Can we as leaders (or even parents) use lessons of the family fridge and its function as a container not just for food, but for meaning, to improve our relationships, our team’s performance, and the motivations of all the people around us?

The ability and willingness to care, normally a positive, can be stretched out of shape to become a negative. When we stop caring about the team’s success as part of a collective effort, we start caring for them – instead of them, even. Organizational psychologists like those at Hogan Assessment Systems would call this a “de-railer”; coaches with different backgrounds sometimes instead refer to these maladaptive traits and behaviors as “saboteurs.” If this is happening to you, you probably need a change.