Success in business undeniably requires some willingness to have faith in others. If you think about it, you can’t even get to the contract stage of a deal without first assessing the trust and confidence of the individuals involved. Which means you’ve got to be practiced in the art of reading people when dealing with partners, clients, job candidates, and …
Author: John Stevenson
Embracing sadness
Negative emotions are natural, normal and to be expected. As Harvard psychologist Susan David puts it, “discomfort is the price of admission for a meaningful life.” In fact, in the world of arts, letters and music, melancholy is one of the most fruitful and productive emotional states. Why not harness that emotional productivity in business …
Putting failure behind you
Failure is inevitable. There’s no way around it. And failure feels bad. When we lose, when we experience setbacks, when we get stuck — that can be frustrating and deflating. But mourning the failure – fast – and moving on is the key. Here’s how: Talk about it with family, friends, and colleagues. While we may want to run and hide, …
A change of mind
Want to make better decisions? And be right a lot more? If so, then be prepared to change your mind more often, or at least be more open to it. Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame (and now the world’s richest person) says one-track thinking – trying to make a case for just one point of view – should be …
Cultivating curiosity
Curiosity is a magical human attribute. The innate desire to seek new information and experiences, and explore new possibilities, is what propels daily innovation and invention. It’s the instinct to better understand situations, problems, and environments, and make them better. Francesca Gino’s HBR article “The Business Case for Curiosity” explains what makes curiosityso important and why we should …
Cultivating good envy
There’s bad envy, and there’s good envy. That’s according to a paper published by Alison Wood Brooks, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, who was able to formalize two kinds of envy: malicious and benign. Portraying an image of uninterrupted professional success is the fastest way to project an image of perfection that makes others want to tear …
Overcoming uncertainty
Tough decisions are no fun. When lives or livelihoods are affected, stomachs churn, anxiety sets in, and sleep becomes difficult. You know the biggest and toughest ones: hiring and firing, selling and buying, moving on or staying put. All of these have serious consequences when it comes to happiness, health and wealth. David Maxfield via …
Take a hike
Richard Louv, author of the “Nature Principal,” argues that we’re suffering as a society from what he calls “nature-deficit disorder,” which can hurt us mentally, physically, and even spiritually. It’s been proven over and over again that exposure to natural environments is good for us. It reduces the level of cortisol (stress hormone), heart …
Embrace the pause
When you speak or present, whether it be in front of small groups or big ones, you’ve got to keep your audience engaged to get your message across. You’ve got be clear, credible and concise. But crutch words like “um,” “well,” “like,” and “ah” can be terribly distracting to an audience. These words tend to …
How to fake it till you make it
No matter what business you’re in, or how long you’ve been doing it, you probably find yourself occasionally out of your element when it comes to new projects, customers and industries. It’s uncomfortable and unnerving when this happens. You may not be familiar with the business model. You may not understand the vernacular. You don’t know what you don’t know. But big league …