Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
Empathy, or the ability to put yourself in another person’s place, to imagine what they feel, is one of the most important features of civilized people. Without empathy, we get bullying, violence, and “victimless” crimes. Lack of empathy is one of the definitive symptoms that separate a sociopath from the rest of us. Empathy matters.
I’m not sure you should send a handwritten thank you after your interview. I know that the formal thank you note has been the gold standard for classy candidates for the past several decades, but like the phone book, I think of it as an idea whose time may have passed. Here are 5 reasons why.
Hwang uses the metaphor of the rainforest to talk about innovation and creativity, and he starts by comparing it to the plantation, where crops are raised like a business.
Wouldn’t it be great to be a supervisor who could ferret out the truth in all those “he said, she said” situations? Wouldn’t you love to know for sure whether your teenager is telling the truth about where she was last night?
Scheduling meetings with a number of participants can be maddening. Someone proposes several dates and participants chime in as the email correspondence multiplies with “reply all.” Emails cross, people change their availability, and it turns into a logistical nightmare for the hapless organizer.
I fell in love with the Chinese term “Wu Wei” (pronounced “ooh way”) the moment I heard its meaning: “effortless action.” It’s exactly what’s needed for success in networking and interviewing, indeed, for your whole career.
I believe that every good interview has a theme, and the candidate should think carefully about what his theme will be.
Conference calls are notorious for combining all the worst traits of meetings with the worst traits of slackers.
Americans, British, Germans, Israelis, and people from colder weather places like Scandinavia and Russia tend to be low context communicators. They also tend to value being on time and efficiency in meetings and business communications. High context cultures include Asian countries, Middle Eastern cultures, African, Polynesian and warmer countries anywhere. In these cultures, people understand much more than they say; body language, gestures and the speakers’ rank in relation to one another all provide a hidden context that may be a complete mystery to a foreigner.
My recent post on etiquette based on Laura Mathewson’s book Bottom Line: Manners Matter gave tips on how to make a great, mannerly impression. How much did you learn? Take the quiz and find out.
