Parker Houston

3 Things Every Leader Needs to Know About Motivating People

by Parker Houston | Oct 20, 2022 | Top Teams Made Simple

As a leader, how important is it to know what really motivates people? Answer—pretty darn important! In today’s post, we are going to discuss what research says truly...

Become a Dream Igniter

by Parker Houston | Oct 6, 2022 | How People Change

As a leader, you need to understand how people change for 2 primary reasons: First—You must continue to grow yourself in order to lead. If others outpace you in growth, you...

Just Like Me…

by Parker Houston | Sep 29, 2022 | Personal Leadership

You’ve heard me say it before, but it’s worth repeating—the brain is a prediction machine. The brain’s primary purpose is to keep us alive—and the best way to stay alive is...

Master Your Inner Saboteurs

by Parker Houston | Sep 22, 2022 | How People Change, The Science of Mindset

In working with my own coach, today’s topic has helped me personally more than almost any other mechanism—exposing the inner saboteur. Furthermore, the people I have coached...

10 Best Practices for Hiring (and Keeping) a Top Team

by Parker Houston | Sep 15, 2022 | Top Teams Made Simple

Ever since I became a manager 12 years ago, I’ve been curious about best practices for hiring. I’ve been part of organizations that struggled to keep vacancy rates of over...

Leadership Lessons From Winston Churchill—The Roaring Lion

by Parker Houston | Sep 8, 2022 | Personal Leadership

It’s hard to imagine a more difficult leadership assignment in the history of the world than what Winston Churchill faced. There is a reason his most iconic portrait by...

Right Speech: A Leaders Words Matter

by Parker Houston | Sep 1, 2022 | Personal Leadership

Few things are more important that a leader’s words. A careless word can wound for a lifetime. An encouraging word might energize someone for a year. A badly timed reaction...

What is Good or Bad? A Tao Parable

by Parker Houston | Aug 25, 2022 | Self Leadership

A farmer and his son lived on a farm in the countryside. They owned a beautiful horse they cherished deeply. The farmer entered the horse into a village contest and won...

The Relationship Between Happiness and Success

by Parker Houston | Jul 21, 2022 | The Science of Happiness

The modern formula for success is broken. In today’s world, most people act as if they believe that happiness will be a guaranteed result of success. But if that were true,...

Lessons in Happiness from 75 Years of Harvard Research

by Parker Houston | Jul 7, 2022 | The Science of Happiness

“I wish everyone could experience being rich and famous, so they could know it wasn’t the answer to anything.” –Jim Carey In the last 100 years, science has come a very long...

Using the Science of Decision Fatigue to Improve Your Leadership Decisions

by Parker Houston | Jun 30, 2022 | Self Leadership

It used to be that my wife would save her most complex and difficult questions for me until after 8pm when our kids are in bed and we finally have 2 minutes to talk. As an...

What is the good life?—Research on the 7 Habits of Happy People

by Parker Houston | Jun 16, 2022 | Leading During COVID19, The Science of Happiness

“Our greatest fear in life should not be of failure, but of succeeding in life at things that don’t really matter.” –Francis Chan The Big Idea: Whether you lead a business,...

When Helping Hurts

by Parker Houston | Jun 9, 2022 | Family Leadership, Personal Leadership

“Give a person a fish and they eat for a day. Teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime.” –Lao Tzu A few months ago, I was getting my three-year-old daughter ready...

Vacations are not enough, daily and weekly recovery is essential

by Parker Houston | May 26, 2022 | Optimal Performance

“A field that has rested produces a bountiful crop.” –Ovid I’ve shared a lot of research about how vacations are essential to keep you functioning optimally at work...

Feel the Fear, Then Do It Anyway

by Parker Houston | May 12, 2022 | The Science of Mindset

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” –Henry Ford In 1987 psychologist Susan Jeffers wrote her bestselling book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway,...

The Trial is My Teacher

by Parker Houston | May 5, 2022 | Personal Leadership

“Accept whatever comes to you, woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?” –Marcus Aurelius Theodore Roosevelt was born with crippling...

All Great Thinking Begins With a Growth Mindset

by Parker Houston | Apr 28, 2022 | Personal Leadership, The Science of Mindset

“Failure is the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely.” –Henry Ford Regarding core principles of personal leadership, few things are more important than...

Could Taking More Vacation Days Help You Get a Raise?

by Parker Houston | Apr 14, 2022 | Optimal Performance

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it…including you.” –Anne Lamott According to Greg Mckeown, bestselling author and winner of the Young Global Leader Award...

Are You Immune To Changing?

by Parker Houston | Mar 31, 2022 | How People Change

Today’s Big Idea: We all have a kind of emotional immune system that may be hidden from our awareness and preventing us from making changes we want to make in our lives....

Stop Giving Advice and Pushing Your Agenda, Do This Instead (Motivational Interviewing)

by Parker Houston | Mar 24, 2022 | How People Change

Today’s Big Idea: Advice rarely works. In leadership, you need communication strategies that increase your odds that people will listen to what you have to say. This post...

Get Off Autopilot!

by Parker Houston | Feb 24, 2022 | How People Change

.Today’s Big Idea—As a leader, it is essential to understand how to change your own habits, and how to help foster change in others. Science clearly reveals that some ways...

Relationships Shape Your Life

by Parker Houston | Feb 3, 2022 | How People Change

Every so often, you hear a quote that changes your whole life perspective. This one did that for me a couple years ago: Today’s Big Idea: “You are the average of the top 5...

We Are What We Repeatedly Do

by Parker Houston | Jan 27, 2022 | How People Change

Today’s Big Idea—To a great extent, your life is the sum total of your habits. 99% of the time, people don’t change overnight. Change is almost always cumulative, it occurs...

Why Leaders Need to Understand The Science of Happiness

by Parker Houston | Jan 13, 2022 | The Science of Happiness

The Big Idea—Authentic happiness is an extremely important thing to understand—for people, for leadership—and for life. When I say happiness, I am also talking about...

Direction is More Important Than Speed

by Parker Houston | Dec 23, 2021 | Productivity Best Practices

One morning in 1972 Yogi Berra awakened his wife and three sons and piled them into the car to drive to his Hall of Fame ceremony. They were in a bit of a hurry, and it soon...