If you really believe what you're doing, you've got to persevere even when you run into obstacles. When I finished sulking (about the setback), I doubled my efforts and worked even harder. In a few months I had my old job back. Setbacks are a natural part of life, and you've got to be careful how you respond to them. If I had sulked too long, I probably would have got my self fired.
Lee Iacocca
Autobiography 1984
Showing posts with label Developing yourself. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Developing yourself. Show all posts
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Using your time well
the ability fo concentrate and to use your time well is everything if want to succeed in business-or almost anywhere else, for that matter. Ever since college I've always worked hard during the week while trying to keep my weekends free for family and recreation. Except for periods of real crisis I've never worked on Friday night, Saturday or Sunday. Every Sunday ngiht I get the adrenalin going again by making an outline of what I want to accomplish during the upcoming week.
If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.
Lee Iacocca
An Autobiography 1984
If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.
Lee Iacocca
An Autobiography 1984
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Excelling at Critical Tasks - Critical for Career Success
Reaching Your Potential.
By: Kaplan, Robert S.,
Harvard Business Review,
Jul-Aug 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 7/8
Excelling at Critical Tasks
It's very difficult to succeed if you don't excel at the tasks that are central to your chosen enterprise. That sounds painfully simple, but many executives fail to identify the three or four most important activities that lead to success in their job or business.
One measure of character is the degree to which you put the interests of your company and colleagues ahead of your own. Excellent leaders are willing to do things for others without regard to what's in it for them. They coach and mentor. They have the mindset of an owner and figure out what they would do if they were the ultimate decision maker. They're willing to make a recommendation that would benefit the organization's overall performance, possibly to the detriment of their own unit. They have the courage to trust that they will eventually be rewarded, even if their actions may not be in their own short-term interest.
Author
Robert S. Kaplan (rokaplan@hbs.edu) is the acting president and CEO of Harvard Management Company and a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School in Boston. He is also a former vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group.
By: Kaplan, Robert S.,
Harvard Business Review,
Jul-Aug 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 7/8
Excelling at Critical Tasks
It's very difficult to succeed if you don't excel at the tasks that are central to your chosen enterprise. That sounds painfully simple, but many executives fail to identify the three or four most important activities that lead to success in their job or business.
One measure of character is the degree to which you put the interests of your company and colleagues ahead of your own. Excellent leaders are willing to do things for others without regard to what's in it for them. They coach and mentor. They have the mindset of an owner and figure out what they would do if they were the ultimate decision maker. They're willing to make a recommendation that would benefit the organization's overall performance, possibly to the detriment of their own unit. They have the courage to trust that they will eventually be rewarded, even if their actions may not be in their own short-term interest.
Author
Robert S. Kaplan (rokaplan@hbs.edu) is the acting president and CEO of Harvard Management Company and a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School in Boston. He is also a former vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Self-Management HBR 2006
Self-Management
HBR Case Study: Just Trying to Help
Julia Kirby
With commentary by Marcus
Buckingham, Joanne Bischmann,
Lars Kolind, and Tomas Blomquist
June
Reprint R0606A, Reprint Case
only R0606X, Reprint
Commentary only R0606Z
HBR Case Study: The Nice Guy
Russ Edelman and
Tim Hiltabiddle
With commentary by Eric Schmidt,
Stephen R. Covey, Don Manvel, and
Maggie Craddock
February
Reprint R0602A, Reprint Case
only R0602X, Reprint
Commentary only R0602Z
Let Me Give You Some Advice
Francesca Gino
Forethought, March
Reprint F0603E
Small Ponds Aren't for Everyone
Sigrid Caroline Schroder
Forethought, April
Reprint F0604H
HBR Case Study: Just Trying to Help
Julia Kirby
With commentary by Marcus
Buckingham, Joanne Bischmann,
Lars Kolind, and Tomas Blomquist
June
Reprint R0606A, Reprint Case
only R0606X, Reprint
Commentary only R0606Z
HBR Case Study: The Nice Guy
Russ Edelman and
Tim Hiltabiddle
With commentary by Eric Schmidt,
Stephen R. Covey, Don Manvel, and
Maggie Craddock
February
Reprint R0602A, Reprint Case
only R0602X, Reprint
Commentary only R0602Z
Let Me Give You Some Advice
Francesca Gino
Forethought, March
Reprint F0603E
Small Ponds Aren't for Everyone
Sigrid Caroline Schroder
Forethought, April
Reprint F0604H
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
72 hour work week executive
Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek.
