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Myth 1: “Extraverts get energy from social interaction, whereas introverts get energy from privately reflecting on their thoughts and feelings.” Although many people believe that the above quote from the MBTI’s publisher is true, extensive research suggests that it’s false:
This shouldn’t be a surprise: social interaction is the spice of life, in part because it satisfies the fundamental human need to belong. So if it’s not in where you get your energy, what’s the difference between introverts and extraverts? It’s your sensitivity to stimulation. If you’re an introvert, you’re more prone to being overstimulated by intense or prolonged social interaction—and at that point, reflecting on your thoughts and feelings can help you recharge. But introversion-extraversion is about more than just social interaction. Extraverts crave stimulating activities like skydiving and stimulating beverages sold at Starbucks. Introverts are more likely to retreat to a quiet place, but they’re very happy to bring someone else with them. Except for a raging extravert, because let’s be honest, that will be a drain. Myth 2: Introverts are plagued by public speaking anxiety In Quiet, Susan Cain described the terror that she faced as an introvert preparing for a speech: “It’s 2:00am, I can’t sleep, and I want to die. I’m not normally the suicidal type, but this is the night before a big speech, and my mind races with horrifying what-if propositions. What if my mouth dries up and I can’t get any words out? What if I bore the audience? What if I throw up on stage?” We assume that the gift of gab belongs to extraverts, and introverts are doomed to be nervous on stage, but we’re wrong. In one study, people rated how anxious they would feel in various public speaking situations. Introverts did anticipate more anxiety than extraverts, but 84% of public speaking anxiety was completely unrelated to introversion-extraversion. Bigger factors were whether they tended to be anxious people in general, thought the audience was kind versus hostile, and feared they would bomb the particular speech. This mirrors Susan Cain’s experience. She tells me that after her year of speaking dangerously, which included a top-viewed TED talk, she underwent a transformation: “Thanks to the miracle of desensitization (exposing yourself in small doses to the thing you fear) and to the great joy of speaking on a subject I'm passionate about, ironically I now have a career as... a public speaker.” She now travels the world giving talks to businesses and schools about “how they can harness the talents of the introverted half of their populations. Three years ago this seemed about as likely as taking up a new career as an astronaut.” “Speaking is not an act of extraversion,” observes Malcolm Gladwell, another introverted writer who spends plenty of time on stage. “It has nothing to do with extraversion. It’s a performance, and many performers are hugely introverted.” Myth 3: Extraverts are better leaders than introverts Studies show that 96% of leaders and managers report being extraverted. And in a poll, 65% of senior executives said it was a liability for leaders to be introverted, and only 6% saw introversion as an advantage. Extraverts must be better leaders! Not so fast. Extraverts are more likely to be attracted to and selected for leadership roles, but they’re not better leaders than introverts. When I tracked leadership effectiveness with Francesca Gino and Dave Hofmann, we found that extraverts and introverts were equally successful overall—and excelled with different types of employees. When employees were passive, looking for direction from above, units led by extraverts had 16% higher profits. But when employees were proactive, voicing suggestions and improving work processes, units led by extraverts had 14% lower profits. Extraverts had the enthusiasm and assertiveness to get the best out of passive followers, but they hogged the spotlight in ways that stifled the initiative of proactive followers, leaving them discouraged and missing out on their ideas. Introverted leaders thrive by validating initiative and listening carefully to suggestions from below. Doug Conant, the former CEO of Campbell’s Soup, is an introvert who has been celebrated for writing more than 30,000 personalized thank you notes to his employees. It’s hard to imagine an extravert doing that. General Charles Krulak, the former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, introduced himself to me as an introvert too. When Krulak took over as the CEO of a bank, he sat down with his vice presidents and said, “Everyone around this table has forgotten more about banking than I know. And because of that, I’m going to need and seek your advice. I may not always agree with you, and if I don’t, I’ll let you know why. If you get to a point where you don’t feel you can come to me, I’ve failed as a leader.” Myth 4: Extraverts are better networkers than introverts Think of the best networker you know, and chances are that you’ll conjure up an extravert. It’s easier to schmooze when you’re outgoing and gregarious, and I’ve seen introverts cringe when Keith Ferrazzi challenges them to step out of their comfort zone and Never Eat Alone. Against this backdrop, when doing research for my first book, I was stunned to learn thatFortune’s best networker was an introverted computer engineer. It’s true that extraverts havelarger networks—and more Facebook friends. It turns out, though, that great networking isn’t about quantity. In the job search, research shows that extraverts engage in more intense networking, but this doesn’t translate into more jobs. Getting a job is about the quality and diversity of the relationships you build, not how the number of people you contact or the number of times you reach out to them. If you stereotype extraverts as charismatic and introverts as aloof, think again. Extraverts do feel more positive emotions than introverts, but they don’t always cause other people to feel those same positive emotions. Studies of workgroups show that extraverts actually elicit more negative emotions in others, have slightly more difficult relationships with teammates, and start out with higher status but lose it over time. Colleagues report that extraverts are more likely to be overbearing than introverts (it’s hard to annoy people if they don’t even notice that you exist) and engage in boisterous behaviors that create high initial expectations but fail to deliver with corresponding contributions. Plus, it’s not uncommon for introverts to be just as comfortable networking as extraverts. This is because shyness is a separate trait: as the psychologist Philip Zimbardo writes, it’s the tendency to be hesitant and self-conscious when dealing with people who are “emotionally threatening.” There are many shy extraverts: they’re uncomfortable interacting with strangers, but love going to rock concerts. And plenty of introverts are sociable: they’ll strike up a conversation with random people at parties, but get easily overwhelmed by bright lights and loud noises. Myth 5: Extraverts are better salespeople than introverts After debunking the first four myths, I like to pose a challenge. If extraverts aren’t better at leading or networking, can you identify a domain where they do have a performance advantage? The most common answer was sales: salespeople need to be enthusiastic, gregarious, and assertive. Yet when I looked at the evidence, the average correlation between extraversion and sales performance was a whopping zero. Why? Dan Pink gave me the answer: we forgot to consider the ambiverts in the middle of the spectrum. Most people are ambiverted rather than introverted or extraverted: they’re quiet in some situations and loud in others, and alternate between seeking the spotlight and staying backstage. Sure enough, when I studied sales revenue, ambiverts brought in more sales revenue than introverts or extraverts. Whereas extraverts are prone to dominating the conversation and coming on too strong, and introverts are sometimes too reserved and reluctant to pitch, ambiverts have the flexibility to adapt to the demands of the situation. So if you’re an introvert or an extravert, and you want to become better at persuading and influencing, follow the advice in Dan Pink’s fascinating book To Sell Is Human: “Get in touch with your inner ambivert.”
Linda Holroyd's insight:
This article fuzzies the line between intraverts and extraverts
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Collaboration is a big-time word. Everyone uses it. It's a part of mainstream business jargon. But has the actual practice--and resulting value--of collaboration faded away?
