• All good leaders can communicate messages of empathy as powerfully as they convey messages of accountability. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 16:02

    The pandemic and other stressful events over the past few years have only made empathic communications even more desirable and necessary, especially as those expressions have become more virtual — including videos, social media posts, and emails. But just as each of us has varying levels of empathy, not every leader is equally empathic. So is a lack of natural empathy a showstopper when it comes to expressing and benefitting from empathic communications? No. The good news is that all leaders (even those who are not naturally empathic) can communicate messages of empathy as powerfully as they convey messages of unity and accountability. During challenging times, the most effective leadership communications are ones that deliver attention, acknowledge distress, demonstrate care, and — not necessarily at first, but eventually — take appropriate action to mitigate the situation or at least provide comfort. This article offers four touchpoints to focus on in your...

  • Confirmation bias abounds today, but what if there's a better way? @ProfWendySmith & @MarianneWLewis, authors of Both/And Thinking, share with @Newsweek why this could allow people to truly talk to one another and expand their minds to new possibilities. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 15:47

    Today's world is becoming increasingly fractured. Confirmation bias abounds where people stay within safe circles of friends and colleagues who agree with them, and the opinions they hear mirror their own rather than confront opposing views and invite controversy. But what if there's a better way? What if thinking about things as "both/and" rather than "either/or" could allow people to truly talk to one another and expand their minds to new possibilities? In their new book from Harvard Business Review Press, paradox experts Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis explain how to apply "both/and" thinking to today's most vexing issues—from navigating life, work and leadership in the post-pandemic era to curbing political polarization. In the excerpt below from Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems,they discuss how to heal political divides with family and friends.

  • Five ways to better manage your time and energy — so you don't end up ghosting so often. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 15:27

    Ghosting is a common phenomenon in both personal and professional relationships. While it’s easy to lament being ghosted, it’s harder to admit that many of us have ghosted someone else. You promise to make a business introduction, offer to review a resume, commit to being a reference, volunteer to speak on a panel, or say you’ll provide feedback to a colleague — and you don’t follow through. Ghosting can have consequences that you may not immediately recognize — for example, you could miss out on great talent, partnership opportunities, revenue, or even your own next leadership role. Ghosting can also erode bridges in your networks, leaving others with the impression that you’re unreliable. Repeated ghosting can have a devastating impact on your leadership brand. The author presents five ways to strike a balance between managing your time and energy while at the same time following through on the commitments you’ve made.

  • Join us today for an #HBRWebinar “Where to Find Top AI Talent”: Link https://t.co/UT8DAQG6Mb
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 15:02

    As the demand for artificial intelligence (AI) grows, so does the demand for AI talent. To find diverse AI talent, companies will need to look outside the usual technology talent hubs, such as the San Francisco Bay Area.

    To identify the top hubs for AI talent, Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and his team at The Fletcher School have created a framework and compiled a ranking of the world’s top AI talent hubs.

    On August 10, in a live, interactive HBR webinar, Chakravorti will discuss the TIDE framework for ranking the world’s AI talent hotspots according to its talent pool, investments, diversity of talent, and evolution of the location’s digital foundations. He will highlight which cities are the top AI talent hubs across the globe and will share several implications from this analysis.

    Chakravorti will touch on topics including:

  • Descriptive logos — ones that include a design or text element about the product a company offers — impact customers' brand perceptions more favorably than non-descriptive ones. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 12:57

    Great logos help sell products. But what kind of logo is right for your brand? Researchers analyzed 597 companies to answer this question. They discovered descriptive logos (those that include visual design elements that communicate the type of product) more favorably affect consumers’ brand perceptions than nondescriptive ones (logos that are not indicative of the type of product). They also found that descriptive logos are more likely to improve brand performance — unless consumers associate your product with sad or unpleasant things, in which case a nondescriptive logo is probably better.

  • Listen to stories from the leading minds in business. You can stream HBR’s entire collection of podcasts today on Apple, Google, Spotify, and more. Link https://t.co/5Y8xLbHUsF
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 12:46
  • To truly focus during a stressful period, you can't deny the reality of what is happening. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 11:51

    Work invariably ebbs and flows, cycling between steady states, where we feel more in control of the pace and workload, and peak periods, where the work crunch hits us hard. Maintaining focus and managing energy levels become critical as tasks pile onto an already full load. When you’re in your next work crunch, there are a few things you can do to focus and manage your energy more productively. First, acknowledge that you’re experiencing a work crunch. Observe and label the emotions you’re feeling, such as “pressure” or “stress.” Don’t fall into a victim mentality. Bring greater vigilance to assessing your priorities, making tough trade-offs, and incorporating self-care where you can. Communicate with your colleagues and loved ones about the pressure you’re feeling. Consider how you can renegotiate deadlines, set tighter boundaries, or ask for more support during this time.

