Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: friends

  • Karl’s Library: Vital Friends by Tom Rath

    The myth of the independent, diversely-competent, always-together person must be hunted down wherever it still reigns and destroyed once and for all.

    It’s destroying more people and all workplace cultures where its lies are still blindly obeyed.

    Human beings don’t do life alone.

    Human being can’t do life alone.

    Fortunately, Tom Rath has taken a look at friendship and work in Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford To Live Without.

    Would you believe, “that people who have a ‘best friend’ at work are seven times as likely to be engaged in their job?!”

    Take note of the eight vital roles Rath asserts we need surrounding us:

    1. Builder
    2. Champion
    3. Collaborator
    4. Companion
    5. Connector
    6. Energizer
    7. Mind Opener
    8. Navigator 

    You don’t have to be a “warm and fuzzy” type to appreciate the value of most of these roles.

    This book is an invitation to connect with others in ways you may not yet have considered.

    This book may even be a helpful wake-up call to those of us who tend to isolate and go it alone.

    Order your copy today.

    Karl’s Library is a weekly column highlighting my favorites from my professional development library. “Always learning” is one of the pillars of my personal mission statement. Explore past columns here.

     

    If you’re a Kindle fan like I am, it is available for the Kindle.

    Don’t have a Kindle? Get one! You’ll love it.

  • Loving Monday: The Inspiration of Friends

    loving_mondayI am lucky. I have great friends.

    I am experiencing the inspiration of friends today.

    Friends can be a lot of good things. Friends can be support. Friends can be courage. Friends can be acceptance. Friends can be play.

    Here’s the deal when it comes to a friend being an inspiration.

    They do not tell you what you need to do, but you go away wanting to do something. They do not tell you what to think, but you go away thinking more… and more honestly. They don’t draw conclusions or provide answers, but raise issues and pose questions.

    What is going on, then?

    A good friend knows you and leaves room for you to show up as yourself.

    A good friend is confident that when you show up as yourself, good things are going to happen. No… great things are going to happen.

    The inspiration of friends has the effect of you and I believing in ourselves as much as they do.

    The inspiration of friends has the effect of freeing us to act more boldly on our convictions, our decisions, and/or our hunches.

    Excuse me now. I have been inspired by a friend, and there are some things I need to do right away!

    On your side,

    – Karl Edwards

    Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.

  • Quote to Consider: Source of Friends

    quote-to-consider“How casually and unobservedly we make all our most valued acquaintances.”

    Ralph Waldo Emerson