Organizational Development

Russ Powell

Three Steps for Having Better Difficult Conversations

To have productive difficult conversations take the perspective of the other, think about what you truly want, and don't take it personally.

Russ Powell

Dunbar's Number and the Limits of Friendship

A few excerpts from an article by Maria Konnikova about Dunbar's number, the nature of friendship and the limits of social media.

Russ Powell

Systems Thinking and the Juggling Girls of Berlin

A troupe of jugglers from Berlin helps us apply a simple, powerful framework for thinking about and diagnosing problems in human systems.

Russ Powell

Three Things High Performing Teams Do Differently

A study from psychologist Ron Friedman suggests high-performing teams find success by making better, stronger social connections.

Russ Powell

Sometimes a Leader Needs a Good Poet

As leaders, we don't often think much about poetry, until it becomes a necessity.

Russ Powell

Data-Poor Conversations Lead to Poor Problem-Solving.

I love this bit of wisdom from the 70's TV show "Kung Fu" w/ David Carradine: YOUNG CAINE -- "The stick is straight, yet in the water it...

Russ Powell

Game-Theory and The Evolution of Trust

In business, as in life, all of our significant, productive encounters with others – our colleagues, our clients, our partners, our...

Russ Powell

"We know a lot about organizations; they’re not as mysterious as they seem." –Bill Daniels

This weekend—when not washing my hands, obsessing about COVID-19, or re-binge-watching West Wing—I watched the HPT Legacy interview of...