Individuals and organizations today are in a funk.

Employee engagement is at a low point and the slide down began long before the Great Recession. Research generally shows that 90 percent of employees don't feel connected to their supervisor or colleagues at work and are either not engaged and giving their best efforts or not aligning their behavior with organizational goals.  Is it any wonder that our economy is struggling?

Research shows that many individuals today are lonely, anxious and depressed.  Depression medication is now a 10 billion dollar business. Even more children report feeling anxious and depressed.  They sense that something is wrong although though they don't understand why.

The problem today is hidden in plain sight. We are sorely deficient of what I refer to as connection (also known as community, social capital, belonging or meaningful relationships).  How did we get to this state?  Over the last century we grew myopic and obsessed with increasing efficiency and productivity and forgot that human beings need time for relationships too.

If you're skeptical, I invite you to take a look at The Connection Culture Manifesto, the Hardwired to Connect report by the Committee for Children at Risk, and The Lonely Society report by the Mental Health Foundation in the UK. Several excellent books also address the issue of declining connection in society including Bowling Alone, The American Paradox and The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies.

What can you do?  Although it's simple, it isn't easy to  do. Take time to connect. Reach out to the people in your life, set up times to meet for coffee a walk or a meal and then slow down and focus on being present with those you spend time with.  Find out what's going on in their lives at work and outside of work.  Do this daily, if at all possible.

It used to be said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away but research from a variety of fields makes it clear that connection with others and with meaning in life is the real daily requirement that helps human beings survive and thrive.

So what are you waiting for?   Just connect.

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Michael Lee Stallard: speaker or trainer.

Two stories in The New York Times this weekend reminded me that good often blooms from gloom. In "Detroit Goes from Gloom to Economic Bright Spot," Bill Vlasic writes that the American automobile manufacturers are emerging from a near-death experience as leaner, more grounded, humbler, and more long-term oriented organizations.  In a different field altogether, that of men's professional basketball, Scottie Pippen was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame yesterday. Read about it in "Stepping Out of Jordan's Shadow, Pippen to Enter Hall."   I was inspired to learn about Pippen's remarkable climb from humble origins and how he came back from an embarrassing episode that occurred years ago when he refused to play in a crucial game. Pippen learned from his mistake then moved on to become an even better player, leader and human being.

There is real wisdom in these stories.  As human beings, we are imperfect.  Good times often puff us up and develop hubris in our character (i.e., over-confidence, arrogance and the negative aspects of pride).  This applies to organizations as well as to individuals.  Tough times, on the other hand, as hard as they may be, are opportunities to develop the humility we need to thrive over the long-term.

How does humility help us thrive?  When we are humble, we are more likely to seek, listen to, and consider the opinions and ideas of others.  Facing difficulties, we are more likely to reach out to God and to our family and friends for help rather than see ourselves as self-sufficient.  In a state of humility, we are more likely to develop a number of other character strengths such as kindness, graciousness, gratitude, patience and perseverance or fortitude.

Are you going through tough times?  If so, I suggest the following:

1. Devote time each day to prayer. When I pray, I like to focus on thanking God for the many blessings in my life and I pray for the needs of others as well as for wisdom in the important decisions I must make.

2. Make a list of things for which you are grateful.  My wife's list might include M&Ms, the color red, video chatting with our daughters, reading the newspaper in her pajamas, and having survived both breast and advanced ovarian cancer.  Counting our blessings gives us perspective. The negativism of today can influence us so that, without our even being aware, we get caught up in it (a condition that sociologists describe as "emotional contagion").

3. Spend time each day conversing and connecting with family members, friends and colleagues at work. Find out what's going on in their lives.  If you face important decisions, talk them over with others to gain a balanced perspective.  This is a huge energizer for me (and I'm somewhat introverted).

4. Regularly reach out to help or encourage someone in need. Serving someone else is one of the best ways to lift your own spirit and the spirit of the people around you.  Just try it and you'll see!

I know from experience that these four simple practices can make a difference in your attitude and behavior.  They will help you persevere through tough times, after which you will most likely emerge even better than you were before.  While these practices may or may not make you economically wealthier, they will most certainly bring you a wealth of even greater value.

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Michael Lee Stallard: speaker or trainer.

