Reading Time: 2 minIn episode 179 of The Long and The Short Of It podcast, hosts Pete and Jen argue that reading for knowledge should be considered “work”, and therefore it’s acceptable to do during the workday. I don’t disagree, but it’s tricky. I read quite a lot, and most of it is for the benefit of our […]
Leadership
Leadership means you do more
Reading Time: < 1 minAs people grow in their roles, the thought is often that they’ve earned the right to do less work, and perhaps that’s valid. However, simply having the ability to work less generally isn’t the right thing to do if you’ve moved into a leadership role. While your work may largely shift from manual tasks to […]
Being the best talker doesn’t mean you have the best ideas
Reading Time: < 1 minThis is something a lot of organizations struggle with – the loudest and/or best talker in the room often gains the approval of those around them, based solely on their manner. They may happen to have the best ideas, but those two things don’t necessarily go together. In her book “Quiet“, author Susan Cain sums […]
Assume good intentions
Reading Time: 2 minAs digital communication continues to expand into different formats, it can be increasingly difficult to determine the intentions of the person you’re talking to. Of the various common ways that we might communicate, I think intention becomes more difficult to discern as you work down this list: On the other hand, you can essentially flip […]
Would that decision look good in the newspaper?
Reading Time: 2 minIf you have an important decision to make, considering whether you’d want it published in the newspaper can be a good way to frame it for yourself. Even if it’s a personal, private decision, thinking about how others could interpret it can be a valuable thinking exercise. In the book “The Personal MBA“, author Josh […]
No decision can be 100%
Reading Time: < 1 minDecision-making can be a tricky thing, in a number of ways. First, you have the issue of determining when you have enough information to make a solid decision. As Josh Kaufman said in The Personal MBA, “no decision, large or small, is ever made with complete information“. How do you even know what “complete information” […]
Data beats Modal Bias
Reading Time: < 1 minThe concept of “modal bias” is simply the thought that our idea or approach is best. We all think that, but it can become much more troublesome when a HiPPO (the highest paid person in a meeting) falls into that trap and we all need to follow it. Once a HiPPO thinks they have the […]
All feedback is just data – right?
Reading Time: 2 minI was recently reading David Bradford’s book “Connect“, and I came across an interesting statement: Feedback can elicit strong emotions, especially when it contains a grain of truth, but there’s no such thing has “constructive” or “negative” feedback – all feedback is just data. My first thought was that I didn’t agree. While the core […]
Absence Blindness rewards drama
Reading Time: < 1 minAbsence Blindness is a cognitive bias that prevents us from identifying what we can’t observe. It seems pretty obvious — if we can’t observe something, of course we’ll be blind to it. That shouldn’t always be the case, though, and absence Blindness can lead to two problems. First is the lack of ability to “do […]
Precision versus intent
Reading Time: 2 minIf your role in your company involves managing other people, you can ask for work to be done by providing precise instructions or providing the intent behind them. Assuming you trust people to do the job, proper intent will save you both a lot of time. In “The Personal MBA“, author Josh Kaufman shares the […]