By: Hewlett, Sylvia Ann, Luce, Carolyn Buck,
Harvard Business Review,
Dec 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 12
Our research on extreme jobs is a project of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force, which we launched in February 2004 and now head up. In late 2005, four of the task force's member companies – American Express, BP, ProLogis, and UBS – sponsored two large surveys with the intent of "mapping" the shape and scope of high-level, high-impact jobs these days. We also conducted indepth qualitative research–focus groups and interviews – to get at the attitudes and motivations that lie behind the extreme-work model.We then considered the data in relation to the large-scale structural shifts that have made high-stakes employment a more prominent feature of the U.S. economy and culture. What emerges from this inquiry is a complex picture of the all-consuming career – rewarding in many ways, but not without danger to individuals and society.
The first thing that becomes clear is that successful professionals are working harder than ever. The 40-hour workweek, it seems, is a thing of the past. Even the 60-hour workweek, once the path to the top, is now practically considered part-time, as a recent Fortune magazine article put it. Our data reveal that 62% of high-earning individuals work more than 50 hours a week, 35% work more than 60 hours a week, and 10% work more than 80 hours a week. Add in a typical one-hour commute, and a 60-hour workweek translates into leaving the house at 7 am and getting home at 9 pm five days a week. If we focus on the subset of those workers who hold what we consider extreme jobs (a designation based on responsibilities and other attributes beyond pay), the hours are even more punishing. The majority of them (56%) work 70 hours or more a week, and 9% work 100 hours or more.
We identified ten common characteristics of extreme jobs and decided to classify a respondent as an extreme jobholder if he or she is confronted by at least five of them, on top of working 60 hours or more per week By this standard, 21% of the high earners in the U.S. whom we surveyed have extreme jobs. (In our separate survey of professionals working in global companies, this figure rises to 45%.)
Senior leadership of organizations should take note: The attributes that give a workplace an advantage in recruiting and retention can change dramatically over time. The culture that celebrates the extreme ethos today may tire of it–quite literally–tomorrow. At a minimum, senior executives should think carefully about the work behaviors they are rewarding, encouraging, or requiring. More than anything, the signals they send will determine whether jobs become extreme–and if so, whether those jobs remain exhilarating or simply become exhausting.
Why people are doing extreme work?
The reasons given are
Stimulating/challenging/gives me an adrenaline rush
High-quality colleagues
High compensation
Receive recognition for work
Power/status
Sylvia Ann Hewlett is the president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, a New York–based nonprofit organization. She also heads the Gender and Policy Program at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, in New York. Carolyn Buck Luce is the chair of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force and the global pharmaceutical sector leader at Ernst & Young, in New York.
By: Hewlett, Sylvia Ann, Luce, Carolyn Buck,
Harvard Business Review,
Dec 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 12
Our research on extreme jobs is a project of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force, which we launched in February 2004 and now head up. In late 2005, four of the task force's member companies – American Express, BP, ProLogis, and UBS – sponsored two large surveys with the intent of "mapping" the shape and scope of high-level, high-impact jobs these days. We also conducted indepth qualitative research–focus groups and interviews – to get at the attitudes and motivations that lie behind the extreme-work model.We then considered the data in relation to the large-scale structural shifts that have made high-stakes employment a more prominent feature of the U.S. economy and culture. What emerges from this inquiry is a complex picture of the all-consuming career – rewarding in many ways, but not without danger to individuals and society.
The first thing that becomes clear is that successful professionals are working harder than ever. The 40-hour workweek, it seems, is a thing of the past. Even the 60-hour workweek, once the path to the top, is now practically considered part-time, as a recent Fortune magazine article put it. Our data reveal that 62% of high-earning individuals work more than 50 hours a week, 35% work more than 60 hours a week, and 10% work more than 80 hours a week. Add in a typical one-hour commute, and a 60-hour workweek translates into leaving the house at 7 am and getting home at 9 pm five days a week. If we focus on the subset of those workers who hold what we consider extreme jobs (a designation based on responsibilities and other attributes beyond pay), the hours are even more punishing. The majority of them (56%) work 70 hours or more a week, and 9% work 100 hours or more.
We identified ten common characteristics of extreme jobs and decided to classify a respondent as an extreme jobholder if he or she is confronted by at least five of them, on top of working 60 hours or more per week By this standard, 21% of the high earners in the U.S. whom we surveyed have extreme jobs. (In our separate survey of professionals working in global companies, this figure rises to 45%.)
Senior leadership of organizations should take note: The attributes that give a workplace an advantage in recruiting and retention can change dramatically over time. The culture that celebrates the extreme ethos today may tire of it–quite literally–tomorrow. At a minimum, senior executives should think carefully about the work behaviors they are rewarding, encouraging, or requiring. More than anything, the signals they send will determine whether jobs become extreme–and if so, whether those jobs remain exhilarating or simply become exhausting.
Why people are doing extreme work?
The reasons given are
Stimulating/challenging/gives me an adrenaline rush
High-quality colleagues
High compensation
Receive recognition for work
Power/status
Sylvia Ann Hewlett is the president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, a New York–based nonprofit organization. She also heads the Gender and Policy Program at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, in New York. Carolyn Buck Luce is the chair of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force and the global pharmaceutical sector leader at Ernst & Young, in New York.