Here is a thoughtful article from USA Today that suggests true friendship may be dying. This is alarming news.  I've learned about the importance of connection and friendships from experiences in my own life as well as from my work in organizations. 

To thrive for sustained periods of time, each of us needs to be intentional about putting ourselves in Connection Cultures that value human beings and relationships.  Friendship and connection are critical for three reasons.  

• First, we need friends who can help us process and think through complex and important issues we face in life such as whether to change jobs, how to repair a broken relationship in our lives or how to take care of our aging parents.  The conversations we have with friends reduce stress hormones in our brains and help us make more rational than rash decisions.                                                                                                                                         
• Second, we need friends who care for us and who will help us see our blind spots such as being overly critical, overly controlling or overly afraid of airing and working through disagreements.  Once we've identified blind spots, we need the emotional support, encouragement and accountability of friends to change our behavior.
• Third, we need friendships to help us get through the inevitable difficult seasons on life.  The support from family and friends that we received while my wife Katie was battling breast and advanced ovarian cancer helped our family make it through a difficult season.  Today, Katie is cancer free and not expected to have a recurrence.  

Having friends in our lives is much too important to ignore.  Ask yourself, are you intentional about taking the time to build strong relationships with individuals who you trust and who trust you? If you lead an organization, do you invest time to develop relationship excellence in your organization?  

If you need to develop more friendships at work or in your life outside of work, take action now by listing the names of people who you enjoy being with and who share your interests and values. Make it a goal to spend time with three people on your list over the next month and consider if you would like to set up a regular time every week or two to connect with them individually or in a small group. As an end goal, develop friendships with two to three individuals you are committed to spending time with and willing to support if and when they need you.  Your life and theirs will be all the better for it!

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Michael Lee Stallard: speaker or trainer.

We learn best when we think, feel and do.  That’s the message of Dr. Adele Diamond, a cognitive developmental neuroscientist who currently teaches at the University of British Columbia in Canada.  We might refer to this as “whole body learning.”  According to Dr. Diamond, the executive function of the brain — the prefrontal cortex — works best when we go beyond the rational mind by also involving emotions and physical behaviors.  That makes sense since the more we involve other parts of the brain, the more neural connections we make that reinforce learning.

The implications are wide-ranging.  It reminds me of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Robert Sternberg’s identification of different thinking styles. The more we incorporate different approaches to learning that speak to diverse individuals who are wired to learn differently, the greater the probability they will in fact learn.

Are you using more than analytic, rational methods of learning?   Do you use stories to move people emotionally?  Do you employ exercises that require people to behave in ways that will help them learn?

For those who want to go deeper, here is a fascinating hour-long interview of Dr. Adele Diamond by Krista Tippett of American Public Radio's "Speaking of Faith" program that you can hear at this link.

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For more on Knowledge Flow and Human Value see articles we published entitled "Encouraging Knowledge Flow" and "Strengthening Human Value in Organizational Cultures."

One reason so many leaders fail is that they become isolated.  We all need good friends who "have our back," as my friend and business colleague Jason Pankau likes to say.  Good friends tell us the truth, they are willing to speak up if they believe we are wrong, and they support and encourage us through the inevitable difficult seasons we all experience in life.

A couple summers ago, I shot the above photograph of the William Seward statue in New York City's Madison Square Park knowing that one day I would write about him. Seward was a onetime political rival of Abraham Lincoln's, who became a member of Lincoln's cabinet and one of Lincoln's best friends. Doris Kearns-Goodwin wrote about their friendship in her wonderful book Team of Rivals. Frequently, Lincoln went to Steward's residence in Washington D.C. where the two men talked for hours. Seward's friendship was a lifeline for Lincoln during his struggles with depression; challenging periods he faced during the Civil War; his wife's mental illness, and the grief he felt following the death of his son.

Ask yourself if you have a few good friends who have your back at work and in life outside of work. If you do, why not reach out to them and let them know how much you appreciate their friendship. If you don't have close friends, take out pen and paper then write down the names of individuals who have the potential to become good friends.

Consider the following questions when selecting potential good friends:  Is he trustworthy? Does he share your interests and values? Does he live near you so that you can meet on a regular basis? Now that you have a few names, prioritize them then reach out to see if they are willing to meet you over a meal or coffee.  If the meeting goes well, ask if he would consider meeting on a regular basis. In my next post, I'll write about the types of interactions that will make your meeting time with good friends worthwhile for each of you.

