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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Pre-Decide Before a Situation Unravels
In the throes of the moment, when excitement, pressure, and scrutiny can blind our ability to make objective decisions, leaders often fail to make the difficult — and often unpopular — call to change direction. It is always easier to stay the course with an inferior strategy due to the noise and distraction of the
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Positively Violate Expectations
Our experience with leaders creates strong expectations as to what they will do, how they will do it, and where and when they will do it. We get very comfortable with the common choices leaders make and value the predictability we find in their consistency. When leaders do the unexpected, it shakes people up —
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Leave a Big Wake Behind You
When exceptional leaders finish their careers or move to another organization after a long tenure, they leave a big wake behind them. A lasting legacy is top of mind for leaders nearing an ending. They implicitly know this legacy will define both who they were, as well as how they will be remembered by the
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The Sunk Cost Fallacy Applies to People
Of the many biases leaders fall prey to, perhaps none is more common than the Sunk Cost Fallacy. This insidious error refers to the tendency for leaders to follow through on something if they have already invested a lot of time, energy, or money into it. They do this even when the cost-benefit is no
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Available Leaders Remove the Door Locks
Clichés are truths made less significant by too much repetition. In the realm of leadership, however, the light of some clichés never dims. One of those leadership clichés is the declaration: “My door is always open.” This expression suggests the leader is always available to talk and encourages openness from any direction. This open-door policy, as
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Masterful Work Permeates Culture
A master carpenter doesn’t use plywood for the back of a hardwood cabinet even though no one is going to see it. The carpenter will know, and doing it “right” matters because that is the mark of a master. This is the stamp of quality. Rare as it may be, this obsession with quality can
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How Not to Throw Colleagues Under the Bus
Throwing a colleague or peer under the bus, no matter how much they deserve it, is often political suicide in an organization or team. When we trash a colleague, we actually undermine our credibility in the eyes of others. As U.S. President Lyndon Johnson once exclaimed, “Never tell someone to go to hell unless you
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Inject New Information Into Troubled Relationships
When we find ourselves in a troubled relationship, we are often given the advice to work harder at the relationship to repair whatever damage has eroded trust or respect. Unfortunately, working harder at a relationship usually results in more dysfunction, not less. When it comes to the complexity of emotions, expectations, and relationship history, the
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Show Gratitude in Ways That Don’t Decay
Leaders who pride themselves in making others feel special think differently when they consider showing their appreciation with gifts, mementos, and thank-yous. They know that any expression of gratitude is best when it serves as a special reminder for weeks, months, and years — rather than for hours and days. Any gift that is fleeting
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Reject the Trap of Reflected Glory
The contemporary obsession and fixation on celebrities and the ultra-wealthy is a curious example of what should — and should not — really matter to leaders. Society regularly bestows great value upon particular individuals for the success and notoriety they have achieved. Some are great innovators or thinkers. Others have amassed great fortunes. They may