  • More than five decades of research point to the fact that resilience is built by attitudes, behaviors, and social supports that can be adopted and cultivated by anyone. Here’s what those are. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 10:26

    Currently, a quarter of all employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health Organization describes stress as the “global health epidemic of the 21st century.” Many of us now work in constantly connected, always-on, highly demanding work cultures where stress and the risk of burnout are widespread. Since the pace and intensity of contemporary work culture are not likely to change, it’s more important than ever to build resilience skills to effectively navigate your worklife.

    While working as a director of learning and organization development at Google, eBay and J.P. Morgan Chase, and in my current work as co-founder of the learning solutions company Wisdom Labs, I’ve seen over and over again that the most resilient individuals and teams aren’t the ones that don’t fail, but rather the ones that fail, learn and thrive because of it. Being challenged — sometimes...

  • We tend to assume that things that are easy for us will be easy for others. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 09:16

    Experts have long encouraged people to “play to their strengths.” But based on my observations, this is easier said than done, because we often undervalue what we inherently do well. As a leader, the challenge is not only to spot talent but also to convince your people that you value their talents and that they should, too. Begin by identifying the strengths of each member of your team. You might ask them, “What compliments do you tend to dismiss?” since people often downplay what they do most easily. Once you’ve identified their key strengths, ask them, “Are you doing work that draws on your strengths? Are we taking on projects that make the most of your strengths?” If the answer is no, reassign people to new roles where their strengths will be put to better use.

  • A poll of 1,614 employees found that natural light was the perk people appreciated most. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 08:45

    The news headlines about what perks or elements of office design make for a great employee experience seem to be dominated by fads — think treadmill desks, nap pods, and “bring your dog to work day” for starters. But in a recent poll of 1,614 North American employees, access to natural light and views of the outdoors was the number one attribute of the workplace environment outranking stalwarts like onsite cafeterias, fitness centers, and premium perks including on-site childcare. There are wellness and productivity implications, too: academic research has found that workers with natural daylight in their office environments reported a 51% drop in the incidence of eyestrain, a 63% drop in the incidence of headaches and a 56% reduction in drowsiness.

  • To shift norms, leaders need to start working differently — and make it clear to the office that their home lives are also a priority. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 07:20

    Intense and all-consuming work styles are often celebrated as the only way to get to the top and be a super productive leader. But does it have to be that way? Over the last 20 years, a group of executives has been meeting and sharing innovative ideas for finding time for work, family, and life. For leaders to stand up to status quo pressures and make work-life balance a priority, the group found that they needed to cultivate skills around three relationships: learning to work differently with their teams at work, making a plan with their families to put home and family first, and shifting their own mindsets — to not only believe change is truly possible, but to give themselves permission to try, and speak up about it. The stories of three leaders exemplify how this can be done.

  • Studies show that the social cost of negotiating for pay is not significant for men, while it is significant for women. That's important to understand before anyone criticizes a woman for being reluctant to negotiate for more pay. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 06:55

    Research shows that women are more reticent than men to negotiate their salary offers. For instance, one study of graduating MBA students found that half of the men had negotiated their job offers as compared to only one eighth of the women. This general pattern has been replicated in survey studies of working adults and in laboratory experiments. It begs the question: Why? Is this a “confidence” problem? Is negotiation a skill for which men are simply better socialized than women? Why leave money on the table?

    Researchers have examined the why, and the answer has more to do with how women are treated when they negotiate than it has to do with their general confidence or skills at negotiation. Numerous studies have been conducted in which participants rate their impressions of employees who negotiate for pay and of employees who let the same opportunity to negotiate pass them by. The researchers then compared people’s willingness to work with that employee after...

