On January 8, 2018, football teams from the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia competed in the FBS College Playoff National Championship game. I had no favorite. Alabama won in overtime 26-23, giving Alabama coach Nick Saban his sixth national championship (5 at Alabama, 1 at Louisiana). Andy Staples wrote a Sports Illustrated article, “It Takes Tua,” describing the game. Staples’s narrative also offered insights into Saban’s management style. Here are my insights for leaders based on my reading about Nick Saban in Staples’s article.

1. Acquire the best talent that you can. From 2011 to 2017 Saban had the #1 recruiting class, except 2015 when his recruits were #2. This is a theme at the highest achieving organizations.
2. Know your people and their potential. Saban coaches practices on the field, not from a tower above the field. He gets to know his players, strengths, weaknesses, areas to improve. Staples quotes Saban: “You’re there to see the flaws. You’re a part of quality control.”
3. Maximize the value of training. Training is more than preparation. On the practice field Saban sees fine details, makes corrections, and develops insights that help him with the “big picture” and strategies.
4. Adapt quickly to change. To match up better with the new look from high-tempo run-pass-option teams, Saban recruited lighter, quicker defenders. “When the NCAA banned head coaches . . . from visiting high schools to watch practice during the spring evaluation period, Saban became one of the first coaches to use video conferencing to talk to recruits” (p. 37).
5. Work through adverse events not under your control. Alabama had a difficult year with many injuries but managed to win all but one game during the regular season.
6. Try to affect outcomes not under your control. Alabama was not a lock to be in the national championship playoffs. Saban “called in to ESPN” and made the case for his team. Did it make a difference? Perhaps. Perhaps not – but he spoke up on behalf of his people. He tried.
7. Embrace resiliency. After the championship game, Saban told his players, “I hope you take something from this game and the resiliency that you showed in this game helps you be more successful in life” (p. 39).
8. Analyze, be prepared, be decisive. At halftime trailing 13-0, Saban replaced his starting quarterback Jalen Hurts (who had led Alabama to a 25-2 record) with an 18 year-old backup. The decision changed the game and was called “a drastic – or desperate move” by many. But Saban always had this as an option. It wasn’t drastic or desperate. It was calculated, planned for, and always an option. The halftime adjustment was for an offense with more passing. He knew Tua Tagovailoa was the better passer.
9. Grow and support your people. Many of Saban’s assistants have moved on to leadership positions in football. In the championship game Saban faced Kirby Smart who “had helped Saban win four national titles as Alabama’s defensive coordinator” (p.39).
10. Stay hungry for success. “I’m never satisfied. My greatest fear professionally is that we might lose the next game . . . I hate the feeling you have when you lose, but I also hate the feeling that you have when you didn’t do a good job for your players.”

I have often found leadership and life lessons in sports stories and occasionally have made these the subjects of blogs. Here are several: Urban Meyer, Carli Lloyd, Coach K, Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, and Champ Bailey.

Staples, A. (2018, January 15). “It takes Tua.” Sports Illustrated, 128(1), 32-39.

Image, modified from "Nick Saban and Terri Sewell", Rep. Terri Sewell. Public Domain. From: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nick_Saban_and_Terri_Sewell.jpg
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© John Ballard, PhD,  2018. All rights reserved.

Author of Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2016.
 _________________________
"Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations is as informed and informative a read as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking. . . Decoding the Workplace should be considered critically important reading for anyone working in a corporate environment." —Midwest Book Review

My annual blog on reading, modified from my previous January blogs about the importance of leaders reading

Each January I pose the question: What book are you reading now? My experience is the best leaders always have a book they are reading about which they have opinions, insights, and comments.
 
Lifelong learning is essential to grow as a leader. A habit of reading books is important to that growth. What role do books play in your life? In your learning? Making time to read books is important. I usually have several books in my study that I am working through. Technology helps. I read books on the Kindle app on my iPhone when I have short periods of downtime away from home. On long car trips I enjoy audio books. I have friends who like audio books best. 
 
