Great talent is abundant in the marketplace right now. Even the best and the brightest have been furloughed or let go through no fault of their own. And whether you’re trying to decide who to keep or who to hire, you’ve got to be able to test for and recognize great talent – A-players. Because you’re going …
Perfection: don’t let it be the enemy of good enough
Perfectionism is one of the biggest roadblocks to fast and effective decision-making because it operates on flawed all-or-nothing thinking. Perfect isn’t possible and when we try to wait on it, and achieve it, nothing gets done. You can never know everything or anticipate every eventuality. And trying to is paralyzing. So if you can’t achieve perfection, …
Renewal: how to pull yourself out of a valley when you need to
David Brooks was in dire need of renewal in 2013. His marriage was falling apart. He was in the throws of workaholism. His friendships had become shallow and weak. He’d given in to the common lies that society tells us about personal and professional success creating status and happiness. He valued time over people. He valued …
Time: why we should spend more for it
Time poverty – the feeling of not having enough time – is at an all-time high. And this nagging feeling has a profound effect on happiness and productivity. Anxiety and depression go up. Physical health goes down due. Relationships suffer. But research shows that most of us have more discretionary time than ever before. If …
Attitude: how to get it right and keep it right
Time poverty – the feeling of not having enough time – is at an all-time high. And this nagging feeling has a profound effect on happiness and productivity. Anxiety and depression go up. Physical health goes down due. Relationships suffer. But research shows that most of us have more discretionary time than ever before. If …
How to build slack into your day for more flexibility and higher productivity
Jam-packed days are a big problem. No matter how good you are at lists, or how well you stick to your schedule, you can never anticipate the unexpected calls, meetings, and problems that pop up each day. Which is why you need some slack in your day. It sounds counter-intuitive but aiming to do less …
Positivity and how to create it and keep it
Negativity cuts off the flow of trust and positive energy in our lives. It constricts our thinking. It saps enthusiasm. And this can have a paralyzing effect. We can never eliminate negativity, stress, and fear. But the way we can successfully overcome them is by making our positivity bigger than our negativity. The good news is …
The essential questions we must constantly ask ourselves and each other
“Be a good listener,” Dale Carnegie advised in How to Win Friends and Influence People. “Ask questions that promote conversations. Ask questions the other person will enjoy answering. Ask questions so you can listen and learn.” Whether you’re trying to get to know somebody, or trying to solve a problem, the art of asking good questions …
Arguments: how to avoid them and move on
In his 1936 work How to Win Friends and Influence People, now one of the bestselling books of all time, Dale Carnegie wrote: “I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it. Avoid it as you …
Beware a culture of nice
Cultivating a “nice” culture can be a problem. While the reasons for pursuing a nice culture are genuine – civility, safety and inclusion – they often result in a lack of honest communication, intellectual bravery, and accountability. And these types of organizational dysfunctions can cause your best people to leave, slow down decision-making, and worst …