Keep Calm – Ten Characteristics of Less Mature and Troublesome People

In this episode, Ken continues to unpack the wisdom of Edwin Friedman in his book "A Failure of Nerve." This week he shared Friedman's list of ten characteristics of less-mature and troublesome people – who, Ken notes, always expect others to adapt to them rather than the other way around. Just to share a couple here, one of these characteristics is that these people "tend to idolize their leaders until their unrealistic expectations fail, then they are quick to attack and crucify those they once idolized." They also "have a total lack of ability to tolerate differences or dissent. All things are black/white, either/or, right/wrong."
While sharing these tremendously insightful observations, Ken challenged the group to ask ourselves whether we might have a tendency toward any of these behaviors and whether we could be behaving in a way that is reacting out of anxiety.

This episode was recorded on July 17th, 2026.