 I'm dedicating this post to one of my best friends, Jason Pankau.  Here is a picture of us when we spoke recently at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (Jason is on the right side of the picture). We are standing in front of the Mission Control center for the International Space Station.

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For more on Knowledge Flow and Human Value see articles we published entitled "Encouraging Knowledge Flow" and "Strengthening Human Value in Organizational Cultures."

We teach leaders to hold "Knowledge Flow Sessions" to hear the opinions and ideas of others; doing so will help leaders make optimal decisions. We also teach leaders that disrespectful behavior is intolerable because it reduces "Human Value" in a culture, and leaders and/or individual contributors who exhibit disrespectful behavior need to be removed from the organization if they fail to change.

President Obama's recent action to replace General Stanley McChrystal is an excellent example.   Here is an article about President Obama's decision-making process and here is the Rolling Stone magazine article entitled "The Runaway General" that brings General McChrystal's character into question.  Replacing McChrystal with General David Patraeus was also wise.  Whereas McChrystal's leadership style brought compliance out of fear, General Patraeus has the competence and character necessary to inspire the best efforts and aligned behavior of the soldiers he now leads.

If you are a leader or aspire to be one, ask yourself if you have developed the competence and character necessary to inspire others to follow you? In terms of character, you should reflect on whether or not your behavior reflects the following character strengths:

• Persistence
• Perspective/Wisdom
• Purpose
• Work Ethic
• Hope/Optimism
• Citizenship
• Love of Learning
• Bravery/Courage
• Integrity
• Prudence
• Curiosity
• Open Mindedness
• Kindness
• Love of People
• Fairness
• Self-Control
• Forgiveness/Mercy
• Gratitude
• Humor
• Humility/Modesty
• Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence. 

Which of these character strengths are most important to your success?  Which character strengths need more focus?  Now take action by finding a mentor or coach you respect and who will help you develop these character strengths.

If you believe someone would enjoy and benefit from this post, please share it. Just click on the + Share button and you will see lots of options for sharing it with friends including email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks!

For more on Knowledge Flow and Human Value see articles we published entitled "Encouraging Knowledge Flow" and "Strengthening Human Value in Organizational Cultures."

How do you boost creativity in meetings? The key here is to tap the "corporate mind."

The root work of "corporation" is the Latin word "corpus." It means "body." The definition of "corporation" is "a body of people acting as a single entity and authorized as such under the law." To maximize creativity requires getting a group of people together who in a sense represent the corporate body then helping them feel safe so that they will share their ideas and opinions.

Because individuals have diverse thinking styles, experiences and temperaments, they will naturally have different perspectives and come up with different ideas that contribute to constructing a creative new solution, product, process or new business opportunity. As such, it is ideal to have a group that is large enough to generate diverse ideas but not so large that it becomes unwieldy. Eight to ten individuals should be sufficient for most issues. With issues that are more complex, and/or require broader support and implementation, you may want to have broad participation (an issue I will write about in a later post).

Here are few ways to structure a meeting and create a safe environment so that creativity will be maximized:

1. Invite a mix of people to participate in creative conversations -- some who are close to the issue at hand, others who are not as close. By including some participants who are not as close to the issue you are more likely to generate out-of-the-box ideas;

2. Begin the meeting with a quick warm-up exercise by saying "I would like to begin our meeting with a quick exercise that has been proven to stimulate creativity. Stand up, find a colleague you don't know well and ask them what their interests are outside of work, then reciprocate." (You could also have participants ask questions such as "who is your favorite musician?," "what is your favorite movie?" or "what's the best piece of advice you've been given over your life?") This exercise helps warm up the introverts who are more likely to contribute to creative conversations if they feel connected to others in the group (and the exercise helps boost their sense of connection);

3. The leader of the creative conversation should share his or her thoughts about the issue at hand (what I call "putting your cards on the table"). After he or she does this, he or she should say to group participants "no one has a monopoly on good ideas and we need everyone to share what they believe is right, what's wrong and what's missing from my thinking?" This gives participants permission to say what's on their mind;

4. If some participants are not contributing to the creative conversation, the leader needs to ask each individual what's on his or her mind. When this becomes a standard practice in an organization, individuals are more likely to actively participate in meetings.

