to perform as well, then it can change.
00:23:05.717 --> 00:23:09.165
So you need this kind of scaffolding around motivation as well.
00:23:09.937 --> 00:23:14.912
Because if you can get away with winning by yourself, most people are going to do that.
00:23:15.653 --> 00:23:22.337
But if I also need to help my team then it can change that's one option so let's
00:23:22.337 --> 00:23:26.637
talk about motivation again we've got a lot of us know what we ought to be doing
00:23:26.637 --> 00:23:27.886
what we ought not to be doing,
00:23:28.857 --> 00:23:34.697
but sometimes having conversations well it can be
vulnerable if it's a difficult
00:23:34.697 --> 00:23:40.357
conversation having the will to do something different and execute a new way
00:23:40.357 --> 00:23:43.225
of thinking so that we can have these healthy environments,
00:23:44.188 --> 00:23:48.576
so I put this new system in place we've got,
00:23:49.185 --> 00:23:53.347
it's going to require something of all of us to speak up to take responsibility
00:23:53.347 --> 00:23:57.977
to all the things that we really need to have a healthy organization with psychological
00:23:57.977 --> 00:24:01.126
safety how do I then motivate people to,
00:24:01.713 --> 00:24:02.937
buy in especially people who've
00:24:02.937 --> 00:24:06.317
been there for a while who maybe have gone through a lot of bad changes,
00:24:07.437 --> 00:24:13.667
ineffectual changes and they feel despair or they just have all these feelings.
00:24:13.667 --> 00:24:15.767
They think, oh, why should I try this again?
00:24:16.948 --> 00:24:20.581
Have you read Daniel Pink's Drive? I have not.
00:24:21.320 --> 00:24:25.533
So he had a really interesting take on the evolution of motivation.
00:24:25.533 --> 00:24:27.571
It says 1.0 is very primal.
00:24:27.740 --> 00:24:29.777
You know, just make babies and survive.
00:24:30.340 --> 00:24:32.059
That's it. I mean, it's important.
00:24:32.662 --> 00:24:37.333
But then the second level is extrinsic motivators. This is the pain and pleasure,
00:24:37.333 --> 00:24:38.293
the carrot and the stick.
00:24:39.413 --> 00:24:41.823
But there's a problem with that because we get used to everything.
00:24:41.823 --> 00:24:44.910
So you have to punish and reward people more and more to get the same result.
00:24:45.282 --> 00:24:49.903
But also what the research shows is that when it comes to creative thinking
00:24:49.903 --> 00:24:54.494
or strategy or kind of white-collar jobs it actually backfires,
00:24:55.011 --> 00:25:00.843
not that it doesn't work it backfires so the highest level is is the intrinsic
00:25:00.843 --> 00:25:03.963
motivators those are the ones that are coming from inside you know when you
00:25:03.963 --> 00:25:06.348
do something for the sake of the process not the outcome,
00:25:07.154 --> 00:25:10.993
and that's the highest level but for that you need to understand people you
00:25:10.993 --> 00:25:13.943
have to get to know them because if you try to motivate people based on what
00:25:13.943 --> 00:25:16.492
you want and what you need, it's going to be difficult.
00:25:16.865 --> 00:25:21.433
At the end of the day, we do everything for two reasons, to avoid pain and to
00:25:21.433 --> 00:25:22.732
move towards pleasure. That's it.
00:25:23.302 --> 00:25:28.694
Which sounds really simplistic and objective. In reality, it is very subjective,
00:25:29.246 --> 00:25:32.573
because maybe you love doing something that I cannot stand and then you expect
00:25:32.573 --> 00:25:34.610
me to get excited. Well, it's not going to happen.
00:25:34.998 --> 00:25:37.971
And that's exactly why common sense can backfire.
00:25:39.111 --> 00:25:43.468
So once we understand that, then we can look into how people think.
00:25:43.468 --> 00:25:47.378
Because it's nice to say that I'm motivated by making money.
00:25:47.938 --> 00:25:52.198
Yes, but you're much more motivated by not losing money. So we are three or
00:25:52.198 --> 00:25:55.928
four times more motivated to avoid pain than we are to move towards pleasure.
00:25:56.804 --> 00:26:02.558
To make it even more kind of depressing, that around 70 or 80% of our actions
00:26:02.558 --> 00:26:03.759
are about avoiding pain.
00:26:04.502 --> 00:26:07.718
And that kind of answers your previous question as well. Why are we not confronting
00:26:07.718 --> 00:26:13.039
people? because I have to calculate the chances of failure or pain.
00:26:13.589 --> 00:26:16.753
Because what if they just pull a prank? What if they withhold information?
00:26:16.997 --> 00:26:19.127
What if they say something bad that can backfire?
00:26:19.791 --> 00:26:22.815
Can you control that? No. So is it worth it?
00:26:23.560 --> 00:26:28.198
I do the math and then I decide yes or no. Yeah. But it's subjective.
00:26:28.198 --> 00:26:30.352
It's based on what I experienced before.
00:26:30.973 --> 00:26:36.720
How I interpret the situation. Do I overreact? Do I project the pain based on the past experience?
00:26:37.318 --> 00:26:42.128
Do i need more certainty than other people that's the key so we have to tap
00:26:42.128 --> 00:26:43.684
into that intrinsic motivator
00:26:44.113 --> 00:26:47.528
understand it because at the end of the day we cannot motivate anyone people
00:26:47.528 --> 00:26:52.138
can motivate themselves but if i know what motivates you then i can create that
00:26:52.138 --> 00:26:56.323
motivating environment around you so it's all about do you want.
00:26:57.532 --> 00:27:01.527
Slightly inappropriate example, but it's a real case study. Sure.
00:27:02.345 --> 00:27:06.059
This is one of my useful coaching. So it works and it makes a lot of sense.
00:27:06.605 --> 00:27:08.288
So this is a real case study.
00:27:09.176 --> 00:27:13.866
So there was a mom who had a 16-year-old son and they were arguing constantly
00:27:13.866 --> 00:27:17.146
and the mom wanted him to study and then they got to the point where they had
00:27:17.146 --> 00:27:20.866
to ask for professional help and they went to see a psychologist called Dr.
00:27:20.866 --> 00:27:22.353
John DeMartini in the US.
00:27:23.136 --> 00:27:26.852
So he sat down with the boy and he asked him, so what do you like doing?
00:27:27.333 --> 00:27:30.886
Oof, I like picking up chicks. And of course, it's about arranging love rather
00:27:30.886 --> 00:27:33.638
than picking up the chickens. So, okay, that's great.
00:27:34.259 --> 00:27:38.066
So what do you think that women like then? Well, I think they like money and
00:27:38.066 --> 00:27:40.737
success. Very good. So how can you have that?
00:27:41.283
--> 00:27:43.268
I need a good job. How can you have that?