My favorite books in 2017 were non-fiction and had lessons for work and life.  Brian Jay's George Lucas: A Life is worth another read. So many innovations from Lucas about which I was unaware. Interested in the question are we alone in the universe? Start here on Earth with Peter Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness. And while we are discussing life on Earth, I highly recommend a book about life on and in us, I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yon. I often asked my students what percent of the cells in their bodies were human. Few guessed only 10%. 

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders was easily the most creative work of fiction I read last year. Reminded me of the Spoon River Anthology, which incidentally has a character named John Ballard. On a very different note I found Soul Survivor by Bruce and Andrea Leininger compelling. Academics knowledgeable about reincarnation research recommended as one of the best documented cases in the U.S. Also recommended was I Saw a Light and Came Here: Children's Experiences of Reincarnation by Erlendur Haraldsson and James Matlock, another intriguing read. 

As we begin 2018, here are a few of the books on my reading list:

• Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
• Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life  . . . and Maybe the World by William McRaven
• Lead Yourself First by Raymond Kethledge and Michael Erwin
• A New History of Management by Stephen Cummings, Todd Bridgman, John Hassard, and Michael Rowlinson
• Making It Up by Penelope Lively 
• Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon by Jeffrey Kluger
• Henry David Thoreau: A Life by Laura Walls
• Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air around Us by Sam Kean
• A History of the World in 500 Walks by Sarah Baxter
• Overload: Finding the Truth in Today's News by Bob Schieffer
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi 
• I’ll have what she’s having: How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy by Erin Carlson
• Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly
• Unbelievable by Katy Tur
• Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them”, Mark Twain. 

Or as the comedian Groucho Marx said, “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”   
 
What are you reading?
_______________________
Image, "Books", © John Ballard.
​
© John Ballard, PhD,  2018. All rights reserved.

Author of Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2016.
 _________________________
"Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations is as informed and informative a read as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking. . . Decoding the Workplace should be considered critically important reading for anyone working in a corporate environment." —Midwest Book Review

The “pursuit of happiness" is embedded in the United States Declaration of Independence. How does one pursue happiness? Who is happy? In a previous blog I focused on the latter question and quoted Dave Meyer and Ed Diener: “Wealth  . . . is like health: Its absence can breed misery, yet having it is no guarantee of happiness” (p. 13). I have also blogged about research on ways to iincrease your happiness. 
 
What is the relationship between money and happiness? If you had more money, would you be happier? Researchers have studied these and related questions for years. What have we learned?
 
Boyce, Daly, Hounkpatin, and Wood published an interesting article on this subject in the April 2017 issue of Psychological Science. While the focus of their contribution was on clarifying previous research on spending and personality, their discussion included insights from multiple studies. Here are some highlights I gleaned from their article:

• Studies indicate a weak relationship between happiness and money
• A possible reason for the weak relationship is “because people do not spend their money wisely” (p. 544).
• Money spent on experiences are more likely to increase happiness than money spent on possessions.
• Money spent on other people are more likely to increase happiness than money spent on one’s self.
• “Materialism is associated with less happiness” (p. 545).
• “Attempting to spend one’s way to happiness would ‘buy’ so little well-being as to be largely irrelevant to people’s lives” (p. 545).
• Situations where money affects well-being: poverty, indebtedness, losing income.
• Strong predictors of happiness: relationships, stable employment, mental and physical health
• People who tend to be moody and have negative feelings (neuroticism) tend to be less happy.
• People who tend to be outgoing (extraversion) tend to be happier.

My take-aways:
 
1. Research on what makes us happy is important. Experiences over possessions. Relationships. Spending on others. I have had a wonderful Christmas season with friends and family. It was not about gifts received. It was about being with people dear to me and also doing for others.
 