Creative conversations can be used to stimulate new ideas for growing your business, reducing expenses, coming up with new product, process and lines of business. I'll write more about this important issue next week.

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Michael Lee Stallard speaks, teaches and writes about leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation at leading organizations including Google, GE, Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Lockheed Martin and the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Click here to learn more about booking Michael for a speech or coaching services

"Make the effort. Do your best. The score cannot make you a loser when you do that; it cannot make you a winner if you do less.” Coach John Robert Wooden

Thinking about the death of legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, I couldn't help but think of his legacy and mine. What about you? How will your friends and family remember you? How about your colleagues? 

I profiled Wooden as a role model who we can all learn from in my book Fired Up or Burned Out. Wooden's favorite saying was "a life not lived for others is a life not lived." He said his heroes were his father Joshua Wooden, Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa, each of whom lived a life of service to others. In John Wooden's honor, I'm posting the following excerpts from my book, Connection and the Legend.

So often in life, good things bloom from the seeds of hardship. The personal character of a young teenager who went on to become a great leader was immeasurably shaped during the Depression when his family lost their farm in Indiana. His father’s reaction to the loss was unusual. He wasn’t bitter about it. Instead, his dad focused on the future and told his children that everything would be all right. And it was.

During those impressionable years in this leader’s life, he learned that, like the Depression, some things in life are not in our control. His father taught him that he should always strive to do his best at anything he chose to do and not worry about the outcome. He would later spread that philosophy to countless others.

Another perspective he gained during those formative years was to value people. By watching his mom and dad and hearing the stories of faith they taught him, he learned the joy that came from making people and relationships his focus in life.

The young boy grew up to be an outstanding high school and college basketball player in a state that was rabid about the game. After college he married Nell, the love of his life and the only woman he had ever dated. He taught high school English and coached basketball until 1943 when he enlisted to serve in the Navy during World War II. When he returned from the war to the high school in South Bend, Indiana, where he previously taught, he was offered his old job. Other returning GIs were not, however, and so he refused the offer because he felt it was wrong for the school to deny veterans the jobs they had left to serve their country. Instead, he accepted an offer to become athletic director and head basketball coach at Indiana State Teachers College.

A Caring Coach

For the 1946-47 season Indiana State received a post-season invitation to the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB) national play-offs. After the coach learned that a young African-American, second-string guard on his team, Clarence Walker, would not be allowed to participate in the tournament because of the color of his skin, he declined the offer.

The following season NAIB officials invited Indiana State again, and this time decided they would allow Clarence to play, provided he didn’t stay at the hotel with his teammates and wouldn’t be seen publicly with them. Once again the coach declined. He and Nell thought of all the young men on the team as extended members of their family whom they loved and the coach wasn’t about to allow Clarence to be humiliated. But Clarence and his family saw it in a different light. They were excited about the opportunity for him to become the first African-American player in history to participate in the prestigious tournament. So they, along with officials from the NAACP, approached the coach to persuade him that attending the tournament would help, not hurt, Clarence and other African-American players. The coach decided to accept the NAIB’s offer, and the team packed up to head to the play-offs in Kansas City.

On their way to the tournament, the team bus stopped for meals. If a restaurant wouldn’t serve Clarence, the coach would make the team get back on the bus. Often the team had to pick up food at grocery stores along the way and eat on the bus.

When Clarence finally walked onto the basketball court to warm up, he appeared to be nearly paralyzed with fear. Many people in the crowd spotted the courageous young man and they began to applaud. Clarence Walker became the first African-American player to participate in the NAIB play-offs, and Indiana State made it to the finals, where they lost to Louisville. Because of Clarence’s courage and his coach’s resolve to stand up for what he believed in, the NAIB tournament was finally opened to African-American student athletes. The following season three teams brought African-American players with them to the tournament.

John Robert Wooden went on to become head basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins from 1948-75. His fired up teams, won more than 80 percent of their games and ten national championships, and had four perfect seasons. Coach Wooden was the first person in history to be inducted twice into the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1961, he was honored for his achievements as a player at Purdue University where he was All-American, college player of the year, and a leader of the Boilermakers’ 1932 National Championship Team. In 1973, he was honored for his achievements as a coach.

