How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big
ott Adams created a multimillion dollar empire. That empire is more commonly known as"Dilbert." I mentioned him on this blog before because he gave some of the simplest, most profound advice for getting along with people that I've ever heard: Be brief and say something positive. If you've read Dilbert, you know Adams understands a great deal about human nature. (Then again I probably relate more to Calvin and Hobbes than most of the western canon.) His new book, How…
7 minutes
2 Easy Ways To Increase Willpower — Courtesy Of The Cookie Monster
llpower Is Destiny Haven't we all heard of Mischel's Marshmallow Self-Control Test by now? If not, here's a quick summary: Stick a little kid alone in a room with nothing but a marshmallow. Tell the kid they can eat it now or, if they wait 15 minutes, they get two. Then you leave the kid alone. Some children eat the marshmallow immediately, others wait and earn two. Big deal, right? Wrong. It's a huge deal. Check with those kids 20 years…
3 minutes
Get A Raise: 10 Steps For Getting Your Boss To Think You’re The Best
ople always want to know how to ask for a raise. 99% of whether you get a raise has nothing to do with wording. The vast majority of the time the result of that negotiation is determined long before you enter the room. And it's usually up to your immediate boss. When I asked Stanford MBA school professor Jeffrey Pfeffer for the single most important career tip, what did he say? Please your boss. Keep your boss happy. If your…
6 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
Slacker’s Guide To Productivity: 6 Ways To Goof Off And Get More Done
ve posted about how people at the top of their field are relentlessly productive. But you can't sprint for miles. There's plenty of research showing that being a touch lazy might be beneficial at times. Here are six research-backed ways to get more done in less time by taking it easy. 1) Work Less Working too hard for too long makes you less productive. Yes, pulling 60-hour weeks is impressive. But pull them for more than 2 months and you…
3 minutes
Productivity Ninja: 5 Powerful Tips For Getting More Stuff Done
Know When You're At Your Best And plan accordingly. To be a productivity ninja focus less on time management, and more on managing your energy. Charlie Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, used a system like this to make sure he was always growing. He identified the hours when he was at his best -- and then routinely stole one of those peak hours for learning. Via The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make them Happen: Charlie…
5 minutes
What can you learn from the toughest leadership job on Earth?
agine you're heading up a team stationed in Antarctica. And your relationship with some of the crew members goes sour. There's nobody else to enforce your authority. In fact, there's no one for hundreds -- if not thousands -- of miles. And you can't fire anyone. Everyone has a critical role. How do you even punish them? How can you take things away in a situation where everyone only has the minimum amenities to begin with? And there's no one to get…
4 minutes
Team Building: How to use Moneyball at the office to build great teams
ere are a lot of myths about team building. For instance: People are not a company's most valuable asset. The right people are. This is one of the key things Jim Collins explains in Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, his exhaustive study of great teams and leaders. He holds Nucor up as a prime example of perfect team building. These guys were so devoted they chased lazy employees out of the factory. Via Good…
5 minutes
