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
40% Of Your Team’s Effort Is Wasted. These 4 Methods Get Results:
% of what a team does ends up as "process loss." It's overhead that wouldn't exist if everything could be done by one person. Wasted effort. Obviously, many projects require teams. But how can you create, manage or be part of a team that is more efficient? I discussed the research behind great teams with Po Bronson, New York Times bestselling author of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing. Here are 4 things that can make a big difference in…
3 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 Top 7 Management Tips From Harvard Business Review
rvard Business Review recently released a book of their top Management Tips. Here are the ones I felt were the most insightful and actionable. Get Through Your To-Do List Via Management Tips From Harvard Business Review: Self-discipline is hard. Try these three tips to make your work more efficient every day: Get three things done before noon. Statistics show that the team ahead at halftime is more likely to win the game. Enjoy your lunch knowing that you accomplished at least three tasks…
4 minutes
10 Things The Greatest Leaders All Have In Common
bsp; Know The Power Of Feelings Leaders who just focus on results don't do nearly as well as those that also pay attention to relationships. Via Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect: Zenger found that if employees rated a manager as very high on "focus on results" (that is, one's ability to get things done effectively), there was only a small (14 percent) chance that the manager would be rated among the top 10 percent of leaders overall. However,…
6 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
The Leadership Secret Steve Jobs And Mark Zuckerberg Have In Common
cerpts from my interview with Robert Sutton, professor at Stanford's Graduate School of Business and author of Scaling Up Excellence: Getting To More Without Settling For Less. What You Can Learn About Leadership From Jobs And Zuckerberg Robert Sutton: We all have imperfections and surrounding yourself with people who can do things you can't is really essential. If you just look at Zuckerberg, the guy is very, very focused on the product and is probably not particularly great interpersonally. So…
4 minutes
