I researched broken vacation policies. The solution is not what you think. Hey everyone, I thought as we get close to 'summer vacation' time I'd share an article I wrote with Shashank Nigam for Harvard Business Review about the idea…
In the past two and a half years, I’ve given more than 360 virtual and in-person talks, workshops, and seminars about emotional fitness, well-being, and avoiding burnout. I’ve had the privilege of working with people from every kind of industry,…
I grew up in the former Soviet Union, and my parents and I were considered second class citizens because we were Jewish. I’ll never forget the logbook in my school: Next to your name it said “Jew” if you were…
Compared to a few months ago, how are you feeling about life these days? I hope that you’ve had some time to decompress and destress—even if just a little. For many, the waning days of August feel like our last…
As a leader, your job is not to manage people or projects -- it’s to manage emotions, including your own. During this really challenging time (understatement of the year!) that can be really intense and since we don’t learn about…
This time last year, "Zoom Fatigue" was a little-known phrase. Fast-forward a year and it has become a universally understood phenomenon. The rapid shift to remote work and learning has caused us to become more reliant on technology than ever…
In the early 2010s, I wrote a self-help book that catapulted me into a strange universe. I went from working an office job in the suburbs to walking onto TV show sets where I was often introduced as “Captain Awesome” or “The…
This year, the world changed overnight, and organizations globally have had to change with it. Although digital consumption has been on an upward trajectory for years, the rapid shift to remote work for many has led to a feeling of constant connectivity and digital overwhelm…
Digital Wellness is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. It’s a topic that I think about every morning when I wake up to face the tyranny of the urgent in my inbox; it’s a topic I…
It was painful to watch, and I had a front row seat. From my post as an anchor at CBS News, I reported on people’s pain as they lost their jobs, homes and savings. The rapid-fire coverage of these problems could…
Use technology to get more out of life, not distract you from it. Buy the groceries! Prep the turkey! Set the table! In the midst of the scurry to get ready for Thanksgiving, sometimes it can be difficult to just…
Last fall, I did a documentary with HBO, directed by Peter Berg and produced by Michael Strahan, called State of Play: Happiness. In the film, we explored how to create a positive culture in organizations where the culture or conditions make it difficult to…
It seems like every day, a new workplace study finds that suppressing employee individuality is counterproductive. Organizations that encourage their employees’ humor and eccentricities do better than their competitors. Is this because people are more relaxed and comfortable working somewhere…
Between the distractions all around and our own shriveled attention spans, it is remarkable we get anything done. Aristotle once said, “The end of labor is to gain leisure.” Yet most busy leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals have - at best -- ambivalent feelings…
Your downtime is more precious than you think. You could be much more efficient, productive and happy if you changed the way you view the hours in your day. Many of the business leaders and Harvard students I work with…
This article by Sara Tsoodle was originally published at Future Point of View, Scott Klososky’s consulting firm. Having just experienced one of the more disappointing vacations in my adult life, I must ponder how technology rescued my week in certain respects. My…
In recent months, I have seen a growing number of posts about how bad technology is for us. Technology is blamed for social isolation, disconnection, and corruption. But I’ve also heard and seen how technology can be used for good…
The most forward-looking companies are willing to take risks to achieve greatness. Most leaders give lip service to this idea, but few actually do it. We have worked with banks willing to take on toxic assets (again) and hedge funds…
Michelle Gielan, national CBS News anchor turned positive psychology researcher, is the bestselling author of Broadcasting Happiness. Michelle is the Founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research and is partnered with Arianna Huffington to study how transformative stories fuel…
Make Yourself Immune to Secondhand Stress by Shawn Achor and Michelle Gielan was first published on Harvard Business Review. Over the past decade, we have learned how our brains are hardwired for emotional contagion. Emotions spread via a wireless network…