Senior Executive - Ask yourself these questions periodically
What to Ask the Person in the Mirror.
By: Kaplan, Robert S.,
Harvard Business Review,
Jan 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 1
VISION AND PRIORITIES
How often do I communicate a vision for my business?
Have I identified and communicated three to five key priorities to achieve that vision?
If asked, would my employees be able to articulate the vision and priorities?
MANAGING TIME
How am I spending my time? Does it match my key priorities?
How are my subordinates spending their time? Does that match the key priorities for the business?
FEEDBACK
Do I give people timely and direct feedback that they can act on?
Do I have five or six junior subordinates who will tell me things I may not want to hear but need to hear?
SUCCESSION PLANNING
When leaders fail to actively plan for succession, they do not delegate sufficiently and may become decision-making bottlenecks. Key employees may leave if they are not actively groomed and challenged.
Have I, at least in my own mind, picked one or more potential successors?
Am I coaching them and giving them challenging assignments?
Am I delegating sufficiently? Have I become a decisionmaking bottleneck?
EVALUATION AND ALIGNMENT
Is the design of my company still aligned with the key success factors for the business?
If I had to design my business with a clean sheet of paper, how would I design it? How would it differ from the current design?
Should I create a task force of subordinates to answer these questions and make recommendations to me?
LEADING UNDER PRESSURE
What types of events create pressure for me?
How do I behave under pressure?
What signals am I sending my subordinates? Are these signals helpful, or are they undermining the success of my business?
STAYING TRUE TO YOURSELF
Is my leadership style comfortable? Does it reflect who I truly am?
Do I assert myself sufficiently, or have I become tentative?
Am I too politically correct?
Does worry about my next promotion or bonus cause me to pull punches or hesitate to express my views?
Robert S. Kaplan (rokaplan@hbs.edu), formerly vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group, is the Thomas S. Murphy Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Boston.
By: Kaplan, Robert S.,
Harvard Business Review,
Jan 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 1
VISION AND PRIORITIES
How often do I communicate a vision for my business?
Have I identified and communicated three to five key priorities to achieve that vision?
If asked, would my employees be able to articulate the vision and priorities?
MANAGING TIME
How am I spending my time? Does it match my key priorities?
How are my subordinates spending their time? Does that match the key priorities for the business?
FEEDBACK
Do I give people timely and direct feedback that they can act on?
Do I have five or six junior subordinates who will tell me things I may not want to hear but need to hear?
SUCCESSION PLANNING
When leaders fail to actively plan for succession, they do not delegate sufficiently and may become decision-making bottlenecks. Key employees may leave if they are not actively groomed and challenged.
Have I, at least in my own mind, picked one or more potential successors?
Am I coaching them and giving them challenging assignments?
Am I delegating sufficiently? Have I become a decisionmaking bottleneck?
EVALUATION AND ALIGNMENT
Is the design of my company still aligned with the key success factors for the business?
If I had to design my business with a clean sheet of paper, how would I design it? How would it differ from the current design?
Should I create a task force of subordinates to answer these questions and make recommendations to me?
LEADING UNDER PRESSURE
What types of events create pressure for me?
How do I behave under pressure?
What signals am I sending my subordinates? Are these signals helpful, or are they undermining the success of my business?
STAYING TRUE TO YOURSELF
Is my leadership style comfortable? Does it reflect who I truly am?
Do I assert myself sufficiently, or have I become tentative?
Am I too politically correct?
Does worry about my next promotion or bonus cause me to pull punches or hesitate to express my views?
Robert S. Kaplan (rokaplan@hbs.edu), formerly vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group, is the Thomas S. Murphy Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Boston.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Work hard at understanding and developing yourself as a leader
Discovering Your Authentic Leadership.
By: George, Bill, Sims, Peter, McLean, Andrew N., Mayer, Diana,
Harvard Business Review,
Feb 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 2
The largest in-depth study ever undertaken on how people can become and remain authentic leaders shows that an individual does not have to be born with any universal characteristics or traits of a leader.
Authentic leaders work hard at understanding and developing themselves. They use formal and informal support networks to get honest feedback and help ground themselves. They temper their need for public acclaim and financial reward with strong intrinsic motivations.
Discovering your authentic leadership requires a commitment to developing yourself. Like musicians and athletes, you must devote yourself to a lifetime of realizing your potential. Most people Kroger CEO David Dillon has seen become good leaders were self-taught. Dillon said, "The advice I give to individuals in our company is not to expect the company to hand you a development plan. You need to take responsibility for developing yourself."
While the life stories of authentic leaders cover the full spectrum of experiences--including the positive impact of parents, athletic coaches, teachers, and mentors--many leaders reported that their motivation came from a difficult experience in their lives. They described the transformative effects of the loss of a job; personal illness; the untimely death of a close friend or relative; and feelings of being excluded, discriminated against, and rejected by peers. Rather than seeing themselves as victims, though, authentic leaders used these formative experiences to give meaning to their lives. They reframed these events to rise above their challenges and to discover their passion to lead.
