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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Organize Your Relationships by Location & Activity
As your network of relationships expands, it becomes increasingly hard to keep track of the many people you know and value. When planning trips and events, remembering who to reconnect with is a common challenge. The best way to remedy your faulty memory is to organize your relationships by city and activity.
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How Overcoming Adversity Builds Emotional Maturity
Emotionally mature leaders and team members show up differently, especially under pressure and in conflict. They know how to regulate their emotions and not allow them to negatively influence their thinking and reactions. They can sit with awkward and uncomfortable feelings—such as rejection, uncertainty, and criticism—without dramatizing them. This makes emotional maturity a critical asset for every leader and
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Indecisive or Just Waiting Too Long to Make a Decision?
Most leaders aren’t indecisive. They just wait too long to decide. They get bogged down in collecting and analyzing data and asking everyone for their view. Instead of making a call, they keep talking about the choices ad nauseam. When everyone is ready for them to settle the matter, they prefer to keep discussing the
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Reciprocity and the Power of Sequential Requests
If you’re on the call list of potential donors for any charity or non-profit, you have likely been subjected to a sequential request strategy without knowing it. Sequential Requests are highly effective. And that has made them very popular in fundraising and sales arenas. Making requests in a planned order doesn’t sound like much of…
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Why Gratefulness Is a Predictor of Talent
As leaders look to discern talent, one attribute that is often overlooked is the attitude of gratefulness. People who feel and express gratitude tend to reflect on experiences more accurately and extract lessons from outcomes.
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How to Recover When You Lose Track of the Conversation
The energy and focus it takes for leaders to stay fully engaged with others in meetings, discussions, and conversations is enormous. Distractions are everywhere, and the mind can wander. Having the responsibility for an overwhelming stack of priorities and issues means even the best leaders can get sidetracked on occasion and lose track of what…
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What Leaders Can Learn From a ‘Snow Day’
Much of the U.S. experienced a severe winter storm yesterday, leaving behind up to a foot of snow in some urban areas across more than half the nation. As with any winter snowstorm, businesses and schools must decide whether to open or to suspend in-person events by declaring a “snow day.” School superintendents, club managers,
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Instilling Collective Pride
Collective pride is a powerful motivator, especially in organizations and teams that can harness it. Practically speaking, collective pride is the shared sense of dignity, value, and emotional attachment team members feel toward the team or organization they belong to. Such pride is the emotional glue that turns individuals into a united front capable of…
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Think Big, Build Small
Acting on a big, audacious goal or vision can be intimidating. Staring at the mountain and deciding where to begin the trek is daunting, even for the best leaders. Imagining all the steps involved to get there can overload the brain and cause avoidance. Instead of asking “Where to start?” it is much easier to
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Skills Scale Performance While Self-Identity Sustains It
Improving the foundational skills underlying performance is the fastest way to create better results. Enhanced skills allow team members to perform tasks faster, better, and at a higher level. No wonder skill development is the most popular catalyst for producing greater results in every organization. But sustaining improvements in performance requires team members to internalize what they