In the summer of 2003, the ninety-two year-old Wooden traveled to the White House, where he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. In December, with many of the players Wooden coached surrounding him at the ceremony, UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion was renamed the "Nell and John Wooden Court."

The Secret of His Success

What was it about Wooden that produced such extraordinary success as a student-athlete and then as a coach? Bill Walton, the Hall of Fame basketball player and television sportscaster who played for the great coach on two national championship teams, identified the essence of Wooden’s success when he stated, “[Coach Wooden] created an environment that people wanted to be a part of..."

To begin with, the environment included vision. Wooden instilled a tremendous sense of pride in his players about being a part of the UCLA basketball team. He taught them, as Bill Walton wrote, “if you lived up to your responsibilities as a student and a human being, then you earned the privilege of becoming a member of the UCLA basketball team." Integral to meeting his standards was achieving the character values reflected in what he called “the Pyramid of Success.” The character values, or blocks of the pyramid, were: industriousness, enthusiasm, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, self-control, alertness, initiative, intentness, condition, skill, and team spirit.

Wooden taught his players that believing and behaving in a way consistent with these character values produced poise and confidence that resulted in competitive greatness (that is, the desire to continuously challenge oneself in life). Patience and faith make up the mortar that holds all of the blocks together. When the pyramid was built, the person met the standards that John Wooden believed made him a success and earned the right to be called a member of the UCLA basketball team.

Wooden taught and lived out the character values he wanted his players to adopt; they had a vision to strive for as individuals and as a team. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the greatest basketball players in history who played his entire college career with Wooden, would later write, “Coach Wooden had a profound influence on me as an athlete, but even greater influence on me as a human being. He is responsible, in part, for the person I am today.” Bill Walton astutely observed that, “we have become John Wooden ourselves.” And in a sense they did by accepting Wooden’s beliefs, his character values, as their own. As Wooden worked to reproduce people who shared the values reflected in the pyramid, the UCLA basketball team became more connected to their coach and to each other.

Wooden infused the UCLA basketball team environment with value. It began with respect for everyone, regardless of a person’s status on the team or in society. The way Wooden stood up for the returning GIs and Clarence Walker showed that he modeled respect for others. For much of his career, Wooden worked alongside the student managers as they swept or mopped the basketball court before practices to set an example that no position was unimportant. He required even the best players to clean up after themselves in the locker room and not to expect the student managers to do it. All of his players were to be respectful toward flight attendants, waitresses and waiters, and hotel workers they encountered while traveling with the team. He always said, “You’re as good as anybody, but you’re no better than anybody.”

Integral to Coach Wooden’s view of valuing people was the notion of helping them reach their potential as basketball players and as people. Bill Walton described it this way: "You were competing against an ideal, an abstract standard of excellence defined by John Wooden. The actual opponents mattered little. It was the ideal that mattered most.” Wooden pushed his players to be the best they were capable of becoming, running long and demanding practices. According to Walton, before and after practice, the coach was calm, but during practice sessions Wooden “prowled the sidelines like a caged tiger...He never stopped moving, never stopped chattering away. Up and down the court he would pace, always barking out his pet little phrases...failing to prepare is preparing to fail...never mistake activity for achievement.” He liked to say, “Make the effort. Do your best. The score cannot make you a loser when you do that; it cannot make you a winner if you do less.” If his players didn’t work hard enough during practice, as hard as he did preparing for it, he ordered them off the court, then had the student managers collect the balls, turn off the lights, and lock the doors.

Coach Wooden operated a meritocracy that treated every player fairly. He didn’t believe in the star system and told his players, "The star of the team is the team." Wooden benched Sidney Wicks, one of the nation's best players, for a season because he wasn’t passing to his open teammates. (The following year, a more selfless Wicks was awarded All-American honors and helped UCLA win a national championship.) No one’s position was safe if Wooden felt another player had proven he could perform better for the team’s sake. At the same time, however, he recognized that the non-starters didn’t receive the praise that starters did. So, he encouraged and affirmed them in practice, and,as he said in an interview in 1996, “I became a little closer with some of my players [who] didn’t get to play very much.”

Another element in the environment created by Wooden was voice. He encouraged everyone to adopt an attitude of openness to ideas and opinions. One of his favorite sayings was “when everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks.” Wooden typically shared his opinions and encouraged others to share theirs before he made most decisions, unless time was of the essence, say, in the midst of a game. If asked for advice, Wooden would reply, “I don’t give advice, I give opinions.

