NonsenseAtWork

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Nonsense stops you from being successful. Nonsense is always at work. It never stops. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is always some sense in nonsense, if you look for it. The Chief Nonsense Officer aims to help you make the nonsense at work work for you (in 60 seconds. No more, no…

The Chief Nonsense Officer


    • Mar 25, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekdays NEW EPISODES
    • 1m AVG DURATION
    • 563 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from NonsenseAtWork

    Insight #161: How to Easily Hit Your Far-Out Goals

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2025 2:37


    I have been aiming too low to hit my far-out goals. And then, in frustration, I have chosen new targets, ones too close to matter, too below the mark to make a real impact.

    Insight #5: Slow Down. You Speak Too Fast

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2025 2:09


    Speaking too fast is a common mistake. Here's why.

    Trigger Question #163: Do You Do (Exactly) As Asked?

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2025 3:29


    Sometimes we are tempted to stick to the letter and to ignore the spirit of the contract between workers and management.

    Insight #350: How You Fill the Position Determines What Happens to You

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2025 2:46


    Here's the thing about positions. Some people more than fill the position they are in and are soon promoted to something bigger.

    Insight #57: Bliss in Hand Is Worth Two Hopes in the Mud

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2025 1:47


    We count on hope for a better future and we ignore bliss in the present. Then we act surprised when we land in the mud of the moment.

    Insight #99: Nothing Happens Until You Make a Move, Any Old Move

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2025 1:39


    Nothing happens until you make a move. Your choice of first move is often limited. Yet, it sets in motion a series of actions that in looking back seem so obvious.

    Insight #324: Don't Brainstorm on a Cold Start

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2025 2:03


    If you want your team to lose mind control, then ask them to begin by conjuring up good ideas. No brain can weave and swerve and speed up and brake unless properly warmed up.

    Insight #47: Your Goal Has a Gap Between Promised and Delivered

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2025 2:56


    Motivational gurus have conned us into believing that shouting a goal (the dream) in public or on social media will make us achieve it. Or risk being embarrassed. I think the concept is called "public commitment."

    Insight #344: Sometimes It Is Wiser To Decide To Delay Deciding

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2025 1:36


    I wish that leaders will learn the really, really critical skill of knowing when to decide and when to delay deciding.

    Trigger Question #162: Do You Add or Subtract To Make Change Happen?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2025 3:37


    This is not a trivial question. This explains how we often attempt to make change happen.

    Insight #342: Beware, the Lack of Power Corrupts Us All

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2025 2:13


    Power corrupts. Or so we believe. And yet, it is feeling powerless which truly corrupts. Why? Because people who feel powerless often become dysfunctional.

    Trigger Question #160: Who Do You Blame, the Person or the System?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2025 1:56


    Yes, I agree, we must often begin problem solving by making assumptions because we seldom have all the information we need. But we will create a more effective work environment if we start with constructive assumptions.

    Insight #348: Diminishing Choices Make Us Who We Are So Far

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2025 2:50


    Now that I am wise to the burden of freedom, I see how freedom fathers too many dreams, which time relentlessly kills. In my case, I once wanted to be a yachtsman. Maybe a pilot. Or an engineer. Why not an architect? An artist! The list goes on.

    Insight #106: Your Type of Success Depends on Your Choice of Effect

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2025 1:41


    Do you do things mainly to impress others? Or do you do things to accomplish something of consequence?

    Trigger Question #158: Do You Want 'Better' or Do You Want 'Fix'?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2025 2:40


    You cannot build a sustainable, competitive strategy based on what is wrong and what you are against. If you tried, the strategy you design would be to react to what-is or what-was.

    Insight #347: Why Coaches and Consultants Love the Rude and Insensitive

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2025 2:12


    Without mutual respect, mutual trust is dead in the water. And without trust, we are so f... flawed at collaborating that we might as well dust off our spears and aim for the caves.

