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.
Search Field Notes
-
Beware of Frenemies
Colleagues, peers, team members, and leaders come in all sizes, shapes, and motivations. Some can be trusted, and some can’t. Others can be counted on to agree, while some will always take an oppositional view. Knowing the motivations of those who surround you is critical to your long-term success. The world would be a better…
-
Using Identities to Elevate Team Member Engagement
The best team members rise to the occasion and engage more enthusiastically, while others go through the motions and do what they have always done. To increase the odds that team members will embrace their calls for action with more vigor and enthusiasm, great leaders have learned a secret. They turn their requests for action…
-
The Many Advantages of Pre-Planned Pauses
Deciding on a pre-planned pause before engaging in a discussion, complex task, or activity can be a game-saver. Consider a surgeon who pre-plans a pause between procedures to regroup and reorganize for the next difficult task. A break in the action can give everyone a breather and help to clarify goals and reassess the current
-
What Leadership Transparency Really Means
Some leaders believe being honest and open makes them, and their decisions, transparent. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case. Transparency is a very specific set of actions. Leaders who say they value transparency either prove it by their actions or they don’t. How transparent are you as a leader?
-
Building Up Delegation Trust
In short order, the adage “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself” becomes replaced with the mindset “If you want to get everything done, you have to delegate.” To achieve great outcomes, good leaders know they must learn to delegate. It all starts with sharing the smallest tasks and building…
-
If You’re Going to Withdraw, Retreat Forward
Writing with AI is fast and often as good or better than our own writing. Not everything works out the way we envisioned it would. Sometimes the best move is to admit that the goal is no longer attainable and to regroup. But there are two ways to withdraw. One is to surrender. When we
-
Authenticity and Writing With Artificial Intelligence
Writing with AI is fast and often as good or better than our own writing. Give the AI a guide trained on your preferences, and it can even match your voice, diction, and style. The efficiency of writing with AI certainly makes it hugely attractive to anyone who creates words for others to consume. But
-
Resolving Wicked Problems
Some problems defy a solution. Whereas most difficult problems can be reframed or divided into parts to be solved, wicked problems present leaders with a more unique challenge. Wicked problems are complex and multi-faceted, with competing advocates that cannot escape engaging one another. The issues inside a wicked problem are typically ongoing and need a…
-
The Key to Reading Micro Expressions
Reading people is a prized leadership skill and critical for leadership success. Great leaders adapt the style of their messages and approaches based on the audience and situation. They are better able to craft the right message when they accurately assess what others are thinking and feeling. That’s where micro expressions come in.
-
Do You Truly Motivate or Just Bribe Others to Raise Their Game?
People are motivated by a wide variety of needs and desires, including praise, autonomy, higher purpose, status, belonging, and challenge. Chief among the needs leaders tap into to compel action and inspire higher performance are incentives. Incentives include anything people desire that they would change their behavior for. Promotion, title, resources, time, affection, and special privileges