Professional Development – 2022 – Week 34

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/54585499@N04/

Career

How to Get the Best Possible Recommendation from a Job Reference (via HBR)

  • Choose references that will be enthusiastic about you
  • Prep your references so they are set up to help you (the article lists example questions)
  • Manage “backdoor” references (ones not on your list that hiring managers find via connections on LinkedIn)

Ethics

Why You Need an AI Ethics Committee (via HBR)

The training data sets could be biased, there may be undersampling, proxy bias could exist, and the goal for your algorithm may be in conflict with other ethical goals. The article outlines how one would set up an AI ethics committee, including members from legal, business strategy, technology, and other subject matter experts.

Leadership

Keeping Your Team Motivated When the Company Is Struggling (via HBR)

  • When you’re delivering bad news and making tough calls… don’t sugarcoat, don’t defend yourself, deal with survivor guilt, invite your team (when possible) into hard decisions.
  • Show care and appreciation to struggling employees… help them reprioritize work, stay available, show appreciation for sacrifice and perseverance, foster community.
  • Set the example… manage your emotions productively, model self-care, demonstrate resilience.

Managing yourself

Facing the Fears That Hold You Back at Work (via HBR)

“Common fears that hold people back include the fear of failure, the fear of letting others down, the fear of looking bad or losing others’ respect, but also include more primal fears, such as that of being marginalized, rejected, or unable to support oneself.” To move forward, (1) name those fears, (2) imagine what would happen if those things came true, (3) reflect on the origin of those fears, and (4) conduct safe experiments to see if your assumptions hold.

Politics

Leadership in a Politically Charged Age (via HBR)

As people are bringing their whole selves to work, neither outright bans on discussing politics (like Basecamp did in 2021) nor unchecked disagreements are effective. “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” The article discusses practical approaches to making conflict productive — curiosity over finger pointing, positive disagreement over vilification. It also outlines how leaders can help people navigate these disagreements when they arise.