00:27:43.837 --> 00:27:47.926
I need good grades. How can you have that? I need to study. Ooh,
00:27:47.926 --> 00:27:49.009
and that's when it clicked.
00:27:49.758 --> 00:27:54.582
Because he managed to connect his message to the boy's highest values and needs.
00:27:54.832 --> 00:27:59.306
That's when you land. that's when you motivate someone so according to him there
00:27:59.306 --> 00:28:02.712
are three different ways of communicating with people one is the careless one,
00:28:03.194 --> 00:28:06.016
it's not exactly that you don't care but you don't understand the other person
00:28:06.016 --> 00:28:08.024
like the mom her intention was best,
00:28:08.755 --> 00:28:13.666
impact negative because she didn't understand the boy then there's the careful
00:28:13.666 --> 00:28:17.046
one you know when you start a new job a new relationship and then honey what
00:28:17.046 --> 00:28:20.236
do you want no no what do you want then it's like walking on eggshells.
00:28:20.828 --> 00:28:25.292
These are not sustainable. But then there's the third one, caring,
00:28:25.957 --> 00:28:28.496
which means that you know exactly who you are, what you stand for,
00:28:28.496 --> 00:28:29.997
but you also understand the other person.
00:28:30.247 --> 00:28:34.896
So you can connect your message to their highest values. And that's when you can influence people.
00:28:35.372 --> 00:28:39.426
That's the superpower, understanding what they want, what they want to avoid
00:28:39.426 --> 00:28:40.893
and what the trust is based on.
00:28:42.813 --> 00:28:46.809
I feel like you've done a really good job of explaining the particularity of
00:28:46.809 --> 00:28:48.399
the human experience, right?
00:28:48.399 --> 00:28:53.299
And so you can have a formula, but then the formula is populated by who is this
00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:58.029
particular person, right? And so the executing it is always about this person
00:28:58.029 --> 00:29:00.000
and that person in this particular structure.
00:29:00.587 --> 00:29:05.712
And so the mom was communicating, you need to do this for your own good.
00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:10.972
But communication so much we think is one way. I said it. I've said the truth.
00:29:11.082 --> 00:29:13.619
Now, you should receive it. Why are you being obstinate?
00:29:14.269 --> 00:29:17.809
But the other person hasn't received it because it's just bouncing off of them.
00:29:17.809 --> 00:29:19.697
It's not using their language, right?
00:29:20.155 --> 00:29:23.949
And if I want to communicate, and I have to understand who I'm communicating
00:29:23.949 --> 00:29:27.946
with, and one of the best ways that you've just described very well is,
00:29:28.410 --> 00:29:30.616
what does this person care about, right?
00:29:31.383 --> 00:29:35.034
And sometimes we can ask ourselves, well, what do I care about?
00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:36.886
What do I really care about?
00:29:37.437 --> 00:29:40.177
And especially when we're not sure, like, why is my behavior,
00:29:40.305 --> 00:29:43.299
why am I doing things that I wish I wasn't doing, right? Maybe when I'm stuck
00:29:43.299 --> 00:29:48.189
in bad habits or ruts, I'm really thinking about, well, what am I prizing and why am I prizing?
00:29:48.792 --> 00:29:53.779
I'm having, I got my, my sun is coming into my room. That's right.
00:29:53.779 --> 00:29:56.970
It's eight in the morning here, but the sun is doing funny things.
00:29:58.119 --> 00:30:02.709
But I think that's really strong. So how do you get people to pause?
00:30:02.709 --> 00:30:05.269
In business, what I hear is, I don't have time for that, Mary.
00:30:05.269 --> 00:30:09.259
I've got all of these people that I'm managing, and I'm not their mother.
00:30:09.259 --> 00:30:11.608
I don't need to coddle them.
00:30:12.698 --> 00:30:16.126
And I hear that, and I think, well, you know, we're not about coddling,
00:30:16.126 --> 00:30:17.716
but we are about communicating.
00:30:17.716 --> 00:30:22.176
And if you do want to have psychological safety, if you do want to have the
00:30:22.176 --> 00:30:24.266
best kind of work environment, which is good for the humans,
00:30:24.266 --> 00:30:26.976
but also good for whatever it is that you're trying to do. You're going to be
00:30:26.976 --> 00:30:29.346
better at it. You're going to have innovation. You're going to have longevity.
00:30:29.770 --> 00:30:32.156
You're going to have higher engagement. There's all these goods,
00:30:32.156 --> 00:30:35.059
right? The ROI on a healthy team is just so high.
00:30:35.703 --> 00:30:43.846
Then how how do we help man leaders managers in particular middle management
00:30:43.846 --> 00:30:47.372
because they are the ones that are in charge of the the bulk of people,
00:30:48.324 --> 00:30:52.766
how what kind of tools can they employ that are reasonable tools given their
00:30:52.766 --> 00:30:59.978
own workload to really spend time understanding the people that are reporting to them so that they can,
00:31:00.855 --> 00:31:04.216
set the system set the conditions for their people to succeed,
00:31:04.216 --> 00:31:05.435
therefore the team to succeed.
00:31:06.413 --> 00:31:11.366
I think step one is to find the leverage. What I mean by that is that it's nice
00:31:11.366 --> 00:31:14.436
to talk about, you know, working environment and all those things,
00:31:14.436 --> 00:31:17.716
but at the end of the day, people are asking the question, what's in it for me? That's it.
00:31:18.186 --> 00:31:20.978
If that's the leader, that's the employee, why would I do that?
00:31:21.628 --> 00:31:24.716
And again, we are going back to the calculation. Is it worth it?
00:31:24.716 --> 00:31:29.558
Yes or no? So we have to go there first. So it's not about cuddling anyone.
00:31:30.183 --> 00:31:33.006
Do it because you get better results. If you're nicer to people,
00:31:33.006 --> 00:31:34.763
you make more money and maybe it's that simple,
00:31:35.486 --> 00:31:38.776
so you know when we talked about psychological safety in the past then people
00:31:38.776 --> 00:31:44.307
just thought oh yeah that's something nice you know be nice to people polite no no no said listen,
00:31:44.754 --> 00:31:47.636
what is the number one trait of high performing teams and then they come up
00:31:47.636 --> 00:31:50.888
with a lot of ideas no psychological safety okay,
00:31:51.529 --> 00:31:54.907
number one trait so where is your team on this dimension,
00:31:55.644 --> 00:32:00.276
i think they're good okay so no data where was your team before you invested in the program?
00:32:00.286 --> 00:32:02.529
And where were they after that? No idea.
00:32:03.616 --> 00:32:07.262
Now, that's a problem. Would it make sense to know that? Because it directly affects you.
00:32:07.558 --> 00:32:11.825
Your success, your future, your money. Okay, now we have the leverage.
00:32:12.575 --> 00:32:17.643
So that is needed. So to me, this topic is like speaking different languages.
00:32:18.183 --> 00:32:21.051
So you can choose the one that the other person understands the best.
