   
CEO Picks - The most popular editorials that have stood the test of time!
S1S2How to lead digital transformation from the top
Today's leaders have been bombarded by a lifetime's worth of advice about digital transformation. If they're not sold on the merits of always-on, continuous digital reinvention, they may never be. Most have also heard they need to be personally involved. The big question is how? As a leader, how do you figure out your exact role in digital transformation, and where should you be focusing your limited time and energy to best help your company succeed on its digital journey?
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S33 Simple Changes Can Jumpstart Your Career, Says Former IBM VP Who Led a Billion-Dollar Team If you're like most of us, you spend your days wishing for more time. If only you could have an extra hour or two in the day, you think, you could be so much more successful. But time is not our most precious resource--attention is, according to Shelmina Abji, a former IBM vice president who led a team making more than $1 billion in sales. Abji is now a TEDx speaker and author of the new book Show Your Worth: 8 Intentional Strategies for Women to Emerge as Leaders at Work. And, she says, a few simple changes to how you spend your workday will help you maximize the precious resource and help you reach your biggest goals.
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S4S5S6Choosing the Right Platform for Your Brand ^ R2205B To meet customers where they are, you can't beat selling on e-commerce juggernaut Amazon--or can you? This issue's Spotlight package examines the myriad ways companies are using digital platforms to sell their products, interact with consumers, and create more value. In "Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?," Ayelet Israeli, Len Schlesinger, Matt Higgins, and Sabir Semerkant explore the benefits and the costs of selling on the world's largest e-commerce site. The article's scorecard will help companies determine whether or not Amazon makes sense for their brand. Companies that choose to proceed with Amazon will find guidance on optimizing their presence there. Companies that want to sidestep digital aggregators like Amazon may consider building brand flagship platforms instead. More than just direct sales channels, these platforms provide a mix of specialized products, services, and content by involving participants--consumers and third-party businesses--in the value creation process. In "Building Your Own Brand Platform," authors Julian R.K. Wichmann, Nico Wiegand, and Werner J. Reinartz introduce the four types of platforms and outline the risks and opportunities of each. Finally, Wharton professor Thomas S. Robertson explores the rise of livestream commerce in "Selling on TikTok and Taobao," explaining why both consumers and companies are drawn to the format. The article offers guidance for brands ready to start experimenting with livestream, including which type of platform to choose and how to measure their efforts.
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S7The Chair of Illycaff In the 1990s most coffee beans were still commodity products, cheaply priced, undifferentiated by quality, often blended, and sold through an exchange. Suppliers were underpaid not only because they sat at the bottom of the value chain but also because margins were very thin. Francesco Illy founded his eponymous coffee company in 1933 with higher ambitions, intending to create an institution respected for both its products and its contributions to society. His son, Ernesto, and grandson, Andrea, pressed on in that tradition—first by implementing better quality-management systems and pioneering direct trade with growers, and then by adopting their new production model at scale. The idea was to incentivize farmers to cultivate more-flavorful beans, thereby generating bigger profits to be shared among all stakeholders and reinvested in further improvement and growth: a virtuous circle of increasing returns. Over the past two decades illy has been accomplishing what it set out to do. Its annual revenue is currently €500 million, with earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation of nearly €60 million and a compound annual growth rate of 10%. And it pays its growers an average of 30% more than market price for coffee beans and is consistently recognized as one of the world’s most socially responsible companies.
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S8Building Your Own Brand Platform Some branded product companies are sidestepping digital aggregators like Amazon and Google Shopping and instead building their own brand flagship platforms. These platforms are more than just a direct sales channel. They provide a mix of specialized products, services, and content by involving participants—consumers and third-party businesses—in the value creation process, as both receivers and providers of value.
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S9It's Time for the U.S. to Tackle Patent Trolls Patent trolls are a major economic problem in the U.S., slowing growth and innovation, and costing companies time and money. Director of the USPTO, Kathi Vidal, also has an opportunity to take immediate action that will substantially improve how our patent system functions and advance U.S. innovation. It involves repealing a rule instituted by their predecessor that made it harder for firms being sued by patent trolls to take advantage of special expert judges.