  • You don't need to plan a big trip to recharge. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 05:40

    A lot of people feel exhausted when it comes to vacations—planning around personal commitments and school breaks, and deciding how to delegate major projects or put work on hold. But vacations don’t have to be a big time commitment to be significant to your health and happiness. Micro-vacations are times off that require you to use a day or less of vacation time. Because of their shorter duration, they typically require less effort to plan and don’t require you to coordinate the handing off of work. Plus, you can take them more often. If you’re looking to take micro-vacations, consider these options: Take a two- to three-day trip to someplace local. Or, take a day or afternoon off to finish those personal to-do items you’ve been postponing. Leave work for an hour or two to socialize with friends, or if taking the time is still an issue, work remotely in a serene location to give yourself the feel of a holiday while you’re still on task.

  • Managers should help employees craft their roles so that when they venture outside of their formal responsibilities, they’re contributing in ways that are fulfilling — and benefit the company. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 04:15

    People don’t quit a job, the saying goes — they quit a boss. But that’s not what Facebook found in a recent engagement survey. When the company wanted to keep people and they left anyway, it was because they didn’t like the work, their strengths were underused, or they weren’t growing in their careers. So people at Facebook do quit a job. But who’s responsible for what that job is like? Managers. If you want to keep your people — especially your stars — customize their experiences in three ways. First, craft roles that they’ll enjoy. This can involve hiring impressive candidates and then writing their job descriptions, for instance, or rotating current employees out of roles where they’re excelling but not feeling motivated. Second, allow them to draw on a wider range of their skills and passions. And third, minimize work-life trade-offs by carving a path for career development that accommodates their personal priorities.

  • Ask yourself: How is the current way I’m leading the team working? Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 03:14

    What should you do if you’re managing an underperforming team and receive a problematic performance review? It can feel like you’re on an island, writes the author of this piece. She offers advice for what to do next. First, it’s important to realize you’re not alone. Check in with mentors or other leaders and peers you respect and ask: “If your team underperformed and you got a bad review, what would your next move be?” You should also ask for more clarity and support from your manager. When you’re clear-headed, email and set up a follow-up meeting. Create space for your manager to give you more feedback. And remind your manager why you’re the right person to fix the group. Remember that your boss is extremely busy and may not spend time recognizing things that are going well; remind your manager of the positives in an authentic, meaningful way.

  • When leaders learn to embrace competing demands, they become more innovative. Here's how. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 02:49

    Leaders face a daily barrage of competing demands and multiple stakeholders with different opinions and incentives. To navigate the chaos, most people’s brains default to “either-or” thinking when “both-and” thinking would lead to more creative and novel solutions. Drawing on 20 years of research, the authors provide a three-step process for solving tough problems by adopting a paradox mindset — a comfort and willingness to accept competing demands as a potential source of new ideas and opportunities.

  • Challenging your biases can lead to better decisions. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 01:09

    Many of us approach decision making from the same perspective over and over. We use the same tools and habits every time, even if the decisions are vastly different. But following the same strategy for every problem limits your abilities. To make better decisions, you need to break out of these patterns and see things differently, even if it is uncomfortable.

    First, you need to understand your own decision-making strengths and your blind spots. You must identify the mental mistakes or cognitive biases that tend to get in your way. Once you do that, you can better check and challenge those biases, adjust your approach, and bring out a more holistic understanding of a situation, better ensuring that you are solving the whole problem.

  • The four qualities of great leaders. Link
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 00:39

    Great leaders demonstrate four elements to inspire action: They are confident in themselves, connected to others, committed to purpose, and emotionally courageous. Most of us are great at only one of the four. Maybe two. But to be a powerful presence, you need to excel at all four simultaneously. If you’re confident in yourself but disconnected from others, everything will be about you and you’ll alienate the people around you. If you’re connected to others but lack confidence in yourself, you will betray your own needs and perspectives in order to please everyone else. If you’re not committed to a purpose, something bigger than yourself and others, you’ll flounder, losing the respect of those around you as you act aimlessly. And if you fail to act powerfully, decisively, and boldly — with emotional courage — your ideas will remain idle thoughts and your goals will remain unfulfilled fantasies.

  • Access editor-curated reading lists. Yours with an HBR subscription. Link https://t.co/5QDxhs5udG
    Harvard Business Review Wed 10 Aug 2022 00:14
  • No matter our role or industry, we each serve someone in what we do. Link
    Harvard Business Review Tue 09 Aug 2022 23:29

    When you’re doing deep creative work, meetings can disrupt your flow and decrease your productivity. That’s why you need to schedule one “Untouchable Day” per week, where nothing can interrupt you — no texts, no e-mails, no phone calls, and absolutely no meetings. But what happens when you get an incredible speaking invitation or somebody much more important has this one day to get together? Stick to this simple rule: Untouchable Days may never be deleted, but they can move between the bowling-lane bumpers of the weekends. They can’t jump weeks, though. If they need to move from a Wednesday to a Thursday or a Friday, that’s fine — even if you have to move four meetings to make room. The beauty of this approach is that when you plant the Untouchable Day flag on your calendar, it really does feel permanent in your mind. You start feeling the creative high you’ll get from such deep output as soon as you start booking them in.