00:32:21.918 --> 00:32:25.308
Like the mom. She was trying hard, but it's not about communicating more.
00:32:25.430 --> 00:32:26.539
It's communicating better.
00:32:27.317 --> 00:32:30.502
It's not the same thing. But we are locked into these behavioral patterns.
00:32:30.502 --> 00:32:34.236
And you know when the door doesn't open and then, well, I just have to just, Try it harder.
00:32:34.834 --> 00:32:37.502
You don't understand me, then I'm going to shout because that's going to help.
00:32:37.502 --> 00:32:38.979
No, let's do it differently.
00:32:39.693 --> 00:32:43.164
And maybe you get better results. So that is step one, find that leverage.
00:32:44.115 --> 00:32:48.514
But at the same time, you cannot optimize something unless you know how it works.
00:32:49.193 --> 00:32:52.502
So we have a signature program called the Game Changers.
00:32:53.414 --> 00:32:56.752
If you are a busy leader, we have five 60-minute sessions.
00:32:57.442 --> 00:33:00.862
By the end of the fourth session, you have a one-page blueprint,
00:33:00.862 --> 00:33:05.502
an actual blueprint of how you make sense of the world based on your personality
00:33:05.502 --> 00:33:09.592
type, your culture background, the biases that can distort your reality, and the derailers,
00:33:10.091 --> 00:33:13.225
that can get in the way of success. Quantified.
00:33:13.994 --> 00:33:18.857
We discuss it. Now you can go deeper. And the blueprint is not going to tell you who you are.
00:33:19.514 --> 00:33:23.512
Just like if you look at the blueprint of a house, you don't see the color of
00:33:23.512 --> 00:33:26.938
the wall. You don't see the decoration, the furniture, but you understand the structure.
00:33:27.667 --> 00:33:30.452
And then you can go deeper. How do you reflect on something you're not aware
00:33:30.452 --> 00:33:33.642
of? And that's my
problem with the coaching, that you reflect, but how?
00:33:34.782 --> 00:33:39.342
It's like trying to decrease the pollution by increasing the traffic. How do you do that?
00:33:39.962 --> 00:33:45.312
That makes no sense. So it's much easier to get out of a maze with a map you
00:33:45.312 --> 00:33:49.358
can still reflect as much as you want and you should but with a map it's much easier.
00:33:50.502 --> 00:33:54.972
So that would be step one because a lot of leaders overcompensate so we have
00:33:54.972 --> 00:33:56.953
to go back to that self-inclusion piece,
00:33:57.750 --> 00:34:02.248
because if you are not okay with yourself then you are going to overcompensate
00:34:02.626 --> 00:34:06.109
you have to bully people to feel important or you have to hide to feel safe,
00:34:06.887 --> 00:34:12.239
now that's a problem so back to the foundation self-inclusion based on self-awareness,
00:34:13.052 --> 00:34:18.272
but at the same time we can also overdo it and we know exactly that if we overdo
00:34:18.272 --> 00:34:20.940
our strength they can become our weakness so,
00:34:21.851 --> 00:34:25.533
My second book, and this is the title, and I also wrote an article about this.
00:34:25.533 --> 00:34:27.383
It's a difficult word, so I don't know if I can pronounce it,
00:34:27.383 --> 00:34:28.748
but I had this enlightenment.
00:34:30.033 --> 00:34:34.763
Authentoxicity, which means that a lot of people talk about authenticity,
00:34:34.763 --> 00:34:39.053
that this is me. But they don't realize that if they overdo it,
00:34:39.053 --> 00:34:43.288
it can turn into a glorified form of fixed mindset.
00:34:44.073 --> 00:34:47.263
Is this who I am? Accept me. Do you accept other people? No.
00:34:47.263 --> 00:34:50.375
Oh, it's just one-way street. Interesting. Now, that's a problem.
00:34:51.925 --> 00:34:55.923
So you can be authentic yes understand yourself but don't turn it into a fixed
00:34:55.923 --> 00:35:00.063
mindset yeah you're not finished there's always another level not because i'm
00:35:00.063 --> 00:35:03.316
not good enough it's because i can be even better that's a different story,
00:35:04.441 --> 00:35:09.053
absolutely i mean we are a collection of our experiences and so we insofar as
00:35:09.053 --> 00:35:11.344
that we have another day or we're living today we are,
00:35:12.493 --> 00:35:18.883
the possibility of changing and growing and and and that we are in relation
00:35:18.883 --> 00:35:26.484
with one another and so who i am and who you are our dynamic right is going to,
00:35:27.773 --> 00:35:33.293
so our dynamic if i am just again fixed right instead of like this idea of like
00:35:33.293 --> 00:35:36.613
the self right some people think about the self as like the pit and the peach
00:35:36.613 --> 00:35:40.378
right that i'm fixed rather than an onion right the existentialist idea that.
00:35:41.904 --> 00:35:45.631
I am multifaceted and I am becoming, I'm in the process of becoming.
00:35:46.845 --> 00:35:50.483
And so I think authenticity is a pretty interesting idea because we talk a lot
00:35:50.483 --> 00:35:53.193
about that, you know, bring your whole self to work and what does this mean?
00:35:53.193 --> 00:35:58.938
And I understand the idea behind it, but I do think, and it is,
00:35:59.106 --> 00:36:04.123
authenticity is fantastic, but I think self-reflection, right?
00:36:04.123 --> 00:36:06.214
Relationship, community.
00:36:06.707 --> 00:36:11.010
What do those things mean? What does it mean to be becoming instead of being,
00:36:11.527 --> 00:36:17.973
right? A being that is becoming and to reflect on that and what our values are,
00:36:17.973 --> 00:36:20.171
what it is that we want in relation.
00:36:21.566 --> 00:36:24.636
And then we're at work, right? And we have all of these things happening,
00:36:24.636 --> 00:36:25.886
and maybe we slept well or we
00:36:25.886 --> 00:36:30.663
didn't, and we have financial and family obligations and health concerns.
00:36:31.387 --> 00:36:35.062
And then we're brought into this mix with so many different sorts of people.
00:36:35.916 --> 00:36:39.836
And then we're all writing these narratives, different sorts of narratives,
00:36:39.836 --> 00:36:44.176
and we think we're communicating and we're not. And so we have these conflicts that pop up.
00:36:45.001 --> 00:36:49.465
What do you recommend people do when they find themselves in an unmanaged conflict at work?
00:36:51.557 --> 00:36:55.116
I think we can talk about that and we should definitely. It's just,
00:36:55.116 --> 00:36:57.926
you know, you're absolutely right that we don't exist in isolation.
00:36:57.926 --> 00:37:00.576
And I think this is what people forget. So, you know, bringing your whole self
00:37:00.576 --> 00:37:02.145
to work, yeah, great, but don't.
00:37:06.778 --> 00:37:08.296
No, at work, be professional.