Wooden’s tolerance for others' views was tested when Bill Walton wrote a protest letter about the Vietnam War on the UCLA basketball team stationery, had his teammates sign it, and asked Wooden if he would sign it too. Although the coach declined to sign, he allowed Walton to mail the letter to then President Richard Nixon.

What Legacy Will You Leave?

All of us, at some point in our lives, wonder how we will be remembered. What legacy will we leave? An outstanding example of an intentional connector I presented earlier was John Wooden. Coach Wooden’s legacy and his connection with his players become clear when you consider Bill Walton’s reflections written in 2000 about the impact that Wooden had and still has on Walton’s life:

[Coach Wooden] taught us life at UCLA . . . I call him on the phone constantly and go see him as often as possible . . . I always sit . . . as close as physically possible to this remarkable spirit . . . at 89, . . . he is still the same teacher, the same positive force, the same person we would like to become, only better . . . I’ve taken my kids to his house, the same house he lived in since 1973 . . . his former players . . . . always ask him to let us put a financial package together for him so he can buy his mansion on a hill . . . but every time he tells us no. The joy and happiness in John Wooden’s life comes today, as it always has, from the success of others. He regularly tells us what he learned from his two favorite teachers, Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa, is that a life not lived for others is a life not lived . . . I thank John Wooden every day for his selfless gifts, his lessons, his time, his vision and especially his patience. This is why we call him coach.

Who wouldn’t want to have a legacy like that! In an interview a few years ago, Wooden expressed that although he appreciates the many trophies, awards, and honors he received over his long and successful career, the trophies he is most proud of are the men that his former players became. In other words, the character strengths that Wooden sees today in the men he helped shape are his legacy and a source of joy to him.

How will your friends and family remember you? How about your colleagues? If you are a highly visible leader, how will history remember you? It’s important to consider your legacy early in life when there is sufficient time to be intentional about living in a way that’s consistent with how you want to be remembered. As my business partner and good friend Jason Pankau likes to say, “Live with the end in mind.” A life coach for executives, he frequently finds that many of the people he coaches reach the latter years of their careers before they realize they didn’t live with the end in mind. Then they typically try to repair the damage done from their earlier actions.

How about you? Will you be remembered as an intentional connector such as John Wooden, George Washington, or Frances Hesselbein, or will you be remembered as an intentional or unintentional disconnector such as Howell Raines, Al Dunlap, or Frederick the Great during the latter years of his reign?

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In Memoriam: John Robert Wooden (1910-2010)

Summer is an excellent time to be intentional about strengthening the relationships in your life, including your relationships at work. Take a few minutes to write down the names of individuals you want to develop stronger relationships with. If may be your spouse, child, parent or friend.

At work, think about the people you need to have good relationships with to do your work well (I call these "Critical Connections") and consider the present state of that relationship. The time to strengthen relationships at work is before they are under stress. In times of stress, relationships are tested so developing strong relationships in advance of life's inevitable stress tests is wise.

Once you have identified who you want to develop a stronger relationship with, spend time with them over meals or coffee. Ask them questions so that you get to know them as human beings. By asking questions of another individual, listening carefully to their reply so that you can understand an empathize , demonstrates that you value them as human beings. Understanding and empathy reflect the essence of connection. Here are are a few questions to consider:

• Where did you grow up?
• What are your interests outside of work?
• What are your favorite movies and television shows?
• What are you favorite books?
• Who are your favorite musicians?
• Who are your heroes?
• Where did you go to college and what did you study?
• What events in your life shaped you as a person?
• Who has had the greatest impact on your life and why?
• What is the best advice you received?

These questions should give you plenty to talk about and help you get to better know the people in your life.

The Conference Board does excellent research work on employee engagement thanks in part to John Gibbons, a Senior Research Advisor at the organization. After examining the myriad definitions of employee engagement, The Conference Board concluded that employee engagement should be defined as follows: 

Michael Lee Stallard and Jason Pankau speak, teach and write about leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation at leading organizations including Google, GE, Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Lockheed Martin and the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Click on these links to learn more about Michael and Jason in the media and their speaking engagements.