Eight years ago, I faced a major dilemma. How could I get my geographically dispersed team to collaborate more efficiently? We were a large group of remote programmers, and we needed a tool to manage projects and foster collaboration. Because there were no tools flexible enough for us to use off the shelf, I set out to build Wrike. And my passion for collaboration was born. A year later, the press started raving about what we were already practicing, using buzzwords such as collaboration, tribes, and crowdsourcing. Books such as Wikinomics, by Tapscott and Williams, and The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki, helped popularize the ideas. Projects such as the Linux OS, Wikipedia, and YouTube proved their potency. Suddenly, collaboration among remote workers became not just a possibility but a glorious vision of the future. And dedicated followers (tribes) were viewed as a fabulous, often free source of ideas and content, resulting in increased speed in decision making and general innovation. But as these concepts went mainstream, they were written about less and less. And the hype eventually died down. Which raises the question: Are collective wisdom, crowdsourcing, and collaboration still an essential part of building a business or movement? Crowdfunding the FutureOne area in which I feel collaboration is very strong is in the crowdfunding arena. The advent of websites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and RocketHub has made it much easier for entrepreneurs to get funding for their projects. In addition, it's given them a platform to receive feedback straight from customers. The most successful Kickstarter projects are the ones where the creators collaborate with the crowd. They exchange ideas with customers to improve products, positioning, or even promotion. For example, I recently backed Dan Shapiro's Robot Turtles board game on Kickstarter. It uses a game board and colorful character cards to subtly teach programming fundamentals to children (and adults) who play. The project achieved its original pledge amount of $25,000 after only five hours online. In fact, the project ended up receiving pledges totaling $631,230 from 13,765 backers. Whereas other entrepreneurs may have sat back and just delivered what they promised, Shapiro used the feedback from his customers to improve his line of products. He eventually wrote a more complex set of rules so that adults could enjoy the game, and he facilitated international translations of his game manual. The online menswear retailer Pistol Lake has a similar story. It used Kickstarter as the jumping-off point for its line of clothing and made its monetary goal in less than two hours postlaunch. But more important, after four days of the Kickstarter campaign, it had to change its name because it received a cease-and-desist letter from lawyers claiming copyright infringement. Soon it arrived at its current name, Pistol Lake, thanks to supporters on Hacker News who suggested choosing the name of a body of water memorable to the company's founders. Products aren't the only thing that crowdfunding is good for, though. Even the careers of young, promising people are supported by benefactors. These aspirants are on Upstart.com, seeking financial backing not for their ideas or their projects but for their futures as leaders and doers. In exchange for the money they raise, these young "upstarts" will pay a small share of their income over five or 10 years to the investors who take a chance on them. Tapping the Crowd's WisdomBusinesses have been successfully tapping the wisdom of crowds for creativity and expertise that may not lie within their internal work force. The term open innovation comes to mind here--the using of external sources of innovation, such as customers, brand advocates, academia, and even competitors. A good number of multinational corporations put open innovation to good use, collecting brilliant ideas for their businesses via different submission programs and even through competitions. Think Procter & Gamble's Connect + Develop program, Lufthansa Cargo's Air Cargo Innovation Challenge, or Starbucks's MyStarbucksIdea.com idea-submission website. Even our ongoing conversation with Wrike customers through different kinds of channels is an example of open innovation. After all, a lot of our feature releases are inspired by, if not completely drawn from, feature suggestions from our customers. Collaborating With the CrowdThe music world is an area in which collaboration is practically ubiquitous. And not just with musicians who invite fellow performers to contribute to a song (violinist/dancer Lindsey Stirling and her innumerable musical collaborations comes to mind), but also between music artists and their fans. For example, Web communities such as Indaba and Talenthouse run regular remix contests sponsored by well-known music acts. In these contests, amateur musicians can create their own remixes of an artist's tracks using original source material made available to entrants. The artist typically picks the winning remix from hundreds of contributors and includes it in a future album or gives the winner a prize. 3-D printing is another huge area in which collaboration occurs daily. As one of the most disruptive technologies around, 3-D printing has been hailed as both a manufacturing revolution and a dangerous technology that must be regulated. Able to cheaply manufacture otherwise expensive medical tools such as robotic prosthetics (see the Robohand or theDextrus), it is just as able to create functioning (and deadly) plastic firearms. But the real action lies not in the act of printing but in the sharing done by the community of 3-D printing hobbyists. These people share, modify, and discuss digital schematics for manufacturing 3-D goods, nurturing an entire subculture of collaboration. Other websites, such as Threadless and Teefury, thrive on selling T-shirts to customers designed by and voted upon by the community. Then, of course, there are all the social dot-coms that subsist on user-generated content: Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, and the wild, often woolly world of Internet forums. The list of collaborative organizations is endless. Why Collaboration Is Essential for GrowthSo to answer the question I started out with: Is collaboration essential to growth? Yes, now more than ever. The lack of recent hype merely suggests that the concept of collaboration has been absorbed into the philosophy of many organizations. And if yours hasn't done it yet, make the change. It should be an integral part of every company's DNA in order to survive and thrive. There are two reasons for this: 1. By collaborating internally via social-media tools, wikis, videoconferencing, and more, you increase productivity. It's no surprise that teams that use social-media tools for internal communication find common ground on which to work. For example, California chipmaker Xilinx reported a 25 percent increase in engineer productivity by using tools that encouraged peer-to-peer collaboration. And then there's the extreme practice of having always-on videoconferencing in Shutterstock. That company uses it as a communication channel for its remote workers. 2. By collaborating externally with customers, partners, and vendors via user forums, blog comments, Twitter, Facebook, live Webinars, conferences, and meetups, you gather feedback that increases innovation. At Wrike, feedback from our customers directly influences which features we release for our project-management software. They're expressive about which enhancements they want for the software, and that collaboration consistently betters our product. It may sound very New Agey and fuzzy to you, but the companies that practice collaboration are the companies that breach boundaries. They're the ones carving out their niche in history. They're the ones forging the path into a future none of us can predict.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
What a concept: collaborate internally to increase productivity, collaborate externally to gather feedback and facilitate innovation
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After Twitter's results last week, some analysts took a dim view of what appeared to be a reduced growth rate for twitter, coupled with declining engagement. Twitter admitted as much in its reporting,and the stock was hammered. Re/Code suggested Twitter also faced a user retention problem. Two weeks ago, I argued that Twitter was a medium that defies boredom. And Bilal Zuberi of Lux Capital made a cogent case that "Twitter is eating the world". My take: Stay long on Twitter, it is a unique platform. And it's the single best platform that bridges gap between personal communication and broadcast media. It’s the best form of tribal communication, letting you to dip into shifting groups of overlapping interests. And it's full of really smart people, you might otherwise find hard to access. Why go long? For one reason: Twitter is where you can connect with smart, influential people on the things you care about. And when you measure by that yardstick, things look so much better. All the smart people One of my first jobs was as tech correspondent of The Economist. That newspaper didn't have the reach of, say, a tabloid or a news network, but basically it reached the smart people. And its influence was enormous. Twitter is the place which the largest number of the smartest most capable people in the world have chosen to discuss stuff in public. There might be larger numbers of people on Facebook or LinkedIn, but the nature of the Twitter follow and discovery model makes it the place where you can tune into condensed matter physicists, human rights lawyers, celebrity photographers, product managers of your favourite MMORPG, or anyone who matches your definition of important. (There are obviously specialist channels, like ResearchGate for scientists, which go deeper in specific communities than Twitter, but they don't cross interests the way Twitter does.) The weight of smart people - who present their Twitter handle with the same or greater frequency as they present an email address - is like a juggernaut that will carry Twitter forward. Measure by the right yardstick When you bear the weight of this influence in mind, you can evaluate Twitter in new ways. Marketers are transfixed by reach. And TV, retargeting and Facebook do a fantastic job of getting reach. Facebook and retargeting are remarkable in providing that reach with stronger contextual targeting. (LinkedIn is also no slouch in this department). But because people relevant to what you care about hang out on Twitter - and are addressable conversationally, this is the place you can reach them. CEOs literally do look at their @ messages, and those who don't today will do soon. As an example, Microsoft (and I just choose Microsoft because it is a well-known brand, I am not picking on them for any other reason.)