2. The “pursuit of happiness” is a marvelous phrase. Who “pursues” happiness? Who just lets life unfold? There is an intentionality inherent to this phrase. And how we pursue happiness may change. We may find moments of wonder, joy, and yes happiness, even in dire circumstances.
 
3. How does this affect us in the workplace? I suggest two types of happiness. One is trait-happiness. Some people just tend to be happier. The other is state-happiness, the joy that is more temporary and situation-specific. As leaders and colleagues, we can affect state-happiness by how we interact with each other and support each other. And do not forget to celebrate small victories that are meaningful shared experiences.
 
Boyce, C. J., Daly, M., Hounkpatin, H. O., Wood, A. M. (2017). Money may buy happiness, but often so little that it doesn’t matter. Psychological Science, 28(4), 544-546.
 
Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6 (1), 10-19.
 
My image, "Confederation Bridge at Sunset."
 
© John Ballard, PhD,  2017. All rights reserved.
 
Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

Sexual harassment is now the major topic in the workplace. The following is adapted from my book, Decoding the Workplace.
     
In most organizations masculine norms are common, and the higher you advance in the organization, the stronger the norms become.  As Sheryl Sandberg put it in Lean In, “the blunt truth is that men still run the world.” Only in the past two decades have women moved in significant numbers into leadership positions in corporate America.
 
The predominance of men in most of our organizations has created male cultures where masculine norms and roles are pervasive --and sometimes decisive. When a woman rises to near the top of an organization, the question may become, is she one of the boys?
 
The "boys" have the rules they play by, the games they play, the subjects they talk about. Will the woman fit into the group? Business is conducted on the golf course, in the locker room, on hunting trips.
 
And then there is the comfort factor, will we be comfortable with this woman around? Will we be comfortable with her on our executive retreat in the Caribbean?
 
Compounding this is the fact that as you go higher in organizations, the norms tend to become stronger. And they extend beyond the workday. Those who lead our organizations are available 24/7. There are social engagements, dinners, parties, plus the work that must get done, the decisions that must be made. You will entertain, you will be at these functions, you will see that our main client has a great time.
 
When you are "on" all the time, disconnects between thought and deed are more likely to be revealed. Your actions must fit the group norms or you will not remain part of the group.
 
In spite of this male culture, some women break the glass ceiling. The long term answer to the predominance of masculine norms is more women in our organizations, women in positions of leadership. Where women are represented proportionately across an organization, norms may slowly change. Where women actually outnumber men in significant numbers, one would expect masculine norms to give way to more feminine norms.
 
More troublesome are those workplaces where the masculine norms border on (or even embrace) sexual harassment, crude humor, and sexual innuendo. Polls suggest that perhaps 50% of all women in the workforce have experienced some form of harassment. A new poll taken today would probably find that percentage low.
 
As legally indefensible as these conditions may be, women may be reluctant to "rock the boat.” A paycheck is a paycheck. The question becomes at what cost? Some women endure very stressful working conditions that impact health and productivity just to keep a job.

"Boys will be boys" is not an acceptable response to these issues. Where dysfunctional norms impact on the quality of work life, management should exercise leadership and work to eliminate. Changing norms can be difficult but the costs here are not only to the individual but also to the organization.
 
Image "#METOO" by Mihai Surdu. Obtained from https://pixabay.com/en/metoo-women-harassment-sexual-2859980/
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Used with permission: Public domain per CC0 
 
© John Ballard, PhD,  2017. All rights reserved.
 
Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards 

Planning is a topic not often discussed. You may have heard that some people plan, others do. Academic business programs teach planning from big picture strategic to day-to-day operational. Henri Fayol, the great French industrialist and management scholar, said planning was fundamental to business success.
 
But what about in other aspects of our lives? We have a wealth of information about how to set SMART goals and the importance of goal-setting – but what do we know about planning?
 
In the November 2017 issue of Psychological Science, Park, Lu, and Hedgcock published a stimulating article on planning. Their focus was on the different outcomes obtained from forward planning versus backward planning.

