In Coach Carter, Ken Carter accepts the basketball coach job at Richmond High School. And one of his first actions is to draw up social contracts for each of his players. “This contract states that you will maintain a 2.3 grade point average,” Carter tells them in the scene below.… Read More »How social contracts can help you stick to your goals
In the 1960s, psychologist Marty Seligman inadvertently stumbled upon a finding that can have a profound impact on our happiness and success. Seligman found that if you subject animals to a painful or adverse experience, then they may fail to avoid that experience in future – even when it’s quite… Read More »How we learn helplessness – and how to overcome it
Books on happiness have proliferated in recent years as we confront a discomforting fact. Though more of us are richer and have more opportunities than ever before, surveys show our overall happiness levels are decreasing. There are many different aspects of happiness, but most psychologists agree it’s made up of a… Read More »Five movie tips to make you happier
Movies are awash with tales of the underdog. But Friday Night Lights deals with a very different theme: the pressure of expectation. Set in the tiny Texas town of Odessa, that pressure is heaped upon the Permian Panthers High School football team. Here, football is a religion, and the boys are celebrities:… Read More »Setting expectations in Friday Night Lights
In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, a panic-stricken Ron Weasley is approaching his first match as the Gryffindor Quidditch team keeper. Ron is paralysed by nerves until he discovers that Harry has slyly spiked his drink with ‘liquid luck’ – a magical potion that bestows good fortune on anyone… Read More »How to create your own ‘liquid luck’
“What is it that you actually do?” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Woz) asks in the movie Steve Jobs, after listing the impressive contributions of other Apple team members. “Musicians play their instruments,” Jobs tells him simply. “I play the orchestra.” Jobs’s widow and current Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook… Read More »Playing the orchestra: lessons from Steve Jobs
Hoosiers (also known in the UK as Best Shot) was an unexpected box office hit in 1985, telling the unlikely story of a tiny high school basketball team who win the State Championship in hoop-mad Indiana in the early 1950s. Disgraced former coach Norman Dale is given a final chance to… Read More »10 key leadership lessons from Hoosiers
Managing performance is often a leader’s least favourite part of their role. Having difficult conversations requires what the military call ‘moral courage’. Some choose to put up with negative behaviour instead. But people want to know how they’re performing, and honest, constructive feedback is critical to creating an engaged and healthy… Read More »Six movie tips for managing performance