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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The Real Reason Good Leaders Take Vacations
Leaders, like all high performers, need to recharge to be on top of their game. But the real reason leaders must take for vacations is for the team.
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Spin the Dominant Voice
A dominant voice during a team discussion often inhibits others from making a contribution and can derail a fruitful exchange. When team members go too far and hijack the conversation, teams don’t make the progress they should. Irritated colleagues learn to wait out the dominant voice, often withdrawing from the discussion.
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A Formula for Leadership Optimism
In the world of leadership, optimism is the drug of choice. When a leader showcases extreme optimism, they hold people spellbound. We feel better about ourselves and our prospects when we experience the optimism only leaders can display. In study after study, we learn that people work harder for, and prefer to follow, optimistic leaders.
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The Difficult Marriage Between Trust and Respect
The Difficult Marriage Between Trust and Respect. Just when we thought there was a simple marriage between two concepts that clearly go hand in hand, we learn upon reflection that our assumptions are not so solid. The complex nature of trust and respect explains, in part, why leadership is so hard. Leaders must give and…
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When Fire Drills Happen Every Day
The need to rally all resources with “all hands on deck,” as they say, happens on occasion to even the most organized leaders. But when the so-called fire drills happen with frequency on a team, something essential is amiss and the consequences can be severe. The continual thrash created by last-minute work and the rush…
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Dilemmas Are Problems That Never Get Resolved
Understanding the difference between a problem and a dilemma changes everything. Problems can be solved. Dilemmas can only be coped with. Knowing which one you confront is essential for engaging a strategy that might work.
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One of the Greatest Sports Broadcasters of All Time
With his recent passing, the voice of baseball, owned and operated by the legendary announcer Vin Scully, was finally extinguished.
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Great Cultures Are Prideful Cultures
Team members who believe deeply in what a company stands for and in the talents of their colleagues generate a feeling of organizational pride. When people feel pride they experience a boost in self-esteem and confidence and work harder to achieve the outcomes central to the organization or team’s mission. Pride is the rocket fuel…
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The Myth of Respect Through Fear
Respect is earned by engaging in the actions admired by others. No one but the leaders who depend on it admires fear.
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The Secret Decoder Ring and Strong Cultures
We often listen to the jargon, acronyms, and idioms of an organizational culture and think how ridiculous it is for people to speak in code. Once an organization embraces this need for verbal shorthand, anything complex or repetitive finds its way to an abbreviated expression.