How To Be Cool: 5 Research-Backed Tips
o Hasn't Wanted To Be Cool? We've all wanted to be cool. But research shows that it's not merely a shallow desire. Cool makes a difference in life. For instance, charismatic leaders bring out people's best. Via The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism: If you’re a leader, or aspire to be one, charisma matters. It gives you a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining the very best talent. It makes people want to…
5 minutes
Sun Tzu’s Art of War: How Ancient Strategy Can Lead To Modern Success
eryone reveres The Art of War. 1500 years old, this ancient Chinese text is still utilized by both militaries and business schools around the world. And it should be -- research shows these unconventional tactics work. When Davids don't fight by Goliaths' rules they win 63% of battles. Via David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants: When the political scientist Ivan Arreguín-Toft did the calculation a few years ago, what he came up with was 71.5…
6 minutes
How You Can Turn A Performance Review Into A Great Learning Experience
thing can improve your performance like solid feedback can. However, none of us likes being criticized, judged, or told what to do. And our first instinct is usually to ignore feedback or even do the opposite. I never said life was simple, folks. Dan Coyle, author of The Talent Code, and Cal Newport, author of So Good They Can’t Ignore You, both consider feedback essential to peak performance. Merely being the kind of person who seeks out feedback is linked to…
5 minutes
Interesting People: 7 Things They All Have In Common
ve posted a lot of research from experts on getting people to like you, being influential and having great conversations. What's the best way to use all this information to be more interesting? 1) First, Don't Be Boring Sometimes the best offense is a good defense. Look at it like the Hippocratic Oath of conversations: Do no harm. We're all terrible at realizing when we bore others because, well, we all think we're just fascinating. The #1 tip for never boring…
4 minutes
5 Expert Ways To Deal With Difficult People — And Make Them Love You
ve posted a great deal on working with difficult people and how to make people like you. What new research and expert advice can we use to better deal with difficult people? The Feedback Sandwich Doesn't Work -- This Does Nobody likes delivering bad news. Stanford's Jeffrey Pfeffer recommends having someone else do it whenever possible. But what about when it's unavoidable? Don't do the old "feedback sandwich" of positive comment, negative comment, positive comment. Research shows it's better to be…
5 minutes
The One Simple Thing That Can Make You Much More Impressive
ow More Enthusiasm Professor Stephen Ceci taught his class the way he had for the past 20 years, replicating nearly everything imaginable: Same book, same lectures, same exams... even the same student demographics. Via The Tell: The Little Clues That Reveal Big Truths about Who We Are: He took great pains to make sure everything else about the class was the same as it had been the previous fall; he used the same book, the same lectures, the same grading…
2 minutes
The 5 Step Formula For Presenting Like A Leader
ny books have tactics for giving a good presentation but few establish a reliable structure that works every time. In The New Articulate Executive : Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader Granville Toogood lays out an excellent 5 part progression for effective presentations. 1) Start Strong Just like a good movie, you want to start out with something that really grabs the audience. "But how do I do that?" The book provides a great list of techniques. Via The New…
4 minutes
How To Be Funny: The Six Essential Ingredients To Humor
What Are The Six Steps To Being Funny? Mel Helitzer's Comedy Writing Secrets is commonly used as a textbook in college courses on comedy writing. What does it say is the best method for how to be funny? Helitzer explains the "THREES" formula. It's an acronym for the six essential elements that are found in everything from good one-liners, to funny anecdotes to full comedy sets: Target Hostility Realism Exaggeration Emotion Surprise Here's a breakdown: 1) Target Via Comedy Writing Secrets: Humor is…
4 minutes