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S10How Your Company Can Encourage Innovation from All Employees Frontline employees often contribute the best ideas for process improvement, as Toyota and other companies have often found. In this article, the authors show how the kaizen approach to process improvement used at manufacturing companies can be translated to the context of knowledge work, where it can help companies identify opportunities for automating knowledge work. It revolves around the creation of an ideas platform and development toolkit that employees can share and experiment with. Accounting giant PwC has found that adopting this approach and providing extra recognition and rewards for participation on the platform has helped employees to realize over 7 million hours savings in work time.
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S11What Makes a Great Leader? Tomorrow’s leaders master three key roles — architect, bridger, and catalyst, or ABCs — to access the talent and tools they need to drive innovation and impact. As architects, they build the culture and capabilities for co-creation. As bridgers, they curate and enable networks of talent inside and outside their organizations to co-create. And as catalysts, they lead beyond their organizational boundaries to energize and activate co-creation across entire ecosystems. These ABCs require leaders to stop relying on formal authority as their source of power and shift to a style that enables diverse talent to collaborate, experiment, and learn together — a challenging yet essential personal transformation.
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S12What Role Should Business Play in Society? Companies talk the talk of creating stakeholder value, but most don’t walk the talk. In this article, the author outlines two major reasons why — an insular financial sector and stock buybacks — and describes a new model for a truly symbiotic relationship among business, government, and citizens. For this model to succeed, business and government in particular need to address three key questions: What should we create? How should we evaluate social impact? And how should we share?
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S13Trust: The Currency of Innovation - SPONSORED CONTENT FROM Mastercard Trust can be defined in a variety of ways, but when it comes to innovation, it may be best described as belief in the reliability and soundness of a new idea brought to market. Organizations have been increasing their focus on innovation since the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic tested not only how well they could adapt, but also how well they could maintain the trust of customers and employees suddenly worried they could jeopardize their health by simply entering a store or workplace. In the newest Business Innovators Index survey from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, 58% of executives say their organization now ranks innovation as a high priority, up from 54% in 2020 and 47% when the research was first launched in 2019. And 82% say high levels of customer trust make it easier to innovate.
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S14Is Bad Onboarding Stifling Your New Senior Leaders? Onboarding is traditionally an exercise in orienting new employees to the status quo: the existing people, rules, culture, norms, processes, procedures, and behaviors that they will need to be successful in their new job. But leaders today are brought into organizations to create change. The typical orientation process can stifle the new leader’s innovative spirit. To set up a new leader to create change, build their onboarding process around a specific near-term challenge, customize it around a particular question, or ask them to regularly report critical observations of what they learn to a group of stakeholders.
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S1512 Default Microsoft Excel Settings You Should Change With her B.S. in Information Technology, Sandy worked for many years in the IT industry as a Project Manager, Department Manager, and PMO Lead. She learned how technology can enrich both professional and personal lives by using the right tools. And, she has shared those suggestions and how-tos on many websites over time. With thousands of articles under her belt, Sandy strives to help others use technology to their advantage. Read more...
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S16Biden's big new student loan forgiveness plan, explained President Joe Biden announced his administration’s long-awaited student loan forgiveness plan Wednesday, saying it will forgive $10,000 in student loans for borrowers who earned less than $125,000 during the pandemic. People who received Pell Grants, grants to low-income students, while they were enrolled in college will be eligible to have $20,000 in debt forgiven.
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S17A neurotech company wants to use eye tracking to prevent injuries/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24061335/PRO_SYNC_Promo_Image_transp_004.png) Chelsea Lane was the head performance therapist with the Golden State Warriors when she first started checking her athletes with a product from NeuroSync, a neurotechnology company making a tool that tracks eye movements to understand brain health. Lane initially used it as part of the team’s concussion protocols. But when she moved to the Atlanta Hawks in 2018, she started using the information in another way: to try and understand how well her athletes were sleeping.
