Thriving Self Archives | Graeme Cowan

Why gratitude is gold for you and your business

Two weeks ago we farewelled my son Adam and his lovely girlfriend Annalise on their 7 month journey through Europe and Asia. I am enormously proud of them as they completed their first year of university, deferred, set a goal, worked like dogs, and finally set off on an amazing adventure. It brought back wonderful […]

The surprising cost of workplace rudeness

In a startling HBR article by Christine Porath and Christine Pearson called The Price of Incivility they reveal that over 50% of the 14,000 employees they surveyed had experienced rudeness or disrespect in the last week. This represented a substantial increase over the last 14 years they have been monitoring workplace civility. What is even […]

Seeking an inspiring US woman to share her story of beating depression by May 13

I am close to finishing a book for the American and international market called “BACK FROM THE BRINK: People share their stories and advice about overcoming depression”. It is being published by New Harbinger, the largest psychology and self-help publisher in the US, and is due to be launched in January 2014. It features the […]

What the Boss taught me about purpose, passion, and positive strengths

Bruce Springsteen in ConcertOK I’m old, and confess I’ve been a Bruce Springsteen fan for over 30 years. I’ve loved his music and lyrics, and his ability to stay at the top of a very volatile business prone to fads (as Gangnam style chalks up 1.3 billion YouTube views!!). Despite this, until this Monday I […]

10 best websites for beating workplace stress

Why should we worry about workplace stress levels? After working in Australian business for over 25 years, I have never seen stress levels higher than they are today. According to the a recent federal government report, Australians work an average 42.56 hours per week and are the 5th highest out of 29 countries reviewed. A […]

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying One of the books I read over the Christmas break was The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying by Australian palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware. Through spending the last 3-12 weeks with thousands of dying people, she observed 5 common regrets: I wish I’d had the courage to live […]

4 Ways to Help a Discouraged Workmate…

Get employee mental health strategy right, and it guarantees sustained performance. But get it wrong, and a crisis could be ahead. The subject of mental health fills many managers and employees with apprehension. In fact, many believe the best strategy is to ignore the issue altogether. A problem ignored, rarely disappears however – it usually grows. […]

Change: the mental health and profit correlation

Evolution tells us if we don’t change we’ll die – just ask the dodo.
Just like nature, organisations are also asked to adapt to changing environments which is often driven by a quest to improve productivity and profitability. Despite this requirement, economic history shows that many have not managed change well, with Kodak, Blackberry, Nokia, General Motors, and Angus and Robertson being high profile examples.
This need for continuous improvement has led to over 25,000 books being written about organisational transformation in the last 15 years, and yet only 30% of change initiatives are deemed successful. Something is not working.

5 questions to ask to do more with less

We are continually being asked to do more with less. The workload increases and yet when people leave they are often not replaced.
This can lead to unhealthy stress levels, absenteeism, and presenteeism. How do we continue to perform when we feel fatigued by overload and change?