The Johari window is a psychological tool that looks at self-awareness, specifically mapping awareness of our idiosyncrasies into a matrix of four blocks:

1) that which is known by ourselves and others,

2) that which is known by others but we don’t know it about ourselves,

3) that which we know about ourselves but others do not know, and

4) that which neither others or we ourselves know about our personality/behavior.

The reason I include this in a proverb is that self-knowledge is fundamental to wisdom.

For more on this check out the short video below:

WIIFM stands for: “What’s In It For Me.”  WIIFM is the operational philosophy of nearly 100% of the population, nearly 100% of the time, including you and me. Yes, there are a LOT of people who say they operate under a different philosophy, and there may be a few who do, at least occasionally, but, by and large, that number is low.  Christians strive to operate out of a philosophy of love and consideration of others above self. This is as it should be and God’s design, but most give little thought to anyone or anything without first considering the WIIFM.

For more on this check out the short video below:

That is actually a variation of Proverbs 16:18 (from the Bible): “Pride goes before destruction….” Here is another, “Do not think of yourself more highly that you ought….” Romans 12:3. Jim Collins in Good to Great described the difference between companies which performed at good levels, and those which could be considered great. Several years later he wrote a follow-up book titled How the Mighty Fall which described how many of those “great” companies had crumbled.

For more on this check out this short video:

I know we live in a digital age.  I know that we depend on email and text messages for almost all of our communication, not to mention LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.  In most cases these forms of communication are entirely adequate to get a message across. In fact, these forms of communication can be extremely effective because they leave a nice digital trail to refer back to if necessary.

For more on this check out this short video:

Hiring people who are smarter than you are seems counterintuitive. It seems like, as leader, you should know more than those you employ, about every aspect of the job. That, however, would be wrong, especially in the current age in which we live. Hiring people smarter than you will be difficult if you think you are the smartest person in the room. However, if you can get over yourself, you will soon realize there are a lot of areas where you don’t know the answers. Smart leaders hire even smarter workers who can help the organization move forward.

For more on this check out the short video below:

Whether in a group of three to five individuals, or simply one-on-one, the ability to engage in conversation is a crucial skill. I say crucial because this ability is the beginning step in forming a relationship. Almost all relationships have a communication component, verbal or otherwise. Relationships form the foundation of all meaningful human interaction. The best way to develop the skill of conversation is to start from a common point of reference, for instance, sports, the weather, home towns, cars, etc. Building on that, from a perspective of genuine interest, begin asking questions and sharing from your own experience.

For more on this, check out the short video below: