Category: Career

Business 101: A reading list for lifelong learners

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

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Ready to level up your working knowledge of business? Here’s what to read now — and next. 

Business 101, with Nilofer Merchant

First, read these 2 foundational books…
1. The Change Masters
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Free Press, 1985

“A foundational book for your collection. When a colleague recently switched careers, I lent her this incredibly dog-eared book from college days. Rosabeth Moss Kanter helped coined the idea and term ’empowerment’ in the 1970s, a sure sign she was ahead of her time. Even though The Change Masters was published forty years ago, it’s relevant. Why? Because all progress is made by those that are change masters. Become one.”

2. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations
Clay Shirky
Penguin, 2008

“A few years back, I took out Clay Shirky’s book and found it filled with scribbles. While it’s almost passé now to talk of how Obama organized a large community to sweep into the presidency, Shirky’s book is textbook quality for what will happen next. It points to a new truth: Today, connected individuals can do what once only large organizations could. So look past the timeliness of his stories to see the timeless.”

Then, try these 4 to understand current needs…

1. Opposable Mind: Winning through Integrative Thinking
Roger Martin
Harvard Business Review, 2009

“I’m convinced that the way we create an abundant future of prosperity will require a global redesign of what is possible. And I think Roger Martin’s idea here could be key. When you hold two ideas as opposites, you’ll never find a way for both things to be true. But to go forward and reconcile some deep divides we have, we’re going to have to find new solutions to old problems through new thinking. Martin’s book is like yoga for the mind.”

2. Redesigning Leadership (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)
John Maeda
MIT Press, 2011

“The real question is: How will we reinvent the world around us? Well, fundamentally, it will involve having folks take the big step away from just being themselves (the thing we all know best) and join in doing something with others (the people we fear may let us down). John Maeda’s book captures a modern leader’s challenge to switch gears and become a social, collaborative leader.”

3. The Difference
Scott E. Page
Princeton University Press, 2010

“Complex systems turn out to be adaptive and resilient, and therefore thriving, systems. Sounds like something our world needs more of, right? See how a math theorist argues for including difference –- that is, cognitive difference — into our lives, our workplaces and ultimately what we create. The value of this difference is a proven truth, not a feel-good mantra, for how you shape both better ideas and new solutions. It’s going to be central to what happens next.”

4. Finite and Infinite Games
James Carse
Free Press, 1986

“Most of the ways people think of business, politics or economics assume that if you win, others lose. I’ve done thirteen years of schooling and realize that’s how people teach this stuff. Those people view the world as a finite game. But there’s another choice. After you read Finite and Infinite Games, you may never look at any relationship or power dynamic the same way again.”

Then, read this book to understand what comes next…

The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business
Umair Haque
Harvard Business Review, 2011

“Here’s one theory of what comes next in our economy, written by a sharp mind and cultural critic. His book doesn’t get everything right (How could it?), but it’s an incredibly powerful read on the right questions all of us ought to be asking.”

Last, one personal love worth sharing.

The Illuminated Rumi
Jelaluddin Rumi, with translation by Coleman Barks and illustrations by Michael Green
Broadway Books, 1997

“Because I believe all of us need to be grounded in eternal wisdom, I’d want you to have this book by your bedside with a prescription: Read daily.”

Featured image via iStock.

Powerful Conversations: How High-Impact Leaders Communicate

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

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All leaders talk, but it is what they say and how they say it that determines whether the group succeeds or fails.

Think about it: the leader’s most fundamental and most important job is to be in touch with those around him or her. Whether it is in the hallways or on the phone, in the middle of the workday or after hours, while delivering a performance review to a key employee or a yearly address to thousands of employees, leaders are involved in a constant series of conversations.

Through these encounters, whether brief and spontaneous or scheduled and structured, leaders try to use their time with colleagues, employees, customers, and others to reach a variety of ends. Grabbing a moment, the leader takes the opportunity to influence and direct a member of the sales staff. A weekly meeting becomes a chance to coach a manager and gather information about the department’s morale and its financial numbers. A quick e-mail checks on the progress of a research project and gives a boost of recognition and support to the team. During a strategy meeting, the leader negotiates next steps with division heads and outlines a coordinated approach. At a company awards ceremony, he or she tries to hammer home a message about values and goals. In short, the leader, through his or her conversations, aims to foster relationships, build support networks, and sharpen organizational focus.

Yet outcomes from conversations are too often unclear. Perceptions don’t always match. Influences are frequently not as profound as one would hope. Communication is generally a struggle with mixed, uncertain, and unpredictable results. Too much conversation is ad hoc and hinges on moods, energy levels, relationships, and personalities. Sometimes a leader is right on point. Sometimes he or she clicks and forges a new connection. Other times, the leader misses the mark. Either way, he or she pushes on, lining up the next meeting, setting up the next goal, responding to the latest need for clarification.

Communication is never easy. Inevitably, when a leader is driving change and dealing with conflicting agendas, some conversations provide a challenge that tests the bounds and skill of experience. During the heat of a difficult conversation, you need to fall back on a discipline. You need clear communication that advances agendas, promotes learning, and strengthens relationships. It’s the difference between achieving objectives and having everything fall apart—and the difference between winning and losing.

Imagine having to let a close friend know that he or she is off a project because of poor performance, yet wanting at the same time to preserve the strength of the relationship. Imagine having to make necessary structural changes to an organization, realigning roles and positions in ways that involve cuts in the workforce, yet wanting at the same time to bolster morale and organizational commitment. These are the difficult conversations that High-Impact Leaders face every single day, so what makes them different from any other leader?

High-Impact Leaders are the people who get results. They are the ones who make things happen. They are the leaders who are able to continually advance a clear agenda, get others to buy into it, and move an organization, a division, or a team forward. Being a High-Impact Leader has nothing whatsoever to do with title or rank, because High-Impact Leaders can be found up, down, and across any organization.

