Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Thresholds That Truly Change Us I’ve crossed plenty of thresholds in my life. Graduations, promotions, marriage, a few plaques on the wall. All those moments came and went, all important in their own way. Despite the cultural significance, and that many of these events are dear to many...
Tag Archives: resilience
Living Richly Together: Perspective, Certainty, and the Ancient Problem We Keep Pretending Is New (Psychological Richness Part 4)
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In the third part of this series, I teased the idea of psychological richness applied beyond the individual. If richness is a mechanism to pursue personal growth, perspective shift, and learning, what if it is applied on a larger scale? Can richness be a mechanism to approach...
Psychological Richness Part 2: Biases, Blind Spots, and the Postmodern Trap
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction When we left off, we’d mapped out the three dimensions of a good life—happiness, meaning, and psychological richness—and how each complements the others. Happiness comforts. Meaning guides. Richness changes. But now it’s time to ask a harder question: what happens when we turn the microscope back on the model itself?...
Psychological Richness Part 1 – Defining the Good Life: Happiness, Meaning, and Richness
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction I’d like you to consider a deceptively simple question: what makes a life good? This isn’t a new question. Plato warned that an unexamined life wasn’t worth living. Aristotle proposed that the good life was one of virtue and purpose. The Epicureans, by contrast, believed happiness came from...
Trapped in the Mirrors: Why Leaders Can’t Please Everyone
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Feedback is a mirror. Last time, we talked about what happens when you refuse to look—the cost of ignoring feedback that is valid, actionable, and desirable. But that was a single source of feedback, or multiple sources showing the same reflection. Another trap emerges from multiple mirrors...
Ignoring the Mirror: Why We Resist Feedback and Growth
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction We previously defined feedback as the key enabling behavior of true mentorship. Good feedback acts as a mirror, reflecting something about us that we may not see on our own, and provides a pathway to change, grow, and improve. But what happens when you don’t like the reflection?...
“That’s OK” Is Not OK: The Growth Mindset Rant (Part 2: Mentors and Leaders)
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In Part 1, we explored how individuals sabotage themselves with fixed-mindset self-talk and how honest self-assessment paired with self-compassion opens the door to growth. Now let’s shift the lens: what happens when that same dynamic plays out in a mentor–protege or leader–team relationship? “Some people are not...
In Praise of Doing Hard Things (Badly)
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction I recently bought an online singing course. Yes — me. A guy who, in high school, was told (by his best friend no less) that his back-up vocals were so wildly off-key that it “actually worked as harmony.” Spoiler: it didn’t. That wasn’t a compliment. So why,...
So, Ya Got Fired…Part 3 Move to Action
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Next take home point: Still fired, so Now What? In our previous installments we discussed an approach to the initial reaction (emotionally) of getting fired, and then discussed an approach to sorting thru the feedback to gain an accurate picture of your current self. Now is the next...
So, Ya Got Fired…Part 2: Feedback and Insight
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP In our first installment, I broached the topic of firing. We started at the beginning and discussed our ground-rules for avoiding unnecessary negative emotional responses, and used that to discuss an approach to managing the initial emotions that come with getting fired. We left off with three steps...