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S18Is 'reverse catfishing' really a thing? My friend Daisy asked for some help with setting up her Hinge profile the other week. “Are there too many pictures of me with a drink – do I look like an alcoholic?”, she asked, sliding her phone over to me and our other friend, Holly. “No,” Holly said, wrinkling her nose. “But it’s too normal.”
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S19A Teacher Who Joined OnlyFans to Support Her Family Was Fired For about six years, Sarah Juree worked full-time as a teacher in South Bend, Indiana, as part of the Department of Defense STARBASE educational program, which introduces Grade 5 students to science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM. But the single mother of twins said she was unable to support her family on the modest salary of $55,000 per year, especially as the cost of living continues to rise across the U.S.
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S20S21The magic of summer hoops, starring Trae Young, LeBron James and Paolo Banchero I AM SOMEONE WHO GREW UP in a city without an NBA team. A city with a rich basketball history propelled by local legends. People who starred in high school, and maybe played for a college team that you could watch on ESPN from time to time. Guys who came home in the summer and played in summer leagues and tournaments that captivated young, aspiring players who hoped to one day do the same.
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S22S23S24The Pandemic Has Dealt a Blow to Gender Balance At the time, the senior HR leader was working for a multinational company that was divesting its Asian business. When it became clear that Covid-19 posed a serious threat to Asia’s economy, the company accelerated those plans, laying off 60 percent of its corporate employees – most of whom were women working in Asia, Jolanda says. She was one of them.
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S25To Improve Your Team, First Work on Yourself If a team is not working well together, it’s highly likely that each person is contributing to the difficulty in some way. The odds of improving the team dynamic in a meaningful and sustainable will be higher if everyone — including the leader — learns to master three foundational capabilities: internal self-awareness, external self-awareness, and personal accountability. Internal self-awareness involves understanding your feelings, beliefs, and values, and how they impact your reactions. If you find yourself in an emotionally-charged situation, ask: What are my core values, and how might they be impacting my reactions? What are the facts vs. my interpretations? Next, consider the impact you may be having on your teammates. This is external self-awareness. One way to start is to observe others during discussions. Did someone raise their voice? Stop talking? Smile? You can collect some valuable information this way — but it also leaves room for misinterpretation. A more direct approach is to ask teammates for specific, straightforward feedback: What am I doing in meetings that is helpful? What am I doing that is not helpful? Lastly, to be personally accountable, practice assessing how you are contributing to the problem and make a conscious choice about how to react to improve the team’s outcomes. Changing how we process information and respond requires not just learning these new skills, but also demonstrating them long enough to form new habits.
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S26The Secrets of Great Teamwork Over the years, as teams have grown more diverse, dispersed, digital, and dynamic, collaboration has become more complex. But though teams face new challenges, their success still depends on a core set of fundamentals. As J. Richard Hackman, who began researching teams in the 1970s, discovered, what matters most isn’t the personalities or behavior of the team members; it’s whether a team has a compelling direction, a strong structure, and a supportive context. In their own research, Haas and Mortensen have found that teams need those three “enabling conditions” now more than ever. But their work also revealed that today’s teams are especially prone to two corrosive problems: “us versus them” thinking and incomplete information. Overcoming those pitfalls requires a new enabling condition: a shared mindset.
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S27How to Survive a Recession and Thrive Afterward According to an analysis led by Ranjay Gulati, during the recessions of 1980, 1990, and 2000, 17% of the 4,700 public companies studied fared very badly: They went bankrupt, went private, or were acquired. But just as striking, 9% of the companies flourished, outperforming competitors by at least 10% in sales and profits growth.
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S28The Psychological Toll of Being the Only Woman of Color at Work Systemic bias and discrimination at work can take a mental health toll on women of color. And due to a variety of factors, including a lack of mental health providers of color, women of color aren’t getting the mental health help they need. It’s a crisis where individual women of color begin blaming themselves for systemic bias. The author spoke with Danielle Jenkins Henry, licensed marriage family therapist associate (LMFTA) and founder of a psychotherapy practice for Black women, who offers four ways for women of color to take care of their mental health first and foremost.
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S29To Avoid DEI Backlash, Focus on Changing Systems -- Not People The enemy of well-intentioned DEI initiatives is backlash — and not just from people from privileged groups. Backlash from all directions is often due to DEI initiatives being framed as solutions to individual problems to be fixed rather than to correct for systemic issues at play in an organization. To reframe the conversation the author recommends five steps to implement in your DEI strategy: 1) Collect data to diagnose specific inequities in your organization, 2) communicate about initiatives using a systems-focused framing, 3) as change-making efforts begin, appeal to “fairness,” 4) clearly lay out expectations for change alongside resources and support, 5) sustain momentum by affirming effort and celebrating wins.
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S30Moving a Family Business Beyond the Founder's Vision To sustain a long-term family enterprise, it’s clear that having a founder who builds a great business is only the first step. As the legacy business and the entrepreneurial leadership of the founding generation gives way to the next generation, the business enters a transition to a new era where there are several related family owners, who often need to create a path to reconsider what business they are in, which goals to develop, and how they will do that. They must redefine the business and develop new opportunities for a new era. This transition requires members of the second and third generation to become entrepreneurs and pioneers in their own right. Their leadership is often less visible than that of the founder, but no less important.
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S31How Black Women Can Navigate Pay-Gap Gaslighting This year, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is almost a full two months later than it was just last year thanks to an ever-widening wage gap. While the burden of achieving equal pay remains on leaders, policymakers, and people in power, the author recommends strategies for Black women to fight the gaslighting that so often accompanies self-advocacy: call it by its name, embrace the discomfort, map what you’re making up for, fight fire with facts, let them tell you, and give yourself grace.
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S32Designing an Inclusive Metaverse The metaverse will offer new opportunities for the way we work and play, how we interact with brands, and much more. Companies planning to participate in the metaverse have an opportunity to remedy some of the mistakes of Web 2.0 and a responsibility to shape an inclusive space where everyone feels represented and that they belong. Three strategies, rooted in the 10 principles of the design justice network, offer a path of how we can get from here to there: 1) Assess the diversity at your table; 2) Frame the problem you’re trying to solve; and 3) Listen and probe with empathy.
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S33What Has (and Hasn't) Changed About Being a Chief Diversity Officer In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, corporate interest in DEI is higher than ever. But has this increased attention racial justice and inequity led to real, meaningful change? The authors conducted interviews with more than 40 CDOs before and after summer 2020 and identified four major shifts in how these leaders perceived their companies’ engagement with DEI: First, the CDOs confirmed that interest in DEI surged post-summer-2020. Second, the CDOs shared that they were increasingly expressing their personal values, rather than always resorting to the “business case” for diversity. Next, they shared that while their organizations had made a lot of promises, leadership often failed to live up to those commitments, and that a lack of strategic commitment and accountability stymied real progress. Finally, as a result of this and other challenges, they found that CDOs were more exhausted than ever. To address these issues, the authors argue that organizations must empower CDOs to drive long-term change not only by offering words of support, but by investing substantial time and resources into DEI, ensuring leaders across the organization are aligned and held accountable for DEI goals, and helping DEI professionals cope with the intense fatigue and burnout that often comes with the job.
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S34Why Economies Become Less Dynamic as They Age Covid-19 revealed the limits of the U.S. economy and the ways it wasn’t as dynamic as many had thought. For years, the U.S. has struggled to build new things, from roads to railways to housing, but analysts have struggled to explain why. But a canonical book by the political economist Mancur Olson offers an answer: As economies age, lobbyists and interest groups slow everything down. Olson’s book The Rise and Decline of Nations is being republished this year, with a new introduction. And it’s sparking a new debate over what went wrong with the U.S. economy.