Which presence weighs heavier? The Twitter one or the Facebook one? If you were a customer, what would you want to do? Follow the product manager for the product you use, or answer a quiz about how the Kinect fits into your New Year’s Resolution? Companies are learning, slowly Companies are starting to work out what to do, it always takes time. When I first sold online advertising (banner adverts in 1995), I sometimes received the ads by FAX. (Yes, a 640 by 48 gif came on a scratchy 72dpi Fax). It takes companies time to work out how to work a medium well. But today, they get the Internet and they get mobile - and much to our delight as their customers. Twitter is weird and ground breaking. Figuring it out will take time. The traditional tool of a marketers armoury, the competition, (“Retweet to win”, “Freebie Friday”) results in low quality, low-engagement audiences. Controlled, filtered posts die on the vine. Spontanteity and conversation wins. Working twitter well requires experience and organisational change so people are only starting to work out how to do twitter well. I’ll return to this in a future blog post. Twitter has had dips before Don’t forget in early 2010, Twitter had ‘fallen out of favour’, according to Nielsen. Any new technology faces a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. Twitter will face peaks of inflated expectations and troughs of disillusionment. But ultimately the momentum of the network and the nodes in it will carry it forward. It's like the InternetA lot of things are reminding me of the early Internet right now. Bitcoin is one. Twitter is another. Yes, it is controlled by a single company, and of course faces the risks of company policy changing. But anyone can join the network and discover the resources on the network. And yes, that can sometimes make it confusing. As confusing as the early pre-Web internet. But the Web didn't end up too badly in the end, did it?
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Thanks Azeem, for helping me 'get' Twitter! Twitter is where you can connect with smart, influential people on the things you care about...
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Here are five hacks you might consider move from the fear of missing out to the joy of missing out. Hack #1 Just because you can do both doesn't mean you should do both. Next time you are invited to an event or meeting when you already have something catch yourself when the thought crosses your mind, “I will do both.” When you do, stop, pause and pick one of the choices. Even though you might actually be able to fit them in, discipline yourself to still pick one. At the end of the day, reflect on the tradeoffs you made and what this resulted in. Hack #2 Just because you committed doesn't mean you can't uncommit. Look at each commitment on your calendar for the next few weeks. Ask “If I wasn’t already involved how hard would I work to attend?” If the answer is “not hard at all” then ask to be released from your commitment: “I know I said I would be at this but I think I spoke too soon.” Hack #3 If you want to add a new commitment get rid of an existing one. Establish a new rule: if you want to add a new activity you need to edit out an existing activity. This simple rule ensures you don't add an activity that is less valuable than something you are already doing. Hold tightly to this idea if you are considering setting up any regular or repeated commitment and think long and hard about all the things you would have to give up in order to take this new thing on. Hack #4 Just because you did it last time isn't a good enough reason to do it again. Not every successful event has to become an annual tradition. Sometimes, well-intendedactivities add up overtime and become a type of schedule scar tissue. There is something noble in declaring something the first and last of its kind. Make the memory, then let the memory live on rather than the tradition. Allow space to make new memories. Then allow those too to lapse without creating a burden on your future. We need to put an expiration date on once-good-but-now-burdensome-activities. Hack #5 When you think, "Wouldn't it be great if..." Just stop. A friend was just telling me of an idea someone had to wear the same color t-shirts at an event they were planning. Soon this turned into buying exactly the same t-shirt for everyone. Then it became creating branded t-shirts (with all of the graphic design and ordering that go with it). It became a time and money stress as the idea grew out of all proportion and, in the process, no longer fit for purpose. Playing with ideas and new projects is great but give yourself permission not to pursue all of them. Go for simplification instead of aggrandizement. I think we have been oversold the idea of more and undersold the idea of less. Instead of adding more out of a vague fear of missing out, we can choose to subtract a few meetings, events and overstuffed traditions. In the process we may quietly revel in the new found joy of missing out.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
I love the end not 'I think we have been oversold the idea of more and undersold the idea of less' and found it interesting that having too many meetings might be a symptom of wanting to be/do/offer 'more' when you're not sure of having the value of 'more'
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A new survey of Millennials (born January 1983 onwards), conducted globally by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited provides some fascinating insights:
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Given the above, what's your strategy for retaining the millennials on your team?
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FountainBlue's January 24 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event, on the topic of How to Throw More Balls Up Higher: Juggling Work-Life Balance in Demanding Times. We were fortunate to have a range of seasoned executives with diverse experience in varying roles across organizations, functions and cultures, all as parents of young children, and all with high-impact roles within their organization. They experienced first-hand the work-life balance questions which riddle all of us with high-responsibility jobs in tech, whether we were new to the industry and role and company, or seasoned and experienced in many different roles, whether we are busy and childless or whether our child-rearing days are behind us or overwhelming us day-to-day.