00:37:11.136 --> 00:37:14.316
Because what if my authentic self is just in a boxer short and then,
00:37:14.316 --> 00:37:15.706
you know, half a foot well.
00:37:16.170 --> 00:37:18.556
If you don't like it, then you're racist or you're discriminating.
00:37:18.556 --> 00:37:22.986
No, it's a professional environment and we have to be able to work with other people.
00:37:22.986 --> 00:37:26.956
So we have to find that balance. And I think if we overdo it,
00:37:26.956 --> 00:37:30.996
then that's when it turns into a weakness. And I think sometimes,
00:37:30.996 --> 00:37:34.321
especially the last few years in the D&I field, people took advantage of that.
00:37:35.162 --> 00:37:40.046
And in the spirit of equality, some people had even more rights to say,
00:37:40.046 --> 00:37:41.229
how's that equality now?
00:37:41.547 --> 00:37:43.532
It's, you know, it turns into, it's my turn.
00:37:44.316 --> 00:37:47.236
So how's that good? And that's a problem with that, I think.
00:37:47.236 --> 00:37:49.512
So, authenticity is a bit overstated.
00:37:50.452 --> 00:37:54.926
But when it comes to values, how
do you reflect on values? And if you look at,
00:37:54.926 --> 00:37:59.656
for example, research, 95% of our actions are driven by values and beliefs you're not even aware of.
00:38:00.276 --> 00:38:03.056
So, you know, we are aware of our stories, the narratives, and then we make
00:38:03.056 --> 00:38:05.626
choices to support that narrative. So now it feels really good,
00:38:05.626 --> 00:38:08.430
but we have no idea about the underlying values and drivers.
00:38:08.923 --> 00:38:12.698
That is something that, you know, we have to assess and that's why we have the assessment for that.
00:38:14.025 --> 00:38:18.770
And if you really want to, I know that you're up for these disturbing articles,
00:38:18.770 --> 00:38:22.208
so I can send one to you, that Forbes article that I've written.
00:38:22.614 --> 00:38:26.989
And the title is, yeah, not what you post about, but what you click on.
00:38:27.605 --> 00:38:31.310
It's a very, very nasty article because, you know, you can post about everything
00:38:31.310 --> 00:38:35.370
that I want to inspire people. But you know what? Can I check your browser history?
00:38:38.165 --> 00:38:42.907
That's where your values are. You know, whenever you find time to do something,
00:38:43.441 --> 00:38:46.490
even if you don't have time, that's your value. It's driven by something that
00:38:46.910 --> 00:38:50.076
maybe you don't want to admit, but that's the real you.
00:38:50.694 --> 00:38:54.140
But when we go outside in the real world, then, you know, there are expectations,
00:38:54.140 --> 00:38:56.510
there are norms, and then we have to pretend to be normal.
00:38:56.998 --> 00:39:00.050
You don't pretend to be authentic. No, no, no, because authentic is your browser
00:39:00.050 --> 00:39:02.559
history, and you might not want to share it.
00:39:03.203 --> 00:39:07.046
So, you know, that's why we have to find that balance. It's pick and choose.
00:39:07.890 --> 00:39:12.220
It's like I want the freedom of speech but if you tell me something I don't
00:39:12.220 --> 00:39:16.472
like I'm going to cancel you I'm going to get offended well it should be a two way street.
00:39:17.446 --> 00:39:22.500
Maybe the level of freedom you have should be equal to the level of responsibility
00:39:22.500 --> 00:39:27.685
you are willing to take or the level of flexibility or inclusion you are willing to extend maybe,
00:39:28.422 --> 00:39:33.942
and that goes back to your question as well because if these things are not sorted inside of us,
00:39:34.766 --> 00:39:39.960
then we have to protect ourselves and we have a derailer assessment that can
00:39:39.960 --> 00:39:45.249
identify which kind of overprotective behaviors you use to protect yourself,
00:39:45.980 --> 00:39:49.550
that's when we overcompensate and that's you know one of them is that i become
00:39:49.550 --> 00:39:52.586
a pleaser then oh i'm nice to you so hopefully you're going to be nice to me
00:39:52.917 --> 00:39:57.810
or everything is
perfect then obviously you cannot attack me or i'm just skeptical
00:39:57.810 --> 00:39:59.720
so i look cooperative but i'm not,
00:40:00.376 --> 00:40:04.750
or maybe my self-esteem depends on the result not necessarily the amount of
00:40:04.750 --> 00:40:05.949
effort i put into something,
00:40:06.854 --> 00:40:10.960
and these are the kind of derailers especially under pressure determine how
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:16.607
you deal with conflicts at work but if you are not aware of them you don't notice them,
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:21.951
indeed you might think that those are your strengths oh i'm just high standards that's not what it is.
00:40:23.371 --> 00:40:28.039
Perfectionism is not about high standards all of these derailers are driven by fear,
00:40:29.049 --> 00:40:33.210
i'm not going to admit it i'm not a pleaser i'm just nice to people i'm i care
00:40:33.210 --> 00:40:37.270
about them but deep inside i feel that resentment that it's not two-sided that
00:40:37.270 --> 00:40:41.019
I give you more than you give me and it's building up, it's building up,
00:40:41.715 --> 00:40:45.215
and one day I'm going to unleash something better.
00:40:46.555 --> 00:40:49.802
So it goes back to that self-awareness. First of all, understanding what triggers
00:40:49.802 --> 00:40:53.262
us, how we interpret a situation so we can make better decisions.
00:40:53.262 --> 00:40:57.479
And then the step three is when you have the right techniques to have a conversation,
00:40:58.065 --> 00:41:01.317
because it can be like a scaffolding for your conversation. You can get ready for it.
00:41:01.706 --> 00:41:06.687
True, it can still go wrong, but you have a much better chance as opposed to
00:41:06.953 --> 00:41:08.775
overcompensating. Yeah.
00:41:09.442 --> 00:41:13.383
Yeah. I would say that in general, I mean, of course, there are exceptions that But
00:41:13.789 --> 00:41:18.352
there is no bad, difficult conversation in the sense that if you do it right,
00:41:18.352 --> 00:41:20.679
if you take the time to prepare and
00:41:21.061 --> 00:41:24.742
really think through specifically what it is that you're having an issue with
00:41:24.742 --> 00:41:29.082
and try to consider why you're having an issue and what is your goal for the conversation.
00:41:29.082 --> 00:41:33.256
And if your goal is a good goal, right, not just an inappropriate,
00:41:33.703 --> 00:41:37.432
especially we're talking about work, then independent of how the other person
00:41:37.432 --> 00:41:39.874
shows up and responds and the outcome,
00:41:40.640 --> 00:41:43.822
all of this work that you have done, the insight that you have gained,
00:41:43.822 --> 00:41:49.174
and the power that you have taken back instead of been sitting by and waiting
00:41:49.319 --> 00:41:51.332
for the other person to change,
00:41:51.892 --> 00:41:55.925
notice, apologize, whatever it might be that we want them to do.