• forward planning: “planning the steps required to reach a goal in chronological order, starting with the step temporally closest to the present and ending with the step furthest from the present” (p. 1620).
• backward planning: “planning the steps in reverse chronological order, starting with the step furthest in time from the present and ending with the step closest in time” (p. 1621). 

From their review of other studies:

• visualizing a goal or event “makes it easier to analyze the event and comprehend necessary steps to make it happen”
• contrasting a future goal or event with the current reality helps separate “reachable and unreachable goals” (assuming goal has been elaborated)
• contrasting a future goal or event with the current reality increases commitment and effectiveness (assuming goal has been elaborated)
• “Thinking in reverse order makes people less likely to perceive the present reality as an impediment” (p. 1621)
• “Backward planning is particularly helpful for complex problems” or planning where there is much uncertainty

 
Therefore they predicted “mentally contrasting the future attainment of desired goals with the present reality will help people clearly see the reality to overcome and selectively commit to essential steps for goal achievement.” They expected this mental contrasting through backward planning to be more motivational and effective. Forward planning has more potential missteps, more choices emerge, potentially less motivation as the steps unfold.
 
In five studies with various designs this is pretty much what they found. Backward planning

• led to greater motivation and “better goal-directed behavior”
• better anticipation of  the necessary steps to the goal
• better following the plan
• higher expectations that the goal would be achieved

They concluded “planning in reverse chronological order may not only help people have a clearer view of tasks to execute but also improve their actual performance” (p. 1629).
 
My take-aways:
 
1. Park, Lu, and Hedgcock’s studies involved individual planning. Like much of psychological research, the participants were undergraduate students. My guess is their findings would hold up well for individual or small group planning. Too often we’ll set a goal and then try to figure out how to get there, usually thinking about what do we have to do first? Could we more fully visualize the goal desired and work backwards from that goal? It may be harder to start that way but once planned, it may be easier to execute. Goal-setting is important but perhaps also is where do you begin the planning?
 
2.  I am a firm believer in the power of goal-setting. In my personal and professional life, I have done much planning. Which is better – a roadmap or a compass? I think it may depend on the goal. 
 
3. My preference for planning in organizations is to use PERT (Program-Evaluation-Review Technique) in a simplified form. Working with others identify all possible steps in the process to achieve the goal. Flow the steps sequentially (some may be able to occur simultaneously). Take a hard look at each step and potential difficulties. Estimate times to accomplish each step. Then find the critical path, the series of most time-intensive steps that must be achieved to accomplish the goal. What are the most critical steps? I am not sure if this is forward planning or backward planning. Step creation need not be forward. Steps are identified and then ordered. The benefit here is the capability to analyze and steps to execute the plan.
 
4.  I concur with the authors on the importance of visualization. Regardless of your occupation or goals in life, visualizing the goals you want to achieve, seeing in your mind what goal achievement would be like, should increase the probability of those goals being achieved.
 
Park, J., Lu, F., & Hedgcock, W. M. (2017). Relative effects of forward and backward planning on goal pursuit. Psychological Science, 28(11), 1620-1630.
 
Image "Planning" by Nick Youngson, . Obtained from http://www.picserver.org/p/planning.html
Used with permission: Public domain per CCO 3.0
 
© John Ballard, PhD,  2017. All rights reserved.
 
Author, Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2016.

Why are some people more successful than others in the workplace, home, life? Setting SMART goals can be one factor but there are others, such as resources, time, situational constraints. Some would add luck. All things being equal though, much success probably comes from within ourselves, psychological characteristics that tend to lead some of us to be more successful than others.
 
Two stalwarts of psychology addressed this topic in the September issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science: Angela Duckworth, known for her work on grit, and Martin Seligman, known for his work on learned helplessness. Their article focuses on the importance of self-control but it summarizes concisely three psychological factors affecting success:

• self-control – “the capacity to regulate attention, emotion, and behavior in the presence of temptation.”
• grit – “passion and perseverance for long-term goals.”
• conscientiousness - being careful, being thorough; desiring to do a task well (one of the Big Five personality factors). 