    Insight #346: Take Away the Fuel That Feeds the Fight

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2025 2:19


    Why do we react without thinking to gossip in groups, catty comments from colleagues, and prophecies spouted by political opposites? Because we don't apply the Law of Two Feet. We don't walk away.

    Trigger Question #157: Are You Unreasonable Without Reason?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2025 2:31


    Pay attention, because I am going to help you spot unreasonable people at work. What do you mean you don't need my help? You think you know unreasonable when you see it?

    Trigger Question #101: Do You Know What Your Goals Are For?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2025 2:38


    We set goals because we think we know what outcomes we want. We think we must do “this” because we want “that.” Yet, we don't always think deeply about *why* we want what we want. Not deep enough to get clear on what we want it FOR.

    Insight #322: Today Is the Start of Your New Honeymoon

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 2, 2025 2:18


    Every day is the start of a new year. But we like to forget that, don't we? We prefer to wait 300-and-something days for a ritual that will energize us to kick off a few grand resolutions.

    Trigger Question #156: Do You Have One Rule to Rule Them All?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2024 3:41


    If you know what you stand for and what your organization stands for, then it is easy to design your One Rule to Rule Them All. And if you get it right, then people in your organization will know exactly what is expected of them.

    Trigger Question #155: Do You Suffer Fools Madly or Gladly?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2024 3:08


    When don't we suffer fools gladly? When we know best, when we have made up our minds, when we don't need more ideas, when we want to get things done. When we believe our own nonsense.

    Trigger Question #154: Are You Easy To Remember or Easy To Forget?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2024 3:11


    Do you realize if you are not remembered for something, then you will be forgotten for everything? Well, maybe not forgotten, just ignored.

    Trigger Question #153: Do You Assume Without Assuming?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2024 2:25


    I assume you already know that it's risky to make assumptions. But I bet you don't realize that when you assume, you own it. And any consequences.

    Insight #321: Lazy, Your Country Needs You!

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2024 1:51


    Clearly, lazy people are the ones who create efficiencies and stimulate inventions.

    Trigger Question #152: Do You Ask for Feedback or Wait for Backlash?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2024 3:16


    I am always perplexed when people tell me they don't get feedback at work, so they can't always tell how they are doing. Excuse me? Are you telling me that you wait for feedback?

    Trigger Question #151: Do You Punish Better Than You Praise?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2024 2:58


    When I became a boss, I had to choose. Should I punish or praise? Should I protest or pat? And is there a right time to do one or the other?

    Trigger Question #150: Do You Mistake the Means for the Goal?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2024 2:22


    We drool over the latest gadget instead of over the results of using the gadget. We personalize the latest productivity system instead of being personally productive.

    Trigger Question #149: How Sensible Is Your Common Sense?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2024 2:58


    Because common sense is based on our past, on our history, it doesn't always make sense today. (Look around you, does the present really resemble the past?)

    Insight #320: Reality Is for People Who Cannot Fake Feeling Festive

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2024 1:55


    Reality is for people who cannot handle video games, texting, social media, streaming, virtual meetings, ...

    Trigger Question #148: Are Your Strengths More Important Than Our Strengths?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2024 2:20


    They will blame you if you are you so in love with your own strengths that you can't capitalize on the strengths of others on your team or in your organization.

    Trigger Question #147: Do You Hope or Have Faith?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2024 1:50


    People develop faith in you through your actions, not through your words of hope. Funny thing is, though, when others have faith in you, then your faith in yourself will grow.

    Trigger Question #146: Did You Say Yes Clearly or No Firmly?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2024 2:10


    The ability to say *yes* clearly or *no* firmly matters equally in your management role. Every day.

    Trigger Question #145: Do You Trust Your Gut Too Soon?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2024 2:10


    Decisions must be made. And because you must decide, even before all the perfect, pertinent information is available to you, you go with your gut. Big mistake.

