In Thomas Friedman’s NYT op-ed about the Afghanistan work last week, he expresses skepticism about the  increase of  troops targeted for deployment there.  In his discussion he states that authoritative dictates rarely change behavior.

“People do not change when you tell them they should: they change when their context tells them they must.”

This is as true for a substance abuser as well as a petulant child. Motivation and inner commitment often are driven by external pressures and conditions.  It speaks volumes about the human capability to be aware of their context and environment. In fact being aware of context and environment is an important component of emotional intelligence as well as successful intelligence. Robert Sternberg defines successful intelligence as the ability to achieve one’s goals in life, within one’s socio-cultural context.  The more aware of context the more valuable we may be to the people we may be working with or servicing within it.  Our context can help us with our sense of self.

I often work with clients who are not sensitive to their context and this gap has lead to problems. So be aware — work with it — it can only help you with actions going forward.