Hi Again,

I also want to update my post on using the Social Fitness Model to help employees in businesses have courageous conversations when they need to speak up on behalf of their values and ethics.  It may mean speaking up for someone else whom you think is not being treated fairly or well; it may also mean objecting if you think one of your colleagues is doing something unethical; it may also mean speaking up for yourself as a role model to others. We have a new website at http://www.thecourage2lead.com/, in case you'd like to have a look. There is a Tedx talk by the company CEO and founder, Brooke Deterline that covers the philosophy behind it.

You know that I think people who feel shy can make outstanding leaders because you are sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others, and will lead not for the spotlight, but because you care about something. I encourage all of you to remember that you can speak up when you care about something, when it is related to your values. It helps reduce the concern about how we appear to others and raises our awareness of how we want to contribute in the world.

Be well, and contribute.

Helpful new book on shyness

I have not been posting on this blog recently due to work commitments, and I hope to do more in the future. I do want to let you know about a new book by Michael Tompkins that I think is very helpful for people struggling with shyness. He describes very carefully the costs of avoidance, and focuses on the rewards available when you accept and tolerate anxiety. He shows you how to take manageable steps every day to increase your contact with other people and do what you really want to do. It is really worth the read and I think can make a difference. Here is the review that I posted on Amazon.com.

Dr. Michael Tompkins has written an incredibly helpful and accessible book for those who struggle with anxiety. One of the outstanding features of Anxiety and Avoidance, A Universal Treatment, is his step by step approach to reducing debilitating avoidance and unhelpful interfering anxious behavior, while accepting and mindfully tolerating anxious thoughts, physical sensations, feelings and emotions, and increasing adaptive approach behavior. He also describes the heartbreaking consequences to work, social and family life that occur when anxiety is left untreated. Dr. Tompkins’ goal is that readers become experts on their own anxiety responses. The book fulfills its promise and is the most sensible, thorough and engaging self help book in this area I have seen.