This may not work on hormonally-hit teenagers (sorry weary parents) yet you might try it with friends, customers or colleagues. Suppose, for example, you’re tired of the dirty cups in the office coffee nook. Try spraying the air with a lemony scent reminiscent of a cleaning agent. When those sloppy colleagues smell it they are [...]

It’s only human to want others to see our good side especially when we want to belong to their group. Unfortunately the flip side of that attractive quality (our “bad” side) is what most sticks in others’ minds – once they see it. That’s a side effect of the Fight or Flight syndrome. We are [...]

Here’s an all-ages echo of the growing local village movements popping up across the world, including in my small town: From “Eat Local” potlucks to sharing music get ideas about how to build local community and business ties, some via partnerships – all in the aloha spirit, from Hawaii.

Right after the holiday, women’s groups in Turin, Italy, sponsor a swap or barter market. Some swap children’s clothes for a home-cooked dinner,  others a quartet’s musical performance in exchange for fixing a plumbing problem. At the market, conversations and introductions flow among friends, neighbors and strangers – but money is not exchanged. What if several [...]

… a reporter asks her husband Will Smith. His unusual answer represents to me the core starting place for any healthy relationship in work or in life. With it two people have the opportunity to: • Build trust. • Bring out the best in each other. • Create greater things together than they can on [...]