Category Self Improvement

Want to be a Great Leader? Be an Influencer, Not Just a Doer

By in Business Management, Human Resources, Self Improvement Tag

By Gary Beckstrand for HR Daily Advisor Today’s leaders typically ascended to their roles after demonstrating their ability to do the work and deliver results. But upon rising to a supervisory position, too many leaders fail to make a shift that’s increasingly critical in the modern workplace. They haven’t evolved from doers into influencers. Traditional, top-down leadership is no longer viable given the pace and scale of change in consumer demands, employee expectations, market conditions, and emerging technologies. In the traditional “doer” model, leaders see themselves as the experts. They control work by directing rather than coaching. They often put their…

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4 Ways to Make Work More Meaningful

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement, Work Tag

by John Coleman for Harvard Business Review Curiosity is critical to professional success. A curious mind will spot and solve problems, while being unafraid to try something new. It will seek out the insights of others, and open itself to expanded thinking. A curious person will never succumb to apathy, instead pushing consistently for growth, innovation, and improvement. Anyone seeking to build a successful career must embrace curiosity.  But curiosity isn’t just essential to professional advancement — it’s central to crafting purpose and meaning at work. We all want to feel that our work is meaningful, and we all have an opportunity to make it so. But…

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Move faster, v2

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement, Work Tag

by The B2B Growth Newsletter Hi all — Last week, I wrote the post “Move Faster.” The post’s thesis: To move faster, you need to sequentially prioritize. (AKA: focus on your #1 most important thing at a time.) Get your #1 thing done as quickly as possible, then move to the next thing. Don’t approach productivity as “crush as many tasks as possible.” I got a lot of replies. One question stood out: “This is super interesting, but how do I operationalize this when I have a million things to do?” Why you don’t hyperfocus Let’s invert. Three failure modes: You don’t know…

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When Your Employee Isn’t Reaching Their Full Potential

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement Tag , ,

by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Dorie Clark for Harvard Business Review You’ve seen flashes of real competence — maybe even occasional brilliance — in your employee. So why are they failing to live up to that potential? As a leader who cares about cultivating your employees’ skills, abilities, and professional growth trajectory, it can be enormously frustrating to feel that they’re not taking the initiative to do more with their talents. At times, you may even wonder if it’s a question of knowledge or willpower: Do they not understand what’s necessary to perform at their best? Or are they just unmotivated? Obviously,…

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In Praise of Memorization

By in Self Improvement Tag , , ,

by Pearl Leff I once worked at a small company of insanely productive engineers. They were geniuses by any account. They knew the software stack from top to bottom, from hardware to operating systems to Javascript, and could pull together in days what would take teams at other companies months to years. Between them they were more productive than any division I've ever been in, including FAANG tech companies. In fact, they had written the top-of-the-line specialized compiler in their industry — as a side project. (Their customers believed that they had buildings of engineers laboring on their product, while in reality…

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How Can I Avoid Talking Shop Outside Of Work?… and three other tricky workplace dilemmas.

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement, Work Tag , , , ,

BY ALISON GREEN, INC.COM COLUMNIST Here's a roundup of answers to four questions from readers. 1. How can I avoid talking shop outside of work? I have a colleague who I am sharing a few really challenging, long-term projects with. They're great to work with and we're getting a lot done. The only problem is that we live in the same part of town and frequently bump into each other on the way in -- which in itself is fine but they often immediately start talking about work, including ideas they've just had and are expecting my opinion on. I care about my work…

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Leading Through a Sustained Crisis Requires a Different Approach

By in Business Management, Self Improvement Tag , , , , ,

by Michaela J. Kerrissey and Amy C. Edmondson for the Harvard Business Review In May, the World Health Organization announced the end of the Covid-19 global emergency. Finally. But for many leaders, the announcement lifted little of the burden they carry. While the emergency is over, the crisis is not. We have shifted from the sudden crisis of the pandemic’s arrival to what we call a sustained crisis — a period of ongoing intense difficulty and uncertainty. The trouble with a sustained crisis is that, unlike a sudden crisis, it arrives with ambiguous signals and no clear start date. As a result, leaders, including those who are great…

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Stop Solving Problems

By in Marketing, Self Improvement Tag , , , ,

by SEBASTIAN CUERVO for 42 Slash Marketers love solving problems. If you spend more than 20 mins on LinkedIn or Twitter on any given day, you will notice a couple of clear story patterns that go something like this: I had a problem with this marketing process. I used this formula I developed or copied from top influencers to solve it. I found success. You can do it too. If you want to learn more, leave a comment (and chances are it becomes an endless spam sequence in your inbox). Or alternatively, you may also find the vulnerability pattern: I…

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Help with time management?!

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement Tag , , , , , ,

by LIZ CHRISTO for Dear Stage 2 DEAR STAGE 2: I was recently promoted into a sales manager role. I had a great routine when I was an AE, but am struggling to adjust to this new schedule —there are a lot more meetings and more people who need my time. I get to the end of each day and still have a full inbox and a long to do list. What advice do you have for someone making this transition? ~When do I actually do work? DEAR WHEN DO I ACTUALLY DO WORK?: Welcome to sales management! Your time is no…

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Building an innovation culture

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement Tag , , , , ,

by MARK DANCER for Mark Dancer on Innovating B2B Resilient, responsive, and regenerative As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to fade, the supply chain will emerge from its crisis stronger than before. Supply chain professionals are working to make it more resilient and able to withstand future shocks, but more change is underway. Geopolitical tensions are rising, motivating countries to develop strategic industries to achieve security objectives. Developing redundant and reliable sources for critical raw materials and agricultural commodities is a top priority, creating forces that may partially undue today’s ubiquitous global supply chain in favor of more regional or local…

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