5 tips for being a better leader:
bsp; 1) How do you motivate people? What’s the biggest motivator? Progress. Via The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work: ...of all the positive events that influence inner work life, the single most powerful is progress in meaningful work; of all the negative events, the single most powerful is the opposite of progress—setbacks in the work. We consider this to be a fundamental management principle: facilitating progress is the most effective way for managers to…
3 minutes
The single most important thing to do today if you want to live a long, happy life:
bsp; Might sound trite or corny, but go see a friend. The research regarding what it takes to live a long life and what it takes to live a happy life overlap significantly. One of the things they share is spending time with friends. Harvard happiness expert Dan Gilbert says that what brings us the most happiness is family and friends. Having a better social life can be worth as much as an additional $131,232 a year in terms of life satisfaction. By…
3 minutes
What’s more powerful in negotiating: dirty tricks or being a decent person?
bsp; Do nice guys make more money? To quote a researcher, "Nice guys are getting the shaft." ...men who measured below average on agreeableness earned about 18% more—or $9,772 more annually in their sample—than nicer guys. Ruder women, meanwhile, earned about 5% or $1,828 more than their agreeable counterparts. “Nice guys are getting the shaft,” says study co-author Beth A. Livingston, an assistant professor of human resource studies at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. We hear a…
3 minutes
Will you be the person you expect to be?
obably not. You look back and realize you've changed over the years but when you look forward you don't think you'll change much. Research shows you perpetually think that the current moment is the culmination of everything that came before and now you're beyond making the errors of yesterday. But, of course, that's not true. The New York Times covers a new paper by Stumbling on Happiness author Daniel Gilbert: When we remember our past selves, they seem quite different. We know how…
4 minutes
Hostage Negotiation: The top FBI hostage negotiator teaches you the 5 secrets to getting what you want:
What can you learn about persuasion from hostage negotiation? Chris Voss and I first met four years ago when he was teaching international business negotiations at Harvard University. Chris was the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator for years and he currently teaches business negotiation in the MBA program at Georgetown University 's McDonough School of Business. He's also CEO of the Black Swan Group. The full interview was over 30 minutes long so for brevity's sake I'm only going to post highlights…
5 minutes
Is improving your mood the best way to be more productive?
bsp; Don't feel like doing what you have to do? Stop trying to push through it. Don't grit your teeth. You may want to cheer up. I have long resisted this sort of attitude but the evidence mounts: productivity may be more about mood than you ever thought. Why do you procrastinate? You procrastinate the most when you’re in a bad mood and think you can improve it with something fun. When you’re in a good mood or when…
3 minutes
Is there any truth to Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People”?
le Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People is the classic on getting along well with others. But is there any real science behind it, or is it just advice that "sounds good"? In the past I've broken down old sayings and career advice, let's see if Carnegie holds up to scrutiny. Carnegie listed six ways to make people like you. Via Wikipedia: Become genuinely interested in other people. Smile. Remember that a person's name is, to that person,…
4 minutes
How do great leaders inspire action?
bsp; Why are most messages so uninspiring, so unconvincing? By the same token, what magic do both the speeches of Martin Luther King and the marketing of Apple have that move us to believe and act? Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, has an interesting theory: People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it... Start with "Why." Check out his interesting (and inspiring) TED talk: Join 25K+ readers. Get…
1 min read
