How to gain confidence by saying "no" to extra work Many sensitive strivers, or high-achievers, who are also highly sensitive and hesitate to say "no" to additional work, which can lead to exhaustion, writes executive coach Melody Wilding. Sensitive strivers should say "no" when the extra work would be at the expense of their primary responsibilities or is unrealistic, endless or outside the scope of their job, and they can say "no" -- and "yes" -- in ways that empower them and boost their confidence. Full Story: Forbes (tiered subscription model) (8/8)
Executives considering a career pivot should find "the balance between an open-minded desire to experiment and a strategic focus ... to keep advancing and developing your potential," writes Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Manpower Group's chief innovation officer. Ensure that your errors "are smart failures, in the sense of boosting your future employability and career success," Chamorro-Premuzic advises. Full Story: Harvard Business Review (tiered subscription model) (8/7)
Expert advice for getting the most from remote conferences Both in-person and remote conferencing can be career boosters, writes microbiome scientist Svetlana Ugarcina Perovic, who suggests making reservations for preferred sessions and exploring the conference platform in advance to prevent glitches. Add a photo and links to your professional website or social media accounts to your profile on the conference platform, avoid multitasking during remote conferences, and use chat or polling tools to engage with others. Full Story: Nature (8/4)
Making the Connection
6 ways to stay innovative in your company Remaining innovative is essential to sustaining a business, but actually doing so can pose a significant challenge, writes Martin Zwilling, CEO and founder of Startup Professionals. "The best leaders selectively forget the past, and are constantly on the lookout for the future's raw material of new ideas," Zwilling writes, drawing on advice from the book "The Three-Box Solution: A Strategy for Leading Innovation" by Vijay Govindarajan. Full Story: Startup Professionals Musings (8/13)
When the pandemic first began, numerous tech companies raced to either build video chat offerings or enhance their existing capabilities. Remember Marco Polo and HouseParty? Well, the party is over. Big Tech appears to have won the day. Zoom obviously enjoyed the greatest boost, but even that company (which ascended to verb status) hasn't been a big driver of innovation when compared to the likes of Google and Microsoft. Heck, Microsoft already had a purpose-built video chat offering in Skype, but still managed to enjoy growth by nudging users to use Microsoft Teams. Full Story: The Verge (8/12)
Employers take a more structured hybrid approach Six in 10 employees say they want a more structured hybrid work model, per Gallup, with the most common problem being that when they do make the effort to go into the office, the colleagues they need to see are not present. Company leaders share the benefits of their particular structures, from the common Tuesday to Thursday in-office mandate to the more unusual model of one mandatory week per month. Full Story: WorkLife (8/14)
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Changing your organization's culture requires changing its story -- and the stories about it that you and your employees tell. Strategic management expert Jay Barney shares anecdotes about four companies that have changed their cultures. Full Story: SmartBrief/Leadership (8/11)
The Water Cooler
Science explains why you can always remember song lyrics The basic premise of this article is not surprising: Of course you can remember the lyrics to a song you heard decades ago, but can't remember where you put your keys just minutes ago. However, this article goes on to do a great job of explaining why that is the case. Sure, the music can be a mnemonic device that helps us recall lyrics, but procedural and implicit memory also have a lot to do with why you keep singing that tune. Full Story: The Conversation (8/14)
SmartBreak: Question of the Day
Well before co-founding Apple, Steve Wozniak as a student created and sold the "Blue Box" to other students. What was it used for?
