About Heather Hofmeister

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So far Heather Hofmeister has created 7 blog entries.

Resources to Reduce Blind Spots

2023-11-19T20:31:22+01:00

Reducing blind spots takes attention. We have to catch ourselves in the act of drawing a conclusion based on incomplete information, assumptions, or proxy information. Proxy information means we substitute in one set of information for another. We infer quality, potential, or trustworthiness from information that is not in fact that information. It may be only patterned that way in our minds, or we were taught to make the associations. And then we stopped questioning them. They become our personal shortcut to decision-making. These little things matter. Whether it's grading a paper, evaluating an oral exam performance, deciding about a [...]

Resources to Reduce Blind Spots2023-11-19T20:31:22+01:00

Books for ambitious women (and men)

2023-06-30T13:55:49+02:00

Request from a recent webinar: what shall I read? I offered a webinar recently where a participant asked what books I would recommend, books that might give a window into the topics I was speaking about. That is the book that I am writing myself. But until that is published, I offer a selection of books that I draw from, books that inspire me. Each of us are going to put the ideas together in our own ways. Each of us brings something to a text. It is sacred ground between the reader and the writer. Maybe some of the [...]

Books for ambitious women (and men)2023-06-30T13:55:49+02:00

What does sociology have to do with coaching? A Paradox?

2020-03-29T19:02:54+02:00

What does sociology have to do with coaching? Or how can I be a sociologist and also a coach? Is that a paradox? One is about society, the other is about the individual, right? Sociology is all about the connection between structure and agency. That’s one of the ways I think and teach about Sociology. Read more about it in this blog. Agency describes the fact that with action, we can affect courses of action. And this is the part where I bring sociology together with coaching, and coaching with sociology. One of my favorite questions in general and in [...]

What does sociology have to do with coaching? A Paradox?2020-03-29T19:02:54+02:00

What is sociology? Why is it useful?

2020-03-29T19:01:39+02:00

What is sociology, in a nutshell? The way I explain it Sociology is all about the connection between structure and agency. Structure affects and influences agency. Agency creates, changes, and reinforces structure. In any given situation, one can ask oneself, where is the agency, and where is the structure? It’s a chicken-and-egg question, which came first, although one fun starting point is biology, physics, and chemistry: how do the structures and constraints of our social world begin with some basic physical science phenomena? Have I lost you? Try this: in humans, who gives birth? Biologically, structurally, so far people without uteruses [...]

What is sociology? Why is it useful?2020-03-29T19:01:39+02:00

Why read this? This blog’s raison d’être

2020-03-29T19:02:58+02:00

Why a blog, why read this? This website has a blog because my mission is all about making connections. That means connecting ideas – seeing things that hadn’t been brought together before – and connecting people, me to you, and people to their highest potential as well. And I connect to myself here, too, as any act of creation and gift to the world is a way of getting to know oneself. And, I am a sociologist. I identify with sociology and fell in love with it at age 18 because the field comes closest to expressing the diversity of [...]

Why read this? This blog’s raison d’être2020-03-29T19:02:58+02:00

Kind. Merciful. Tender. Compassionate.

2023-04-20T11:04:32+02:00

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Ian MacLaren This era of the Coronavirus brings to stark light a recommendation that has always been useful: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. The original quote is actually[1] “Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.“ Published in 1897 and credited to Ian MacLaren (aka Rev. John Watson), Scottish writer and minister, born in 1850 and died in 1907. And what is meant by “pitiful” is an older meaning from the last century: compassionate, merciful, tender. How beautiful is this advice. [...]

Kind. Merciful. Tender. Compassionate.2023-04-20T11:04:32+02:00

Ever tried something completely new and gotten resistance?

2023-04-20T11:04:44+02:00

Ever tried something completely new? And gotten resistance? Have you ever been in charge of a meeting and right away, you get resistance? What do you do about it? I recently led a faculty retreat for about 20 colleagues. Recalling with grim the past retreats with hours and hours of sitting and discussing and nothing gets resolved, I wanted another way to begin the day of working together on some core problems we face. I have experience with groups and facilitation, and I brought those skills with me. It did not go as planned. My plan to begin [...]

Ever tried something completely new and gotten resistance?2023-04-20T11:04:44+02:00
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