10. They are experienced, connected and savvy enough to access networks and resources and support groups to help make things go smoothly at work and at home, delegating wherever possible, focusing on actions and areas where they need-to-be, always making the people-most-important-to-them feel that they are exactly that. The bottom line is that they knew that work keeps changing – it will always be there, it is more flexible, like a rubber ball, and life – the people like family and friends and the things that matter more to you are more fragile, and need to be nurtured more, particularly in times of need.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Thanks to our speakers for their insights on work-life balance. Facilitator Nancy Monson, Nancy Monson Coaching Panelist Monica Bajaj, Senior Engineering Manager, NetApp Panelist Brenda Beiter, Supply Chain Operations Manager, Google Panelist Heather Gordon Friedland, Senior Director Product Management @ eBay – Search & Discover Team Panelist Jennifer Petty, Director, Operations, Cisco
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Ambiguity draws attention to what we don’t know.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Embrace the ambiguous
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New Year resolutions -- who keeps them? Practically no one. But if you're a leader, be it of three people or 3,000, it's your flat-out responsibility to not just go into work every day and improvise around the latest crisis or email flurry or employee meltdown, but to go into work every day with a cohesive plan of action about how you're going to lead. Otherwise, why would anyone follow you, except that they simply have to? That's no good. So here's to 2014, and 10 resolutions to make it a very good year -- for you, and for the team you lead.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
wise leadership advice from someone who has overcome so many leadership chalenges, Jack Welch
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Several years ago, Amazon was struggling with scaling its e-commerce infrastructure and realizing that many of its internal software projects took too long to implement, a major pain point from a competitive standpoint. Andy Jassy, acting as a chief of staff for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, was assigned the task of figuring out why. What he realized was that what many of these teams were building wasn’t scaling beyond their own projects. For each new project, a team would have to reinvent the wheel. Jassy and Amazon could have come up with a solution to this internal scaling problem and stopped there. But the team went beyond that, figuring that if they were having difficulty with certain technology infrastructure problems, it was highly likely that other companies were experiencing similar problems. Thus, if they could solve these issues for themselves, they could potentially also solve it for others. So Amazon started to develop an architecture that could be re-employed over and over again by different engineering teams for different projects. These services allowed Amazon the retailer to move more quickly than it had previously. But the company didn’t stop there, choosing instead to turn its solution into a new business line, offering cloud computing as a service. And so Amazon Web Services was born. Today, AWS generates roughly $3 billion in annual revenue and adds more infrastructure daily than it took to run all of Amazon in 2003 when it was a $5.2 billion retail business with over 7,800 employees. The lesson of course is that Amazon didn’t stop by solving its problem, but found a “breakthrough solution” that opened up new business opportunities 8 Levels of Problem Solving and 8 Ways to Encourage Breakout Solutions…It’s not easy to create a culture that, like Amazon, sees opportunities instead of problems. But it helps to start with a simple motivational framework to focus people on assessing their own problem-solving abilities. Even better is to begin to reward them as you see their problem-solving abilities progress. What level problem solver can you be? Simplified Problem Solving Framework:Level 0 – Can’t see the problem (!) Level 1 – See the problem and raise it Level 2 - See the problem and define it clearly Level 3 – See the problem, define it clearly and identify the root cause Level 4 - Plan ahead to avoid the problem or derivative problems re-occurring Level 5 – Find a practical and viable solution to the problem Level 6 – Find a breakthrough solution to the problem Level 7 – Take initiative to implement the solution or develop the breakthrough Level 8 - Look beyond problem prevention – create new opportunities from continuous improvement … How Can You Create A Great Problem-Solving Environment ?If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Linda Holroyd's insight:
This post will help me think differently about problem solving, and better see opportunities with every problem.
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So, as you get to the end of 2013, do you feel happy and proud of what you achieved, or would you say that more frustrated and exhausted, and not where you want to be? My 10 Big Freeze Questions:Did you make the progress you wanted this year?Has it been a grind, or a challenging (but enjoyable) year? What are the 3-4 things that need to be reset next year? Do you have confidence that you have a business system that has the right people working with you, with the right mindsets to deliver results next year? If you step back, is your business or team powered by the need just to keep going, or do you have an exciting future and higher purpose which drives you all? Are you clear on how you can build sustainable value? Do you have 4-5 breakthroughs (like Apple used to) which can shift your business to a new level? Do your top people share enough trust, belief and care for your company? What are the things that drain your energy and belief, and can you remove them?Do you need some fresh talent to give you ideas, momentum, and to share the load? What can you do to show appreciation and thanks, and to celebrate pre-Christmas? What is your give-back outside the company? In 2014, how can you set up a life system which better balances work, success and happiness? What single thing could you personally do differently, which would have the power to make it a fantastic 2014?
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Hope that this year was great and that next year's even better!
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One of the highlights of becoming an author is getting to read some exciting books in advance, and hearing early buzz about others. It’s the book nerd’s version of seeing sneak previews of movies before they hit the silver screen. Here are 12 books with big implications for the world of work that are likely to make a splash in the coming year: 1. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek (January 7) After taking the world by storm with his captivating message about purpose in Start With Why, Simon Sinek has turned his attention to critical questions about the how. What does it take for leaders to transform paranoia and cynicism into safety and trust? Is a common enemy necessary for cooperation? I can’t wait to read about what he’s learned from military and corporate leaders. 2. Quick and Nimble by Adam Bryant (January 7) In an increasingly competitive and dynamic economy, every organization is charged with building a culture that supports innovation. Whereas most books on innovation take a deep dive into one company’s success or failure, New York Times Corner Office columnist Adam Bryant casts a more comprehensive net, interviewing hundreds of executives to identify what’s effective across industries. Bryant offers an expert guided tour through the minds of the world's most innovative CEOs, sharing insights that are both enlightening and immensely practical. 3. Small Move, Big Change by Caroline Arnold (January 16) When I go to bookstores, I usually steer clear of the self-help section. In this case, I would have missed a gem. Small Move, Big Change is a rare self-improvement book that actually works. With the right mix of research evidence and practical examples from her experience as a technology leader on Wall Street, Caroline Arnold provides compelling advice for motivating ourselves to save more, eat less, get organized, boost our willpower, and even keep our New Year’s resolutions. It’s the most useful guide to getting things done sinceGetting Things Done. 4. Scaling Up Excellence by Robert Sutton and Hayagreeva Rao (February 4) When I work with leaders, I often ask them about the biggest challenge that they face. The most common response, by far, focuses on spreading and multiplying success. If you have one team that’s thriving while others are sinking, how do you export their best practices to other teams across your organization? This pair of eminent Stanford professors is the first to shed systematic light on the pervasive problem of scaling with a landmark book full of rich case studies, powerful research evidence, and actionable ideas for anyone who cares about making groups or organizations more effective. 