    Insight #318: Don't Forget Your Real Economic Responsibility

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2024 1:34


    What happens if you spend more than you earn? Sooner or later, you go broke. There is no magic to it.

    Trigger Question #144: Are You Feeling Remorse or Regret?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2024 3:01


    Do you know what older people, like me, often say about life? That they are more likely to feel sorry for what they did not do. And less sorry for what they did. Or, as some kids would say, "Sorry, not sorry."

    Trigger Question #143: What Color Is Your Full Stop?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2024 3:31


    Apparently… I feel obliged to use the word “apparently,” because I struggle to believe that this report is true. Apparently, younger generations believe that punctuation is hostile. Specifically, they find full-stops intimidating.

    Trigger Question #142: Are You Wise Enough To Not Know?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2024 1:59


    Be wise with your knowing and with your not knowing. Occasionally say “I don't know.” Even when you know. Then wait and listen.

    Trigger Question #141: Do You Learn To Know or Learn To Change?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2024 2:41


    Does what you learn change you? If your behavior does not change, then you learned nothing. It was not learning. It was just information gathering.

    Insight #319: Your Jolly Fat Expectation Can Influence Behavior

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2024 1:43


    At this time of year, we wonder whether we've been good enough to expect a reward from the jolly fat man in the corner office. Which is why it's a good time to remind you that expectations can influence behavior.

    Trigger Question #140: Are You Being Kind or Just Being Your Kind?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2024 3:36


    When you keep to your kind, you are excluding many people. You are being unkind to those who are not your kind.

    Trigger Question #139: Are You the Beetle or the Dung?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2024 2:05


    Here's what still worries me. When is it dung and when is it something useful? When is it nonsense and when is it sense? And who decides which is which?

    Trigger Question #138: Did Fear Stop You Taking a Guess?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2024 3:20


    Often we hesitate to answer because we fear. This fear is understandable when we are young and inexperienced. But it makes less sense when we are older and wiser.

    Trigger Question #137: Who Was Angry When You Felt Angry?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2024 3:04


    If your attitude is to choose to be your anger, then you will react in anger. Which seldom ends well. But if you look at the situation differently so that you can choose your attitude to be "I feel angry," then you can choose how to direct that feeling of anger.

    Insight #341: How To Rule With Empathy

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2024 3:45


    Before you judge someone for breaking your rules, make sure you understand *why* they broke your rules. Because if they broke your rules properly, then it is probably time for you to judge your rules instead.

    Trigger Question #136: Does Your Focus on Action Obstruct Action?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2024 2:57


    The problem is two-fold. First, you can probably do it faster and smarter. And second, you are itching to jump in and get it done. Because you're a manager. It's your nature to get things done.

    Trigger Question #135: Do You Say We or Do You Say I?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2024 2:47


    I am never surprised when leaders use we-talk when things go badly, and I-talk when things go well. Disappointed, yes. But never surprised.

    Trigger Question #134: Do You Team Up With Your Opposite?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2024 3:34


    We still discourage diversity. Why? Because uniformity is easier to manage. Because diversity is discomforting, hence inconvenient.

    Trigger Question #133: Do You Scope With a Microscope or a Telescope?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2024 3:19


    You will be ineffective if you ignore details that matter. And you will squander resources if you focus on issues that will fade away without your help.

    Insight #340: To Overcome Unexpected Obstacles, Use a Compass, Not a Map

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2024 2:52


    Sometimes, in life and in business, setting a compass bearing can be more effective than relying on specific directions. Because when you seek security in detailed directions, then every obstacle will frustrate you and every detour will intimidate you into losing your way.

    Trigger Question #132: Do You Shout “Nonsense!” or Do You Ask Why?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2024 1:50


    What was dung to me was doing it for these beetles. What I try to side-step, they actively seek. That's when I first meditated on the nature of dung. Today, I don't assume that nonsense is simply nonsense. I always wonder why it exists.

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