When they want to feel more loved, valued, respected or connected, most people give away their power. They ask (or want) others to be different, which means someone else’s behavior determines how happy they will be. What do happier people do?
Christine Duvivier
Christine Duvivier
My professional voyage began as an MBA in a Fortune 50 company, where I discovered my love of bringing people together to create change. By the time I left my position, as Director of Customer Loyalty & Quality worldwide, we had improved loyalty 40%. I went on to work closely with leaders from diverse companies. When I returned to school for a Master of Applied Positive Psychology. my research focused on inspiration and motivation in business leaders, until a heartbreaking event changed my life. In 2007 a young friend of my family died by suicide. This promising teen was one of many wonderful, talented and motivated kids who don’t excel in school and, as a result, seem destined to live a mediocre life. My research shows that this assumption is a travesty — for the individuals, certainly, but also for their communities and the businesses who need fresh talent. Read My Full Story here.
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Boost Success and Passion: Tell a Better Story
Most of us don’t realize that we have a few central narratives running through our lives because the stories we tell ourselves are so familiar that we don’t even realize they are stories. In my work with clients, I’ve found that it’s often not the events of life that allow or prevent success in love, …
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In their new book, Smart Strengths, positive psychologists and educators John Yeager, Sherri Fisher, and Dave Shearon offer a framework for helping students use their strengths. This book takes fresh research and boils it down into practical, ready-to-apply processes. I know that educators and parents will want to read it and keep it on hand …
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Answering the Call: Martin Seligman’s Positive Mission (Book Review)
Love. Joy. Appreciation. Gratitude. Awe. Until Martin Seligman and his colleagues began documenting the value of these emotions not only to our spirits but to our productivity and well-being, these words were primarily found in religious contexts. With his new book, Flourish, Martin Seligman brings our attention to the compelling evidence that has emerged from …
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Surprised (pleasantly) by College’s Service Culture
When my daughter, Lauren, chose her college, she picked-up on an aspect that didn’t jump out at me. I guess I was the only one surprised at how that played-out four years later and it made me curious: how does a college foster a service culture that stands out to a high school student?
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No Worries, Andy! Immunize Yourself Against Job Anxiety
Dear Student, Don’t worry when people tell you it will be hard to find a job. What the doom-and-gloom folks don’t understand is that they have something as contagious as the H1N1 virus– anxiety. Like the flu, they are probably “carriers” without even realizing it. You can innoculate yourself.
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To Boost Your Teen’s Brain, Try Success
Failure does not breed success when it comes to the brain, according to MIT scientist Earl Miller whose study of monkeys is cited in the Boston Globe article of August 3: “Why success may breed success.” When a correct response is rewarded, higher-intensity signals fire between the two learning areas of the brain. This increases …
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Is Your Underachiever Lazy, Dumb, or Unappreciated?
If your teen is in the bottom 80% of the class, you may have been told – or thought– that she is “an underachiever” (a polite way of saying lazy or dumb). Underachiever compared to what? Compared to the narrowly-defined measures of school performance or compared to the abilities that will help her to thrive …
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Guitar Hero or High School? One Family’s Choice
It was not an easy decision for his parents to let Blake leave high school and it continues to be a hard choice. They are attacked by critics —most of whom they’ve never met. If the Peebles had taken the expected path and insisted that their son stay in school, no one would be giving …
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How to See More Motivated Teens
When did we start calling kids “self-motivated” if they responded to someone or something outside themselves? Doesn’t the word “self” mean that it comes from the individual himself? Is someone truly self-motivated if they are doing something to get a reward from someone else? Teens who are not top students may appear to be unmotivated …
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It’s Not You… When Your Teen is Right and School is Wrong– The Myths of Education™ (Part 3)
In a recent study, I found that a child’s gifts may actually be at odds with the way he is expected to learn: the very gifts that will help him in life, hurt him in school. The conflict between teens’ gifts and school demands is a good reason to question whether our approach to education …
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When Being the Best Student isn’t Best for the Child–The Myths of Education (Part II)
We all want the best for our kids. So when we urge a teen to be the best possible student, it’s often because we know this will get him into the “best” colleges—and we assume this will lead to the best life. On the flip side, we assume that if you’re not a top student, …
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Myths of Education: Bottom Students Are Not Hardworking, Motivated, or Bright (Part 1 of 3)
Contrary to popular mythology, I found that students in the bottom 80% of their classes actually work much harder than people think. Students in what I call “The Bottom 80™” are told they have learning disabilities or lack motivation, but in fact they are perfectly capable of learning and are highly motivated when the situation …
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The #1 Question Parents Ask Most: Surprising Facts. Did you ask your child about his or her homework this week? In parent circles, the amount of homework becomes a frequent heated discussion. If you are one of the parents questioning students’ school assignments, you may want to do your own homework on this subject.
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Teens who Bring Good Dreams to Life
Imagine you were asked to help improve the future prospects of Jill, a high school junior with a GPA of 2.0 who daydreams in English, History, and Spanish. What would you advise Jill to do? a) Get screened for a learning disability and, if needed, take medication to focus. b) Visualize a report card with …
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What would you expect to hear from a would-be superintendent if you asked him what he wants to change in the public school system? Smaller classes? Stronger academics? Improved test scores? These are often the words we hear proclaimed when discussing school improvement, so I was surprised and delighted by the answer from one superintendent candidate in my …
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Christine Duvivier, MAPP 2007 positive change leader/speaker/mentor My professional voyage began about 20 years ago, a fresh MBA graduate from Cornell University. At Digital Equipment Corporation, I found my strengths lay in bringing people together to improve customer engagement. By the time I had left my position as Director of Customer Loyalty & Quality worldwide, we …