About toxic relationships at work

“Don’t confuse “familiar” with “acceptable”. Toxic relationships can fool you like that.” – Steve Maraboli, Speaker, Author, Athlete, Veteran Wisdom and Courage: to know when to act differently, and then to do so. This may sound obvious, but is this how you actually respond when the situation demands it? Do you instead remain trapped in […]

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Stoic virtues in the XXIst century part 2/2

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts” – Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor I would have been curious to hear some of your stories of living with Wisdom and Temperance. I’m sure many of you embody them, even if you don’t name them that way. Today, let me share two stories […]

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About AI, meaning and happiness

“Once AI can carry out 30% of tasks, annual growth will exceed 20%” – The Economist, 24 July 2025 A recent Economist issue explored two futures shaped by AGI: a hellscape and an explosion of economic growth. While I chose to open with the more positive scenario, it seems likely that only those invested in […]

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What matters to you?

“I’m having fun. I’m being myself. I’m doing what I love. That’s all that matters.” Although many parts of the world are currently facing intense heat, with one heat wave following another, summer feels gentler to me than any other season. That’s why I quoted James Charles, a YouTube influencer and makeup artist. His words […]

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Managing Conflict

“I’d like to punch him in the face”, Donald Trump, 22 February 2016 about a protester at one of his rallies Conflict surrounds us: armed struggles abroad, political attacks at home. We also know conflict in our personal lives – at home, in the schoolyard and at work. Here is a video about coping with […]

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Don’t Believe Everything You Think

“The thoughts in our minds are not facts.” This is a quote from Joseph Nguyen’s “Don’t Believe Everything You Think”. When I was studying psychology, I was asked to keep a thought diary and capture as many of my thoughts as possible. I discovered that our thoughts are both fleeting and largely conjectural. I remember […]

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Readiness and overcoming the fear of failure

“The readiness is all”, Hamlet said to Horatio. What does it mean to be ready? In my line of work, it’s frequently about overcoming fear. I meet people who are ready to change. They can imagine themselves being more assertive. They dream of their promotion. They visualise themselves in a new role. They can almost […]

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That traveling companion for your journey of transformation

“There are more fake gurus and false teachers in this world than the number of stars in the visible universe.” – Shams Tabrizi For the past two weeks, I was moved to discuss how we transform. I proposed that courses only inform – when they don’t bore. I shared my view that AI, wonderful and […]

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How Coaching Transforms Your Life

HR is once again reminding me about the leadership course I “absolutely must attend.” I have always had a lot of respect for these dedicated HR folks who consistently try to engage employees in development programs, training sessions, and team-building events. For many years, I was one of those employees, and I remember how conflicted […]

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Paying attention: the secret to happiness (part 1)

Hello and welcome to this month’s neuro blog! Let’s see: where have we got to? Three articles in, we know about the three parts of the human brain (read about the triune brain) and the dominance of the unconscious. We also know that one of the main purposes of the human brain is sense-making (read again about what the brain is for). […]

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How we really make decisions

Hello and welcome to this month’s neuro blog! Are you enjoying the summer? I’m writing from the South of France and it’s just blissful! Today, I’d like to address decision-making. Remember that I posited in an early post that “there is no thinking which is not emotional which in turn implies that our decisions and behaviours are […]

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Emotions, language and who we choose to be

Hello and welcome to this month’s neuro blog! And I promise, no more about paying attention! I appreciate that four articles – fascinating though they were, weren’t they? – on that topic is enough. But before we move on, wasn’t it interesting to see how neuroscience – and notably understanding how our brains process stimuli, including social cues […]

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