Fred Kofman
Entrepreneur
Palo Alto, CA, United States
Contact Fred
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Fred:
Why Money Isn't Enough to Motivate Your Team Members
You need to stop focusing solely on material rewards and focus on nonmaterial ones. → Read More
Turn Blame and Threat Into Appreciate and Suggest (9.3)
To start with criticism, follow with orders and end with threats is not effective. "It's your fault. You broke it, so you better fix it!" is a really bad way to go. We're on the same boat; we float or we sink together. → Read More
How to Structure an Improvement Conversation (9.2)
To improve the performance, the relationship and the well-being of both of you, you must convey information about the impact of your counterpart's behavior on the goal and on you. But to maximize the value of this information you need to share it non-judgmentally. → Read More
There Is No Such Thing As Constructive Feedback (9.1)
"When I hear, 'I've got some feedback for you,' my brain shuts down." It is important to let others know when you are satisfied with the work you're working together or not, but "givi → Read More
How to Make an Effective Complaint (8.5)
When you complain productively, you seek to restore effectiveness, trust, and integrity. You confront only once, and you follow through to resolution. At best, you end up with a new agreement that closes the matter. → Read More
How to Elicit Effective Commitments (8.2)
"Do or do not... There is no try." --Yoda Your well-formed request demands a clear response. There are only three clear answers you should accept from your counterpart: 1. Yes, I commit → Read More
How to Make an Effective Request (8.1)
"Decisions are worthless unless they turn into commitments." Talk is cheap. That's why it's easy to decide. Action is expensive. That's why it requires commitment. A commitment defines → Read More
How to Resolve Organizational Conflicts as One Team
A clean escalation doesn't guarantee the right decision, but it produces a more intelligent process that strengthens relationships and helps everybody feel appreciated as valuable contributors. → Read More
Never Negotiate Without a Safety Net (7.3)
"Each of us must be better off as one of us." If you are negotiating with me in good faith, you must believe that you can do better with me than on your own. If I'm negotiating with you in → Read More
How to Identify and Eliminate the Sources of Conflict (7.2)
Let's take a simple conflict and use it to identify its core elements. → Read More
Coaching: Conscious Performance Improvement: A Mutual Learning Conversation (6.7)
Giving negative feedback to a valuable team member is one of the conversations managers most dread. → Read More
6.1 How to Manage Difficult Conversations with Honesty and Respect
"I don't care how much you know, until I know how much you care." -- Steven Covey A "difficult conversation" is difficult because we feel threatened. Our automatic reaction i → Read More
Setting the Culture Is Not Enough, You Have to Make It Go Viral (2.6)
If the standards you defined are to become social norms, you have to demand that your team members distribute them. → Read More
Culture: Key to Organizational Success (2.4)
"One thing is guaranteed: A culture will form in an organization, a department, and a work group. The question is whether the culture that forms is one that helps or hinders the organization's ab → Read More
How to Curb Prejudice with Humility (4.6)
In the picture we see a uniformed police officer running behind a man in plain clothes. The obvious interpretation is that the white policeman is chasing the black man. That is not the case. In fac → Read More
The Secret of Productive Conversations: Climb to Conclusions (4.4)
You will never get curious unless you first feel you don't know. That's why arrogance is the sign of the knower who assumes she has the truth and humility the sign of the learner who assumes he needs to inquire into the other person's perspective. → Read More
Are You a Knower or a Learner (4.3)
"If we are wise enough to base our self-esteem not on being "right" but on being rational--on being conscious--and on having integrity, then we recognize that acknowledgment and corr → Read More
Despicable Me
"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. Ther → Read More
What Do You Really Value? (4.1)
The Most Despicable Character This exercise is a self-diagnostic. It reveals your values and attitudes, based on how you rank five characters in order of "despicability". We use this st → Read More
Is There Too Much on Your Plate? (3.6)
Who put all that "stuff" on your plate? From a victim's perspective, whoever asked you to do it. From a player's perspective, whoever accepted to do it; that is, you! In this video, you → Read More