5. Everything Connects by Faisal Hoque and Drake Baer (February 21) Philosophy, business, and history come together in this look at leadership, creativity, innovation, and sustainability from a successful serial entrepreneur and a cutting-edge journalist. With takeaways for large global companies and small startups, this book examines what leaders can learn from Eastern wisdom, Da Vinci, and contemporary psychology. 6. Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen (March 4) This is a potentially life-changing look at one of the toughest but most important parts of life: receiving feedback. Doug Stone and Sheila Heen, coauthors of Difficult Conversations, show how to take an honest look in the mirror, and gain invaluable insights about the person staring back at you. I’ve already taught the principles in the classroom and applied them in my own life, and the payoffs include less defensiveness, more self-awareness, deeper learning, and richer relationships. 7. Thrive by Arianna Huffington (March 25) In the quest for success, many people end up taking paths that they come to regret. Climbing up the ladder in pursuit of money and power, leaders and managers sacrifice their health and well-being, and miss out on meaningful opportunities to give back. Building on her celebrated Third Metric conference, Huffington Post cofounder and president Arianna Huffington is on a mission to redefine success beyond money and power to enhance well-being, giving, wisdom, and creativity. This book may be the Lean In of 2014—for women and for men. 8. The Humor Code by Peter McGraw and Joel Warner (April 1) Humor is an invaluable resource at work: it helps leaders defuse the tension in moments of crisis, managers temper the sting of tough feedback, and employees generate creative ideas in brainstorming sessions. Thanks to the global adventures of a zany social scientist and a perceptive journalist, we can all figure out how to become funnier, and laugh out loud along the way. This book is so good that I wish I wrote it. In fact, I’ve already started telling people I did. Luckily, Peter McGraw and Joel Warner are givers, so they won’t mind. They’ve given us a remarkable look at what makes us laugh, with the perfect blend of science, stories, satire, and sweater vests. 9. Brilliant by Annie Murphy Paul (April 8) You’re either born smart or you’re not. Most people hate this notion, but never question whether it’s true. Science journalist Annie Murphy Paul shows us that it’s false: intelligence is a renewable resource. In Origins, she revealed that the nature-nurture debate has overlooked the formative nine months that we spend in the womb. Now, she marshals two decades of evidence from psychology and neuroscience to explain how we can make ourselves and our kids smarter. This book is poised to shake up our parenting habits, our schools, and our workplaces. 10. Think Like a Freak by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (May 13) It’s one thing to admire the genius of the rogue economist and perceptive journalist who brought us Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics. It’s another thing entirely to understand how they come up with their brilliant ideas. Their latest book takes us behind the curtain with studies, stories, and illustrations that enrich our abilities to solve problems in our personal and professional lives. 11. Invisibles by David Zweig (May 15) Why do some of the world’s most talented, accomplished people choose to fly under the radar, hiding in the shadows rather than clamoring for the spotlight? In his nonfiction debut, journalist David Zweig introduces us to some of the most successful people we’ve never heard of, from cinematographers to skyscraper engineers to United Nations interpreters. It’s a clarion call for work as a craft: for carefully honing expertise without hogging attention, for generously contributing knowledge without claiming credit, and for prizing meaningful work above public recognition. 12. Smartcuts by Shane Snow (September) Although details are still under wraps, this book by journalist and tech entrepreneur Shane Snow promises to uncover unconventional patterns among rapidly successful businesses and people, from innovators and hackers to daredevils and revolutionaries. Snow is one of my favorite writers, a maven of creative productivity who holds the keys to becoming an expert in less than 10,000 hours.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Which ones will make it to your reading list? I like Brilliant, Invisibles, and Everything Connects
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Molinaro believes the way out is the leadership contract and its four terms:
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Decide to lead, step up to do so, get tough in doing so, connect with others to get it done - more easily said then done!
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It seems that everyone wants to go into business these days. Last year, 500,000 new businesses were started in the UK alone, and globally there are estimated to be over 400 million entrepreneurs. Shows such as Dragons’ Den, The Apprentice and Shark Tank have increased the popularity of becoming an entrepreneur, and the economic downturn of the last few years means people are more willing to get out there and become their own boss. As Chairman of Start Up Loans, I have seen what an appetite there is for entrepreneurship, which is fantastic to see, but to succeed you need a mixture of talent and skills as well as a slice of good fortune along the way. Before taking the huge step of going into business, you need to ask yourself whether you have the right personal characteristics. Here are just some of the skills you may need to succeed. Perseverance No one is going to become a millionaire overnight and there are plenty of entrepreneurs, including myself, who have suffered failures. If you fail the first time around then don’t just give up. Pick yourself up, dust yourself down and then start all over again. I believe you never stop learning and growing and even the low points have been important to my development. Patience Every journey has to start somewhere and businesses have to be nurtured and developed. It takes time and effort to build up a successful company and you should not expect to make huge profits immediately. The main thing you should be focusing on is getting a stable foothold in the market and making people aware of your brand. All the best companies take time to develop and you need to understand that Rome was not built in a day. Positivity There is a very thin line between confidence and arrogance but everyone who is successful in life has to have their fair share of self-belief. Business is about making people have confidence and belief in you and the service or product you are offering. If you do not believe in yourself then how are you going to get other people to believe in what you are doing? Prudence I have always been a big believer in keeping overheads to a minimum. Of course, being successful in business comes with its rewards but in the early days you should put as much back into the business as you can. When those payments first start coming in don’t fall into the trap of splashing out on expensive items that are not necessary; concentrate on the basics. The first rule of business is always to keep a close on eye on profit margins so you can build a company that is going to survive if and when the hard times come along. Panache Obviously, you don’t want to be the kind of person who stands out in the crowd for all the wrong reasons but there is no harm in having a bit of style and panache. Business is all about selling yourself as much as anything and I believe even in the business world, people like someone who has a bit of character and a certain sense of style. Perceptiveness If you understand what makes other people tick then it can be a great help when it comes to sealing that all important deal or landing a new piece of business. Making a successful pitch or presentation is all about being able to understand exactly what your client wants and then being able to deliver on your promises. Passion The most important quality of all. You should wake up every day raring to get out there and do business. It’s tough but it should never feel like a chore and you should have absolute belief in your ability and your business. If you want to be the best at anything then you have to really care and even make some personal sacrifices along the way. If you're not prepared to dedicate yourself to the business it then there is no point in setting up on your own.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Concise, well-written 7-p description of what you need to succeed in business
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FountainBlue’s February 14 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of Expanding Your Circle of Influence. Below are notes from the conversation. Our panelists this month represented a variety of backgrounds from product management to CSR, marketing to engineering, and a variety of educational backgrounds and experience – some technical, some not so much, but they all had successes in the business arena, influencing with or without authority. They were generous in sharing their advice and insights, which are synopsized below.