By: George, Bill, Sims, Peter, McLean, Andrew N., Mayer, Diana,
Harvard Business Review,
Feb 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 2
The largest in-depth study ever undertaken on how people can become and remain authentic leaders shows that an individual does not have to be born with any universal characteristics or traits of a leader.
Authentic leaders work hard at understanding and developing themselves. They use formal and informal support networks to get honest feedback and help ground themselves. They temper their need for public acclaim and financial reward with strong intrinsic motivations.
Discovering your authentic leadership requires a commitment to developing yourself. Like musicians and athletes, you must devote yourself to a lifetime of realizing your potential. Most people Kroger CEO David Dillon has seen become good leaders were self-taught. Dillon said, "The advice I give to individuals in our company is not to expect the company to hand you a development plan. You need to take responsibility for developing yourself."
While the life stories of authentic leaders cover the full spectrum of experiences--including the positive impact of parents, athletic coaches, teachers, and mentors--many leaders reported that their motivation came from a difficult experience in their lives. They described the transformative effects of the loss of a job; personal illness; the untimely death of a close friend or relative; and feelings of being excluded, discriminated against, and rejected by peers. Rather than seeing themselves as victims, though, authentic leaders used these formative experiences to give meaning to their lives. They reframed these events to rise above their challenges and to discover their passion to lead.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
What Your LEADER Expects of You
What Your LEADER Expects of You. By: Bossidy, Larry, Harvard Business Review, 00178012, Apr2007, Vol. 85, Issue 4
What I Expect from My Direct Reports
Get involved
Generate ideas
Be willing to collaborate
Be willing to lead initiatives
Develop leaders as you develop
Stay current
Anticipate
Drive your own growth
Be a player for all seasons
Larry Bossidy was the chairman and CEO of AlliedSignal from 1991 through 1999 and the chairman and CEO of Honeywell from 2001 to 2002. He has also served as the COO of General Electric Credit Corporation (now GE Capital) and as the vice chairman of General Electric.
What I Expect from My Direct Reports
Get involved
Generate ideas
Be willing to collaborate
Be willing to lead initiatives
Develop leaders as you develop
Stay current
Anticipate
Drive your own growth
Be a player for all seasons
Larry Bossidy was the chairman and CEO of AlliedSignal from 1991 through 1999 and the chairman and CEO of Honeywell from 2001 to 2002. He has also served as the COO of General Electric Credit Corporation (now GE Capital) and as the vice chairman of General Electric.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Outstanding Performance - Product of Years of Deliberate Practice
The Making of an Expert.
By: Ericsson, K. Anders, Prietula, Michael J., Cokely, Edward T.,
Harvard Business Review,
Jul/Aug 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 7/8
New research shows that outstanding performance is the product of years of deliberate practice and coaching, not of any innate talent or skill.
The journey to truly superior performance is neither for the faint of heart nor for the impatient. The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice, and honest, often painful self-assessment.
It will take you at least a decade to achieve expertise, and you will need to invest that time wisely, by engaging in "deliberate" practice -- practice that focuses on tasks beyond your current level of competence and comfort. You will need a well-informed coach not only to guide you through deliberate practice but also to help you learn how to coach yourself.
Real expertise must pass three tests. First, it must lead to performance that is consistently superior to that of the expert's peers. Second, real expertise produces concrete results. Brain surgeons, for example, not only must be skillful with their scalpels but also must have successful outcomes with their patients. A chess player must be able to win matches in tournaments. Finally, true expertise can be replicated and measured in the lab. As the British scientist Lord Kelvin stated, "If you can not measure it, you can not improve it."
By: Ericsson, K. Anders, Prietula, Michael J., Cokely, Edward T.,
Harvard Business Review,
Jul/Aug 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 7/8
New research shows that outstanding performance is the product of years of deliberate practice and coaching, not of any innate talent or skill.
The journey to truly superior performance is neither for the faint of heart nor for the impatient. The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice, and honest, often painful self-assessment.
It will take you at least a decade to achieve expertise, and you will need to invest that time wisely, by engaging in "deliberate" practice -- practice that focuses on tasks beyond your current level of competence and comfort. You will need a well-informed coach not only to guide you through deliberate practice but also to help you learn how to coach yourself.
Real expertise must pass three tests. First, it must lead to performance that is consistently superior to that of the expert's peers. Second, real expertise produces concrete results. Brain surgeons, for example, not only must be skillful with their scalpels but also must have successful outcomes with their patients. A chess player must be able to win matches in tournaments. Finally, true expertise can be replicated and measured in the lab. As the British scientist Lord Kelvin stated, "If you can not measure it, you can not improve it."