Duckworth and Seligman discuss the pros and cons of lumping these together in studying success versus studying separately. The bottomline is both lumping and splitting help understand the differences and underlying dynamics. Here are some insights I noted:

• In middle school students, self-control equaled intelligence measure in predicting grades and test scores but exceeded intelligence measures on predicting absences, procrastination, and time watching TV.
• Self-control is important to outcomes in life, including income, finances, health, and “occupational prestige.”
• Conscientiousness includes self-control and is highly related to longevity, wealth, and health.
• Gritty people have a “single-minded, sustained commitment” to “enduring goals of superordinate personal significance.”
• “A gritty person cannot be gritty about everything.”
• Being able to delay gratification of “ill-timed or inappropriate impulses” is a hallmark of self-control and develops early in life, according to Freud.
• Suggestions: teach goal-setting and planning; affect situational factors to downplay temptations; try to make negative emotions “less overwhelming.

My take-aways:
 
1. Many factors contribute to success. Your definition of success may be very different from another’s. I knew a local rock band that were truly outstanding, but when given the opportunity for national, even international exposure, declined. Making music was a joy – not a lifestyle calling. Being a “rock star” was not part of their individual definitions of success. What does success mean to you?
 
2.  I see self-control and grit as important factors for individual success in any part of life. I have written about grit here previously. But grit is not necessarily predictive of organizational success unless the enduring goal is somehow tied to the organization. Given recent headlines about sexual harassment in the workplace, we can probably agree that self-control should have a greater emphasis in our training and conduct. Just how long can you go without looking at your smartphone?
 
3. On the other hand, conscientiousness is of great organizational and personal significance. We can measure conscientiousness, correlate with organizational outcomes, and design into selection systems. As I have written previously, it is the most important trait affecting health and success that you may have never considered.
 
4. Lumped or separated, these three factors offer a good self-assessment as to your success. How is your self-control? Do you have an enduring goal that you are pursuing with passion? Are you thorough in your work, striving for good outcomes in the various parts of your life? 

Duckworth, A. L., & Seligman, M. E. P.  (2017).  The science and practice of self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(5), 715-718.
 
Image modified from image by Darrell A. Obtained from https://www.flickr.com/photos/117427305@N05/32031185350/
Used with permission: Public domain per CCO 1.0
 
© John Ballard, PhD,  2017. All rights reserved.
 
Author, Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2016.
Please visit www.decodingtheworkplace.com.

Are your leaders ethical? Are they trustworthy, honest, and fair? Ultimately these are perceptions. The apparent ethical leader may not be. In the Ken Burns & Lynn Novick‎ documentary "The Vietnam War", leaders are shown saying one thing in public and something different in private.
 
Organizational researchers study perceptions and how these perceptions are related to other factors such as job satisfaction or performance. Research has indicated perceptions of ethical leadership are related to job satisfaction and employee commitment.
 
In a study reported in a 2014 issue of the Journal of Business Ethics, Monica Sharif and Terri Scandura extended the research on ethical leadership to organizational change. They hypothesized that “one important source of employees’ response to change may be the ethicality of their leader.” Organizational change can be a time of great strain on leaders as well as subordinates. Leaders seen as ethical may influence subordinates positively. Ethical leaders have a greater chance of having employee support even if the decisions are difficult or unpopular.
 
Working from a survey of about 200 supervisor-subordinate dyads, Sharif and Scandura confirmed findings that leaders perceived as ethical have employees who are:

• more satisfied with their jobs
• perform better
• engage in greater organizational citizenship (e.g., going beyond their duties to help others and the organization).

 
In regards to organizational change, those who experienced change and perceived their leaders were ethical outperformed those not experiencing change. Performance was actually higher during times of change where leaders were seen as fair and trustworthy.
 
