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A call to bring the world together… The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
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From ChangeThis: “Introverts. The world needs us, can't live without us, and often doesn't quite get us. However, we persist, mostly behind the scenes, quietly contributing to society—writing, creating, designing, researching, solving problems, and digging for treasures ancient and new. Are you one of us? If you're more of a Warren Buffett than a Donald Trump, and more of a Greta Garbo than a Madonna, you've come to the right place. It's time for you to stop hiding from the spotlight. Time to get recognized and compensated for your gifts. Rather than buying in to the common misconceptions about introverts, you'll apply your quiet strengths to raise your visibility in a way that feels right for you. And guess what? You don't have to brag. Not even remotely. You can promote yourself authentically without the ‘ick’ factor.”
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From ChangeThis: 1. A fast-acting anti-venom to the business-as-usual mode of high task/low relationship, self-serving agendas, directing and telling, anonymous feedback, holding people accountable, excessive use of jargon and mandating initiatives that cause people to weep on too many fine days.
2. The act of acquiring your most valuable currency—emotional capital.
3. Also signals the acquisition of squid eye (more on this later) and the demise of truth-telling squeamishness and ethical squishiness."
From ChangeThis: “How you apologize is your humanity litmus test. Let’s face it, at some point; your business will suffer a failure that disappoints customers. How your company reacts, explains, removes the pain, and takes accountability for actions signals how you think about customers, and the collective heart of your organization. Grace and wisdom guide decisions of beloved companies toward accepting responsibility and resolving the situation when the chips are down—not accusations and skirting accountability. Repairing the emotional connections well is a hallmark of companies we love. It makes us love them even more.”
From Hunter Lewis at ChangeThis: Whether one looks at our ailing planet, our ever less affordable healthcare, or our failing economy, we see the same underlying problem: a rejection of maturity in favor of a childish refusal to look ahead. What we need instead is a more complete and all-encompassing concept of sustainability."
From Change This: "As I go out into the world and teach people about creative thought, I’m often asked by managers 'how to' apply this in an organization. They want me to talk about 'corporate creativity' and 'innovation management' and at first blush, to me, 'corporate creativity' seems like a [George] Carlinesque oxymoron. It seems like two words that contradict each other, like 'jumbo shrimp,' 'military intelligence' and 'borrowing brilliance.' Corporations are typically highly structured and highly political, and typically NOT very creative. But they don’t have to be this way. In fact, once you understand the basic mechanics of creative thinking, the basic block and tackling skills of the thinker, you can turn your organization into a creative factory that churns out innovative concepts through intelligent collaboration and the development of a corporate culture that fosters 'corporate creativity.'
From ChangeThis: “In the summer of 2008, Lehman Brothers and AIG were renowned power-players and titans of finance. They were innovative, profitable… nearly untouchable. Now, they are insolvent. These are just two in a long line of now-clichéd Wall Street stories: successful company—under pressure to earn bigger profits faster—succumbs to appeal of short-term gains, makes bad bets, and goes bust. Where were the CEOs with plans for the long-term viability of these companies? Where were the board members who were supposed to be minding the store? Where were the shareholders with the knowledge and foresight to shout ‘STOP?’”
Grounded in the revolutionary “positive psychology” movement, Ben-Shahar ingeniously combines scientific studies, scholarly research, self-help advice, and spiritual enlightenment in his book. He weaves them together into a set of principles that you can apply to your daily life. Once you open your heart and mind to Happier ’s thoughts, you will feel more fulfilled, more connected . ... and, yes, HAPPIER.