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tension between Idealism and Pragmatism
My Extreme MBA. (A Conversation with Rory Stewart)
By: McCreary, Lew,
Harvard Business Review,
Octoer 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 10
Tension between idealism and pragmatism.
That is why I find Machiavelli so useful. He is not simply an evil cynic, as he is sometimes portrayed. He genuinely does believe in the virtue of the prince, the virtue of republics, and the power to do good. What he's doing, perpetually, is trying to make people realize how messy and difficult the business of governing is. Some of his simplest insights are so interesting.
One that I particularly like--and which applies well to what we encountered in Iraq--is that those who persist in trying to do what they think they ought to do, instead of what they can, will undermine their power rather than sustain it.
In much the same vein he also advises to work out whether something's achievable. If it is, do it at once; if it isn't, don't even attempt it.
Rory Stewart, CEO of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, an NGO in Kabul devoted to preserving the city's historic commercial district and teaching old craft skills to young Afghans.
By: McCreary, Lew,
Harvard Business Review,
Octoer 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 10
Tension between idealism and pragmatism.
That is why I find Machiavelli so useful. He is not simply an evil cynic, as he is sometimes portrayed. He genuinely does believe in the virtue of the prince, the virtue of republics, and the power to do good. What he's doing, perpetually, is trying to make people realize how messy and difficult the business of governing is. Some of his simplest insights are so interesting.
One that I particularly like--and which applies well to what we encountered in Iraq--is that those who persist in trying to do what they think they ought to do, instead of what they can, will undermine their power rather than sustain it.
In much the same vein he also advises to work out whether something's achievable. If it is, do it at once; if it isn't, don't even attempt it.
Rory Stewart, CEO of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, an NGO in Kabul devoted to preserving the city's historic commercial district and teaching old craft skills to young Afghans.
Managing Energy of the Work Force
Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time.
By: Schwartz, Tony,
Harvard Business Review,
Oct 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 10
To effectively reenergize their workforces, organizations need to shift their emphasis from getting more out of people to investing more in them, so they are motivated--and able--to bring more of themselves to work every day. To recharge themselves, individuals need to recognize the costs of energy-depleting behaviors and then take responsibility for changing them, regardless of the circumstances they're facing.
Defined in physics as the capacity to work, energy comes from four main wellsprings in human beings: the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. In each, energy can be systematically expanded and regularly renewed by establishing specific rituals--behaviors that are intentionally practiced and precisely scheduled, with the goal of making them unconscious and automatic as quickly as possible.
At Wachovia Bank, we took a group of employees through a pilot energy management program and then measured their performance against that of a control group. The participants outperformed the controls on a series of financial metrics, such as the value of loans they generated.
Tony Schwartz (tony@theenergyproject.com) is the president and founder of the Energy Project in New York City, and a coauthor of The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal (Free Press, 2003).
By: Schwartz, Tony,
Harvard Business Review,
Oct 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 10
To effectively reenergize their workforces, organizations need to shift their emphasis from getting more out of people to investing more in them, so they are motivated--and able--to bring more of themselves to work every day. To recharge themselves, individuals need to recognize the costs of energy-depleting behaviors and then take responsibility for changing them, regardless of the circumstances they're facing.
Defined in physics as the capacity to work, energy comes from four main wellsprings in human beings: the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. In each, energy can be systematically expanded and regularly renewed by establishing specific rituals--behaviors that are intentionally practiced and precisely scheduled, with the goal of making them unconscious and automatic as quickly as possible.
At Wachovia Bank, we took a group of employees through a pilot energy management program and then measured their performance against that of a control group. The participants outperformed the controls on a series of financial metrics, such as the value of loans they generated.
Tony Schwartz (tony@theenergyproject.com) is the president and founder of the Energy Project in New York City, and a coauthor of The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal (Free Press, 2003).
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Make Your Brain Fit
Cognitive Fitness.
By: Gilkey, Roderick, Kilts, Clint,
Harvard Business Review,
Nov 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 11
Brain-imaging studies indicate, for example, that acquired expertise in areas as diverse as playing a cello, juggling, speaking a foreign language, and driving a taxicab expands and makes more communicative the neural systems in the parts of the brain responsible for motor control and spatial navigation. In other words, you can make physical changes in your brain by learning new skills.
So how can you become cognitively fit?
Understand How Experience Makes the Brain Grow
Work Hard at Play
Search for Patterns
Seek Novelty and Innovation
Exercising Your Brain: A Personal Program
Manage by walking about.
Read funny books.
Play games.
Act out.
Find what you're not learning and learn
Take notes - and then go back and read them.
Try new technologies.
Learn a new language or instrument.
Exercise, exercise, exercise.
