Business
3 Questions Investors Ask Themselves When Evaluating a CEO (via HBR)
- Is the CEO confident, but not overconfident?
- Is the CEO a straight-talker?
- Do they know how to listen?
Hiring
Tap the Talent Your Hiring Algorithms Are Missing (via HBR)
Ironically the automated applicant tracking systems for screening all the people that apply for a given job create a rift — employers have many open positions, and there are many potential candidates that are getting excluded outright.
Leadership
Attributes of good bosses (via SWLW)
- They encourage disagreement.
- They create external enemies instead of pitting people against each other (I’d remove the adversarial metaphor unless it actually exists. You can be for something just like you can be against something.)
- They speak last.
- They attribute successes to the team and take blame for the failures.
- They spend most of their time with their top performers.
- They know each employee is different and needs different things.
- They don’t let chronic underperformers stay on the job.
- They build a bench of people to replace them.
- They support an employee’s career journey, even if that’s outside the company.
Mental health
How to Be a Mental Health Ally (via HBR)
This article has several examples of things not to say and what to say instead so you can support people going through mental health challenges.
Process
Models are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of the wise (via SWLW)
The author lays out an argument that it’s easy for people to read a case study or do some cursory exploration and believe that copy/pasting that into their world will bring utopia. It’s more useful to consider the context of that research, find patterns, consider the impacts of experimenting, and be open to modifying what you learn to fit your context.
Remote work
Balancing Autonomy and Structure for Remote Employees (via HBR)
- Employees want to choose where and when they work
- Flexible location choice will continue to grow as a priority
- Leaders are concerned about letting employees choose location
- Employees seek habits, structure, and predictability
- To lead in this environment, (1) Create spaces that actually meet the demands of a virtual-first working world, (2) supplement the diminished sense of belonging in the office space with an increased sense of belonging in the virtual space, (3) let employees find the balance that matches their life’s new rhythm.
Talent management
The Downsides of Making a Counteroffer to Retain an Employee (via HBR)
- It may not address the real reasons why they wanted to leave in the first place.
- If you give someone a promotion to keep them and that person doesn’t live up to it, other leaders may doubt your leadership capabilities.
- It can negatively impact morale if someone gets an unjustified promotion just because they resigned.