Leadership Lessons From the Newspaper
My local paper afforded me an opportunity to share some thoughts on the power of good communication and collaboration.
Near my home in the wine country of Northern California there has been a decade long battle between an Indian tribe that wanted to put in a casino on their land and the neighbors who enjoy one of the most scenic and wealthy vineyard and winery regions in the world. The tribe’s rather combative and secretive tribal leader and local government, environmental groups and wine industry associations duked it out for years.
When the casino parking structure suddenly went up, as if over night, the tribal leader finally admitted they had been “less than truthful”. Not a good way to establish good relationships. Back and forth it went over zoning, land use, access, fire and police protection, liquor permits and more.
Then something very different happened.
Stressed employees are not the best, most effective employees. If you and your staff are undergoing major changes, a busy business cycle, end of the year budgets or other stressful events, you may want to know that new research puts a new light on the age-old idea that all people respond to stress with the “fight or flight” response. Until rather recently 90% of the research on stress has been done with men. Women, it turns out, have an additional response to stress. Researchers have termed it the “tend and befriend” response. According to a landmark study conducted by four women researchers at UCLA, a chemical named oxytocin is released in women who are in stress.
