We’re often praised in our personal and professional lives for thinking big, not executing small. “Go big or go home.” “Set big hairy audacious goals.” “Swing for the fences.” But big goals are more burdensome and overwhelming. They require daunting effort. It’s easy to fall behind. And falling short deflates us. Furthermore, it causes a …
Author: John Stevenson
Likability
Winning, accomplishing and striving for individual achievements are admirable qualities to cultivate in ourselves and others. But there can be long-term detrimental effects to overemphasizing these traits. One of these is a deficit in caring about others. Adam Grant, a leading authority on the links between helpfulness, kindness, likability – and overall life success – …
Blame
The blame game is an easy one to play. It feels good, it can be justified, and it’s the perfect cop out for giving up and giving in. Blamers exaggerate the negative, feel like victims, and are quick to point fingers at everyone but themselves. It’s also the number one career limiting weakness according to Kerry …
Timing
When we do things matters. There is a clear ebb and flow to the human day and it pays to be aware of it and plan accordingly. Dan Pink’s latest book “When – The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing” has some fascinating research that backs this up. Students do better with exams in the morning …
Conflict
Teamwork is not always a happy and harmonious endeavor. But a certain level of disagreement and tension is good. We all know what conflict aversion looks like: ballooning priorities because no one says “no;” meetings-after-the meeting to “take if offline” for fear of debate; and inefficient workarounds to accommodate an under-performing team member. Frustration festers …
Judgment
Good judgment – using relevant knowledge and experience to form opinions and make decisions – is the core of great leadership. Good judgment is often attributed to gut feeling or acquired instinct, combined with analytic skills that produce an insight or recognition of patterns. Sir Andrew Likierman is a professor at London Business School and …
Solitude
Being by yourself once in a while is good for you. Though it can feel uncomfortable at first, it calms you and helps you engage better with others. It allows you to recharge, take stock and face the day with more confidence. It’s not loneliness. That’s different. This is about choosing to spend time alone. Being alone allows …
Culture
Company culture – what a team believes and how it acts – is easy to neglect. We sometimes get so hyper-focused on sales, marketing and operational plans to feed the pipeline, that we forget to feed the soul. According to Frances Frei and Anne Morriss at Harvard Business Review: “Culture guides discretionary behavior and it …
Intellectual humility
Intellectual humility seems to be in short supply these days. We all like to think of ourselves as being smart, and we rarely want to admit we don’t know something. We’re concerned about appearing weak or lacking confidence. We don’t want to be a pushover. We want to be right. But intellectual humility is really …
Prioritizing
As Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, says, “If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.” And while it may seem productive to tick off a long to-do list, it’s not the best the way to make progress against your biggest goals. Here’s a 3-step process that I’ve used to help …