FieldNotes
Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.
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Leaders Can’t Make People Feel Safe
Leaders Can’t Make People Feel Safe
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Incorporating Symbols Into Your To-Do List
Leaders savor the satisfaction that occurs after placing a checkmark next to a completed task on a to-do list. In addition to checkmarks, productive leaders rely on symbols like Xs to signify tasks that no longer need attention and exclamation marks to remind them of the high importance of an undertaking. Symbols save time because
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Odd Times Trick the Brain
Interior Designer Bobby Berk sets his morning alarm to go off at 5:47 a.m. He reasons that setting the alarm for 5:45 would encourage him to hit the snooze button and spend 15 more minutes in bed. But at 5:47, he no longer feels that he has 15 minutes of snooze time, so he gets
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Why People With Great Talent Are Commonly Ambitious
Many of the most talented team members are unusually ambitious. They strive to advance, achieve extraordinary outcomes, and tackle meaningful challenges. They seek assignments that stretch their skills and insist on the room to make significant decisions. The desire to excel and continually raise the bar becomes a critical part of who they are. Their…
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Who the Holiday Party is Really For
Who the Holiday Party Is Really For: Families, especially spouses and partners, make an unheralded sacrifice to the enterprise all year long.
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AI Tools Are Ideal for Scenario Planning
Even the best laid plans can fail when leaders encounter situations they didn’t expect. Through Scenario Planning, leaders can account for a wide range of possible situations. They can pressure test their plans and make sure they aren’t caught unaware or without a backup strategy.
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When a Team Member Doesn’t Prioritize Your Priorities
While talented team members will take the initiative to set some of their own goals and objectives on occasion, the leader’s priorities should always take precedence. Rectifying this disconnect isn’t typically as simple as reminding them of the agreed-upon priorities or redirecting their focus.
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The Influence of Speed in Relationships
Speed is highly symbolic in relationships. People interpret speed as a signal of the importance and quality of the relationship. For instance, response time from someone who has received a message or request is viewed as an indicator of how important the sender is in the relationship. Faster response times tell people they count and
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When You Don’t Believe People Have the Potential to Succeed
A team member’s gap between skill and aspiration can create quite a challenge for leaders, especially if the person lacks some degree of self-awareness. When a team member aspires to great things but lacks the talent or potential to get there, leaders are faced with a difficult choice.
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Self-Confidence Is Shaped by the People Whose Validation and Respect We Seek
People have a fundamental need to seek the attention of others and to be respected and admired for who they are and what they do. All people and in every culture. The only critical difference between people is the source of this attention. Some people seek the respect and attention from a tight-knit group of friends, colleagues,