Author page for Joshua Freedman

Josh's Profile:

I am the COO of Six Seconds and part of the founding team. Before Six Seconds I was a teacher, I've also been a manager and entrepreneur. I'm interested in EQ because I've found emotions to be challenging and scary, I'm scared of being overwhelmed and out of control, I'm challenged to do and say what I mean in my "heart of heart" rather than reacting with blame and anger. My latest book is At the Heart of Leadership

More about Josh:

http://6seconds.org/about/freedman.php

Posts by Josh:

Purpose and Motivation: Drive Video, 13 Mar 2010

In the Six Seconds Model, the “capstone” is a competency we call “Pursue Noble Goals,” which enables you to connect with purpose in your daily life — to put your purpose into action.
Daniel Pink’s video about his new book, DRIVE, provides a fun and clear way of talking about this essential topic:

Two questions that can [...]




Fight or Flow in Avatar, 11 Mar 2010

One of the fundamental choices we each make in each moment is to live in that state of fight or in the state of flow.  As I’ve written before (in this article and in At the Heart of Leadership):

FIGHT is characterized by power where the goal is the be right OVER another; emotions such as [...]




Does Mama Need Surgery Again?, 26 Feb 2010

A few months ago Patty had routine physical, and her doctor ordered some tests, which came back positive so she needed a biopsy. While statistically odds were strong that it would be a nonissue, we were both a bit anxious – especially because of her cancer scare a few years ago.
We carefully didn’t say anything [...]




Performance, People, and Pressure: 2010 Workplace Issues, 23 Feb 2010

The 2010 Workplace Issues Report captures input from 279 leaders and employees from a variety of sectors around the globe.  They said…

65% of the pressing issues are on the people side, 35% on the financial/technical side (but in 2007 it was 76/24).
Even in the current economy, the people issues were seen as 30% more significant [...]




Right Speech by Eknath Easwaran, 20 Feb 2010

Karen McCown, Six Seconds’ Chairman, handed this article to me several years ago. It’s stuck with me as a powerful set of guidelines for being impeccable with words. The children, Patty and I have discussed the “three gatekeepers” often over the last years; we started when the kids were 4 and 6 years old and [...]




Get Real – Managing Emotional Challenges, 14 Feb 2010

Last week Emma was “fussing out” about a writing assignment.* So I said, “then don’t do it.”
“But I H A A A A A V E to…” she moaned.
I pointed out that she did not, in fact, have to: She had choice and each choice had consequences.
She cried harder.
Why?
Emma was caught in a classic emotional [...]




Listen or Tell – Reducing Family Conflict, 11 Feb 2010

[First published Nov 11, 2003]
Lately life has been somewhat tempestuous at home.  Emma’s 4-1/2-year-old priorities conflict with Max’s 2-1/2-year-old priorities — add two work-a-holic parents and their own stresses, and voila, you have a powder keg. Recently it got to the point I was looking forward to travelling so I could have a few days [...]




Postponing Your Future, 03 Feb 2010

Three different people told me the same story last week:
I’m too busy keeping my head above water to make progress on my real goals.
On one hand, that’s a practical and realistic way of coping.  Look, we’ve all experienced that some days we can barely tread water fast enough… and some days we sink… and on [...]




Overheard: Dating with Complexity, 28 Jan 2010

Max and I were at the sushi bar this evening and I indulged in my “restaurant vice” of listening to the conversations around us.
There was a guy about my age who seems to work in construction or trucking; he was talking with his buddy about the woman he’s been dating the last few months.  What [...]




The Six Seconds EQ Model, 27 Jan 2010

The Six Seconds model turns EQ theory into practice for your personal and professional life.
Emotional intelligence is the capacity to blend thinking and feeling to make optimal decisions — which is key to having a successful relationship with yourself and others. To provide a practical and simple way to learn and practice emotional intelligence, Six [...]




Leaders Worth Following, 26 Jan 2010

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

A few years ago we enjoyed a business climate where companies flourished with little effort; stocks soared, cash was everywhere, and growth seemed automatic. Now we’re in [...]




Emotional WHAT? Definitions and History of EQ, 26 Jan 2010

Updated Nov 15, 2009
Definitions and History of Emotional Intelligence
It all began about 2,000 years ago when Plato wrote, “All learning has an emotional base.” Since then, scientists, educators, and philosophers have worked to prove or disprove the importance of feelings. Unfortunately, for a large part of those two millenia, common thought was, “Emotions are in [...]




Connecting Across a Generation Gap, 24 Jan 2010

Talking to lovely grandparents, they were asking if I thought it strange how teens are so public, for example posting comments about crude behavior….  On the one hand I do find it strange.  Looking @ what videos are popular on myspace — why would someone post a video of drinking at a party… and why [...]




Tom Peters – Leader as a Mensch, 16 Jan 2010

Congratulations to Bruna Martinuzzi – one of our network members and authors – mentioned in Tom Peters’ roundup of best links this week, and recently in Guy Kawasaki’s blog too!  Great recognition for this important work.  Here’s the nugget from Peters’ post (Facebook | Tom Peters: Link Roundup #11):
“Out of possibly zillions, here’s a selection [...]




Adding up our lives, 14 Jan 2010

In SEI Cert class today, Yoshimi said she really liked what I said about Pursue Noble Goals, so I’ll try to recreate it:
Pursuing a Noble Goal isn’t about taking some “lofty” action in the future. It’s about understanding why we might do such a thing, then putting that “why” in action today in “everyday” [...]