Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
In an online article, author Matthew Kirchner says (and this won’t be news to any of us) that attention spans are getting shorter. He writes, “Microsoft published a study that our attention spans had decreased by almost a third in the preceding 15 years, from 12 seconds to just eight. Goldfish, so we’re told, have an … Continue reading Tell Me Seven Times. No – Make that Three.
What time does a meeting start? The agenda may start at a specific moment (give or take 10 minutes, in my sad experience), but you can be very productive in the minutes before a meeting actually begins. Those of us who are always early know this. In fact, we’re early for two reasons. One is … Continue reading The Meeting Before the Meeting
There are two kinds of safety leaders are responsible for in the workplace. Physical safety is one of them: making sure that employees’ health and wellbeing are important priorities (the pandemic changed what used to be a low priority in most settings to the primary issue in almost every industry.) Workers also want to know … Continue reading Feeling Safe at Work
In an article for The New York Times, Adam Grant says the advice women get to eliminate “soft language” is bad advice. He writes, “If you’re a woman, you’ve probably gotten this advice from a mentor, a coach or a teacher. If you want to be heard, use more forceful language. If you want a … Continue reading Soft Language Works for Women
What if there was one word – a simple word – that would increase your chances of persuading someone to do something by 50 percent? Sounds like magic, but it’s been tested and verified by social scientists for years. That word is “because.” Researchers have investigated persuasion for decades, and they’ve found that adding a … Continue reading Magic Words to Make you More Persuasive
“A monkey dressed in silk is still a monkey,” Spanish proverb There’s a saying in almost every culture that reminds us that “clothes don’t make the man (or woman).” The aphorism cuts both ways; it warns us that dressing up doesn’t make you a better person. It also warns us that we shouldn’t judge people by … Continue reading Do Clothes Make the Man?
When I was hiring team members, one of the most important interview questions came at the very end. “Do you have any questions for me?” was more than a courtesy; it was a way to see how a candidate’s mind worked. If a candidate didn’t ask any questions, it was a red flag for me. … Continue reading Curiosity is an Essential Trait for Success
My post “The Labor Illusion” talks about what AI can never do: show its work. It will always produce pretty good work instantly. I pride myself in producing excellent work pretty fast. I’m proud to be one of the first writers to be certified as Human by Authory, the site I use as my online … Continue reading Candace Moody, Human Writer
Blogger Phil Agnew wrote a great post about Steve Jobs’s ability to persuade. He writes of Jobs: “His ability to convince billions of people to buy his products at premium prices was no coincidence.” One of the techniques Jobs used so effectively was “The Labor Illusion.” The labor illusion suggests that when people witness the effort and … Continue reading The Labor Illusion
Data drives almost every business decision in almost every modern business. Even creative industries like art and music rely on data to figure out what sells to whom for how much and how often. We have access to more data than ever; in fact, if you’ve got a big enough server farm, you can access … Continue reading Quantitative Intuition
