Matt Paknis Leadership Development

National Geographic THE POWER OF CURLY HAIR Wednesday, June 28, 2023 "In today’s newsletter, we discover how curly hair helped our ancestors. Turns out, curly hair may have given our prehistoric ancestors an advantage. It shielded their heads and protected expanding brains. And that’s not all." My hair hasn't been this curly, or my weight this low, since 1979! Both are goals, but I think only one is achievable 😉

“A company’s employees are its greatest asset and your people are your product.” - Sir Richard Branson “People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t matter what product or service. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” - Mary Kay Ash #stepup #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psyshologicalsafetyatworkact Bullying organizations who do not rid themselves of abusive interpersonal practices risk losing their most important competitive asset: their talented employees. #LeadersArentBullies #workplaceculture

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi "I hope everyone that is reading this is having a really good day. And if you are not, just know that in every new minute that passes you have an opportunity to change that." - Gillian Anderson #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact

“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order to be tough." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt  https://lnkd.in/eDahrcNe

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." - Desmond Tutu #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #Disregarded: Officials who take no action to stop bullying and who fail to discipline bullying employees can be found liable for punitive damages, for knowingly allowing malicious and oppressive tortious acts. #LeadersArentBullies

"If you are lucky enough to be someone’s employer, then you have a moral obligation to make sure people do look forward to coming to work in the morning." — John Mackey #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #psychologicalsafetyatworkact

"Fear limits you. It serves as blinders to what may be steps just  down the road. Believing in your talents, your abilities, and your self-worth can empower you to walk down an even brighter path. Transforming fear into freedom - how great is that?" - Soledad O'Brien #stepup #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact Bullies survive by making subordinates feel trapped, at fault (#gaslighting) and unempowered, compliant rather than committed. Successful leaders elevate thought and conduct, encourage autonomy and accountable risk taking. They develop new leaders. #LeadersArentBullies

It was an honor to testify in support of Rhode Island's Workplace Psychological Safety Act (S.B. 821) prior to it passing Senate approval, 28-3. https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/psychological-safety-bill-advances-in-rhode-island-legislature#:~:text=Providence%2C%20RI%20%E2%80%94%20The%20Rhode%20Island,as%20bullying%20%E2%80%93%20on%20the%20job.

"Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough." - Richard M. DeVos "Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough." - Franklin D. Roosevelt #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #psychologicalsafetyatworkact

"When you see wrong, inequality, or injustice, speak out.  It's your country, your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on." - Thurgood Marshall "When something is not right, not fair, not just, you must speak up. You must say something; you must do something." - John Lewis #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #psyshologicalsafetyatworkact Employees, and schoolchildren, should not have to police their own organizations. They need safe, effective, and credible avenues to report abuse and bullying; to be encouraged to be willing, able, and allowed to "say something” when they "see something." #LeadersArentBullies

"The focus of subjectivity is a distorting mirror." - Hans-Georg Gadamer "Do you know what holds us back most of the time? It's our own mental models that have been fed with and tainted by misinformation." - Mohith Agadi #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #psychologicalsafetyatworkact

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being." - Carl Jung "We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle to guide us thru the darkness to a safe and sane future." - John F. Kennedy #stepup When employees and children actively choose to affiliate with good organizations or to report the egregious behavior, bad organizations and bad behaviors will eventually cease. #Transparency is essential. Evil prospers in the shadows. #LeadersArentBullies

"It's the great deception in modern culture: Bad things call for noble names to cloak their evil outcomes." - Greg Gutfeld "People always overdo the matter when they attempt deception." - Charles Dudley Warner "In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - Unknown #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #psychologicalsafetyatworkact  

"Independence is happiness." - Susan B. Anthony #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandvonduct #psyshologicalsafetyatworkact Bad leaders cultivate in constituents a sense of financial dependence to sabotage self-efficacy. Deviant officials and managers can manipulate and leverage worker insecurities and immature needs to affiliate. #LeadersArentBullies

"A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance." - Gary Hamel "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs “It takes leadership to improve safety.” - Jackie Stewart “The safety of the people shall be the highest law.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #psychologicalsafetyatworkact

  #HappyFathersDay !