They concluded “ethical leadership may amplify the effects of involvement.”
 
My take-aways:
 
1. Perceptions are reality. Sharif and Scandura raise an important question. Organizational change is hard. Leaders who are not seen as trustworthy or fair would seem to handicap the change effort. On the other hand, fair and trustworthy leadership can inspire success, even when difficult.
 
2. My guess is ethical leadership is situational. It is possible to see a leader as ethical in some situations but not in others. Likewise, another employee may see the situation exactly opposite. The key for leaders is to understand how perceptions of their fairness impact employee performance and understand themselves well enough to know how they are perceived. This means leaders must seek realistic feedback from those they trust, those who will be open and honest with them. Leaders should know themselves.
 
3. I suspect culture plays a large role here. To what degree are trust, honesty, and transparency core values in your organization’s culture? Ethical leaders should excel in trusting cultures. But ethical leaders may be needed even more in cultures that lack trust.
 
Sharif, M. M., & Scandura, T. A. (2014). Do perceptions of ethical conduct matter during organizational change? Ethical leadership and employee involvement. Journal of Business Ethics, 124(2), 185-196.
 
Image, “Ethics” by Nick Youngson (http://nyphotographic.com).  Obtained from http://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/wooden-tile/e/ethics.html 
​Used with permission: Creative Commons 3 - CC BY-SA 3.0
 
© John Ballard, PhD,  2017. All rights reserved.
 
Author, Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2016.
Please visit www.decodingtheworkplace.com.

My blog is usually about the practical implications of research on leadership, management, and the workplace. In my last blog I described my 1991 solar eclipse adventure. In this one I share my August 2017 total solar eclipse experience. 

We followed the North Platte River westward across the Great Plains of western Nebraska. Buttes of sand and clay stood like sentinels guarding passage west. Courthouse and Jail Rocks, Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff. Home to the Arapaho for centuries. Transient passage for Easterners heading west in the mid-1800s: the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail. Riders of the Pony Express knew this land.
 
We came to experience a total eclipse of the sun. For over 25 years I had anticipated this day, August 21, 2017. Coast-to-coast the shadow of the moon would travel the United States. I studied charts, examined the probabilities for clear skies, and chose western Nebraska. With a detailed atlas of Nebraska, I plotted the eclipse centerline and its borders. I knew where the sun would disappear. Should clouds come, I knew my alternatives.
 
From the atlas I chose a location on the centerline north of Scottsbluff. I did not want to trespass on anyone’s property. The atlas identified several ranches scattered across that land. To learn who owned the land where I wanted to be, I called the nearest ranch. This was to be my introduction to “Nebraska nice,” something that I would experience repeatedly during our visit. The rancher graciously and warmly invited my wife and me to join her family and friends at their ranch for the eclipse.
 
In the days leading up to the eclipse, the weather forecast for Scottsbluff for that Monday changed daily: partly cloudy, clear, cloudy, rain. I awoke Monday morning and looked out the window of our hotel. We were encased in fog, dense fog. My mind went back to 1991 and the fog that enveloped Mauna Loa on the morning of that solar eclipse. It was threatening yet comforting. I knew it would probably burn off as the uncovered sun rose higher in the east. And it did.
 
My wife and I traveled north on Nebraska State Route 71. For 30 miles cars, trucks, vans, and RVs lined the highway, positioned at every conceivable space. We crossed the sandhills, left the highway, and found the ranch. Groves of trees framed the house and buildings. On the acre or so of short grass and fenced from the surrounding landscape, several families and friends were settling in for the day’s event.
 
The husband and wife who owned the ranch greeted us as if we were old friends. We felt welcome and at home. We chose a spot. I set up my solar telescope and within minutes shouted repeatedly, “First contact! First contact!”
 
As the eclipse progressed, I shared telescopic views with our new friends and others who joined us. I enjoyed sharing. The image of the sun was red in the Corona telescope. We watched as the moon eclipsed sunspots. Several people took photos through the telescope. With the eclipse to be high overhead, I spread a quilt and placed pillows so my wife and I could lie down and observe totality in comfort.
 
About 15 minutes before totality, we noticed the diminishing sunlight. My anticipation grew as we looked westward over the trees for the approaching umbra. About five minutes before totality, an area in the west seemed a darker blue, then it darkened, and grew wider. As the shadow approached, it appeared as the black wall of a massive thunderstorm raging across the plains. Quickly it grew higher in the sky. Venus appeared brightly in the shadow while the sun’s final crescent was still shining. Then sunlight was gone from the land and a beautiful diamond ring hung in the sky for an instant.
 
And there it was. The eclipsed sun. The corona. Venus, Mars. A hint of red from a small prominence. The landscape was silent. Words fail me. Nothing prepares you for the majesty of a total solar eclipse. Two and half minutes pass swiftly. I lay down beside my wife, held her hand, and gave myself to this moment.
 
All too quickly another diamond ring and sunlight returned to the land. I offered a short prayer of thanks to the Universe for that is what I felt in my heart. A precious gift. A most special gift. This was my birthday eclipse.

Image, "Total Solar Eclipse, August 21, 2017" by Shahrin Ahmad. Obtained from https://www.flickr.com/photos/shahgazer/35988271284/in/pool-nasa-eclipse2017/
Used with permission. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
Image cropped for use on this page. 

© John Ballard, PhD, 2017. All rights reserved.
 
Co-Author, Miracle at Red Hill: A Total Solar Eclipse Adventure.
 
Author, Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2016.
Please visit www.decodingtheworkplace.com.

On Monday August 21 workers across the United States will take vacation days, mental health days, “sick” days, or long lunches to witness one of the greatest spectacles to be seen from Earth, a total eclipse of the sun. Many will be disappointed as clouds obscure the event, but those unobscured by clouds in the 60-mile wide path of the moon's shadow will experience an event unlike any other.

In my blogs I share practical implications of academic research on leadership, management, and the workplace and add a few take-aways of my own. This blog is different. 
 
In 1991 my friend Richard Bilodeau and I backpacked up Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii to see a total eclipse of the sun. The beginning of our adventure is told here at this website. Our adventure continues in our Kindle e-story, Miracle at Red Hill: A Solar Eclipse Adventure. It is the story of our climb up the volcano and Richard's experience of the eclipse. It is Richard’s story. He was at Red Hill; I was farther up the trail at Fire Hill. 
 
On the morning of the 1991 eclipse I sat on the ledge of a 1984 lava flow just off the Mauna Loa trail. The sky at 12,000 feet was clear with just a few high cirrus clouds. In the distance far beyond, a layer of clouds was stealing the eclipse from the lower altitudes. It was a little after 6:00 a.m. I fired up my Peak 1 backpacking stove, made a pot of coffee, and settled in. Everything was perfect. I had expected to watch the eclipse in solitude in a volcanic wilderness.
 
Around 6:15 I heard a voice calling “John, John, is that you?”
 
Fifty yards or so in front of me standing in the middle of the lava flow was a park ranger, then another. They figured I’d have a great place from which to view the eclipse and wanted to join me. In the hour leading up to totality, I shared my welder’s glass #14 with the park rangers. We watched as the moon slowly devoured the sun. By 7:15 the mountain air was much cooler; the sky, much darker. Five minutes to totality I began searching the sky earnestly for any sign of the umbra, the moon’s shadow.
 
I was terribly excited, even anxious. I had never seen a total eclipse of the sun. My heart pounded. About a minute before totality I could see a deep blue shadow stretched across the dim sky. The umbra was falling from the sky! As it fell, it got darker and wider and fell faster and faster. I knew what I was seeing and I was still fearful. On the western horizon toward the summit, framed by indigo tinted with a deep green, a wall of darkness, like a massive black curtain, was racing toward us faster than the mind can comprehend. In an instant we were in the shadow. Turning toward the sun, we saw Baily’s Beads, then the Diamond Ring. There was a hole in the sky with a dancing, shimmering corona. The park ranger of Japanese ancestry yelled, "Yattaaaaaa!"  We were full of pure joy.
 
