Danish
- at gå ud fra — to assume; lit: to go out from
- kragetæer — chicken scratch (writing that’s difficult to read); lit: crow’s feet
- at høre hjemme — to belong; lit: to hear home
Ethics
Case Study: Protect Yourself or Protect Your Cousin? (via Harvard Business Review)
The hypothetical situation where two family members work for two companies that have a dependency. Should information that could affect the other be shared? I enjoyed the expert commentary, providing examples of ways to navigate the problem or to exercise patience and treat the problem as a tempest in a teapot.
Leadership
6 Strategies for Leading Through Uncertainty (via Harvard Business Review)
- Embrace the discomfort of not knowing
- Distinguish between complicated and complex (e.g., tax codes vs. foreign policy)
- Let go of perfectionism
- Resist oversimplifications and quick conclusions
- Don’t go it alone
- Zoom out from the details
Psychological safety and the critical role of leadership development (via Emily Moses)
- “…role modeling and reinforcing the behaviors they expect from the rest of the team.”
- Value one another’s contributions, care about well-bing, have input into how the team carries out work
- Leaders consult their team members, solicit input, and consider the team’s views on issues that affect them (consultative leadership).
- Employees are people too (supportive leadership).
- Once you have consultative + supportive, you can get to challenging leadership (encourage, re-examine assumptions).
- Role models are no longer finished, polished projects; they are works in progress.
- Actions: go beyond one-off trainings, don’t just push content – make it engaging and emotional, build mechanisms to make development part of day-to-day work
How Leaders Get in the Way of Organizational Change (via Harvard Business Review)
“Despite the vast body of knowledge available to leaders on how to effect lasting, positive organizational change, too many executives continue reaching for the same comfortable levers that consistently miss the mark. Thus, the oft-cited failure rate of organization transformations continues hovering around 70%. If you’ve got a major change on the horizon, here’s how to avoid three of the most common saboteurs of company transformation. First, understand that significant change will be harder than you think it will be to achieve. Next, be realistic about your organization’s capacity to implement changes. Finally, make sure your organization understands how and why the transformation is important to you.”
Process
How to Ask for Help at Work (via Harvard Business Review)
This post is a playbook of strategies to figure out what you can solve yourself and how to engage with others in a meaningful way to get unstuck.
Psychology
5 Mistakes We Make When We’re Overwhelmed (via Harvard Business Review)
- Stop waiting for the opportune moment and actually take the time to do the things you know will help you.
- Make use of your unconscious mind.
- Replace your self-criticism with compassionate self-talk.
- Consider your values and make sure they’re the right fit for the situation.
- Don’t miss opportunities to fill your emotional cup.
What frogs in hot water can teach us about thinking again (via TED)
- The smarter you are, the more likely you are suffer from the “I’m not biased” bias
- Escalation of commitment — a version of the sunk cost fallacy, where you know you’re losing but continue
- “We live in a culture that worships at the altar of hustle and prays to the high priest of grit.”
- “Never give up” doesn’t mean never change; goals can give you tunnel vision (cognitive entrenchment)
- Schedule periodic checkups (like retrospectives!) to see if your course still makes sense
- “We live in a world that mistakes confidence for competence…”