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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What Is Your Fallback Position?
Smart leaders and decision-makers have a fallback position for any strategic choice or decision they make. They choose not to finalize their decision or enter negotiations without it. That’s because a fallback position serves as a reference point against which they can judge the quality of offers, options, and choices. But the best advantage of…
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The Upside and Downside of Getting Pumped Up During Competition
Although common wisdom suggests getting pumped up during competition can, at certain moments, positively affect performance, research confirms that competitive arousal has more downside than upside. Star athletes who frequently show the world what it looks like to get pumped up probably don’t want to hear that arousal more typically hurts performance than helps it.…
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Loneliness in a Hyperconnected Workplace
Loneliness in a Hyperconnected Workplace
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Organizing Yourself to Delegate Effectively
The best leaders create three distinct sets of tasks and priorities. Those that must be attended to today, those that need to be completed this week, and those that are weeks and months away.
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Rejecting Ideas and Proposals Because of the Source
Like everyone else, leaders think poorly of some people. Because of their actions, beliefs, or past performance, they hold some people in low regard, even in contempt. To maintain a cordial atmosphere, effective leaders do their best not to display or leak their distaste, but that doesn’t resolve or address the disrespect they feel regarding…
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Overcoming Feelings of Intimidation
The feeling of being intimidated is uncomfortable at best, and terrifying at worst. At one time or another, everyone has found themselves unnerved by a new challenge, a highly intelligent person, a moment of extraordinary performance, a physically imposing person, or a high-pressure social situation.
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Before Seeking a Win-Win Compromise, Go for a Total-Win Solution
As it turns out, a Win-Win is less than ideal. Win-Win focuses on the goal of agreement where all parties feel they have gained some benefit, typically through collaboration and a back-and-forth exploration of what works best for everyone.
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Gamify the Most Mundane Tasks
People dread some tasks simply because of how tedious and boring they are. Time goes by slowly when completing them. These tasks may be necessary, but that doesn’t mean the effort they require seems like time well spent. Getting them over with is the primary goal. Unless you learn how to gamify them.
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Without Realizing It, Leaders Often Displace Their Frustration on Those With Less Power
Good leaders commit to never acting aggressively toward others when they feel frustrated and to acknowledging when their frustrations can’t be expressed directly as a guard against displacing them. Expressing frustration aggressively or redirecting it toward others unrelated to it is more common than most leaders realize. That’s why keeping frustrations under control is so…
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Peer Groups and the Search for Fresh Ideas
Leaders who achieve a high level of success are often disappointed that their accomplishments don’t produce more satisfaction. For many people, success isn’t what they thought it would be. It fails to bring the lasting happiness and personal fulfillment they expected and counted on. Over time, more success becomes stale, empty, and uninspiring. The momentary…