  • A chance meeting of U. Penn scientists at a copy machine, Moderna's internal debate about whether to go forward with a COVID vaccine - @PhillyInquirer's @TomAvril1 interviews Peter @Loftus, author of The Messenger, about the behind-the-scenes story. Link
    Harvard Business Review Tue 09 Aug 2022 22:24

    The technology underlying the first two COVID vaccines — genetic instructions in the form of messenger RNA — is now taken for granted, with billions of people having received the shots.

    But years of struggle and uncertainty preceded that success, most of it well before the pandemic. Wall Street Journal reporter and Glenside resident Peter Loftus goes behind the scenes in his new book, The Messenger: Moderna, the Vaccine, and the Business Gamble that Changed the World.

  • A top-level guide to strategy and execution: Link
    Harvard Business Review Tue 09 Aug 2022 22:08

    Great innovators have long known that the secret to unlocking a better answer is to ask a better question. Applying that insight to brainstorming exercises can vastly improve the search for new ideas—especially when a team is feeling stuck. Brainstorming for questions, rather than answers, helps you avoid group dynamics that often stifle voices, and it lets you reframe problems in ways that spur breakthrough thinking.

    After testing this approach with hundreds of organizations, MIT’s Hal Gregersen has developed it into a methodology: Start by selecting a problem that matters. Invite a small group to help you consider it, and in just two minutes describe it at a high level so that you don’t constrain the group’s thinking. Make it clear that people can contribute only questions and that no preambles or justifications are allowed. Then, set the clock for four minutes, and generate as many questions as you can in that time, aiming to produce at least 15....

  • What the Dalai Lama thinks leaders should do to create a better world: - Be mindful - Be selfless - Be compassionate Link
    Harvard Business Review Tue 09 Aug 2022 21:18

    The Dalai Lama shares his observations on leadership and describes how our “strong focus on material development and accumulating wealth has led us to neglect our basic human need for kindness and care.” He offers leaders three recommendations. First, to be mindful: “When we’re under the sway of anger or attachment, we’re limited in our ability to take a full and realistic view of the situation.” Also, to be selfless: “Once you have a genuine sense of concern for others, there’s no room for cheating, bullying, or exploitation; instead you can be honest, truthful, and transparent in your conduct.” And finally, to be compassionate: “When the mind is compassionate, it is calm and we’re able to use our sense of reason practically, realistically, and with determination.”

  • Change management is management, and management is change management. Link
    Harvard Business Review Tue 09 Aug 2022 20:53

    Change management is having its moment. But when you think about it, isn’t all management the management of change? If sales need to be increased, that’s change management. If a merger needs to be implemented, that’s change management. If a new personnel policy needs to be carried out, that’s change management. Leaders should view change not as an occasional disruptor but as the very essence of the management job. Setting tough goals, establishing processes to reach them, carrying out those processes and carefully learning from them — these steps should characterize the unending daily life of the organization at every level. More companies need to describe their work in terms of where they are trying to go in the next month or next quarter or next year.

  • Why is it that a vacation seems like a great idea when we first plan it, but feels like more and more of a burden the closer it gets? Link
    Harvard Business Review Tue 09 Aug 2022 19:13

    There is a paradox around vacations. We all know that it is important to get away from the office periodically. Time away from work gives you a chance to relax, to reduce stress, renew your ties with your family, and to get away from problems you have struggled with so that you can think about them differently on your return to the office.

    However, as a vacation approaches, we generally look at it with dread. There is too much work to be done! There are new projects starting and others that need to be completed. How could we possibly have selected this particular week to go away? It can get so bad that you might think twice before planning another trip.

    Why is it that a vacation seems like a great idea when we first plan it, but feels like more and more of a burden the closer it gets?

    It all comes down to distance.

    Over the past 15 years, quite a bit of research has focused on what Yaacov Trope and Nira Liberman call construal level theory....

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