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THE CORNERSTONE EAGLE
January 2015 Edition
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our friends both near and far!
Cornerstone International Group’s MISSION is to be the best executive recruiting group worldwide, but our
VISION is to be a true mentor and coach,one‐on‐one, with our clients, candidates and partners locally.
We believethe way to do it is to promote our 3C VALUES of Community, Credibility, and Continuity. This
splendid new Cornerstone Eagle is not a sales letter to promote activities of our 60 + offices globally, but a
3C tool to inspire you to maximize your personal and professional potential to be a Better Leader and a
Better Person both at home and at business.
We shall be your Faithful Companion / Coach / Mentor on your life and career journey, supporting you to
discover yourself and offering good advice regarding the SIX important aspects of your professional Life:
Identity,Money, Career Options, Health, Relationships and Your Future (spiritual & your legacy reminders).
We pray that these powerful wings of the Eagle willcontinue to enable you to soar to new heights.
Simon Wan
Chief Executive
Cornerstone International Group
'Achieve More with Cornerstone'™ and visit us at www.cornerstone‐group.com
Email: simon‐wan@cornerstone‐group.com

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New Year’s Prayer
May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and
pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it
comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any
path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken
sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,
and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead. (Appleseed)
New Year Resolutions – Achievable or Not?
We have all heard this advice before. We might have even passed it on to encourage a struggling friend or
to mentor a younger person: follow your dreams. Imagine the future that you want, and it will come to
pass. And yet, we still struggle to lose that weight, or finish that project, or improve that relationship.
When we make resolutions at the start of each new year, it is easy to feel optimistic that this time it will be

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different. But deep down we know that if it did not work in the past, it is unlikely to work in the future.
‘Daydreaming’ about a New YearResolution…
Believe it or not, there is substantial scientific evidence that fantasizing about a bright future can actually
make us less likely to achieve our goals. "We have found that the more positively people daydream about
the future, the less well they do over time," explains Gabriele Oettingen on the latest episode of the
Inquiring Minds podcast. Oettingen, a professor of psychology at New York University and the University of
Hamburg, has been studying the science of motivation for more than 20 years. Her new book, Rethinking
Positive Thinking, challenges the conventional wisdom about optimism.
In one early study, for example, Oettingen and her colleagues tracked the progress that a group of obese
women made as they attempted to lose weight. The researchers recorded the extent to which these
women fantasized about their future selves. The results were surprising: It turned out that women who had
frequent positive daydreams about being thin were actually less likely to lose weight.
And in a more recent study, Oettingen and her colleagues asked undergraduates to daydream about a
future in which they had positive, negative, or neutral experiences. Once again, the results were
striking—positive fantasizing led to poorer achievement outcomes. "And the more positively they
fantasized about an easy transition into work life, the less well [they did] in the future," says Oettingen.
Why was this the case? The study suggested one possible mechanism by which positive daydreams can
affect productivity: using physiological instruments and behavioral indicators, the researchers found that
these types of thoughts actually sap a person's energy. (Exactly why that happens remains a mystery.)
So is the link between positive thinking and achieving one's goals completely spurious? Can we finally
just agree that you cannot dream your way to success? Well, not so fast.
As scientists disentangle the different ways in which we can engage in positive thinking, an interesting
distinction between positive expectations and positive fantasies has emerged. Positive expectations based
on past experience are generally a good thing. For example, "you expect that you do well in a meeting
because, in past meetings, you did well, especially in this specific context," explains Oettingen. But
daydreams about the future, in which we indulge in optimistic fantasizing that is not based on solid

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evidence, can be counterproductive.
Remember the women in Oettingen's early study who wanted to lose weight? It turns out that if they had a
positive expectation of success, but realistic or negative daydreams (perhaps imagining what it would be
like to bulge out of a favorite pair of jeans), they were more likely to shed pounds.
Mental Contrasting
What is more, Oettingen has found that a specific method of positive thinking can lead to better outcomes.
She calls it mental contrasting. "It starts with identifying a wish," she explains. The wish can be big or
small—a major life change or just a task that needs to be completed today. "And then," she says, "you
identify the best outcome if you fulfill that wish." That's where the daydreaming comes in. You fantasize
about what your future will be like if you attain your wish.
But do not stop there, even though it is enjoyable. Instead, make a serious effort to think about the
obstacles that stand in your way. "Now what is it in me that holds me back?" Oettingen says. "What is it
that actually stops me from fulfilling that wish and experiencing that outcome?" This is the "contrasting"
portion of mental contrasting. Once you identify the obstacle, you go back to fantasy land and imagine
what you need to do to overcome that barrier. The last step is to lay out a plan—either by writing it down
or simply by thinking about it—that includes both your desired outcome and the ways in which you can
overcome the obstacles that have thwarted you in the past.
Mental contrasting works for problems related to your work, your family life, and even your interpersonal
relationships. Mental contrasting—that is, first imagine the future accomplishments, and then think
about the obstacles which need to be overcome. (Gabriele Oettingen, Social Scientist)
The Best New Year Resolution ‐ LOVE
The Way of Love

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Corinthians Chapter 13 (The Bible)
So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. We have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God,
hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Here’s wishing all our friends from near or far a
VERY HAPPY, FULFILLING AND BLESSED NEW YEAR!
Our Editor, Nancy Chu at nancy‐chu@cornerstone‐group.com would love to hear from you if you have
special thoughts to share.
About Cornerstone International Group
Cornerstone International Group takes pride in its 25 years in executive search and as trusted advisors and
executive coaches to CEOs. Our goal is to make lasting contribution to the growth of clients and
candidates alike. Headquartered in both Shanghai and Atlanta, we unite an emerging market culture with
a solid global perspective.
With 60+ offices in key cities around the world, Cornerstone is big enough to support our clients worldwide
and entrepreneurial enough to be flexible. A global member of the Association of Executive Search
Consultants (AESC), Cornerstone applies the Code of Ethics and Professional Practice Guidelines of the AESC
which are recognized as representing the highest level of service in the Executive Search industry.