Kaizen, Japanese for “improvement.” When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers.

Strengths Fed:

• VIA character strengths of hope/optimism, Critical thinking/open mindedness, Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, perspective, creativity, and perseverance.
• Strengths of competence through Achieving, Discovering, Organizing, and Future Thinking.

Want to take your Kaizen to another level? Read on:

• Start with the book Better, Faster, Stronger by Charles Duhigg

This summer, take some time, brew yourself some tea and reflect on this word and what it means for you. Why did I choose this word for you? How can you make it your own?

I have colated some special Ted talks to help you focus your reflection: 

From the EG conference: Productivity guru Tim Ferriss’ fun, encouraging anecdotes show how one simple question — “What’s the worst that could happen?” — is all you need to learn to do anything.

Carol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet? A great introduction to this influential field.

Is there something you’ve always meant to do, wanted to do, but just … haven’t? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals.

The Finns have something they call Sisu. It is a compound of bravado and bravery, of ferocity and tenacity, of the ability to keep fighting after most people would have quit, and to fight with the will to win. Some people will call it grit, and it certainly has that. If you are lucky enough to get to know some Finns you will see they have some deep reserves.

Strengths fed:

• Via character strengths: perseverance, Self-Regulation, hope/optimism and Bravery.
• Strengths of competence through Confidence, Future Thinking and dependability.

Want to take your Sisu to another level? Read on:

• Start with the book Grit. It is  really good. So is Smarter, Faster, Better.

I have colated some special Ted talks to help you focus your reflection: 

Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.

Carol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet? A great introduction to this influential field.

In the pitch-black night, stung by jellyfish, choking on salt water, singing to herself, hallucinating … Diana Nyad just kept on swimming. And that’s how she finally achieved her lifetime goal as an athlete: an extreme 100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida — at age 64. Hear her story.

What a mouthful, I thought, when I first heard this word. My friend had told me I had what the German’s called Gemeinshaftgefuhl. I almost said bless you, because the word sounded funny. But he explained that it was a special sentiment: It had to do with the love of your fellow human being. More than that, it meant dong something to help your fellow man, for the sheer love of them.  The Germans have a way of constructing words—so many syllables. But what a spirit this one captures. Some translate it as “community feeling” or “social interest,” the Psychologist, Alfred  Adler used it to describe the state of social connectedness and interest in the well-being of others that characterizes psychological health.

Strengths Fed

• Character strengths of love, social intelligence, kindness, teamwork.
• Strengths of Competence: relator, caring and presence.

Want to take your Gemeinshaftgefuhl to another level? Read on:

Path to Purpose.

Want to make your job matter in the world? Your work can feed your altruism. 

TED has some great ideas:

It’s hard to always show compassion — even to the people we love, but Robert Thurman asks that we develop compassion for our enemies. He prescribes a seven-step meditation exercise to extend compassion beyond our inner circle.

Google’s “Jolly Good Fellow,” Chade-Meng Tan, talks about how the company practices compassion in its everyday business — and its bold side projects.

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, asks why we aren’t more compassionate more of the time.

What is altruism? Put simply, it’s the wish that other people may be happy. And, says Matthieu Ricard, a happiness researcher and a Buddhist monk, altruism is also a great lens for making decisions, both for the short and long term, in work and in life.