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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A Decision Owner Stops Colleagues From Stonewalling
On effective teams, every major decision has a decision owner. This may be the team leader, a subject-matter expert, or the team member most effected by the decision. The key is to establish the decision owner before the process begins. When a decision owner exists, consensus plays out as it should on major decisions. This…
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Navigating the Tension of Competing Values
Getting clear about your values means understanding what is most important to you now. The best leaders navigate the tensions of competing values by clarifying their value hierarchy, not by attempting to satisfy both values to the detriment of both of them. Good leaders have an acute awareness of their values and what matters most…
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When Ambition Gets in the Way
Ambition is a prized quality. It drives people to set and pursue goals on their way to making an impact and leaving a mark. Ambition opens doors to new experiences and fuels the innovation necessary for significant achievement. When balanced with humility and a strong ethical code, ambition lights the pathway to success. Ambitious leaders
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Will Artificial Intelligence Make Us Lazy Thinkers?
It’s too early to tell if Artificial Intelligence Chatbots will make people smarter or dumber. But AI clearly has the potential to replace deep thinking with an instant answer to any question. The option to allow artificial intelligence to think for us will be hugely attractive to many people. If and when that becomes a…
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The Art of Setting Deadlines
Progress on tasks is not always a straight line. The best leaders only set exact deadlines when the timing for completion is do or die, or accountability is suspect without it. In all other cases, they suggest a more general timeframe and focus the team’s attention on the goals and mileposts that mark progress. The…
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Are Your Performance Measures Current?
The purpose of performance metrics is to focus the energy of the organization on the critical issues generating its success. If those metrics haven’t been realigned with new priorities, processes, and challenges, they will obscure the picture of how well the enterprise is performing. The ongoing task for leaders is to assess whether the current…
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The Overwhelming Allure of the Status Quo Bias
Of the most widely studied and thought-about biases, one decision contortion has a disproportionate influence on nearly every decision leaders and team members make and is often overlooked. The prize for the most pervasive decision flaw likely belongs to the Bias of the Status Quo. Every good leader needs to understand this thinking tendency and…
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Why Are Some Leaders Praise Stingy?
Good leaders recognize that praise focuses attention on actions worth repeating. The more specific and timely it is, the more it encourages people to replicate their actions. Leaders who don’t praise fail to realize their role in priming and reinforcing the behaviors they want to see from others. Praise given at the right moment is…
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Making Presentations Razor Sharp
Simple means eliminating anything unnecessary, superfluous, or tangential to the main point or takeaway of the presentation. When everything said ties directly to the primary thrust of the presentation, the audience will find solace in the clarity and coherence created by the presenter. That’s why simple is always more persuasive. Complexity is the enemy of…
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Does Your Team Have Vision Fatigue?
For leaders, keeping the vision and long-range goals front and center for the team is essential work. Team members are more engaged and confident when they know where the ship is headed and how the organization plans to get there. But when progress is slow or inhibited over a long period of time, the team