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S35Sustaining an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Your Family Business The idea of generational decline in family businesses is nothing new. The old adage “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” seems to exist in one form or another in many cultures and languages. The common assumption is that the decline is driven by a generation gap of sorts, where successive generations become less motivated, and less capable of leading the business. But a decline in the entrepreneurial activity of a family business across generations is not inevitable. Rather than focus on significant issues (gaps) between generations, families should focus on correcting misalignments in expectations and needs. An emphasis on increasing the entrepreneurial ability of the next generation combined with efforts to provide opportunities for the next generation to act entrepreneurially will increase the willingness of the next generation to take action. There are many differences between each consecutive generation, but an entrepreneurial spirit does not need to be one of them.
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S36How Sustainability Efforts Fall Apart Sustainability has become the new corporate imperative. Companies have begun doing their homework, diligently setting up a number of initiatives. This is a good starting point, but too often, firms are unable to systematically scale these efforts to achieve a more transformative outcome. This is because internal hidden enemies act as antibodies and resist the change. Unless a company tackles the enemies early on, it will never be able to achieve sustainability at scale. Defeating the enemies is possible, as shown by the success stories in different industries. It’s time for firms to put in practice concrete countermeasures to fight back against the hidden enemies and unleash the full potential of sustainability.
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S37How Diversity of Thought Can Fit into Your DEI Strategy Fawn Weaver started a distillery using her own money to honor the life of Uncle Nearest, a former enslaved man who was Jack Daniel’s first master distiller. The company took off to become the fastest growing spirits company in the world, winning many awards for its whiskeys. Weaver, a Black woman, also was deeply intentional about building in DEI best practices in from the start, which surprised some people who thought a company with a female, African-American leader wouldn’t have to think as much about DEI. Wrong, Weaver says and she demonstrates the ways the company focuses on inclusion to avoid common pitfalls other companies face when building up their diversity efforts. Weaver focuses not just on demographic diversity, but also diversity of thought, a tricky concept that’s sometimes used as a scapegoat to avoid hard conversations about DEI. Weavers says you need both. Her journey is not over, though, as she continues to work on her company’s diversity, and her industries, partnering with Jack Daniels to build a pipeline of diverse talent in the spirits business.
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S38How to Prepare the Next Generation to Run the Family Business Why don’t more businesses pass down through the generations, and conversely, why aren’t younger generations more interested in taking on significant responsibility in their family businesses? Younger family members may be woefully unprepared to take on leadership roles when the business needs them, or may not wish to take on the burden of responsibility — either for managing the business or for “reporting” to other family shareholders. Several challenging familial conditions may exist, often in combination. And yet so many of these obstacles could be remedied with some forethought and openness. This article covers several approaches that can familiarize younger members of the family with the ins and outs of today’s business, and get them ready to feel comfortable taking the reins in the future.
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S39Is Your Board Inclusive -- or Just Diverse? In recent years, many boards have made substantial progress when it comes to increasing diversity. But the authors’ research suggests that simply increasing representation of women or ethnic minorities isn’t necessarily enough to achieve true inclusion in the boardroom. Through an analysis of director diversity and financial performance of the FTSE 350 as well as a series of in-depth interviews with global board members, the authors identify common benefits and challenges associated with moving beyond representation on the board. They then offer several research-backed strategies to help boards become not just diverse but truly inclusive, including adopting an intersectional approach, challenging assumptions around status and experience, and proactively investing in board culture.
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S40Visualizing the Rise of Global Economic Uncertainty Researchers have documented a rise in economic uncertainty in recent years, using text-based measures that track descriptions of economic conditions by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Not only does that work show that uncertainty is rising, it points to five crises that are driving it — including, most recently, the invasion of Ukraine. The researchers also suggest strategies for dealing with uncertainty: Pay more attention to geopolitics as it will continue to affect your business. Be willing to pay for flexibility, so you can change course more easily in the future. And invest in contingency planning to gain practice responding to economic and political shocks.