Roderick Gilkey is an associate professor of organization and management at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta and an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine. Clint Kilts is the Dr. Paul Janssen Professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
By: Gilkey, Roderick, Kilts, Clint,
Harvard Business Review,
Nov 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 11
Brain-imaging studies indicate, for example, that acquired expertise in areas as diverse as playing a cello, juggling, speaking a foreign language, and driving a taxicab expands and makes more communicative the neural systems in the parts of the brain responsible for motor control and spatial navigation. In other words, you can make physical changes in your brain by learning new skills.
So how can you become cognitively fit?
Understand How Experience Makes the Brain Grow
Work Hard at Play
Search for Patterns
Seek Novelty and Innovation
Exercising Your Brain: A Personal Program
Manage by walking about.
Read funny books.
Play games.
Act out.
Find what you're not learning and learn
Take notes - and then go back and read them.
Try new technologies.
Learn a new language or instrument.
Exercise, exercise, exercise.
Roderick Gilkey is an associate professor of organization and management at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta and an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine. Clint Kilts is the Dr. Paul Janssen Professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Making Relationships Work - Marriage
Making Relationships Work.
By: Coutu, Diane,
Harvard Business Review,
Dec 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 12
A Conversation with Psychologist John M. Gottman
The best science we have on relationships comes from the most intense relationship of all - marriage. Here's what we know about it.
Few people can tell us more about how to maintain good personal relationships than John M. Gottman, the executive director of the Relationship Research Institute. At the institute's Family Research Laboratory - known as the Love Lab - Gottman has been studying marriage and divorce for the past 35 years.
Successful couples, he notes, look for ways to accentuate the positive. They try to say "yes" as often as possible.
It sounds simple, but in fact you could capture all of my research findings with the metaphor of a saltshaker. Instead of filling it with salt, fill it with all the ways you can say yes, and that's what a good relationship is. "Yes," you say, "that is a good idea." "Yes, that's a great point, I never thought of that." "Yes, let's do that if you think it's important." You sprinkle yeses throughout your interactions - that's what a good relationship is.
I want to stress that good relationships are not just about knowing when to fight and how to patch things up. We also need humor, affection, playing, silliness, exploration, adventure, lust, touching - all those positive emotional things that we share with all mammals. Something that's been so hard for me to convey to the media is that trivial moments provide opportunities for profound connection.
I think that men need to learn how to embrace their wives' anger.
By: Coutu, Diane,
Harvard Business Review,
Dec 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 12
A Conversation with Psychologist John M. Gottman
The best science we have on relationships comes from the most intense relationship of all - marriage. Here's what we know about it.
Few people can tell us more about how to maintain good personal relationships than John M. Gottman, the executive director of the Relationship Research Institute. At the institute's Family Research Laboratory - known as the Love Lab - Gottman has been studying marriage and divorce for the past 35 years.
Successful couples, he notes, look for ways to accentuate the positive. They try to say "yes" as often as possible.
It sounds simple, but in fact you could capture all of my research findings with the metaphor of a saltshaker. Instead of filling it with salt, fill it with all the ways you can say yes, and that's what a good relationship is. "Yes," you say, "that is a good idea." "Yes, that's a great point, I never thought of that." "Yes, let's do that if you think it's important." You sprinkle yeses throughout your interactions - that's what a good relationship is.
I want to stress that good relationships are not just about knowing when to fight and how to patch things up. We also need humor, affection, playing, silliness, exploration, adventure, lust, touching - all those positive emotional things that we share with all mammals. Something that's been so hard for me to convey to the media is that trivial moments provide opportunities for profound connection.
I think that men need to learn how to embrace their wives' anger.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Become a FourWay Winner
Become a winner in life's four domains – work, home, community, and self (mind, body, and spirit).
This is the main idea in a program called Total Leadership that I teach at the Wharton School and at companies and workshops around the world.
Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life.
By: Friedman, Stewart D.,
Harvard Business Review,
April 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 4
The only way to fail with an experiment is to fail to learn from it.
Failed experiments give you, and those around you, information that helps create better ones in the future.
Stewart D. Friedman (friedman@wharton.upenn.edu) is the Practice Professor of Management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia. He is the founding director of Wharton's Leadership Program and of its Work/Life Integration Project, and the former head of Ford Motor's Leadership Development Center. He is the author of numerous books and articles on leadership development, work/life integration, and the dynamics of change, including Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life, forthcoming from Harvard Business Press.
This is the main idea in a program called Total Leadership that I teach at the Wharton School and at companies and workshops around the world.
Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life.
By: Friedman, Stewart D.,
Harvard Business Review,
April 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 4
The only way to fail with an experiment is to fail to learn from it.
Failed experiments give you, and those around you, information that helps create better ones in the future.
