Defensiveness

A couple of years ago, I blogged about American psychologist Rick Hanson’s Red Brain, Green Brain model and how it can help us to reflect on our mental wellbeing. I regularly use this model when coaching my institutional clients on how they can improve their workplace cultures and facilitate their employees’ mental wellbeing. But these …

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I began to think about this a few weeks ago as I left a building where I’d spent the day with my mother in palliative care—the day before she died. I’d arrived in a hurry early that morning after one of my sisters called me in. My mother had had a hard night and we needed to make some decisions about dosage for morphine and other drugs, so my other sister and I had rushed to be with our family. I’d parked hastily in the dark, snow-covered visitors’ lot, and hadn’t given another thought to my car all day. Why would I? My mother was dying. 

I’ve never met anyone who enjoys receiving criticism or negative feedback. But it’s something we all have to face from time to time. A few years ago, I met with a client who had a particularly hard time with it. Even discussing the criticisms, mild and constructive to my ears, in his recent performance review …

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