10. Above all, build trust with all the people you work with directly and indirectly, and deliver results in the name of the higher cause, rather than for your own personal motivations. The bottom line is that you should keep a bank of influencing skills ready for use, from listening to direct confrontation, from bartering to negotiating. Remember to focus on relationships between stakeholders, and delivering results in alignment with corporate goals. The successful influencer challenges the status quo, facilitates new ways of thinking and doing, and ultimately fosters change for companies and leaders, in a good way. Resources:
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Please join us in thanking our speakers and our generous hosts at LifeScan. Facilitator Lucie Newcomb, President & Chief Executive Officer, The NewComm Global Group, Inc. Panelist Tonie Hansen, Director, CSR and Sustainability, NVIDIA Panelist Karen Pieper, Director of Synthesis, Tabula Panelist Dawn Torres, Project Manager, CLS PMO, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Panelist Kelly Vincent, Senior Director of Product Management, eBay
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Here's a list of quotes from my LinkedIn innovation articles. Please use them to lead your organizations in innovation:
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Interesting compilation of thoughts around innovation. My suggestion for #25, if Chicken Little came by and said that the sky is falling, why is the sky falling and what could you innovate to stop it from falling? <grin>
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I've had the privilege of knowing Ray Chambers as both a mentor and a friend for almost a decade. After a legendary career on Wall Street, where he was widely acknowledged as having developed the modern day leveraged buyout (the acquisition of Gibson Greetings in 1982), he did his last major transaction just prior to the '87 crash and would go on to close the firm roughly two years later... Hope you find his advice as invaluable as I have: 1. Live in the moment 2. It's better to be loving than to be right 3. Be a spectator to your own thoughts, especially when you become emotional 4. Be grateful for at least one thing every day 5. Help others every chance you get
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Thanks to Jeff Weiner for sharing this wise advice from his mentor Ray Chambers. I will personally work on #1 and #3.
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What makes some people more successful in work and life than others? IQ and work ethic are important, but they don't tell the whole story. Ouremotional intelligence -- the way we manage emotions, both our own and those of others -- can play a critical role in determining our happiness and success. Plato said that all learning has some emotional basis, and he may be right. The way we interact with and regulate our emotions has repercussions in nearly every aspect of our lives. To put it in colloquial terms, emotional intelligence (EQ) is like "street smarts," as opposed to "book smarts," and it's what accounts for a great deal of one's ability to navigate life effectively. "What having emotional intelligence looks like is that you're confident, good at working towards your goals, adaptable and flexible. You recover quickly from stress and you're resilient," Daniel Goleman, psychologist and author of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, tells The Huffington Post. "Life goes much more smoothly if you have good emotional intelligence." The five components of emotional intelligence, as defined by Goleman, are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, social skills and empathy. We can be strong in some of these areas and deficient in others, but we all have the power to improve any of them. Not sure how emotionally intelligent you are? Here are 14 signs you have a high EQ. 1. You're curious about people you don't know. Do you love meeting new people, and naturally tend to ask lots of questions after you've been introduced to someone? If so, you have a certain degree of empathy, one of the main components of emotional intelligence. Highly Empathetic People (HEPs) -- those who are extremely attuned to the needs and feelings of others, and act in a way that is sensitive to those needs -- have one important thing in common: They're very curious about strangers and genuinely interested in learning more about others. Being curious about others is also a way to cultivate empathy. "Curiosity expands our empathy when we talk to people outside our usual social circle, encountering lives and worldviews very different from our own," Roman Krznaric, author of the forthcoming Empathy: A Handbook For Revolution, wrote in a Greater Good blog post. 2. You're a great leader. Exceptional leaders often have one thing in common, according to Goleman. In addition to the traditional requirements for success -- talent, a strong work ethic and ambition, for instance -- they possess a high degree of emotional intelligence. In his research comparing those who excelled in senior leadership roles with those who were merely average, he found that close to 90 percent of the difference in their profiles was due to emotional intelligence, rather than cognitive ability. "The higher the rank of a person considered to be a star performer, the more emotional intelligence capabilities showed up as the reason for his or her effectiveness,"Goleman wrote in Harvard Business Review. 3. You know your strengths and weaknesses. A big part of having self-awareness is being honest with yourself about who you are -- knowing where you excel, and where you struggle, and accepting these things about yourself. An emotionally intelligent person learns to identify their areas of strength and weakness, and analyze how to work most effectively within this framework. This awareness breeds the strong self-confidence that's a main factor of emotional intelligence, according to Goleman. "If you know what you're truly effective at, then you can operate from that with confidence," he says. 4. You know how to pay attention. Do you get distracted by every tweet, text and passing thought? If so, it could be keeping you from functioning on your most emotionally intelligent level. But the ability to withstand distractions and focus on the task at hand is a great secret to emotional intelligence, Goleman says. Without being present with ourselves and others, it's difficult to develop self-awareness and strong relationships. "Your ability to concentrate on the work you're doing or your schoolwork, and to put off looking at that text or playing that video game until after you're done ... how good you are at that in childhood turns out to be a stronger predictor of your financial success in adulthood than either your IQ or the wealth of the family you grew up in," Goleman says. "And we can teach kids how to do that." 5. When you're upset, you know exactly why. We all experience a number of emotional fluctuations throughout the day, and often we don't even understand what's causing a wave of anger or sadness. But an important aspect of self-awareness is the ability to recognize where your emotions are coming from and to know why you feel upset. Self-awareness is also about recognizing emotions when they arise, rather than misidentifying or ignoring them. Emotionally intelligent people take a step back from their emotions, look at what they're feeling, and examine the effect that the emotion has on them. 6. You can get along with most people. "Having fulfilling, effective relationships -- that's a sign [of emotional intelligence]," says Goleman. 7. You care deeply about being a good, moral person. One aspect of emotional intelligence is our "moral identity," which has to do with the extent to which we want to see ourselves as ethical, caring people. If you're someone who cares about building up this side of yourself (regardless of how you've acted in past moral situations), you might have a high EQ. 8. You take time to slow down and help others. If you make a habit of slowing down to pay attention to others, whether by going slightly out your way to say hello to someone or helping an older woman onto the subway, you're exhibiting emotional intelligence. Many of us, a good portion of the time, are completely focused on ourselves. And it's often because we're so busy running around in a stressed-out state trying to get things done that we simply don't take the time to notice (much less help) others. "[There's a] spectrum that goes from complete self-absorption to noticing to empathy and to compassion,"Goleman said in a TED talk on compassion. "The simple fact is that if we are focused on ourselves, if we're preoccupied -- which we so often are throughout the day -- we don't really fully notice the other." Being more mindful, in contrast to being absorbed in your own little world, plants the seeds of compassion -- a crucial component of EQ. 9. You're good at reading people's facial expressions. Being able to sense how others are feeling is an important part of having a good EQ. Take this quiz from UC Berkeley to find out just how skilled you are at reading others' emotions. 10. After you fall, you get right back up. How you deal with mistakes and setbacks says a lot about who you are. High EQ individuals know that if there's one thing we all must do in life, it's to keep on going. When an emotionally intelligent person experiences a failure or setback, he or she is able to bounce back quickly. This is in part because of the ability to mindfully experience negative emotions without letting them get out of control, which provides a higher degree of resilience. “The resilient person isn’t papering over the negative emotions, but instead letting them sit side by side with other feelings," Positivity author Barbara Fredrickson told Experience Life. "So at the same time they’re feeling ‘I’m sad about that,’ they’re also prone to thinking, ‘but I’m grateful about this.’” 11. You're a good judge of character. You've always been able to get a sense for who someone is pretty much right off the bat -- and your intuitions are rarely wrong. 12. You trust your gut. An emotionally intelligent person is someone who feels comfortable following their intuition, says Goleman. If you're able to trust in yourself and your emotions, there's no reason not to listen to that quiet voice inside (or that feeling in your stomach) telling you which way to go. 13. You've always been self-motivated. Were you always ambitious and hard-working as a kid, even when you weren't rewarded for it? If you're a motivated self-starter -- and you can focus your attention and energy towards the pursuit of your goals -- you likely have a high EQ. 14. You know when to say "no." Self-regulation, one of the five components of emotional intelligence, means being able to discipline yourself and avoid unhealthy habits. Emotionally intelligent people are generally well equipped to tolerate stress (a bad-habit trigger for many of us) and to control their impulses,according to Goleman.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Based on this criteria, how do you measure up in terms of emotional intelligence?