00:41:56.640 --> 00:42:01.927
But if we don't act for our own good, and
hopefully the good of others in the organization.
00:42:02.939 --> 00:42:07.655
Then we're going to get much of the same. But if we do act in the right way
00:42:07.655 --> 00:42:12.695
at the right time, having prepared, then we're going to win.
00:42:12.695 --> 00:42:17.555
And even if we don't get, quote unquote, what we want or something negative
00:42:17.555 --> 00:42:19.731
happens in that relationship,
00:42:20.515 --> 00:42:27.025
we've taken those sorts of steps in order to restore psychological safety or,
00:42:27.894 --> 00:42:32.285
to begin that process of bringing about other kinds of goods.
00:42:32.285 --> 00:42:34.978
Goods such that we can have a healthy work environment.
00:42:36.065 --> 00:42:38.845
That makes sense if the other person wants to make it work as well.
00:42:38.845 --> 00:42:41.425
But often we have no idea what's going on behind the scenes.
00:42:41.425 --> 00:42:44.035
The politics, the special interest,
00:42:44.035 --> 00:42:48.286
the frustration, maybe personal things going through. It depends.
00:42:48.745 --> 00:42:52.007
So I think that that is kind of difficult. So yes, we can have a better chance.
00:42:53.505 --> 00:42:55.639
But the other side might not be ready for it.
00:42:55.802 --> 00:43:00.005
Not open. Just like in coaching you know there are clients who want the solution
00:43:00.005 --> 00:43:04.115
and then there are clients who want attention we don't work with them because
00:43:04.115 --> 00:43:07.702
if the problem is part of the identity they don't know who they are without that,
00:43:09.125 --> 00:43:13.465
right so nothing is going to change right and so i suppose what i mean really
00:43:13.465 --> 00:43:18.625
is the only thing that we can ever control is ourself right and i think with
00:43:18.625 --> 00:43:21.814
conflict management it really is about personal empowerment,
00:43:22.458 --> 00:43:26.995
and once we see that that's the winning right independent of the outcome,
00:43:26.995 --> 00:43:32.878
independent of what happened with the relationship or if I got the thing I think that I wanted.
00:43:33.967 --> 00:43:40.395
The ability to speak up for yourself in the right way at the right time and
00:43:40.395 --> 00:43:48.067
to be a professional and to show up for ourself, not be reactionary, is the win.
00:43:48.607 --> 00:43:53.255
And I think that a lot of times we catastrophize and we think only about what
00:43:53.255 --> 00:43:57.947
might the other person's reaction be as if that is the only thing to consider
00:43:58.237 --> 00:44:00.505
about if I have a difficult conversation.
00:44:00.505 --> 00:44:03.195
Of course, that should be considered. We do need to consider politics.
00:44:03.195 --> 00:44:08.005
And information from the past and do that as a part of the calculus.
00:44:08.005 --> 00:44:11.731
But a lot of times what we don't think about is who am I making myself?
00:44:12.497 --> 00:44:17.605
When I do this, what signal am I saying to myself? The confidence within myself.
00:44:17.605 --> 00:44:23.229
And we get confidence by doing it, not by somebody else acting and then we get it.
00:44:23.859 --> 00:44:28.595
I fully agree with you. And maybe I've got a slightly, seemingly unrelated topic,
00:44:28.595 --> 00:44:32.335
but there's a reason why I'm mentioning it. So at the weekend,
00:44:32.335 --> 00:44:33.448
we went to the adventure park.
00:44:33.855 --> 00:44:36.670
That's not my kind of stuff, but I looked it up. You know, I was tricky.
00:44:37.018 --> 00:44:39.468
There are some animals. So I said, okay, so that's the main thing.
00:44:40.066 --> 00:44:44.255
We went there. They had two donkeys and maybe three goats. And I said,
00:44:44.255 --> 00:44:45.772
oh, okay, this is not the main thing.
00:44:46.376 --> 00:44:52.291
So it was all about these wires sliding through the forest and everything. I said, what is going on?
00:44:52.727 --> 00:44:56.454
So I just looked up and I said, I hate every second of it. And I'm terrified.
00:44:57.022 --> 00:45:01.359
So I was standing there, but then I had an option. Should I just collect evidence that I'm a coward?
00:45:01.550 --> 00:45:05.225
And I walk away and it's like, you know, it opens up on your laptop.
00:45:05.225 --> 00:45:05.949
It's going to stay there.
00:45:06.256 --> 00:45:10.305
Always remembering that I ran away or we have to take this box.
00:45:10.305 --> 00:45:11.196
There's no other option.
00:45:12.172 --> 00:45:15.956
So this is very similar to what you said, that, you know, when you face someone,
00:45:16.496 --> 00:45:19.771
and then you have that conversation, then you're collecting evidence that this
00:45:19.771 --> 00:45:20.960
is the kind of person I am.
00:45:22.341 --> 00:45:26.021
But if you run away, that's a problem. Even then, we don't have to overdo it.
00:45:26.021 --> 00:45:29.721
So usually the advice during coaching is that if something really bothers you
00:45:29.721 --> 00:45:32.458
or something is a pattern, then address it.
00:45:33.242 --> 00:45:39.148
If it's a one-off, maybe that's not needed. If it's a pattern or something really hurting, then yes.
00:45:39.525 --> 00:45:41.905
So you also have to pick your battles. Yes.
00:45:42.931 --> 00:45:47.311
Yes, absolutely. And that's a part of it, of learning when to speak and when
00:45:47.311 --> 00:45:50.113
not to speak, right? Why to speak? Why am I talking?
00:45:50.529 --> 00:45:55.001
What can I let go? What is a me problem? And that's a lovely part of preparing
00:45:55.001 --> 00:46:01.947
for a conversation is, is this me being exacting? Is this me being overdramatic? Is this me being...
00:46:03.039 --> 00:46:06.360
Whatever it might be. And sometimes that is the case. And that's really good
00:46:06.360 --> 00:46:08.910
information. It's not that the other person needs to change.
00:46:08.910 --> 00:46:09.860
It's that I need to change.
00:46:11.754 --> 00:46:15.190
But we're never going to know unless we have a rubric, if we
have some kind
00:46:15.190 --> 00:46:20.720
of way of thinking about why and noticing I'm being bothered or this isn't working.
00:46:20.720 --> 00:46:26.301
Okay, why am I being bothered? Why am I annoyed? Why is this not working for me specifically?
00:46:26.760 --> 00:46:30.320
And then thinking about, okay, who is even the problem in this scenario?
00:46:30.320 --> 00:46:33.650
Is it the other person or is it the system in which they find themselves?
00:46:33.650 --> 00:46:38.340
Or, you know, we think about a pie chart and we can start divvying up what's
00:46:38.340 --> 00:46:42.100
going on here. And then we can think about it differently. But a lot of times
00:46:42.100 --> 00:46:43.865
we just think they're the problem.