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S41The UK Economic Crisis Might Not Be a One-Off Markets have reacted poorly to the UK government’s new “mini-budget” combining energy price caps with tax cuts for the well off. The government’s search for a quick fix to economic growth is a mistake. In fact, restarting productivity and growth is as important as the Truss government says. But getting there will require a long slog of thoughtful supply-side reforms. And the crisis has lessons beyond the UK. Much of Europe faces the same lackluster productivity and the rise of counterproductive political populism. To keep Europe economically vibrant, politicians and businesses need to address the world’s most important problems head on—by making the right public and private investments.
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S42How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful than You How exactly do you voice dissent with your superior? And is it always worth it to do so? Communication experts say that while just agreeing feels easier, it’s not always the best decision to make. First, weigh the risk of pushback or a negative reaction from a boss against the risk of not speaking up. If you do decide to voice your opinion, there are some best practices to keep in mind. State your opinions as facts, avoiding using judgment words. In addition, ask permission to dissent instead of offering an unsolicited opinion. Keep in mind that the final decision is still in the hands of your boss, but being honest and respectful will show them that they have more options.
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S43How to Write a Cover Letter Perhaps the most challenging part of the job application process is writing an effective cover letter. And yes, you should send one. Even if only one in two cover letters gets read, that’s still a 50% chance that including one could help you. Before you start writing, find out more about the company and the specific job you want. Next, catch the attention of the hiring manager or recruiter with a strong opening line. If you have a personal connection with the company or someone who works there, mention it in the first sentence or two, and try to address your letter to someone directly. Hiring managers are looking for people who can help them solve problems, so show that you know what the company does and some of the challenges it faces. Then explain how your experience has equipped you to meet those needs. If the online application doesn’t allow you to submit a cover letter, use the format you’re given to demonstrate your ability to do the job and your enthusiasm for the role.
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S44How to Answer "Why Do You Want to Work Here?" Of all the interview questions job applicants prepare for, the most obvious ones sometimes get the least attention. Yes, you came ready to share your biggest flaw, your greatest strength, a moment when you shined, and a concept you learned, but what do you do with a broad but direct question like “Why do you want to work here?” In this piece, the author offers three strategies for answering this common interview question and provides sample answers for you to use as a guide.
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S4538 Smart Questions to Ask in a Job Interview The opportunity to ask questions at the end of a job interview is one you don’t want to waste. It’s both a chance to continue to prove yourself and to find out whether a position is the right fit for you. In this piece, the author lists sample questions recommended by two career experts and divides them up by category: from how to learn more about your potential boss to how to learn more about a company’s culture. Choose the ones that are more relevant to you, your interests, and the specific job ahead of time. Then write them down — either on a piece of paper or on your phone — and glance at them right before your interview so that they’re fresh in your mind. And, of course, be mindful of the interviewer’s time. If you were scheduled to talk for an hour and they turn to you with five minutes left, choose two or three questions that are most important to you. You will always have more time to ask questions once you have the job offer in hand.
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S46To Keep People from Procrastinating, Don't Give Them a Deadline Maroš Servátka of Australia’s Macquarie Business School and three coresearchers—Stephen Knowles, Trudy Sullivan, and Murat Genç, all from New Zealand’s University of Otago—invited 3,276 people to take a short online survey in exchange for a $10 donation to charity. Some participants were given a one-week deadline, some were given a one-month deadline, and some were given no deadline at all. Members of the last group returned more surveys than those in the other two groups did, and they also responded more quickly. The conclusion: To keep people from procrastinating, don’t give them a deadline.
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S47Life's Work: An Interview with Jerry Rice Rice first played organized football as a high school sophomore. By senior year he was an all-state receiver recruited by several colleges. He opted for a pass-reliant program where he could showcase his strengths and performed so well that the San Francisco 49ers made him a first-round pick in the 1985 NFL draft. He went on to win three Super Bowls with the team, play in 13 Pro Bowls, and set dozens of league records. Since retiring, he has worked in media, supported charitable work, and launched a natural-energy-drink company.
