The Success Zone

Ken Robinson is one of a growing number of champions for a new education. With elegance, he exposes how much we don't know about what we don't know. This ten minute animated extract is succinct, disturbing (for the system of education that we are trying to maintain) and very thought-provoking. What observations and thoughts are [...]

  As David Rock writes in Your Brain At Work, mindfulness has long had association with spirituality, even religion. Ask someone to describe mindfulness, and if they can, they’ll often make reference to things like meditation, Buddhism, prayer or perhaps being one with nature. Whilst all these involve, even promote mindfulness, they are not, themselves, [...]

Why are teachers so undervalued in today’s world, when, in so many ways, the profession should be the most highly valued? The Australian Federal government today released version 2.0 of the MySchools website. ABC news reports that “ the My School 2.0 revamp gives parents more information about school performance and reveals how much money each [...]

So you think you are a great listener? Test yourself against these five traits and see how well you do. Give yourself a rating from 1 to 5 on each trait (1 is rarely or poorly expressed, 5 is habitually and permanently a part of the way you listen). 1. Quiet mind listening Great listeners [...]

Yesterday, we were a very small part of a huge volunteer force that hit Brisbane and surrounds over the weekend. Shifting the mud from Goodna Aquatic Centre gave me time to reflect on the impact of such an event on the brain. Given that our Red Zones are flight/fight based, and Blue Zones are very [...]

In response to education being one of our most critical global imperatives in our new century, Matthew Taylor (Chief Executive of Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce- RSA) suggests “fostering empathic capacity is just as important to achieving a world of citizens at peace with each other and themselves”. In this RSA [...]

Our roads are rich with opportunity to manage and express emotional intelligence and social leadership. Are you a Blue or Red Zone driver? How might this apply as a metaphor to other aspects of life, leadership and relationships? Do you lead with social and emotional wisdom on the road, or do you succumb to the [...]

From my very long ago days of doing Latin at school, I seem to remember the phrase “festina lente” as meaning “hasten slowly” or “more hurry less speed”. (I may, of course, be wrong in my recollection and, if I am, I’m sure someone will correct me!!) I thought of this today because of a [...]

Image by homer4k via Flickr Think about wearing your most favourite, comfortable shoes. No effort to put them on, and, one they are on, it is almost like they are a part of you. Your habits are like this: they have become comfortable and easy to ‘wear’, having shaped themselves to your apparent needs perfectly. [...]