00:46:44.862 --> 00:46:47.904
And then therefore we're not going to get the solution if we don't really have,
00:46:48.368 --> 00:46:51.003
a better way to assess what's actually going on.
00:46:51.700 --> 00:46:54.970
So this is about the three invisible forces that make or break a thing.
00:46:54.970 --> 00:46:58.180
So what we describe here is the cognitive diversity we talked about,
00:46:58.180 --> 00:47:01.470
the different perspectives clashing based on maybe different information or
00:47:01.470 --> 00:47:02.867
just different perspective.
00:47:03.371 --> 00:47:07.150
But then the other two invisible forces, motivation and psychological safety,
00:47:07.490 --> 00:47:11.237
matter as well, because maybe, let's say that we have a meeting,
00:47:11.866 --> 00:47:16.916
you do something that I don't like or you make a mistake, then do I care enough to say anything?
00:47:17.938 --> 00:47:22.199
Do I feel safe enough to say anything? That matters a lot. That's exactly where
00:47:22.199 --> 00:47:25.769
the potential is lost. And this is what, I think it was the three-circuit partners
00:47:25.769 --> 00:47:29.776
in the US who wanted to understand how much potential is lost in a team.
00:47:30.579 --> 00:47:32.957
And the average was 79%.
00:47:33.779 --> 00:47:37.719
They work with hundreds of teams. The average was 79%. You put smart people
00:47:37.719 --> 00:47:39.488
on a team, hoping to create synergy.
00:47:39.871 --> 00:47:43.006
In reality, you're losing potential because they clash.
00:47:43.540 --> 00:47:47.079
Because of their personalities, the clash of values, and poor leadership.
00:47:47.079 --> 00:47:48.584
These are the three main reasons.
00:47:49.415 --> 00:47:54.249
And that's a real disaster. So, you know, focusing on individuals is great,
00:47:54.249 --> 00:47:58.519
but understanding team dynamics, the biomarkers of high performance and team
00:47:58.519 --> 00:48:01.122
dynamics, now that is something concrete.
00:48:01.360 --> 00:48:05.809
That is something we can optimize. And now we work with more than 900 teams
00:48:05.809 --> 00:48:07.090
in 50-something countries.
00:48:07.432 --> 00:48:11.539
So the interesting thing is that wherever you go, they are facing very similar challenges.
00:48:12.119 --> 00:48:14.172
How they handle them, that's slightly different.
00:48:14.921 --> 00:48:18.427
But it's not really industry-specific. It's not really country-specific.
00:48:18.961 --> 00:48:23.139
When it comes to the psychology of people and teams, it can be very similar.
00:48:23.139 --> 00:48:28.249
What they have to conform to, what is normal, rewarded, yes, that influences it.
00:48:28.859 --> 00:48:31.386
But when you look at individuals, it's very similar.
00:48:32.166 --> 00:48:36.339
I think that's really good news, right? There's something about being a part of the human community.
00:48:36.339 --> 00:48:40.719
And, well, as we were talking about before, communication and motivation is
00:48:41.039 --> 00:48:45.729
particular to me, right? Like, what is that? How are you going to communicate
00:48:45.729 --> 00:48:47.258
to me? How am I going to communicate to you?
00:48:48.048 --> 00:48:51.399
But we're still part of the human community. And so we do go towards pleasure
00:48:51.399 --> 00:48:53.919
and away from pain and away from pain more than towards pleasure.
00:48:53.919 --> 00:48:55.541
Like there are all these sorts of things.
00:48:56.040 --> 00:49:02.163
And so to have, to hold both of those, right? Both the specific and the uniform,
00:49:02.402 --> 00:49:06.436
right? There is something about what it means to be the kind of creature that we are.
00:49:06.820 --> 00:49:12.636
And so I think when, you know, if I was a manager or a leader listening to this podcast, it can feel...
00:49:13.671 --> 00:49:17.484
I've got to do all of these things, right? There's so much to hold on to.
00:49:18.199 --> 00:49:21.763
And I would say yes and no, because you can't lose sight of the fact that you
00:49:21.763 --> 00:49:23.533
have particular individuals in front of you.
00:49:24.248 --> 00:49:28.173
But, you know, it is a case of there is such a thing as human nature,
00:49:28.173 --> 00:49:30.366
and there is something about being a biological creature.
00:49:30.772 --> 00:49:36.423
And so, because of that, we can look at and scale down about,
00:49:36.423 --> 00:49:40.933
you know, causes and triggers and what tends to motivate people.
00:49:40.933 --> 00:49:45.473
And there are, you know, If we think about options, we're going to talk about
00:49:45.793 --> 00:49:49.343
all the possible options, or what are live options? And live options are like,
00:49:49.343 --> 00:49:52.303
what's really, given who this person is and what they value and who they see
00:49:52.303 --> 00:49:54.704
themselves to be, what's an actual live option for them?
00:49:55.238 --> 00:49:59.223
And so the more we can quiet the noise in our minds and think about what's going
00:49:59.223 --> 00:50:05.122
on here, then there are quite a few possibilities, but it's not infinite.
00:50:06.373 --> 00:50:07.275
It's manageable.
00:50:08.869 --> 00:50:12.297
So it is true that every, so yes, we are unique. Everybody is unique.
00:50:12.297 --> 00:50:15.317
That is true. But we are predictably different. And this is what,
00:50:15.317 --> 00:50:17.787
for example, Hippocrates, you know, discovered long time ago,
00:50:17.787 --> 00:50:21.367
two and a half thousand years ago, that we are all a combination of the four parasitic types.
00:50:22.221 --> 00:50:26.407
And hundreds of researchers came to the same conclusion, which is kind of true,
00:50:26.407 --> 00:50:30.637
but something is missing. So it is true that we are all a combination,
00:50:30.637 --> 00:50:34.247
but we were conditioned differently by our environment. So you and me could
00:50:34.247 --> 00:50:37.012
have an identical profile. It doesn't mean that we behave the same way.
00:50:37.331 --> 00:50:39.845
It means that the underlying values and drivers are very similar,
00:50:39.978 --> 00:50:43.417
but you faced very different challenges than me. You found different solutions.
00:50:43.417 --> 00:50:46.867
And also when you grew up, how much could you be yourself or how much did you
00:50:46.867 --> 00:50:48.998
have to pretend in order to be accepted?
00:50:49.898 --> 00:50:52.827
That's a really important question. And that's exactly what we can find out
00:50:52.827 --> 00:50:56.155
during coaching as well, because there is a blueprint.
00:50:56.724 --> 00:51:00.596
It doesn't take away the uniqueness, but it makes it a bit more manageable.
00:51:00.974 --> 00:51:04.957
And if we can get to that point where I can identify that, then we are making
00:51:04.957 --> 00:51:07.205
progress. That's fantastic.