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S48The Surprising Benefits of Work/Life Support To succeed, almost every employee needs work/life support at some point. Women and people of color need it the most, research shows, because they face greater challenges and have fewer resources available to them. They are also the least likely to receive it, however, and as a result often are forced to change or leave jobs and lose out on opportunities for advancement.
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S49Case Study: What's the Right Career Move After a Public Failure? Whitney laughed. The two had been close friends since they met their first year at Columbia Business School. They texted pretty much every day, but Whitney had called to make a case for why her friend should fly up to New York City from Atlanta, where she lived with her husband and teenage daughter, to attend their 25th reunion.
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S50Don't Let Cynicism Undermine Your Workplace Some company cultures are marked by mistrust and paranoia, which leads to a slew of negative outcomes: poor performance, burnout, turnover, and cheating. People who worry about the behavior of others spread gossip and are prone to backstabbing. That brings out the worst in their colleagues, leading cynics’ suspicion and distrust to become self-fulfilling prophecies. The good news is that cynicism has antidotes, according to the author, who shares research findings—his and those of others—to help leaders understand how people fall into a “cynicism trap,” how their organizations’ policies and practices may be pushing them into it, and what they can do to escape it. Tactics include redirecting the organizational culture toward collaboration and trust and making sure that all managers—not just those at the top—are modeling trusting behaviors and combating cynicism in their interactions.
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S51How to Tell If a Prospective Employer Values Psychological Safety How can you assess whether a prospective employer offers psychological safety? In this article, the author outlines concrete strategies to help you screen for red flags: 1) Look and listen for inclusive vs. exclusive language. 2) Stay attuned to clarity in answers to your questions 3) Determine if the employer will meet your requirements 4) Ask open-ended questions about the culture during your interview. One example of a good question to ask: “Can you tell me about a time a person or team messed up? What happened?” This question gets to the heart of psychological safety. Organizations that allow mistakes and don’t penalize employees for failure provide the psychological security workers need to take risks.
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S52How to Deal with Layoff Anxiety Living in fear of a layoff can be crippling. Proactively confronting your layoff anxiety is the best way to keep fears from getting the better of you. The author offers strategies for managing your mind when facing layoff anxiety: 1) separate fact from fiction, 2) take constructive action, 3) deploy defensive pessimism, 4) rally your resilience, and 5) invest in self-complexity.
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S53The New Rules of Work Clothes After two years of hastily throwing a business jacket over a T-shirt and sweatpants while letting people into our homes during the Covid-19 pandemic, our tolerance for conformity — and discomfort — has changed. The business dress code is evolving. Have you been rethinking your work attire as you transition back into the office, but you’re worried about what others will think? In this piece, the author offers practical steps to try if you’re considering changing things up.
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S54How to Build a Career in a New Industry Deciding to switch career paths can feel daunting. Where do you even begin? In this piece, the author offers four concrete ways to ease the transition: 1) Start by mapping the terrain. Read the bios and LinkedIn profiles of senior leaders or fast-rising colleagues and reverse-engineer the path they followed. This will enable you — if you wish — to craft a similar roadmap. 2) Recognize that you’ll need to take the lead. 3) Network to give yourself optionality. As a new entrant in your field, it’s possible you may have landed at a suboptimal company (for instance, one with a toxic work environment or declining fortunes) without realizing it, because it’s likely easier for outsiders to break into an industry at a firm that insiders are avoiding. So network widely, because if your initial landing pad isn’t a fit, you’ll want to change quickly. 4) Identify emerging opportunities. If you can become the “go-to” person around an area that’s growing in importance, you can often build a career path around it.
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S55The Costs of Being a Perfectionist Manager Being a perfectionist does not mean that you are doomed as a manager. Organizational research on perfectionism is starting to provide new insights and practical evidence-based steps for managers and their network to breaking free from their perfectionistic compulsions. Fortunately, perfectionists are likely to be goal-focused and action-oriented and these strategies are aimed at helping them recalibrate their expectations.
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