Seminars, Presentations and Workshops with Dr. John Schinnerer
John Schinnerer, Ph.D. is a member of the National Speakers Association, award-winning author of “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide to Managing Emotion and Thought,” former host of “Guide To Self Radio” a daily prime time radio show, and a U.C. Berkeley-trained educational psychologist. Dr. John served as expert consultant to Inside Out from Disney and Pixar. He was also featured in Skewed, a documentary on the impact of violence in the media on the human mind.
Emotional intelligence is the strongest remaining competitive advantage in today’s economy because it can be learned. If you have managers and executives who are emotionally challenged, expect your most talented employees to find work at your nearest competitor. People leave firms because of their direct supervisor. Ninety percent of supervisors lack emotional management.
Coming from the perspective of positive psychology, John is biased towards the inherent power of emotion and thought. These are unknowingly among the top reasons for failed attempts to improve corporate productivity and culture. Everything that has ever been created by humans began as a thought and was fueled by emotion – passion, desire, courage and perseverance.
On the other hand…
Fear: Fear and anxiety paralyze change initiatives.
Anger: Culture changes are sabotaged due to intense resentment and long-held grudges. Failed projects begin to pile up due to residual anger and back-stabbing between executives.
Sadness: Resignation and hopelessness stall attempts to improve productivity, sales, and ongoing improvement.
Without a legitimate and thorough understanding of the emotional minds of your employees, you are at the mercy of their emotions.
The emotional brain (which is associated with the amygdala) has been in existence in human beings for 3 to 10 million years. On the other hand, the rational brain (which is associated with the prefrontal cortex) has only been around for roughly 50,000 to 1 million years.
The emotional brain has been through countless revisions and is nearly perfect in its ability to keep humans safe and act as a general guidance system (approach vs. avoidance). The emotional brain is faster and has the ability to hijack the rational brain when danger is sensed. ‘Danger’ is based on our perceptions and can vary widely based on the individual.
The rational brain is still in the earliest stages of revision on an evolutionary scale. It is fallible, prone to mistakes in thinking, and can be overpowered by the emotional brain in a matter of 33 milliseconds.
Without doubt, we are all a combination of the rational and emotional brains. The tricky part is finding ways to teach the rational and the emotional sides to work together in cooperation so as to maximize productivity and allow for constructive change in the workplace.
To this end, I’ve been developing research-backed tools to teach groups to manage their emotional mind, and not merely to turn down the volume on negative emotions such as fear, anger and sadness, but to turn UP the volume on positive emotions such as awe, pride, curiosity, interest, relaxation, happiness and amusement.
My discovery is that merely learning to manage the negative emotions is necessary but not sufficient to increase employee productivity, cooperation, teamwork and innovation. Positive emotions serve to broaden and build. Positive emotions enable us to think outside the box, to act in new ways, to create and innovate.
It’s one thing to deal with the negative emotions in your workforce. It is much more difficult to learn ways to cultivate the positive emotions which will spark new ideas and facilitate new, more productive behaviors.
About the Speaker
John Schinnerer, Ph.D. is in private practice helping people learn anger management, stress management and the latest ways to deal with destructive negative emotions. He also helps clients discover optimal human functioning via positive psychology. His offices are located in Danville-San Ramon Medical Center in Danville, California. He graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in educational psychology. He is collaborating with the University of New Zealand on the International Wellbeing Study to look at what we do right and what make for a meaningful, thriving life. He has consulted with Pixar on an upcoming movie. John Schinnerer has been an executive, speaker and psychologist for over 12 years. John Schinnerer is Founder of Guide To Self, a company that coaches clients to their potential using the latest in positive psychology, mindfulness and attentional control. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area. John’s areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to moral development, to sports psychology. He wrote the award-winning, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which is available at Amazon.com. His blog, Shrunken Mind, was recently recognized as one of the top 3 in positive psychology on the web (http://drjohnblog.guidetoself.com).
Popular Programs
Realistic Optimism:
The New Trait Underlying High Performance, Physical Health, and Good Morale
Emotional Management:
How to Tame the Wild Beast in Us All
Besting Office Bullying:
Building An Accepting Corporate Culture
Dealing with Toxic Coworkers:
How to Handle People That Drain Your Energy
Appropriate Assertiveness:
The Balance Between Being a Wimp and Being a Bully
Positive Psychology
in the Corporate World
Best Ways to Defuse Stress:
When Perception Becomes Reality
Using Sports Psychology:
Gain a Competitive Advantage
All presentations are individually tailored in terms of length, content and interactivity to fit your company’s unique needs.
Guide To Self, Inc.
913 San Ramon Valley Blvd. #280
Danville, CA 94526
The materials and information offered in our Guide to Self web site are intended for educational purposes only. They are intended to help you utilize your inner resources to maximize your health, behavior and performance, and are not intended as a substitute for needed medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment or counseling. If you are undergoing therapy, or have any question regarding the appropriateness of their use with your treatment, consult with your health professional before using these materials.