00:51:07.894 --> 00:51:11.217
And I think I really like this idea of a blueprint in particular as you talk
00:51:11.217 --> 00:51:14.177
about a house, right? So you can see the structure of the house,
00:51:14.177 --> 00:51:19.337
but as you said, you don't see the colors, what's inside.
00:51:19.691 --> 00:51:25.019
You don't see the history of the house, how people feel about the house.
00:51:25.976 --> 00:51:27.444
The legend of the house.
00:51:28.460 --> 00:51:32.425
And so for someone like me, who is basically an existentialist,
00:51:32.425 --> 00:51:36.185
who eschew categories, it is also very helpful.
00:51:36.185 --> 00:51:40.305
Like I have to recognize that about myself, right? It is very helpful to definitely
00:51:40.305 --> 00:51:44.026
have a roadmap because there are many roadmaps out there. We don't have to do this alone.
00:51:44.339 --> 00:51:48.236
There are lots of helps so that we can achieve what it is that we want with,
00:51:48.799 --> 00:51:50.785
the least amount of angst, right?
00:51:50.785 --> 00:51:53.745
We don't need to court pain and difficulty. It will find us,
00:51:53.745 --> 00:51:57.855
right? So what are those things that we can do so that we can set ourself up
00:51:57.855 --> 00:52:00.578
and the people around us for success in our organizations?
00:52:01.511 --> 00:52:04.255
And oh my gosh, I see this time has really gotten away from us.
00:52:04.255 --> 00:52:07.716
So
I have an ending question. But before we get to that, I do want to know,
00:52:07.971 --> 00:52:09.775
how did you find yourself into this work?
00:52:10.075 --> 00:52:16.055
What was your trajectory that you found yourself in this work of helping leaders,
00:52:16.055 --> 00:52:17.143
helping organizations?
00:52:18.240 --> 00:52:21.595
The typical answer would be that I wanted to inspire millions of people and
00:52:21.595 --> 00:52:23.345
I wanted to help and a better world.
00:52:23.345 --> 00:52:27.325
But I don't think it's true because I think the best solutions born out of pain
00:52:27.325 --> 00:52:31.875
and frustration. And that's exactly what happened to me. So when I finished
00:52:31.875 --> 00:52:36.365
my second master's, then, you know, I felt smart. So I've got a business degree.
00:52:36.365 --> 00:52:37.785
This is really good. Let's do that.
00:52:38.278 --> 00:52:40.976
So I started my own company, which was a restaurant booking site.
00:52:41.104 --> 00:52:44.372
You book a table, we get the money, but it was more exciting than that.
00:52:44.581 --> 00:52:49.325
We started with 35 restaurants in Brighton and in one year we had 5,500 all
00:52:49.325 --> 00:52:52.662
over the UK and it turned into a joint venture with a software company.
00:52:53.273 --> 00:52:55.009
On paper, it made a lot of sense.
00:52:55.624 --> 00:52:58.660
In reality, I couldn't stand the other CEO, who was French.
00:52:59.253 --> 00:53:01.975
So we had to get out of the business. It wasn't pretty at all.
00:53:02.527 --> 00:53:05.825
And that's when I started my research. I said, how is it possible that that
00:53:05.825 --> 00:53:09.946
was the exact topic of my dissertation, Eastern and Western European joint ventures?
00:53:10.555 --> 00:53:13.395
The department where I studied was number one in the world in its category.
00:53:13.395 --> 00:53:14.984
Harvard is number two on that list.
00:53:15.484 --> 00:53:19.065
I had years of experience. How come I couldn't put that tier into practice?
00:53:19.775 --> 00:53:23.485
Why? So I got certified in a lot of different models, like intercultural,
00:53:23.485 --> 00:53:27.716
psychometric, leadership, and a lot of different things.
00:53:28.527 --> 00:53:31.666
My idea was that if all of these models are or were correct,
00:53:31.666 --> 00:53:33.467
there must be a huge overlapping part.
00:53:33.845 --> 00:53:35.905
And that's what I'm interested in. Not the fluff on the top,
00:53:36.236 --> 00:53:39.776
but there must be a structure beneath the surface, a blueprint of why people
00:53:39.776 --> 00:53:40.757
think and behave differently.
00:53:41.111 --> 00:53:44.709
And it turned out that there is one, and that's how GlobalDisk was born.
00:53:45.325 --> 00:53:51.446
And now we have more than 250 partners in 50-something countries because a lot
00:53:51.446 --> 00:53:52.768
of people are struggling with this.
00:53:53.899 --> 00:53:57.062
And sometimes the problem is that you think that you have the solution.
00:53:57.487 --> 00:54:00.766
So you're not open-minded you know if you don't know something then at least
00:54:00.766 --> 00:54:02.687
you're curious but if you think you do,
00:54:03.239 --> 00:54:07.006
then nothing goes in so you know if you're passionate about you know a certain
00:54:07.006 --> 00:54:10.816
psychological assessment then you think that that is like the scripture that's
00:54:10.816 --> 00:54:12.771
you know you have to take it seriously no,
00:54:13.437 --> 00:54:17.676
you cannot overdo it and everything is relative it's not even about the absolute
00:54:17.676 --> 00:54:23.247
score but it's about the mindset between you and me you and your environment you and your team,
00:54:24.017 --> 00:54:28.685
that's exactly what we can quantify and people realize ah that's why it backfired,
00:54:29.326 --> 00:54:33.517
now i do it differently not harder differently then i get better results,
00:54:34.361 --> 00:54:39.336
that's the key so that's how i started and now it's a good story that time not
00:54:39.336 --> 00:54:41.722
so much lots of crying but yeah,
00:54:42.417 --> 00:54:47.736
you have to be done yeah so my last question for you is what do you think needs
00:54:47.736 --> 00:54:51.878
to happen so that not only will all workers be treated with dignity and respect,
00:54:52.279 --> 00:54:55.947
but that they'll be encouraged to thrive and flourish. That's a big one.
00:54:57.313 --> 00:55:00.346
I think we can see some kind of progress since the pandemic,
00:55:00.346 --> 00:55:04.726
but not necessarily for the right reasons, because I think a lot of people,
00:55:04.726 --> 00:55:07.876
when they had to stay at home, they realized that, whoa, hold on a second.
00:55:07.876 --> 00:55:09.520
Why did I put up with this environment?
00:55:09.840 --> 00:55:11.639
And a lot of people didn't even go back to work.
00:55:12.841 --> 00:55:15.426
And that's the reflection part that you mentioned that, you know,
00:55:15.426 --> 00:55:19.128
sometimes you have to just step back and then realize, wow, why did I do that?
00:55:20.161 --> 00:55:23.505
And then they make better decisions. So now the companies are hurting enough,
00:55:24.195 --> 00:55:26.529
to focus on creating the right environment.
00:55:27.236 --> 00:55:32.146
Yes, it's still about money, but at least now they create that environment.