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Either you get on the social media bus, or you get left behind. As an exec, you need to have a presence and understand it, but not necessarily embrace it and lead with it. Answer the questions below to find out your social media savvy score, and consider what you can do to improve it. Profile 1. Give yourself one point for any of following:
Communication 2. Give yourself one point for each social media tools where you have an account.
3. Give yourself a point for each time your social media profile is integrated with your identity.
Content 4. Give yourself one point for doing any of following tasks to create content:
Trends 5. Give yourself one point for any activities you engage in to learn about trends, leveraging social media:
6. Give yourself one point for any activities you initiate and communicate to help shape and define trends:
Network 7. Give yourself one point for doing any of following things you do to grow your network:
8. Give yourself one point for doing any of the following things to support your network:
Strategy 9. Give yourself one point for any of the following things to help ensure your social media presence is well managed:
10. Give yourself one point for doing any of the following things to clarify your brand:
Score:
Linda Holroyd's insight:
How did you do? What will you do to improve?
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Adams offers six simple, but effective, questions that any of us can ask to shape Learner thinking and help us get the results we want: • What do I want -- for myself and others?
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Great questions to ask yourself, and help you keep a learner mindset
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Don’t Lose It. If these jerks can get you to lose your temper they win. And they know it. No matter how tempted you may be to fork-stab your boss, don’t lose your cool. The irony: You will go to prison and he will become a beloved martyr. Take a deep breath and live to fight another day. As the Brits say, keep a “Stiff upper lip.” Talk it Out. Never, ever go to war in public with a bad boss. In private, have a calm conversation with your boss about the type of direction you need, how you best react to feedback, etc. Be polite, positive, and focus on how you can do your best work. Telling the boss he makes Stalin look like a sissy will just create an enemy. This discussion may not solve your problems, but it’s a must-try first step. Don’t Complain Up. Unless a boss’s behavior strays into harassing territory—when you’ve got to tell HR or the big boss—realize that if you get into a pissing match with your boss you will lose. These guys are survivors. And avoid the temptation to sit around in the break room venting with your coworkers. There are no secrets in a corporation. The odds of your bad-mouthing getting back to your boss are just about 100 percent. In the end, you’ll just earn a reputation as a “high maintenance complainer” who no other managers will want on their team. Confide to an Outsider. Find a trusted confidant outside the company who you can talk to about the problem, either a family member, friend, mentor, religious leader, or therapist. If you let the problem fester it will drive you to anxiety and perhaps even depression, which will adversely affect your life not only inside but outside of work too. Don’t Lose Confidence. Sad, but many bad bosses derive a sense of twisted satisfaction when they force you to doubt yourself and your abilities. To this end, they’ll pit their people against each other, yell or threaten, look down their noses at you, and let you know who’s really in charge. It is a power trip. To block the bad energy, buoy yourself. When I was working for Voldemort, I left a desperate voice mail message to an old colleague and asked him to tell me that I was great. His genuine email came a few hours later. He said, “You are not Chester, you are Spartacus.” Then he told me all the ways I was talented. It made me laugh and tear up a little. It got me through that day and many more as I read and re-read it. Realize You Won’t Change Them. It is only once in a blue moon when bad managers change, and it’s typically only after harsh intervention from those above them, not below. So don’t expect them to suddenly become more touchy-feely or “get” you. If you are going to stay working for them, you need to make peace with your situation and find fulfillment elsewhere in your life. Get Out of Dodge. There are times when, for the sake of those you love and for your own sanity, you have to transfer to another department or leave the company entirely. Do so on good terms (you may want to come back one day after the boss has been led from the building in shackles). Find a place to land before you bolt. Move On. The best revenge is to live well. Take solace in the fact that when you wake up in the morning you are a good person. Forgive them their errors, and don’t spend a minute more thinking about them. Enjoy your life and your family.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
I hope that you don't have any backstabbers, bullies or bastards where you work, but if you do, this advice may be handy!
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Every area of human endeavor has its own lingo, but something about the technology industry makes for particularly pervasive and annoying jargon. Partly that’s because of where it comes from: It’s a vernacular developed in large part by computer scientists, ie. people who literally speak the language of machines. Of course it sounds lousy to human ears. It’s the linguistic equivalent of a modem squeal. Partly it’s because Silicon Valley is overtaking — has already overtaken? — New York and Los Angeles as the country’s cultural center of gravity, the place from which big changes originate. In jargonese: The makers are disrupting culture; that’s why their language is so viral. As with all jargon, there’s a utility component. Some terms exist because they convey a new idea, or one that hadn’t had a convenient expression previously. That being the case, it’s hard to banish them completely, and probably counterproductive to try. But jargon is like seasoning: A little goes a long way. In all of history, no one ever said, “That guy seemed nice enough, but he didn’t use enough jargon for my tastes.” Following are some bits of techspeak that we’ve all heard a few times too many. I’m not promising not to use them in 2014. In fact, as I’ll be moving from New York to San Francisco in a couple weeks, I may end up using some of them more than ever. But I do resolve to police my speech and writing for them, and to try, whenever possible, to find fresher alternatives.
Maker This term has been around in DIY circles for a few years, but it really broke through in 2013 with the release of the AOL -sponsored PBS documentary “Makers.” As a catch-all synonym for hackers, engineers, product designers etc., it plays to the tech industry’s sense of itself as doing something important. I know I look like a guy who sits hunched over a laptop all day, but I’m a maker! (Cf. the equally prevalent and loaded use of “build.”)
Disrupt There’s probably no more overused word than this at the moment. Its origins, in the research of innovation expert Clayton Christensen, are sound enough, but through overapplication it’s become pure static.
Pivot Tossing out your business plan in favor of a new one, however necessary, can be a tricky thing to spin to investors and press. “Pivot” is a great word for that, summoning up the image of a nimble point guard whirling in a different direction. It’s such a great word, everyone now uses it.
