Researchers Daniel Cordaro and Dacher Keltner were in uncharted territory. They and their research team were traveling high in the Himalayas to make contact with a group of former nomads. This group was just one of the three villages in the world still uncontacted by “outsiders.”

The team wanted to see if human emotions are universal and recognizable across cultures, including ones who have never interacted with others.

They showed the villagers photos of people expressing emotions such as shame, joy, happiness, and embarrassment. …

75% of employees consider their direct manager to be the “worst part of their job” according to a survey of almost 5,000 employees conducted by Hogan Assessments.

This is a troubling statistic for both managers and employees.

A hard-working technical genius of an employee doesn’t necessarily translate to a good leader.

Many crash and burn as a leader simply because they don’t understand what makes people want to follow them. They don’t understand how people see them. They don’t understand what makes people like and respect them.

Because leadership is all about people, it’s all about how your people feel about you. …

Leadership by example is probably the most critical leadership principle to adopt. We hear about it all the time in leadership literature but rarely do we hear about practical ways to do it.

Famous Alsatian polymath Albert Schweitzer said:

“The three most important ways to lead people are:… by example… by example… by example.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“What you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you are saying.”

I’ve been in various military, corporate, volunteer, and government leadership roles for over 20 years. …

I pictured myself in military prison, my future ruined. Thoughts like this were racing through my head as I sprinted back to the barracks from the rifle range.

“Oh crap, Oh crap, Oh crap….where is it?” I thought as a cold sweat trickled down my brow.

There was an M16 rifle missing. Gone. We couldn’t find it. We were on the rifle range in Marine Boot Camp on Parris Island, South Carolina.

Somehow I’d finagled my way into being the ‘Platoon Guide’, which is basically the leader of the other 75 recruits in the platoon. …

(Disclaimer: I reference many reputable scientific studies in this article, but I’m not a dietician or scientist. This article isn’t intended as medical or health advice-rather personal anecdotal observations.)

My wife rolls her eyes.

“Who eats cranberries and honey in a bowl?” she says.

“Me!” I reply.

“OK, dork,” she says as she walks out of the kitchen.

I used to be in excellent shape. As a Marine, I had to be. I’m still passable as far as fitness goes. But since I hit 40, it’s harder to keep the pounds off and harder to just feel good. …

I love quotes, more formally known as quotations, those little nuggets of word wisdom that I can keep in my backpack on the trail of life — like a bag of beef jerky that never goes bad, I can pull some out and chew on them for sustenance and pleasure.

The key is to eat wisdom as you’re walking. Don’t just eat it sitting down like we often do with self-help motivational quotes simply because they taste good. Only when you are moving forward do you get the most benefit from nutritious food or wisdom.

I use these quotations to guide my thoughts when I’ve wandered into the forest of uncertainty as a leader. They’re like having a leadership mentor sitting on my shoulder whispering hints when I ask “what should I do?” …

Do you think you are stuck with the intellect you were born with? So did scientists for decades. The good news is you’re not. Scientists have recently proven that your intelligence is not set in genetic stone.

Intellect is trainable.

Cognitive scientist Andrea Kuszewski wrote a fascinating article in Scientific American about ways to improve one’s fluid intelligence.

First, let’s define fluid intelligence. It is:

The ability to solve novel reasoning problems and is correlated with a number of important skills such as comprehension, problem solving, and learning. …

We’ve all had bad bosses before. The ones that make us want to quit our jobs. The ones who stress us out even when we aren’t at work.

A study by Culture Amp showed that a lack of quality leadership is why one out of three people leave their jobs. We know these bosses aren’t good but have we thought about what exactly makes them bad or even toxic?

If we can put our finger on what the traits are that are forming us into mere miserable shadows of our potential, then we can make sure we aren’t like that when we lead. …