“Cash for class” refers to the idea that money not only gives you financial resources and material benefits such as access to better education, health care and housing but also serves as a key to unlocking the social capital required to move up the class ladder.

The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley originally coined the term agnostic to refer to people who consider themselves to be clueless about various issues that others perhaps take a definite stand on. As a positive psychologist and leadership coach, that’s precisely what I’ve observed about that sought-after quality of leadership. If leadership had a life of its own, I’m pretty sure it would be subject to this kind of agnostic ignorance. By itself, leadership couldn’t care less about who it bestows itself on and therefore is, to a large extent, agnostic. Here are a couple of instances where this plays itself out.

We’ve all met people who have been through situations where they’ve needed support or needed someone to be there for them (and sometimes we ourselves are the ones who need this support). Anyone who’s been in this place knows that some people offer this support much better than others. Here’s what I’ve noticed about the people who can be there for you in the right way. These are also useful tips for pretty much anyone who wants to be there for others more effectively.

This is not an article on health or fitness advice and nor is it a recommendation to jump into a cold shower despite living in a cold country or your doctor’s advice not to. As a positive psychologist and as someone who’s taken cold water showers for years, I’ve merely examined here the similarities between what cold water showers subject you to and what leadership in an organizational or individual context demands of you.

No, this isn't about hopping onto a propellor-driven airplane or chopper and jumping off from high altitude with a parachute behind your back. That’s just skydiving. Social skydiving is the idea of exposing yourself to certain social situations, particularly ones that you’re not totally comfortable with, and then dealing with what unfolds. It’s mostly done as a way to build various social skills like confidence, effective communication, active listening and conversation skills, overcoming awkwardness or sometimes even to become a better networker and better promote yourself or your organization. Because for a lot of people out there, walking up to a stranger and starting a conversation could be as dreadful as skydiving.

Even in a platonic social conversation, it’s almost impossible to escape the question, “what do you do?” Now, if that conversation goes somewhere, you’ll soon wind up sharing thoughts and experiences based on how much you love or hate what you do. A lot of us spend a big part of our waking lives doing a job, and yet not many of us are doing work that we actually love. If you didn’t have the right qualification, didn’t make the right career moves or simply didn’t get lucky and are working a job that you don’t like, remember that there is still hope. Here are four things that you can do to start loving what you do.