Stewart D. Friedman (friedman@wharton.upenn.edu) is the Practice Professor of Management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia. He is the founding director of Wharton's Leadership Program and of its Work/Life Integration Project, and the former head of Ford Motor's Leadership Development Center. He is the author of numerous books and articles on leadership development, work/life integration, and the dynamics of change, including Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life, forthcoming from Harvard Business Press.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Developing a reputation for ethical leadership
Moral person and moral manager: How executives develop a reputation for ethical leadership
Linda Klebe Trevino, Laura Pincus Hartman, Michael Brown.
California Management Review.
Summer 2000. Vol. 42, Iss. 4; pg. 128, 15 pgs
Moral Person + Moral Manager =A Reputation for Ethical Leadership
These ideas about a dual pillar approach to ethical leadership are not brand new.
Chester Barnard addressed the ethical dimension of executive leadership sixty years ago. Barnard spoke about executive responsibility in terms of conforming to a "complex code of morals" (moral person) as well as creating moral codes for others (moral manager).
Moral managers recognize the importance of proactively putting ethics at the forefront of their leadership agenda. Like parents who should explicitly share their values with their children, executives need to make the ethical dimension of their leadership explicit and salient to their employees.
Many executives are uncomfortable talking about ethics and wonder about those who do.
The Hypocritical Leader
A leader who is not perceived to be a strong ethical person but who attempts to put ethics and values at the forefront of the leadership agenda is likely to be perceived as a hypocritical leader who "talks the ethics talk" but does not "walk the ethics walk."
Cultivating a Reputation for Ethical Leadership
Given the importance of ethical leadership, we offer the following practical steps executives can take to cultivate a reputation for ethical leadership.
Share Your Values: Who You Are as an Ethical Person
Assume the Role of Moral Manager. Chief Ethics Officer of Your Organization
Linda Klebe Trevino, Laura Pincus Hartman, Michael Brown.
California Management Review.
Summer 2000. Vol. 42, Iss. 4; pg. 128, 15 pgs
Moral Person + Moral Manager =A Reputation for Ethical Leadership
These ideas about a dual pillar approach to ethical leadership are not brand new.
Chester Barnard addressed the ethical dimension of executive leadership sixty years ago. Barnard spoke about executive responsibility in terms of conforming to a "complex code of morals" (moral person) as well as creating moral codes for others (moral manager).
Moral managers recognize the importance of proactively putting ethics at the forefront of their leadership agenda. Like parents who should explicitly share their values with their children, executives need to make the ethical dimension of their leadership explicit and salient to their employees.
Many executives are uncomfortable talking about ethics and wonder about those who do.
The Hypocritical Leader
A leader who is not perceived to be a strong ethical person but who attempts to put ethics and values at the forefront of the leadership agenda is likely to be perceived as a hypocritical leader who "talks the ethics talk" but does not "walk the ethics walk."
Cultivating a Reputation for Ethical Leadership
Given the importance of ethical leadership, we offer the following practical steps executives can take to cultivate a reputation for ethical leadership.
Share Your Values: Who You Are as an Ethical Person
Assume the Role of Moral Manager. Chief Ethics Officer of Your Organization
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The brain wasn't built to endure chronic stress
The Science of Thinking Smarter.
By: Coutu, Diane,
Harvard Business Review,
May 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 5
A CONVERSATION WITH BRAIN EXPERT JOHN J. MEDINA
Interesting points
Our brains were built to survive in jungles and grasslands - we were built to handle acute stress.
Is there any hope for producing reliable long-term memories?
Yes, but you will need to consistently re-expose yourself to the information. The phenomenon is called "elaborative rehearsal," and it's the type of repetition shown to be the most effective for the most robust retrieval. We do know, for example, that you can improve your chances of remembering something if you reproduce the environment in which you first put it into your brain. If, say, you learn something while you are sad, you will be able to recall it better if at retrieval you are somehow made suddenly sad.
I wish I could tell you what all this means for business - for marketers, for example. How often must you repeat the message before people buy a product? What determines whether customers still remember the product's name and characteristics six months later or a year later? Scientists still don't know the answers to those questions. All I can say is that memory is not fixed at the moment of learning, and repetition improves the odds of retrieval.
By: Coutu, Diane,
Harvard Business Review,
May 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 5
A CONVERSATION WITH BRAIN EXPERT JOHN J. MEDINA
Interesting points
Our brains were built to survive in jungles and grasslands - we were built to handle acute stress.
Is there any hope for producing reliable long-term memories?
Yes, but you will need to consistently re-expose yourself to the information. The phenomenon is called "elaborative rehearsal," and it's the type of repetition shown to be the most effective for the most robust retrieval. We do know, for example, that you can improve your chances of remembering something if you reproduce the environment in which you first put it into your brain. If, say, you learn something while you are sad, you will be able to recall it better if at retrieval you are somehow made suddenly sad.
