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Practical perspectives on training, education and capability building.
Photo: Casey Horner on UnsplashThe Importance of Agency and Balance
Martin Seligman's new book argues that agency, the belief that what we do matters, drives human progress. This article explains its three components, what they mean for Hong Kong's young people, and why agency needs balance.
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Not sure where to start? Pick a topic and read the articles in this order.
How do young people find a purpose?
Photo: Jamie Street on Unsplash- 1The Science of What Makes Life Worth Living8 min
- 2Two Pathways to Help Young People Find Their Purpose9 min
- 3Purpose, Identity and Reflection: How Young People Find a Direction8 min
- 4Beyond Direction: How Hope and Agency Turn Youth Purpose into Action5 min
- 5Purpose and Meaning: Why the Two Are Not Interchangeable7 min
- Related programme: Career Exploration
What makes a strength useful?
Photo: Evgeni Evgeniev on Unsplash- 1What Are Character Strengths, and Why Every School Should Be Talking About Them6 min
- 2The Strengths That Build Purpose: What 9,000 People Taught Us About Character and Calling5 min
- 3Multiple Intelligences and the Advantage of Knowing What You're Good At5 min
- 4Character Strengths: What Really Makes a Team Stronger4 min
- 5When Work Becomes a Calling: What Japan's 天職 Teaches Us About Purpose6 min
- Related programme: Character Strengths
How are emotions built, and how do we lead with them?
Photo: Hanna Lazar on Unsplash- 1Your Brain Is Built, Not Born: What Neuroscience Teaches Us About Learning and Environment6 min
- 2How Emotional Intelligence Is Actually Built8 min
- 3The Read That Comes Before the Decision: Why Emotional Awareness Is a Leadership Skill8 min
- 4Why Criticism Fails at Work: Three Timeless Principles for Better Workplace Communication6 min
- Related programme: Workplace Communication
What should learning look like with AI?
Photo: Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash- 1Why IQ No Longer Measures What Matters in the Age of AI5 min
- 2The AI Revolution: Shifting from Passive to Self-Directed Learning2 min
- 3Coding is the Language; Thinking is the Engine1 min
- 4Navigating the HK$500,000 "AI for ALL" Grant: 5 Strategic Tips for School Leaders1 min
- 5Shaping Potential: How Our Future-Ready Curriculum Fulfills the "AI for ALL" Grant Requirements1 min
Recent published articles
- The Importance of Agency and Balance7 min read
Martin Seligman's new book argues that agency, the belief that what we do matters, drives human progress. This article explains its three components, what they mean for Hong Kong's young people, and why agency needs balance.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - Purpose and Meaning: Why the Two Are Not Interchangeable7 min read
This article explains the difference between purpose and meaning, where the two overlap, and why schools and organisations that build one should not assume they have built the other.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - Beyond Direction: How Hope and Agency Turn Youth Purpose into Action5 min read
Why purpose alone is not enough for youth development, and how hope and agency help students turn direction into real-world action.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - Purpose, Identity and Reflection: How Young People Find a Direction8 min read
The relationship between purpose and identity development, the evidence for structured reflection as a means of building purpose, and why direct questioning has its limits.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - How Emotional Intelligence Is Actually Built8 min read
Drawing on Lisa Feldman Barrett's work on how the brain constructs emotion, why the precision of your emotion vocabulary changes how you cope under pressure.
Team Building - The Read That Comes Before the Decision: Why Emotional Awareness Is a Leadership Skill8 min read
Drawing on Lisa Feldman Barrett's research into how the brain constructs emotion, this article sets out why emotional awareness belongs in leadership development.
Team Building - Your Brain Is Built, Not Born: What Neuroscience Teaches Us About Learning and Environment6 min read
Lisa Feldman Barrett's Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, and why real learning takes repetition and the right environment.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - Why Criticism Fails at Work: Three Timeless Principles for Better Workplace Communication6 min read
Criticism triggers defensiveness, sincere appreciation builds trust, and influence begins with understanding what the other person wants.
Professional Communication - Character Strengths: What Really Makes a Team Stronger4 min read
When people can use their character strengths at work, their dedication, satisfaction and sense of meaning go up. What the research found.
Team Building - The Science of What Makes Life Worth Living8 min read
Positive psychology is the scientific study of what helps people, schools and organisations flourish. It answers a question humanity has carried since Aristotle: what does it mean to live well?
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - Multiple Intelligences and the Advantage of Knowing What You're Good At5 min read
Most people can name their job title faster than their actual strengths. Howard Gardner's work offers a more honest way to see your own.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - Why IQ No Longer Measures What Matters in the Age of AI5 min read
For a century, IQ was treated as the single best signal of human ability. The research never quite supported that, and artificial intelligence has made the gap impossible to ignore.
Artificial Intelligence - The Strengths That Build Purpose: What 9,000 People Taught Us About Character and Calling5 min read
New research on the character strengths most strongly tied to purpose: spirituality, hope and love of learning. What it means for schools and workplaces.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - When Work Becomes a Calling: What Japan's 天職 Teaches Us About Purpose6 min read
What the Japanese idea of 天職, a calling given by heaven, adds to how we think about purpose at work.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - Building Identity Brick by Brick: How LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Helps Us Construct Self-Understanding7 min read
How a children's toy became one of the most powerful adult interventions for self-identity, resilience and meaning-making.
Team Building - Two Pathways to Help Young People Find Their Purpose9 min read
How character strengths build youth purpose. Two research-backed pathways, and the hybrid model educators are using to support student development.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - What Are Character Strengths, and Why Every School Should Be Talking About Them6 min read
Character strengths are the authentic positive traits that reflect who we are at our best. Over 1,000 scientific studies and 24 universally valued strengths.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education - The Critical Necessity of Identity Development in Adolescence1 min read
Adolescence is defined by the question "Who am I?" Why identity formation is the bridge from the confusion of youth to a purposeful adulthood.
Team Building - The AI Revolution: Shifting from Passive to Self-Directed Learning2 min read
In the traditional model, students wait for content, for the exam, and for feedback. AI changes what self-directed learning can look like.
Artificial Intelligence - Coding is the Language; Thinking is the Engine1 min read
In an era of automated decision-making, algorithmic literacy matters, and so does bridging the gap between human and digital thinking.
Artificial Intelligence - Navigating the HK$500,000 "AI for ALL" Grant: 5 Strategic Tips for School Leaders1 min read
The EDB's HK$500,000 grant is a real opportunity, with strict compliance requirements. Five tips to make the most of it.
Artificial Intelligence - Shaping Potential: How Our Future-Ready Curriculum Fulfills the "AI for ALL" Grant Requirements1 min read
How a curriculum that combines positive psychology with AI literacy meets the EDB's "3 Subjects, 2 Levels, 6 Resources" requirement.
Artificial Intelligence - What a Good CV Workshop Should Actually Teach1 min read
A useful CV workshop helps participants understand what employers are scanning for, and how to present relevance clearly.
Professional Communication - Why Storytelling Makes Presentations More Persuasive1 min read
Good presentations are memorable, human and emotionally coherent. Storytelling helps audiences care, remember and trust what they hear.
Professional Communication - Character Strengths Become Useful When Teams Can Name and Use Them1 min read
Strengths become practical when teams can identify them, spot them in each other, and connect them to roles and behaviours.
Team Building - Interview Preparation Should Start with How Employers Think1 min read
Interview confidence improves when participants stop memorising answers and start understanding what the interviewer is trying to find out.
Professional Communication - Why Positive Communication Starts with Emotional Literacy1 min read
People communicate better when they can understand emotions, needs and response patterns.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education
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