00:55:32.146 --> 00:55:36.236
So it's easy to focus on the visible things. Then, for example,
00:55:37.016 --> 00:55:40.649
if you look at the DNI field, we need all kinds of, you know,
00:55:41.137 --> 00:55:42.942
cultural groups. And it looks good.
00:55:43.447 --> 00:55:47.000
But if they don't feel included, if they don't feel safe, if they're not motivated,
00:55:47.766 --> 00:55:49.711
it means nothing. Indeed, you're asking for trouble.
00:55:50.291 --> 00:55:53.536
So this is exactly what we are focusing on. How do you create the right environment
00:55:53.536 --> 00:55:54.697
where people feel valued?
00:55:55.329 --> 00:55:59.286
And it is possible but it's very difficult to optimize it unless you measure
00:55:59.286 --> 00:56:03.996
it it's much easier to have a keynote speech about psychological safety,
00:56:04.723 --> 00:56:09.931
but that would be the same cost to do a workshop with data and you would make much more progress,
00:56:10.465 --> 00:56:14.316
so often for example a keynote speech can create much more disengagement because
00:56:14.316 --> 00:56:17.250
they talk about that oh this is how you should feel but that's how you feel
00:56:17.592 --> 00:56:20.884
so you just highlight the difference and people get pissed off well done,
00:56:21.796 --> 00:56:26.130
but you know exactly that data can be empowering or intimidating,
00:56:26.786 --> 00:56:31.256
it depends on someone's self-esteem because you know you can step on the scale
00:56:31.656 --> 00:56:37.653
and then you can get offended you can say it's fake news or you can go on a diet it's up to you.
00:56:38.772 --> 00:56:42.128
So when you measure something, then it becomes real. So it is possible,
00:56:42.940 --> 00:56:45.953
but I think it's about reconciling the dilemma.
00:56:46.249 --> 00:56:50.255
Because if you are a business owner, then you have the duty to maximize profit,
00:56:50.818 --> 00:56:53.244
for stakeholders. It's your business. That's your duty.
00:56:53.923 --> 00:56:57.208
On the other side, you have the people. Be nice to people. Create the right
00:56:57.208 --> 00:57:01.516
environment. So if I feel that there's a disconnect, I have to choose.
00:57:02.154 --> 00:57:06.058
So this is exactly what we, for example, we create this bridge in between.
00:57:06.058 --> 00:57:09.497
Because you don't have to choose. Indeed, they go hand in hand.
00:57:10.058 --> 00:57:13.479
Create the right environment, you make a lot of money. Done.
00:57:14.112 --> 00:57:17.664
There's no contradiction. But that's not necessarily common knowledge.
00:57:19.101 --> 00:57:22.258
And that's why we do the webinar. That's why I'm really grateful that I can
00:57:22.258 --> 00:57:25.688
be here. And then we talk about this topic so people realize that,
00:57:25.688 --> 00:57:26.988
yeah, that's the way forward.
00:57:28.084 --> 00:57:32.778
Yes, I love that. If we don't know about something, I'm not so quite sure I
00:57:32.778 --> 00:57:35.078
understand about quantification and wanting to know.
00:57:35.078 --> 00:57:39.618
But if we don't know, we can't fix it, right? And so, you know,
00:57:39.618 --> 00:57:43.648
we act given the information that we have. And how can I fix something if I
00:57:43.648 --> 00:57:47.752
don't know there's a problem, if I don't know what the problem is or the origin of the problem?
00:57:50.199 --> 00:57:53.686
And a lot of times people won't tell. They won't say because they want to be
00:57:53.686 --> 00:57:57.646
gainfully employed and they don't want to burn bridges and all these other sorts of issues.
00:57:57.646 --> 00:58:01.776
So we need to know if we really want, if we really want to have high-performing
00:58:01.776 --> 00:58:04.816
teens, you want psychological safety, you've got to do the work,
00:58:04.816 --> 00:58:06.732
and then you get the benefits.
00:58:07.121 --> 00:58:10.952
It's very hard to tell somebody. When you go into somebody's house and it smells,
00:58:11.446 --> 00:58:14.348
but they don't know because they're desensitized to it and it's their normal,
00:58:14.986 --> 00:58:18.793
it's very hard to see it unless we're shut.
00:58:19.307 --> 00:58:24.026
But it also takes a willingness to want to see. So that, but I think that the
00:58:24.026 --> 00:58:27.775
basic business case can help people. Do you want to make more money?
00:58:28.181 --> 00:58:31.176
Okay, do you want to be in business? All right, well, then we're going to have
00:58:31.176 --> 00:58:33.278
to do it in this way, this humane way.
00:58:33.911 --> 00:58:36.966
Yes, you have to connect your message to the highest value. So,
00:58:36.966 --> 00:58:39.466
you know, if you don't speak their language, then the message gets lost.
00:58:39.466 --> 00:58:44.035
So happy people make more money. There you go. Simplified version. Perfect.
00:58:44.778 --> 00:58:48.116
Well, thank you so much for this wonderful conversation and the work that you're
00:58:48.116 --> 00:58:52.080
doing. And so if people want to know more about your work, what is your website?
00:58:53.188 --> 00:58:58.395
Game Changers by icq.com. And happy to connect with people on LinkedIn as well.
00:58:59.440 --> 00:59:03.451
Wonderful. All right, well, thank you. Take care and have a great day. Thank you so much.
00:59:04.184 --> 00:59:07.346
Csaba, thank you for a wonderful conversation. I had a whole list of things
00:59:07.346 --> 00:59:11.426
I wanted to talk to you about, and I loved how our conversation went.
00:59:11.426 --> 00:59:15.066
And the work that you were doing is fascinating.
00:59:15.066 --> 00:59:18.786
And I'm so glad that you're out there with you and your team,
00:59:18.786 --> 00:59:22.406
working with other teams so that we can have healthier work environments and
00:59:22.406 --> 00:59:24.006
so that people can have better lives.
00:59:24.006 --> 00:59:28.476
I mean, the quality of our work, the quality of our work environment has so
00:59:28.476 --> 00:59:30.875
much to do with the trajectory of our life because,
00:59:31.932 --> 00:59:38.047
the environment, how we feel able to grow and learn and develop and contribute,
00:59:38.047 --> 00:59:40.913
and then we bring that into our communities and to our families.
00:59:41.752 --> 00:59:45.077
Conflict Managed is produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services
00:59:45.077 --> 00:59:49.228
and hosted by me, Merry Brown. You can find us online at 3vconflictrestoration.com.
00:59:49.611 --> 00:59:53.287
Come back. We have new episodes every Tuesday. And if you would like and subscribe
00:59:53.287 --> 00:59:56.340
wherever you are listening or watching this podcast, it's greatly appreciated.
00:59:56.904 --> 01:00:02.069
Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot. And remember, conflict is normal and expected.
01:00:02.243 --> 01:00:04.468
Let's deal with it. Until next time, take care.