For caffeine addicts everywhere – yes, yes, yes. Caffeine has been found to improve short-term memory, and keep us going longer (who needs the lame Energizer bunny) oh, they do say it makes us more open to persuasion.

Do you work in Bursts? A new book by the author of Linked, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, reckons he has found a way to predict human behavior using ‘power laws’. The upshot is that from answering email to random walks, our behavior is predictable. After reading the book I’m not sure I agree with Barabasi’s thesis, the evidence is a bit thin, but its an entertaining read nonetheless including quite a cast of characters from Einstein, to Cardinal Bakocz, internet routers to the flight path of the albatross.

Leeds United, my home team, was promoted to the Championship in the English Football (soccer) League. The World Cup taking place in South Africa starts on June.

Other headlines that caught my eye:

• Steve Jobs saving us from Porn
• The afterlife of Steig Larsson – the man behind Lisbeth Salander, the ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’

As I read the Schumpeter article I thought about ‘disruptions’ that impact the brand of individuals lower down the organization.  What about the person in a management or leadership position caught up in malicious talk, who has been unfairly linked with a failing strategy or team, or who has presided over a series of poor results. What does brand rehab mean for them?

I’m continually surprised by how many executives ignore their brand. If you have no idea what people are saying about you - how peers, colleagues or directs describe you - you need to start your own brand rehab. Rest assured just because you haven’t promoted your brand, those you work with will have created their own shorthand for your abilities.

In his excellent book, ‘A New Brand World’, Scott Bedbury defines a brand as:

“The accomplishments of your best employee – the shining star – as well as by the mishaps of the worst hire that you ever made. Brands are sponges for content, for images, for fleeting feelings. They become psychological concepts held in the mind where they may stay forever. As such you can’t entirely control a brand. At best you can only guide and influence it”

The first step in guiding and influencing your brand is to:

1. Acknowledge you have one.
2. The next is to identify what your brand stands for. How do you want people to perceive you, to connect with you, to feel and talk about you? I believe a person’s brand is deeply rooted in their beliefs. Find what you believe and use this insight to create your brand.
3. Conduct a brand audit. Talk to a few people in your team or organization, how would they describe you to a colleague? Go the extra mile – take part in a 360 to really see how people perceive you
4. Link your brand to your business strategy. How does your brand connect and extend your strategy. It’s a lot easier for others to understand what you stand for/believe in if it’s linked to something tangible or concrete.
5. Run your ‘campaign’. Borrowing from the political arena identify opportunities to communicate your Brand, and always, always stay on message. Remember we train people how to respond to us – messaging your brand is just another way to coach people about who you are and what you stand for. If you need some pointers check out ‘Living Your Leadership Brand’.

What is interesting about these data is that ‘Integrity’ comes second and fairness near last. Given the lack of governance in Wall Street and the general lack of trust in Corporate America I would have hoped ‘Integrity’ would be rated as number one. To be fair the research asked the CEO’s how they would lead their organizations in an increasingly complex world and creativity was defined as ‘deeper business model changes … risk taking and innovation’. What is your take on the data? Is creativity the most important attribute for the CEO in a complex world economy?

To take the marshmallow challenge click here.

• Income plays a role – 90% of people making at least $250,000 a year called themselves “very happy”
• Women report being less happy than they were 30 years ago
• The happiest place to live is Venezuela, the least happy place Latvia. America was ranked 7^th.
• The happiest occupation – being a business owner. People involved in manufacturing and transportation were rated as least happy.

If you want to check out the happiness or well-being index click here. Current statistics show ‘happiness’ with the ‘Work Environment’ as lower than 2008 or 2009, but overall well-being is substantially higher than at this time last year.

To be regarded as a Psychologically Healthy Workplace organizations are evaluated in five areas:

1. Employee involvement. The degree to which the organization empowers workers, involving them in decision making and giving them increased job autonomy.
2. Work-life balance. The psychologically healthy workplace recognizes that employees have lives out side the work place and need support managing multiple demands. Organizations are measured on criteria such as flexible working arrangements, for example tele-working and flextime, childcare and eldercare benefits.
3. Employee Growth and Development. Does your company invest in the growth of its employees? Do you promote both internal and external training opportunities; have you a competency based culture that identifies the skills and behaviors employees need to develop in order to advance their careers
4. Health and safety. These initiatives maximize the physical and mental health of employees through the assessment, prevention and treatment of health risks.  Initiatives’ include programs of stress management, weight loss and smoking cessation programs.
5. Employee recognition. Recognition programs are designed to reward individuals both individually and collectively for their contributions to the organization. Recognition can take a number of different forms – formal and informal (broad recognition to the overall business or organization would be an example of formal recognition; verbal feedback or appreciation and/or an email to an employee or team is an example of informal recognition).

Previous winners of the award include companies such as IBM and Southwest Airlines. Smaller businesses and not-for-profit have also won the award and been recognized examples of best practice. To learn more about what it takes to create a ‘Psychologically Healthy Workplace’ click here. If your interested in applying to become part of the program click here. I am part of the committee assessing the applications of companies applying for the award in Maryland. I’ll keep you updated on the winning submissions in my state.

Using a relatively small sample of 28 students, psychologists from Cologne University found that participants who were told they were playing with a “lucky ball” sank 6.4 putts out of 10, nearly two more putts, on average, than those who weren’t told the ball was lucky. The researchers conclude that believing in your good fortune can help, but only in situations where it you can directly affect the outcome.

So, is it time to find that lucky charm, or perhaps you need to tell members of your team the pen you just gave them will increase revenue by 12%. Good luck with that.