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First-Time Manager #9—12 Ideas to Help You Build Better Meetings

First-Time Manager #9—12 Ideas to Help You Build Better Meetings

Over a long career, few meetings are memorable. However, the cumulative pain of the many miserable, counter-productive meetings lingers long after they’ve ended. As a newer manager and an emerging leader, take the time to cultivate the habits that lead to effective meetings. Your team will thank you! Here are a dozen ideas to get you started:

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Knocking the Negativity Out of Your Career and Life

Knocking the Negativity Out of Your Career and Life

“Research suggests that the human mind has a propensity to pay greater attention to and process the bad compared to the good, a phenomenon often called the negativity bias. Bad feedback has greater impact; bad impressions are quicker to form; bad information is...

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Pet Peeves: Quit Talking About Yourself—No One Cares

Pet Peeves: Quit Talking About Yourself—No One Cares

Why is it some people fail to talk about anything but themselves? Resist the temptation to regale others with your “I” monolog, and instead, focus on creating healthy dialog. If it doesn’t work, move on before your ears metaphorically melt.

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Can Leadership Be Reduced to an Algorithm?

Can Leadership Be Reduced to an Algorithm?

As machine learning and brain science advance with remarkable speed, it’s not implausible to imagine leadership behaviors reduced to a component of a master algorithm. Thankfully, there are some distinctly human attributes that may be difficult to capture in this format. Use them as if your survival as a leader depended on it.

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The Discipline of High Performers

The Discipline of High Performers

I love former Navy Seal, Jocko Willink’s personal mantra: “Discipline equals freedom.” The development of and rigorous attention to discipline in every area of our lives is the difference-maker when it comes to succeeding or failing. Through out the resolutions and instead, start by developing discipline around one small activity. It’s contagious.

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Fight Inertia

Fight Inertia

Recognizing the need to change something in your life or career is an essential first step. Breaking the bonds of the inertial forces that keep you tethered to the status quo is the hard part.

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Just One Thing—Don’t Fall Victim to Doom and Gloom

Instead of falling victim to the psychology of the herd and withdrawing or hunkering down in your business, seize upon the positives and make some of your own good news. Here are 6 tips to help your firm prosper in a period of doom and gloom:

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Just One Thing—Dream Big and Then Fight Like Heck

Our goals and big dreams often are rudely shoved out of the way in favor of the urgent issues of life as well as those activities we deem more easily achievable. Some are abandoned due to the mirage of size and complexity. “It’s too big for me to accomplish.” Or, “I’m not sure how I would even get started.” We make excuses for ourselves, mostly, because we don’t know how to fight what author Steven Pressfield calls resistance.

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