An Excerpt from “I Don’t Have a Job. I Have a Higher Calling.”
by Rachel Feintzeig Can a job just be a job? Not anymore. Faced with a cadre of young workers who say they want to make a difference in addition to a paycheck, employers are trying to inject meaning into the daily grind, connecting profit-driven endeavors to grand consequences for mankind. In part, professionals are demanding…
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen
What to Say When a Conversation Heats Up – Adapted from “7 Things to Say When a Conversation Turns Negative”
by Kathleen Kelley Reardon When a conversation turns negative, it’s helpful to have a repertoire of replies at your fingertips. Consider these options: Reframe. Cast the issue in a different light. If someone says, “I don’t want to fight about this,” a useful reframe is, “This is a debate, certainly not a fight.” Rephrase. Rather…
What Great Listeners Actually Do
by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman Chances are you think you’re a good listener. People’s appraisal of their listening ability is much like their assessment of their driving skills, in that the great bulk of adults think they’re above average. In our experience, most people think good listening comes down to doing three things: Not…
Stop Making Gratitude All About You
by Heidi Grant Halvorson You read a lot these days about research showing that practicing gratitude — making a deliberate point of being grateful for the good things in your life — has all sorts of benefits for happiness and well-being. These articles usually end with a call to start a gratitude journal to reap the full…
The Eyes of Leadership
by Robin Sharma The sad fact is that most people see the worst in others – they see them through the eyes of their own anger, fear and limitation. If someone shows up late for a meeting, they impute a negative intent on that person, saying “they are so rude”. If someone makes a mistake…
Not sure what to read?
Here’s a list of books with synopses of 3 sentences or less by James Clear. Enjoy!
Check Yourself Before You Disagree with Senior Management
Adapted from “6 Ways to Disagree with Senior Management” by Priscilla Claman It takes courage to disagree with someone senior to you, but doing it is an important skill, especially if you don’t want the leaders in your organization to think of you as a doormat with nothing to contribute. You want to voice your…
7 Reasons the Best Employees Quit, Even When They Like Their Job
by Lolly Daskal Losing a great employee is a terrible thing. There’s the expense of finding, onboarding, and training a replacement. There’s the uncertainty of how a new employee will work out. There’s the hardship on the rest of your staff until the position can be filled. Sometimes there’s a solid reason–the person was a…
Productivity vs. Paralysis: On Accepting the Reality of Imperfection
by Laura Stack “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice reduces the imperfection.” — Toba Beta, Indonesian author. problem of perfectionism. We can become so tightly focused on getting things “just right,” it’s difficult to let anything go. Of course, there’s always something you can improve, if you just keep nitpicking at it. But at what point…
12 Ways to Spot a High Achiever
by Lou Adler As part of my day job, I run a company that trains recruiters and hiring managers on how to attract, assess and hire top performers using Performance-based Hiring. To overcome the impact of first impressions – the primary cause of most hiring errors – we suggest using the first 20-30 minutes of the…