I later explained to my friend Richard, “Strangely I felt a connection to people through the ages who have stood in the shadow of the moon. I don’t know why. It was as if I were participating in a sacred ritual that had been passed down for millennia.”
 
I became totally absorbed by everything I could see, and not see. The universe seemed to flow through me. I was so happy I cried. I had to wipe away tears to see the eclipse. It may have been the longest yet shortest four minutes of my life. The eclipse was majestic, absolutely majestic. I completely forgot I had binoculars, such was the moment.
 
Best wishes for Monday, August 21. When the eclipse is partial, you MUST protect your eyes with solar filters, solar glasses, or welder’s glass. But should you be so fortunate as to stand in the shadow of the moon during totality, bask in the glory above. 
 
Image, “1991 Solar Eclipse,” from my collection of photos.
 
Both image and this blog © John Ballard, PhD, 2017. All rights reserved.
 
Co-Author, Miracle at Red Hill: A Total Solar Eclipse Adventure.
 
Author, Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2016.
Please visit www.decodingtheworkplace.com.

Mindfulness, meaning, engagement, and employee happiness are terms encountered with increasing frequency in management and business articles. Probably related to each of these is a concept rarely mentioned: self-compassion. How do you feel about yourself? You may show compassion to others but do you show compassion to yourself? If you backed your car into a garage post, how would you feel? Dr. Kristin Neff, a leading scholar and researcher of self-compassion, offers an online test to determine how self-compassionate we are.
 
Several years ago I blogged about self-compassion and Dr. Neff’s work. From her website: “Self-compassion means you are kind and understanding when confronted with personal failings” and has three elements:

• Being kind to ourselves: Be “warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or flagellating ourselves with self-criticism.” 
• Accepting our common humanity: Recognize that “suffering and personal inadequacy is part of the shared human experience – something that we all go through rather than being something that happens to ‘me’ alone.”  
• Being mindful: Observe one’s “thoughts and feelings as they are, without trying to suppress or deny them,” being non-judgmental.

I was reminded of the importance of self-compassion while reading the May/June issue of Explore. Dr. Roberto Benzo and colleagues reported a questionnaire study of 400 healthcare workers examining the relationships among self-compassion and a variety of other measures, such as happiness, mindfulness, stress, and exercise. They found:

• self-compassion was highly related to happiness (r = .63)
• “self-compassion was associated with decreased feelings of isolation”
• accepting our humanity and being mindful were “the most predictive of happiness”
• Self-compassion had a far greater impact on happiness than exercise.

My take-aways:
 
1. The study by Benzo and associates was at one hospital. It would be interesting to compare employees at different organizations using the same measures, that is self-compassion, happiness, and such, but add measures for engagement, job satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. My guess is organizations with employees who score higher on self-compassion would also be score higher on engagement and organizationally customer satisfaction would be greater.
 
2. This study and others underscore the value of self-compassion and mindfulness training in corporate settings. While such training may seem “touchy-feely,” the potential to affect the bottom-line and customer care may be significant.
 
3. I recommend spending some time at Dr. Neff’s self-compassion website. Watch videos and listen to the exercises. Take time to take care of you.
 
Benzo, R. P., Kirsch, J. L., & Nelson, C. (2017). Compassion, mindfulness, and the happiness of healthcare workers. Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 13(3), 201-206.
 
Neff, K. (2017) Self-compassion. http://self-compassion.org
 
Image, “Garage Post.”  © John Ballard, 2017
 
© John Ballard, PhD,  2017. All rights reserved.
 
Author, Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2016.
Please visit www.decodingtheworkplace.com.