Ephemeral This is going to be a hard one not to use more often in the year to come since, thanks to the popularity of Snapchat, “ephemerality” is going to appear in about a million business plans. Let’s think of some synonyms ASAP.
Crowdfunded “Crowdsourced” feels a little 2010, but its offspring gained traction in 2013, thanks in large part to “Veronica Mars ,” Spike Lee and everyone else on Kickstarter. The word is here to stay but as the novelty starts to wear off, hopefully we’ll hear a little less about it.
Native It’s impossible to talk about what’s happening in digital media without discussing native advertising, but as a term it leaves something to be desired, since the parameters of what constitutes nativity are so vague. Native ads have been around at least since the early days of radio and television, so they’re not going away. It’s the idiom, not the concept, that’s over-faddish.
Investment mode This one is coming back into vogue thanks to companies like Twitter, Snapchat and Amazon, which have revived the Bubble 1.0 idea that profits are less important than growth.
Domain expertise This phrase just needs to die. That one’s expertise is limited to a given domain or domains is built into the idea of expertise. No one’s an expert in everything. Just say “expertise.”
Use case I’m a terrible abuser of this one. I’m sorry. I’ll try to stop.
Viral Another one that’s been around for years, but it took on a slightly different cast in 2013 as digital media firms like Buzzfeed, Upworthy and ViralNova showed that virality can be engineered. With the increasing ubiquity of this content strategy, we’re bound to hear/read this word more than we’d like in 2014. But if Facebook cracks down on “virality mills” the way Google GOOG -0.85% did on content farms, it may similarly fade.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
I'm guilty of over-using 'viral', 'crowdfunded' and 'pivot', but I think that 'domain expertise', 'use case' and 'disrupt' aren't just buzzwords, they are keepers!
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Realistic optimists are vigorously optimistic, too. They strongly believe that they make things happen and that they will succeed. They have no doubt about it. Saying that, on the other hand, they perfectly know that in order of being successful they have to plan well, to access all necessary resources, to stay focused and persistent, to evaluate different options, and to execute in excellence. Having done all of that, i.e. being well prepared and organized, such a state again stimulates their confidence level and as a result their optimism. The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails (William Arthur Ward).
Being both optimistic and realistic, i.e. combining the two into one behavioral style of realistic optimism creates a special breed of very successful people. Realistic optimists stay positive and upbeat about the future, even – and especially - if and when they recognize the challenges ahead. As such realism and optimism are not diametrically opposed. The contray is true: They´re complementing each other in a very powerful manner!
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Here's to all realistic optimists!
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Daniel Goleman, the psychologist who coined the term emotional intelligence, recently talked to the Huffington Post about the many characteristics of emotional intelligence. Lets go over a few here, so that we can know what to train in. 1. YOU'RE CURIOUS ABOUT NEW PEOPLEDo you ask a lot of questions when you meet someone? Do you actually listen to their answers? Then you might be a highly empathic person, someone attuned to the needs and feeling of others, and you may also mark high on openness to experience--a trait correlated with creativity. 2. YOU'RE SELF-AWARETo be emotionally intelligent, Goleman says, you need to have confidence. To have confidence, you need to know your strengths and weaknesses. Then you work from that framework. 3. YOU KNOW HOW TO PAY ATTENTIONAs Arianna Huffington told us, you can't make connections if you're distracted. Additionally, the ability to remain focused--and not carried away by texts and tweets--predicts not just the ability to form strong relationships and cultivate self-knowledge, Goleman says, but also your financial success. "Your ability to concentrate on the work you're doing, and to put off looking at that text or playing that video game until after you're done," he tells the Huffington Post. "How good you are at that in childhood turns out to be a stronger predictor of your financial success in adulthood than either your IQ or the wealth of the family you grew up in." 4. YOU CAN SAY NOIf you have high emotional intelligence, Goleman says, you can avoid unhealthy habits and otherwise discipline yourself--which also allows for relationship-nourishing, success-engendering non-distraction. 5. YOU KNOW PRECISELY WHAT'S PISSING YOU OFFFolks with a high EQ acknowledge emotions as they come rather than repressing them or misattributing their causes. You could also call this emotional agility. 6. YOU TRUST YOUR INTUITIONThere are neuroscientific reasons for trusting your gut: they're markers for what to do next. Part of having a high EQ is learning when to trust them.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Based on this criteria, how emotionally intelligent are you, and how would you bring up your EQ?
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As my colleagues at GE like to say, there’s no such thing as a 130-year business plan. That’s why we’re constantly tinkering with our business models to get leaner and more agile and to get closer to our customers – to act small even though we’re big. In fact, we think of ourselves as the biggest implementation of Lean Startup principles on earth, a topic we are discussing with entrepreneurial guru Eric Ries this week in San Francisco. Here are four key lessons we’ve learned in the past year of reinventing, simplifying and harnessing our entrepreneurial spirits.
Simplicity is Key Most of my favorite startups are animated by a radically simple idea. Take Warby Parker, the upstart eyeglass maker. They went into a competitive industry with a mission to make elegant glasses more cheaply. They were clear about what they wanted to do. From the outside, GE seems a bit more complicated. We make jet engines, wind turbines, microscopic electric switches and everything in between. But at our core, we are an advanced technology company. That laser focus on technology is what allows us to pursue 3D printing, process reams of data from power plants and build jet engines, all with a unified sense of what GE is.
We Have to Work Fast Startups are famous for moving fast, without unnecessary processes. In a corporate environment, famed for its Six Sigma processes, it can be tough to replicate that. That’s why we’ve harnessed the Lean Start Up ethos to develop “FastWorks,” a set of tools, principles and behaviors that management can use to emphasize speed of action. We have to work at the speed of our customers. And test our way forward, getting customer input along the way.
We Don’t Have All the Answers, But You Might If you don’t have what you need to solve a problem, ask for help. Entrepreneurs understand this implicitly, because they really do lack resources. But big companies have limited resources too. That’s why we're forming more partnerships to round out capabilities, and turning to the community for answers in new arenas. GE recently invested in Quirky, a New York-based startup that gives inventors a platform and helps bring great products to market. We want to tap the power of the community because, as smart as our geniuses are, there are great ideas outside our walls, not just inside them.
Uncertainty is Okay You have to admire the confidence and speed of startups. They trust that their products will work and that they’ll find a way to monetize them. Navigating uncertainty is what defines entrepreneurship. At GE, we’ve made it a point to protect some ideas from the pressures of developed operations. We have a class of internal start ups that need to be nurtured, like GE's Durathon battery, a green backup power source for cell phone towers in Africa that started life as a hybrid locomotive battery.
Linda Holroyd's insight:
Simplicity, working fast, searching for answers, embracing uncertainty: can a large corporation embrace these entrepreneurial values? Naming them is a start!
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Consider balancing all 7 balls at the same time: Profit, Law, Character, People, Communities, Planet, and the Greater Good