Tony Schwartz's Blog


Emotional Needs, Mental Needs | January 31, 2012
At the World Economic Forum last week, I attended a small dinner that included eight Nobel Prize winners. What a privilege in itself.The question the Laureates were asked to address was "What do you see as the world's biggest challenges?" They facilitated conversations at each table, and at the end, each of them reported out.

Appreciation, Emotional Needs | January 17, 2012
I’ve just returned from an offsite with our team at The Energy Project. At the end, I asked each person to take a few moments to say what he or she felt most proud of accomplishing over the past year.     

Emotional Needs | November 21, 2011
Here's a question guaranteed to make your stomach lurch: "Would you mind if I gave you some feedback?"What that actually means is "Would you mind if I gave you some negative feedback, wrapped in the guise of constructive criticism, whether you want it or not?"

Emotional Needs, Triggers, Value | October 12, 2011
Do you have someone at work who consistently triggers you? Doesn't listen? Takes credit for work you've done? Wastes your time with trivial issues? Acts like a know-it-all? Can only talk about himself? Constantly criticizes? Our core emotional need is to feel valued and valuable. When we don't, it's deeply unsettling, a challenge to our sense of equilibrium, security, and well-being. At the most primal level, it can feel like a threat to our very survival.

Awareness, Emotional Needs | July 26, 2011
"It is a law of human nature," David Brooks writes in his newest book The Social Animal, "that the more men you concentrate in one happy pack, the more each of them will come to resemble Donald Trump. They possess a sort of masculine photosynthesis to start with — the ability to turn sunlight into self-admiration.