I wish I could tell you what all this means for business - for marketers, for example. How often must you repeat the message before people buy a product? What determines whether customers still remember the product's name and characteristics six months later or a year later? Scientists still don't know the answers to those questions. All I can say is that memory is not fixed at the moment of learning, and repetition improves the odds of retrieval.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
How the Best of the Best Get Better and Better
By: Jones, Graham,
Harvard Business Review,
June 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 6
Interesting points
Graham Jones is a sports psychologist.
As a sports psychologist, I spent much of my career as a consultant to Olympic and world champions in rowing, swimming, squash, track and field, sailing, trampolining, and judo. Then in 1995, I teamed up with Olympic gold medal swimmer Adrian Moorhouse to start Lane4, a firm that has been bringing the lessons from elite athletic performance to Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies, with the help of other world-class athletes such as Greg Searle, Alison Mowbray, and Tom Murray.
Elite performers in both arenas (sports and business) thrive on pressure; they excel when the heat is turned up. Their rise to the top is the result of very careful planning -- of setting and hitting hundreds of small goals. Elite performers use competition to hone their skills, and they reinvent themselves continually to stay ahead of the pack. Finally, whenever they score big wins, top performers take time to celebrate their victories.
A thing that helps star performers love the pressure is their ability to switch their involvement in their endeavors on and off. A good way to do this is to have a secondary passion in life. Rower Alison Mowbray, for example, always set time aside to practice the piano, despite her grueling athletic-training schedule. Not only did she win a silver medal in the Olympics in 2004, but she also became an accomplished pianist in the process. Richard Branson is famous for his hot-air balloon adventures.
Much of star athletes' ability to rebound from defeat comes from an intense focus on long-term goals and aspirations. At the same time, both sports stars and their coaches are keenly aware that the road to long-term success is paved with small achievements.
Celebration is more than an emotional release. Done effectively, it involves a deep level of analysis and enhanced awareness. The very best performers do not move on before they have scrutinized and understood thoroughly the factors underpinning their success.
Most of those participating in the Olympics this summer will walk away from the games without grabbing a single medal. Those with real mettle will get back into training again. That's what truly separates elite performers from ordinary high achievers. It takes supreme, almost unimaginable grit and courage to get back into the ring and fight to the bitter end. That's what the Olympic athlete does. If you want to be an elite performer in business, that's what you need to do, too.
Graham Jones (graham.jones@lane4performance.com) is a cofounder of Lane4, an international performance development consultancy, and a former professor of elite performance psychology at the University of Wales. He is based in Princeton, New Jersey, and is the coauthor, with Adrian Moorhouse, of Developing Mental Toughness: Gold Medal Strategies for Enhancing Your Business Performance (How To Books, 2007).
Harvard Business Review,
June 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 6
Interesting points
Graham Jones is a sports psychologist.
As a sports psychologist, I spent much of my career as a consultant to Olympic and world champions in rowing, swimming, squash, track and field, sailing, trampolining, and judo. Then in 1995, I teamed up with Olympic gold medal swimmer Adrian Moorhouse to start Lane4, a firm that has been bringing the lessons from elite athletic performance to Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies, with the help of other world-class athletes such as Greg Searle, Alison Mowbray, and Tom Murray.
Elite performers in both arenas (sports and business) thrive on pressure; they excel when the heat is turned up. Their rise to the top is the result of very careful planning -- of setting and hitting hundreds of small goals. Elite performers use competition to hone their skills, and they reinvent themselves continually to stay ahead of the pack. Finally, whenever they score big wins, top performers take time to celebrate their victories.
A thing that helps star performers love the pressure is their ability to switch their involvement in their endeavors on and off. A good way to do this is to have a secondary passion in life. Rower Alison Mowbray, for example, always set time aside to practice the piano, despite her grueling athletic-training schedule. Not only did she win a silver medal in the Olympics in 2004, but she also became an accomplished pianist in the process. Richard Branson is famous for his hot-air balloon adventures.
Much of star athletes' ability to rebound from defeat comes from an intense focus on long-term goals and aspirations. At the same time, both sports stars and their coaches are keenly aware that the road to long-term success is paved with small achievements.
Celebration is more than an emotional release. Done effectively, it involves a deep level of analysis and enhanced awareness. The very best performers do not move on before they have scrutinized and understood thoroughly the factors underpinning their success.
Most of those participating in the Olympics this summer will walk away from the games without grabbing a single medal. Those with real mettle will get back into training again. That's what truly separates elite performers from ordinary high achievers. It takes supreme, almost unimaginable grit and courage to get back into the ring and fight to the bitter end. That's what the Olympic athlete does. If you want to be an elite performer in business, that's what you need to do, too.
Graham Jones (graham.jones@lane4performance.com) is a cofounder of Lane4, an international performance development consultancy, and a former professor of elite performance psychology at the University of Wales. He is based in Princeton, New Jersey, and is the coauthor, with Adrian Moorhouse, of Developing Mental Toughness: Gold Medal Strategies for Enhancing Your Business Performance (How To Books, 2007).
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