"There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed." - Woodrow Wilson "No decisions should ever be made without asking the question, is this for the common good?" - Michael Moore #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact How many organizations, led by misguided executives, put their need for profit ahead of their employees’ and society’s safety, health, peace, and well-being? Demand more, as a consumer and as an employee. #LeadersArentBullies

"Safe working conditions, fair wages, protection from forced labor, and freedom from harassment and discrimination - these must become standard global operating conditions." - Paul Polman #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #psychologicalsafetyatworkact

"Successful givers find ways to expand their pie to benefit themselves and the people they impact. Whereas success is zero-sum in a group of takers, in groups of givers, it is multi-sum. Their whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Adam M. Grant #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact Successful leaders seek and speak the truth. They solve problems, influence people in positive ways, and achieve growth-perpetuating, multi-sum, healthy outcomes. #LeadersArentBullies  

"The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that it does exist." - Zig Ziglar "The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy." - Corrie Ten Boom "The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself." - Mark Caine #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact

"Every human has four endowments - self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change." - Stephen Covey #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact  Bullies expect blind obedience, for people to laugh at their jokes (awful or indecent or not), and for their so-called minions to kowtow, comply, and fawn. Don’t be fooled and don't comply. #LeadersArentBullies

"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark." - Rabindranath Tagore "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." - Desmond Tutu "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr. "There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." - Edith Wharton #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #workplacepsychologicalsafetyact

"Never above you. Never below you. Always beside you." - Walter Winchell "The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority." - Ken Blanchard #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact Successful leaders are held accountable for, and measured by, three critical organizational outcomes:  achieving bottom-line results, adhering to #ethical and legal processes, and demonstrating and influencing  healthy and respectful relationships. #LeadersArentBullies  

"When you abuse someone, you limit their perspective, and you trap them in your view of them or your view of the world." - Tara Westover "Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it." - Harry Emerson Fosdick #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #workplacepsychologicalsafetyact

"The more dynamic the capitalistic expansion, the greater the disparity." - Robert D. Kaplan "We've seen the disparity between rich and poor just get bigger, with the 2000's globalisation and the corporate agenda on the rise ever since." - Severn Cullis-Suzuki #healthyworkplaces #equality #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #workplacepsychologicalsafetyact Predatory bullying is more prevalent in countries with competitive  cultures, such as the United States, where there is great separation and disparity in power and pay between front line workers and senior executives in similar organizations. #LeadersArentBullies  

"Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive." - Jamais Cascio "Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work though difficult problems." - Gever Tulley #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #workplacepsychologicalsafetyact

"There are no secrets that time does not reveal." - Jean Racine "If we knew each other's secrets, what comforts we should find." - John Churton Collins #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #WorkplacePsychologicalSafetyAct During the initial phases of workplace bullying, indirect and discrete types of behavior prevail; for example, sly comments & insults & rude facial expressions no one else but the target witnesses from the bully. More direct and overt acts appear later. #LeadersArentBullies

"Leadership - mobilization toward a common goal." - Garry Wills "I just love working hard. I love being part of a team; I love working toward a common goal." - Tom Brady "We all have a common goal, and we know it's all for our future good." - Marta Kristen #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #DignityAtWorkAct

"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Leonardo da Vinci "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr. #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #DignityatWorkAct Objective bullying evidence (audio / visual recordings, photos, emails, etc.)  is necessary to prove workplace abuse, yet there is also strength and  credibility in numbers when several first hand witnesses agree to report the abuse.  #LeadersArentBullies

"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." - Ralph Waldo Emerson "A good teacher (boss) can inspire hope, ignite the imagination." - Brad Henry #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #StepUp #DignityAtWorkAct

"Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish growth without destroying the roots." - Frank A. Clark "Kindness in words creates confidence." - Lao Tzu "You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one." - John Wooden #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #DignityAtWorkAct Bullying managers may plan and execute their most vile assaults when alone with their targets, to avoid witnesses. Workplace bullies also gain power and control with fear by abusing targets in front of their peers, to threaten organizational members.  #LeadersArentBullies

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." - Abraham Lincoln #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something." - John Lewis "Revenge and retaliation always perpetuate the cycle of anger, fear and violence." - Coretta Scott King #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #DignityAtWorkAct Victims and targets who report workplace bullying are often stigmatized as troublemakers or whistleblowers, and retaliated against, even though exposing and stopping bullying is most admirable and courageous.  #LeadersArentBullies

"Bullying is a national epidemic." - Macklemore "Bullying happens at all ages and levels." - Ralph Macchio "I think bullying is for insecure and weak people." - Latto "You can't be against bullying without actually doing something about it." - Randi Weingarten #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct