Apologizing Linked to Income Earned

30. October 2007 by John Schinnerer.

Upcoming speaking engagements with John Schinnerer, Ph.D

Positive Psychology in the Corporate World: Realistic Optimism, Values and Truth” Cost: $25. November 6th, 2007, 6 pm - 8 pm, Palo Alto, Ca. Presentation
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Apologies Related to Higher Pay

By John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

People who apologize more earn higher salaries. That is the finding of
a study done by Zogby International.

Zogby was asked by their client, The Pearl Outlet, to find out more about customers
who were buying pearls as a way of apologizing. Apparently, customers were buying pearls for spouses, lovers, or significant others as a way to say “I’m sorry.”

Zogby polled nearly 8,000 men and women in the united States and what they discovered was staggering — people who sincerely apologize make more
money. Apology Numbers…

Individuals who make over $100,000 per year are almost two times as likely to say “I’m sorry” following a mistake or a disagreement than those who make $25,000 or less.92% of those who earn more than $100,000 apologize when they feel they are at fault.

89% of individual who make between $100,000 and $75,000 are more likely to apologize after a mistake or argument

84% of those who earn between $75,000 and $50,000 report a willingness to apologize.

74% of those who make between $50,000 and $25,000 apologize readily

And only 52% of those who make less than $25,000 are open to apologizing
regularly.  

It’s a near perfect predictor of how much money people make. This is a rarity - a
strong relationship between income and human behavior.

So what does it mean?

The willingness to apologize is an indication of emotional intelligence, interpersonal
skills, which we know to be associated with leadership and executive performance.

What’s more, the relationship between asking for forgiveness and income indicates that highly successful individuals are open to making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. Successful people are willing to break some eggs to make an omelet.

The extension of this is that successful people are more likely to ask for forgiveness
than for permission. They are willing to take calculated risks which have a high probability of paying off in the future.

The other possible interpretation is that successful individuals are more
comfortable in who they are, more self-assured, and thus, are less likely to get defensive when things go badly. They are strong enough to take the blame when they are wrong while realizing that they will persevere despite adverse circumstances.

If you want to read more about the amazing power of apologies and forgiveness, visit the articles section at www.GuideToSelf.com.

Latest news! There is a new Guide To Self Blog written by Dr. John at http://www.DrJohnBlog.com.

Author’s Bio:

Dr. John Schinnerer is President and Founder of Guide To Self, a company that focuses on coaching individuals and groups to their potential using positive psychology. Most recently, Dr. John hosted 200 shows of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He
graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. Dr. John has been a coach and psychologist for over 10 years.

Dr. John is also President of Infinet Assessment, a psychological testing company to help firms select the best applicants. Infinet was founded in 1997 and has worked with companies such as UPS, Erie Insurance, Kaiser Permanente and Schreiber Foods.

Dr. Schinnerer’s first book is on scientifically proven ways to lead a meaningful and happy life, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought.” He has written articles on corporate ethics and EQ in the workplace for Workspan magazine, HR.com, and Business Ethics. He has done presentations and seminars for numerous organizations throughout the United States.

Posted in emotional intelligence, emotion mining company, new approaches to organizational change initiatives, guide to self, dr. john schinnerer, forgiveness, business, positive psychology | Print | No Comments »

Response to Powerless in Philly Re: Abusive Coach

11. October 2007 by John Schinnerer.

Dear Powerless:

Your note is one of hundreds I’ve received from people regarding coaches who bully. These notes seem to have largely come as a result of two articles I recently wrote.

It sounds to me like your volleyball coach is overfocused on winning to the detriment of the psychological and physical development of the players. The point at which it becomes emotionally abusive is when it happens repeatedly and makes the players feel guilty, ashamed or worth-less.

It’s interesting. Just as a point of contrast, we are fortunate to have Bob LaDoceur out here who orchestrated the longest winning streak in the history of high school football (De La Salle HS). He is known for treating his players with respect and putting values ahead of winning. It’s one of the few examples of which I know where the coach has what I consider to be the right approach.

I’m sure you are right about the captains of the team being afraid. I remember being captain of my varsity soccer, swimming and water polo teams. I spoke up once to the soccer coach to speak on behalf of the players who were demoralized and miserable. He blackballed me when it came time to nominate players for All-League honors (which I had received the year before as a junior).  So those sorts of things happen frequently in high school. Coaches are ruled by their emotions and play out little dramas to “pay back” the “insubordination” of their players.

In your daughter’s case, she is getting yelled at for an honest mistake or two in practice. Obviously, this is an overreaction on the part of the coach. It sounds like the coach has the mistaken belief that perfection is possible and should be strived for at any cost. Perfection is not possible. We can only try to be perfect. However, we don’t want to spend too much time and energy trying to get from 95% to 100%. It’s a matter of diminishing return. The extra practice you put in to get that extra 5% leads to burn out in my opinion. It also turns a sport from a “want to” to a “have to”. Once that mind set changes, the athlete is headed downhill in motivation and subsequently performance.

We know perfectionism is related to anxiety. So the coach may be driving the team hard out of his/her own anxiety and need to succeed. The coach may think that yelling at and humiliating players is the best way (or one way) to motivate the players. This may work for some but is ultimately harmful for many, if not most, players. We know that the negative outweighs the positive in our minds. We know that it takes roughly 5-10 compliments to undo one insult. That’s the way our mind works. So many players may begin to internalize some of these messages (e.g., “You’re not good enough”, “You’re a waste of time,” etc.) when heard frequently enough.

Personally, I don’t think there’s an excuse for such behavior. Whether playoffs are coming up or not is inconsequential. The coach’s job is partially to manage his or her own internal pressures, not take it out on players. And yelling at players he expects the most out of is a great way to lose your best players. As soon as a player gets enough of that abuse, they will muster the courage to walk away from the game which is a shame.

So what do you tell your daughter?  If she were my daughter, I’d tell her the following…

You’re doing great. You’re a great player. You’re a great person. We support you regardless of what happens in volleyball.

Try to discount any overly negative, personal attacks made by the coach (obviously some positive, constructive comments may help her grow as a player).

Keep up the great effort. Focus on her effort rather than the outcome. One of the coach’s issues is that she is overfocused on the outcome (such as getting two hands on the ball and making the hit over the net). It’s not the outcome you want to stress, it’s the effort (such as the energy expended to get to the ball and the attempt to get two hands on the ball and the effort to get one hand on the ball when getting two hands on it is impossible).

Let her know that the coach’s brain is not working right. As a result, she does inappropriate things like yell at young ladies when they make an honest mistake (but a good effort).

To help her deal with negative comments from the coach (or anyone), instruct her to ask herself (after a mean comment), “Will this matter five years from now?” Usually, the answer is “no, it won’t matter.” If the answer is “Yes, it will” have her come to you and share what happened.

Remind yourself that you are powerful, not powerless. You can manage your own emotions in response to a bullying coach. You can help your daughter learn to manage her emotions with a bully.

Unfortunately, bullies exist everywhere throughout life, not just in volleyball. They are also in colleges, workplaces and relationships. So it’s an important life skill to learn to deal with them.

You can also role play some situations with her where you play her and she plays the coach. Have her say some similar mean comments to you, and you find ways to respond in a respectful, yet firm, manner. For example, when coach says “Are you kidding me?! I told you to get two hands on the ball. That was absolute crap!” You can respond with something like, “Sorry coach. I am giving it everything I have.” Coach may say something like “Well you’re not giving enough”. You can respond with “Gee coach, hopefully, I’ll get it right before next season.” Or “I’ll keep working on it.” Remind her to breathe deeply when coach acts like a spoiled brat. Deep breathing is a big help in calming down intense negative emotions such as anger.

The visual aid you can give your daughter is that of an imaginary garbage can or toilet which sits on her hip. As the brain doesn’t know the difference between what’s real and what’s imagined, visualization can be very powerful when developed and practiced. Teach your daughter that she has a choice in terms of what words she takes into her and which ones she refuses to take in. Kind, loving words can go straight to her heart. Mean, cruel words she can imagine going straight into her garbage can. This is a skill I have taught all my children. It’s helpful with bullies of all sizes and genders.

And lastly, I would document all this information so that you can turn it into the principal you’re your daughter graduates. Otherwise the cycle just continues and more girls get hurt. I imagine other players on the team have had the same complaints but everyone is too afraid to speak up – the definition of a bully – emotional intimidation.

Hopefully that helps. There’s more such info in my book. The title is below.

Wish you all the best!

Dr. John Schinnerer

Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought

Available at Amazon.com, Authorhouse.com, Target.com, and BarnesAndNoble.com

Posted in abusive coaches, Bullies, Sports Psychology, Mean coaches | Print | No Comments »

Follow Up on Mean Coaches who Bully Young Athletes

11. October 2007 by John Schinnerer.

I have received hundreds of emails from concerned parents and athletes ranging from entry level athletes to professional ones on the subject of coaches who bully. It seems that everyone has had a negative experience with an emotionally abusive coach. The crazy part is that this behavior seems to be tolerated by the community at large because “it’s sports” and “it’s the way things have always been done.”This is the very definition of insanity - doing the same thing you’ve always done and expecting different results. If we want our young athletes to grow up into authentic, emotionally stable adults with high integrity, we must change the way our coaching is done now. Below is an excerpt from a parent letter to me regarding their bullying coach. I have changed the names to protect their identity.Dear Dr. Schinnerer:
My daughter is a member of the High School Volleyball team here in town. There is only one school.  There is only one team with a Varsity and a JV squad.
My daughter made both teams. On the varsity team the Coach only plays the top 7 players.
That was understood from the beginning.
She and 2 others were given the dubious honor of having made the team but really were just extreme back up and mostly what their function is, is to do stats on clipboards. The fun part of ‘making that team’ was supposed to be the opportunity to practice with the varsity first string girls and to learn and play against people that are better and have more experience.  The hope was that next year the girls would have learned a lot and would maybe actually get into games at that point. The truth is that stats are kept even during practice and if one’s STATS aren’t perfect you don’t make it on to Coach’s court to practice.
The back story to this is that the Coach has a huge winning record. Her teams have won dozens of games without losing (this goes over a period of years). From the beginning my daughter has been a hugely loyal and very motivated player for this Coach. She is a good athlete, she works hard, lives a very clean life.  She is not the best player on the team but is one of the best on the JV squad and she works her butt off. She goes early, stays late, volunteers for extra assignments,  works with middle school players, etc…
On Sunday…this Coach completely humiliated my daughter in front of all of her team mates.
Twice  she got one hand on the ball instead of 2 in a drill they were doing in practice. Coach yelled and screamed at her, called her a loser and said she expects more from her…and then she did the unthinkable and divulged things my daughter had asked Coach privately..(”Coach, what do I need to do so that I can someday make it on to your court?” meaning varsity.) Coach yelled something like “you come to me and ask what you need to do to get on my court and I tell you what you should do and this is what I get in return? You don’t deserve a thing from me!”
To add insult to injury…she sent one of the team captains (I think the captains should be conferring with and helping my daughter thru this. I believe they are scared to say anything for FEAR of losing their spots) to tell  my daughter she couldn’t wear her varsity jersey for the game the next day. Now she is quite humiliated, embarrassed and very dejected, very angry and I feel she may lose her confidence and she may change because of this.
Coach has always been tough in sort of a drill-Sergeant sort of way. No sense of humor, expects 110%. My daughter always gives 110% and she thought that Coach “liked her and respected her for her work ethic.”
We cannot negotiate with this Coach because I am afraid she will take it out on my daughter if we even try to intervene or even chat about it. Same thing if we go to the administration at school. I thought about explaining to the Coach that this kind of humiliation and behavior towards my daughter will just discourage and alienate her, not motivate her.  But in speaking with a couple of other Moms with older girls on the team..apparently Coach “gets this way in October leading up to the State Championships” and she usually “takes her frustration out on the player she expects the most from in the future.”
In fact my daughter and I remember last year one player in particular...a great player getting in so much trouble from Coach. At the time my daughter was down in the freshman gym so we don’t know the specifics about it, but even then it seemed unusually harsh and over the top for what the infraction was (which had to do with dropping a ‘game’ (not a whole match) last year). She benched the girl for many, many games. Bottom line is that it’s all about the Coach’s record and not about the girls and what they learn.This is what we have done.
Told her Coach is a wacko and just let those negative comments wash around her and not into her.
Keep up the hard work.
Don’t gossip about it to other players.
Keep up the good attitude as she mentors the younger players.
Be a leader even though Coach has treated her unfairly.
TUNE out the negativity. As I sit here and read this is is utterly ridiculous that I would put my daughter in a situation like this and let it continue. But what else can I do?

OK that is my novel. Here is my question:
WHAT CAN I DO or what DO I do?
We can’t move her to another school.
We can’t afford private school which is the only alternative. She loves the sport. But I see her tears and when she was sobbing on Sunday, and then again last night because she is so embarrassed, and is being so strong in front of the team…I just don’t know who to turn to for advice or help or words of wisdom. I am also trying to keep a brave face on for her, but it is inconceivable to me that this is happening in a place where I think it shouldn’t and we are powerless to do anything about it due to possible repercussions against my daughter.I have really given you so much to read and I am sorry that I couldn’t condense it more and I don’t even know if you will respond, but I hope you can and do because my husband and I will really appreciate it.Sincerely,Powerless

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Mean Coaches - Sports Coaches Who Bully Little Kids

11. October 2007 by John Schinnerer.

By Dr. John Schinnerer My ten-year-old son was bullied recently. He was told that he was an “embarrassment.” He was told to “shut up.” He was yelled at and scolded in a tone of voice tinged with disgust and disdain. He was told he would be punished for any mistakes he or his peers made.  Surprisingly, this didn’t happen at school. The bully wasn’t even a peer of his. The bully was his swim coach, a young lady of perhaps 26 years of age. She was desperately trying to motivate her swimmers to swim fast in the big meet the next day. And this was her attempt at motivation. Unfortunately this is a pattern of destructive behavior that continues for this particular coach as evidenced by multiple parent complaints over two seasons. She is a “mean coach” - a coach that gets athletes to perform by bullying them. In speaking to the lady in charge of the coaches on this swim team, it quickly became apparent that this type of “incentive” was not only okay with her, it was actually encouraged. She said that 9- and 10-year-old boys were “squirrely” and “needed to be taken down a notch.” She was in full support of her coaches yelling at, embarrassing and insulting young children to motivate them to swim faster. “That’s just the way swimming is,” she said. Had I not spent 12 years of my childhood swimming competitively, I may have believed her. So this raises some interesting questions… How do you know if your coach is a bully? If the coach is a bully, what do you do about it?  How Do I Know If My Coach is a Bully? To determine if a coach is a bully, you must first know what bullying behavior looks and feels like.  Bullying is aggressive behavior that occurs repeatedly over time in a relationship where there is an imbalance of power or strength. Bullying can take many forms, including physical violence, verbal abuse, social manipulation and attacks on property. Physical violence is not usually a component of a coaching relationship. If your coach is physically violent with an athlete, call the authorities. Much more common in the world of athletics is verbal abuse and emotional mistreatment over time which can lead to severe and long-lasting effects on the athlete’s social and emotional development. In a world where “more is better” in terms of training and “no pain means no gain,” there is a great deal of machismo in coaches. Most coaches coach the same way that they were coached while playing the sport growing up. This means that many coaches are still operating as if the training methods used in the Soviet Union in the 1970’s are state of the art.  “Ve vill deprive you of food until you win gold medal.” Central to this old school mind set is the idea that threat, intimidation, fear, guilt, shame, and name-calling are all viable ways to push athletes to excel. News flash: None of these are worthwhile motivators for anyone. These are the bricks which line the road paved to burnout, rebellion and a hatred of a once-loved sport. What Does Verbal and Emotional Abuse Look Like in Athletics? Usually, this involves a coach telling an athlete or making them feel that he or she is worthless, despised, inadequate, or valued only as a result of their athletic performance. And here’s the catch, such messages are not conveyed merely with the spoken word. They are conveyed by tone of voice, body language, facial expression and withdrawal of physical or emotional support. This is a large part of the reason why the problem of bullying in athletics is so hard to quantify – a clear definition of bullying is somewhat elusive. Even if we can define it, as above, it’s highly difficult to measure. Bullying is partly defined by the subjective experience of the athlete. In other words, if the athlete feels shamed, frightened, or anxious around the coach due to his or her constant and repeated shouting, name-calling or threatening, then the label “emotional abuse” is warranted. How Widespread is Bullying by Coaches in Athletics? At this point in time, there are no hard and fast figures on coaches who bully. In school, we know that 90% of 4th through 8th graders report being victims of some form of bullying at some point in their past.  In a 2005 UCLA study, Jaana Juvonen found that nearly 50% of 6^th graders reported being the victim of bullying in the past five day period. In general, boys are more physically aggressive (physical bullying), whereas girls rely more on social exclusion, teasing, and cliques (verbal or emotional bullying). In 2006, Stuart Twemlow, MD gave an anonymous survey to 116 teachers at seven elementary schools, and found that 45% of teachers admitted to having bullied a student in the past. In the study, teacher bullying was defined as “using power to punish, manipulate, or disparage a student beyond what would be a reasonable disciplinary procedure.” Psychological research has debunked several myths associated with bullying, including one that states bullies are usually the most unpopular students in school. A 2000 study by psychologist Philip Rodkin, PhD, and colleagues involving fourth-through-sixth-grade boys found that highly aggressive boys may be among the most popular and socially connected children in elementary classrooms, as seen by their peers and teachers. Another myth is that bullies are really anxious and self-doubting individuals who cope using bullying as a way to compensate for their low self-esteem. However, there is no support for such a view. Most bullies have average or better than average self-esteem. Bullies, in general, are not loners and misfits with low self-esteem. Many bullies are relatively popular and have “henchmen” who help with their bullying behaviors. And so it was with the swim team where the coach’s bullying is supported and endorsed by the woman in charge of the team. Bullying does not take place in a vacuum. There has to be an environment around bullying behavior which allows it and enables it to survive. Back to the original question of how widespread is bullying by coaches in athletics. We know that bullying is rampant among children as well as adults.  We know that 45% of teachers admit to having bullied a student in the past. On average, teachers have more training (1 to 2 years post graduate) in areas such as child development and educational and motivational theories than the average coach of youth athletics. So it’s appears safe to assume that teachers are less likely than the average coach to engage in bullying behavior.  Assuming that’s the case, it seems safe to assume that roughly 45 - 50% of coaches have bullied an athlete in their past. According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, there are approximately 2.5 million adults in the United States who volunteer their time to coach each year.  Using the tentative number of 50% would mean that there are roughly 1.25 million adult coaches who have bullied a child athlete in the past. And this number does not even take into account coaches who are paid for their services and who may be more likely to bully due to the pressures and expectations placed upon them.  So What? A Little Yelling Never Hurt Anyone The old school of thought was along the lines of the nursery school rhyme “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  The old school of thought was that a little yelling at players will “toughen them up and prepare them for real life.” Fortunately, we now know better. A 2003 study by Dr. Stephen Joseph at University of Warwick found that “verbal abuse can have more impact upon victims’ self-worth than physical attacks, such as punching…stealing or the destruction of belongings.”  Verbal attacks such as name-calling and humiliation can negatively impact self-worth to a dramatic degree. Rather than helping them to “toughen up”, 33% of verbally abused children suffer from significant levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is the same disorder that haunts many war veterans and victims of violent assault. Verbal bullying leads to anxiety, social withdrawal, nightmares, and can negatively impact the psychological health of children. Words do hurt and the scars they leave behind can last a lifetime. A UCLA study from 2005 demonstrated that there is no such thing as “harmless name-calling.” The study, by Jaana Juvonen, Ph.D., found that those 6^th graders who had been victimized felt humiliated, anxious, angry and disliked school more. What’s more, the students who merely observed another student being bullied reported more anxiety and disliked school to a greater degree than those who did not witness any bullying. The major lesson here is that the more a child is bullied, or observes bullying, in a particular environment, the more they dislike being in that environment. So any bullying done by coaches will virtually guarantee a hasty exit from the sport by the victim. A 2007 Penn State study found that the trauma endured by children due to bullying results in physical changes in the body. The study, performed by JoLynn Carney, found that levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, were elevated in the saliva of both children who had been bullied recently and in those children who were anticipating being bullied in the near future. Ironically, when cortisol levels spike, our ability to think clearly, learn or remember goes right out the window. So those coaches who rely on fear and intimidation ensure their athletes won’t recall any of what they said while they are ranting and raving. Repeated exposure to such stressful events has been linked to chronic fatigue syndrome, greater chance of injury, chronic pelvic pain, and PTSD. It appears to be the anxiety which is the most dangerous aspect for the victim of bullying. The anxiety stays with the victim and fuels deep internal beliefs such as “the world is a dangerous place in which to live” and “other people cannot be trusted.” As demonstrated in Martin Seligman’s work, such core beliefs lay at the heart of depression. Thus, bullying is directly linked to trauma and anxiety and indirectly linked to depression and higher cortisol levels.  What Can I Do About Bullying Coaches?If you are a parent, if possible, make the coach aware of his/her behavior. Ensure the safety of yourself and your child first. It’s difficult to predict when you’ll be met with an uncooperative, and potentially hostile, attitude. However, it’s important that you be courageous and stand up to the bullying behavior. To the extent that you sit by, complain in the background, but do nothing to prevent bullying behaviors, you allow it to continue. If, after bringing it to the coaches attention, you don’t see a change in the behavior of the coach, report their specific behaviors which you view as bullying to any supervisor or league authorities. Be as specific as possible to help others identify and change the behaviors in question. In extreme cases, you may find that with the people in charge of the organization are in support of bullying coaches. In that case, you must weigh the financial, physical and psychological costs of moving your child to a different team or coach. Staying with the same coach is likely to lead to increased anxiety and decreased athletic performance at a minimum. Moving to a different coach may mean increased financial expenses, driving time and leaving behind the friendship of other parents and children.If you are a coach, be aware of your tone of voice, body language, and other nonverbal messages. The majority of what we communicate with others is done nonverbally and through tone of voice. Tone of voice provides the greatest insight into how a coach is feeling when he or she speaks to an athlete. Tone of voice alone can convey disgust, delight, disappointment, anger, contentment and much more. It’s not as much what you say as how you say it.  And keep in mind that most of the athletes you coach are not going to become rich and famous. The best you can do is encourage your athletes’ love of the game.  So keep it fun. Keep it low key. Turn down the volume on your competitiveness. Remind yourself that it’s just a game. It’s not a matter of life or death. Don’t get overly attached to winning. Focus on helping your athletes perform at their peak level. If you are an athlete, realize that your physical and psychological health is of the greatest importance. It is the primary reason that you are involved in athletics. So, listen to the feeling in your gut. If you feel angry, ashamed, guilty, anxious or sad every time you come near your coach, you may want to look for a new coach. You have a right to be treated with respect and dignity. Exercise that right. Depending upon how volatile your coach is, and how strong a bond you have with him or her, you may want to try talking with your coach first to see if they are able to change their behavior. If your coach is explosive, talk to your parents first and ask for their support. Ask them to intervene on your behalf. Tell them how you feel. If you go to your parents and tell them you feel anxious, scared, angry or ashamed every time you approach your coach, hopefully, they will recognize the need for a face-to-face with the coach. As far as my family goes, we’re moving to a different swim team. My wife and I spoke to the people in charge of the current swim team and found that their driving value was to win which, in their minds, justifies the use of old school negative motivators such as group punishment for individual mistakes.  That’s their choice. It’s their team. My choice is to take my children and swim somewhere else – somewhere where they are treated with respect and dignity.  About the AuthorJohn Schinnerer, Ph.D. Dr. John Schinnerer is President and Founder of Guide To Self, a company that focuses on coaching individuals and groups to their potential using the latest in psychology, psychoneuroimmunology and physiology. Most recently, Dr. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. Dr. Schinnerer has been a coach and psychologist for over 10 years.Dr. Schinnerer is also President of Infinet Assessment, a psychological testing company to help firms select the best applicants. Infinet was founded in 1997 and has worked with companies such as UPS, CSE Insurance Group and Schreiber Foods.Dr. Schinnerer’s areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to moral development to sports psychology. He is a noted speaker and author on topics such as emotional intelligence, sports psychology, and executive leadership. Dr. Schinnerer wrote, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which was recently awarded the “Best Self-Help Book of 2007” by East Bay Express.  He has written articles on corporate ethics and EQ in the workplace for Workspan magazine, HR.com, and Business Ethics. He has given numerous presentations, radio shows and seminars to tens of thousands of people for organizations such as SHRM, NCHRA, KNEW and KDIA. 

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New Guide To Self Blog - A Unique Blend of Sports and Positive Psychology!

10. October 2007 by John Schinnerer.

Welcome to my new blog!

I had a prior blog but when I shifted it to an updated version of Blogger, it wouldn’t let me access it anymore to add new posts.

So here I am again. My name is Dr. John Schinnerer, a psychologist out of U.C. Berkeley.

Here is my brief bio so you know a little bit of my background…

Dr. John Schinnerer is President and Founder of Guide To Self, a company that focuses on coaching individuals and groups to their potential using the latest in psychology, psychoneuroimmunology and physiology. Most recently, Dr. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. Dr. Schinnerer has been a coach and psychologist for over 10 years.Dr. Schinnerer is also President of Infinet Assessment, a psychological testing company to help firms select the best applicants. Infinet was founded in 1997 and has worked with companies such as UPS, CSE Insurance Group and Schreiber Foods.Dr. Schinnerer’s areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to moral development to sports psychology. He is a noted speaker and author on topics such as emotional intelligence, sports psychology, and executive leadership. Dr. Schinnerer wrote, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which was recently awarded the “Best Self-Help Book of 2007” by East Bay Express.  He has written articles on corporate ethics and EQ in the workplace for Workspan magazine, HR.com, and Business Ethics. He has given numerous presentations, radio shows, workshops and seminars to tens of thousands of people for organizations such as Kaiser Permanente, Starbucks, Cisco, SHRM, KNEW and KDIA.

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