The ugly truth is that great work isn’t enough. No one tells you this early in your career; It’s something you learn over time. Cream doesn’t automatically rise to the top, and we don’t live in a meritocracy. If you want your idea to be heard, you have to go the extra mile to ensure that it’s framed to resonate with the right audience.
Ron Friedman, author of The Best Place To Work, shares what the most effective, beloved organizations and leaders do to help their workplaces thrive.
Have you ever looked around at the work of others and felt like yours isn’t measuring up? Has this ever caused your passion for your work to wane? Don’t allow the slow ratcheting-up of expectations to paralyze you. Use the work of your peers and heroes as fuel, and don’t allow it to trip you up or cause you to drift off-course.
We all have blind spots in our creative work, and they can rob us of really valuable insights and contribution. It's important to test assumptions and ensure that we're not fossilizing around them.
Last week, I had the chance to chat with Erica Dhawan, who is co-author of the new book Get Big Things Done. The book is about the age of connectedness, and how we can now accomplish things previously unattainable if we leverage "connectional intelligence".
Typically, it’s misalignment around expectations, and conflicting definitions of the word excellence. Excellence is a slippery concept, because it can mean so many different things depending on your perspective.
One of the biggest challenges we all face is getting people to listen to our ideas, especially in a team setting. In this episode, I share four tips for getting your ideas heard.
In the effort to "ship fast" we often fail to lay a sturdy foundation for our work, and the results can be disastrous. Shipping early shouldn't be equivalent to thoughtlessness. You need to ensure that you are respecting the work by giving it your best mental effort.
There's no delicate way to say this: many of us carry weapons. Not literal weapons (most likely), but figurative ones, and we get trigger happy the moment we experience something we don't like.
We're all familiar with the myth of the lone genius, which states that most creative work is performed in isolation by brilliant individuals. However, today's guest Joshua Wolf Shenk shares research from his new book about how the pair is actually the primary creative unit.
What do you do when someone tosses out a terrible idea in a meeting? How you handle that moment is critical in determining the vibe and productivity for the rest of the meeting. Here are some tips.
Yes…we need coaches. However, don’t be “The Coach”. Instead, offer feedback that is timely, contextualized, empathetic, and helpful in the context of the outcome you’re committed to.
We each have danger zones we have to watch out for in the course of our work. They can be particular habits or patterns we fall into when we go into "coast mode" or areas or situations where we are likely to get irritated and short-circuit collaborative relationships.
When the pressure is on, and uncertainty is rearing its ugly head, there are traps that even the most experienced leaders fall into.
There’s an often cited principle about creativity that states “there’s no such thing as a bad idea.” It’s wrong. There are bad ideas - terrible ones - and they can explode and destroy the vibe of a meeting or project if not dealt with swiftly and decisively.
How to deal with frustration in the workplace.
Insights on how creative pros can "reboot" in the changing marketplace.
Our relationships can either bring out the best or the worst in our creating.
How to prevent a culture of blame from eroding trust and causing sub-par work.
Five principles that set teams up for brilliance.