-Impact Leaders are the ones who cause no surprises. They are explicit, consistent, concise, and authentic. They sometimes have an abundance of charisma, but that is clearly not a prerequisite. More to the point, High-Impact Leaders are the ones who take charge wherever they are. They are the ones others want to follow. They are also the leaders whose teams others consistently want to join. When they move on to new roles or new territories, they do not travel alone. Others ask to go with them.

These conditions result because High-Impact Leaders use the technology of Powerful Conversations and then match what they say with what they do. Through Powerful Conversations, they develop openness, honesty, and clarity in order to get others to believe and share in their goals, to gain commitments, and to foster trust. And they prove they are worthy of that trust by delivering on their own commitments and by making results happen.

The link between Powerful Conversations and High-Impact Leaders lies in the relationship between two concepts I refer to as Say and Do. I have seen people skilled at the art of Powerful Conversations nevertheless fail as leaders because they fail to live up to their words. As a result, they never become High-Impact Leaders. I have never known a High-Impact Leader, however, who was not also skilled at Powerful Conversations, whether conscious of that designation or not. To be a High-Impact Leader, you have to be able to conduct Powerful Conversations on a consistent basis and live up to the outcomes of those conversations. Why is this important? It has to do with trust—without which conversations cannot progress toward the realization of commitments.

One of the most important functions of a Powerful Conversation is to create clarity, a critical success factor for building trust. I cannot tell you how frequently I have been involved in situations in which a leader, reflecting on problems that have arisen, says, “I can’t believe they thought I meant that. I never had any intention of doing that.” And the followers say something like, “It’s unbelievable. Our leader made a clear commitment to do this and now denies it was ever part of the agenda.” Both sides shake their heads. Barriers go up. Trust is reduced or nonexistent.

True clarity implies that a leader says exactly what he or she means in such a way that his or her statements are received as intended. This requires openness, honesty, and an active and careful tracking of wants, needs, and commitments. It furthermore requires that those clear statements be lived up to with demonstrated actions built on organizational trust.

High-Impact Leaders today lead in a better way because they recognize that the shortest path to achieving objectives is to build trust and gain clear commitments from others. Specifically, they engage in Powerful Conversations to uncover the wants and needs of others in order to understand what will motivate those people to join forces with the leader and live up to the commitments of a conversation. They skillfully orchestrate the Powerful Conversations in which they engage to make clear all parties understand the exact commitments that have been made. Then they check into those commitments and make sure through follow-up conversations that the commitments can be kept. They track the wants and needs of others and find ways to reinforce their own desire to understand the wants and needs of others, often through continued follow-up conversations. High-Impact Leaders do these things because they know that trust must exist if the leader is to achieve his or her agenda through Powerful Conversations to create positive outcomes for their teams and stakeholders.

by Phil Harkins

5 Ways To Feel More Fulfilled In Life

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

By Robert Kanaat

#1 — Gratitude

Gratitude offers us a platform for fulfillment. It’s easy to want things that we don’t have. In our consumption-driven society, we are always lusting after that shiny new object. But true fulfillment resides in appreciating what you have in the here and now rather than basing your happiness or fulfillment on the attainment of things.

With what we see on television or the Internet in the lives that the rich and famous lead, it’s hard to have gratitude for the small amount of things we might have. But, when you look at the other end of the spectrum, there are people living in complete squalor, under the guise of oppressive regimes, or simply in a state of lack without the basic necessities for life. For  that reason, we must appreciate what we have.

Take a moment to count your blessings, so to speak. Rather than thinking about what you want, appreciate what you have. Write it down, in fact. When you write it down, it sends a powerful signal to the subconscious mind. Don’t leave it in the realm of abstract thought. Spend a few minutes every single day doing this and turn it into a daily habit.

What you’ll come to realize over time is that you’ll feel much more fulfilled when you appreciate the things you have. If you’ve ever had something really bad happen to you and wondered why you didn’t appreciate a certain thing before, then you’ll understand where I’m coming from. What we have can be easily taken away in the blink of an eye. So appreciate it today — right now.

This also has very much to do with the element of focus. When you focus on the things that you’re grateful for rather than the things that you’re upset or angry about, your mind has a better chance to push forward towards your dreams through a humble approach that’s steeped in abundance rather than a state of lack. It provides the mental clarity to achieve all your dreams.

#2 — Balance

While pushing towards our goals, it’s easy to lose any sense of balance. Things just seem to fall to the wayside when we’re goal oriented. And, even when we’re not goal oriented, and we allow bad habits to do their slow-creep, the important things in life seem to fail to get our attention.

Whether it’s bad habits that are holding you back, or big goals that are pushing you forward, losing balance is quite easy. Things like family and friends seem to lose our attention when this happens. But there’s absolutely no way to feel fulfilled in life without a sense of balance.

Think about the things that once made you happy in life, and ask yourself why you’re not doing those things anymore. These things don’t have to cost money. I’m talking about taking a walk along a beach during the sunset or having a cup of coffee with a good friend and chatting about your day or your experiences.

If you’re a creative person and you’ve lost that sense of passion for the arts, then you need to reconnect with your creativity. Balance is an important pathway to fulfillment and we often allow things to go forgotten when we’re either too focused on our goals, or immersed in one of life’s many distractions.

Make a list of the things that you love doing but haven’t done in ages. Then, decide, right now, on a schedule where you can make time for those pursuits. Even if you feel like you don’t have the time in your schedule, find 15 minutes where you can do just that. That’s all it takes — just 15 minutes.

#3 — Contribution

There’s a deep and utter sense of fulfillment that comes along with contributing to others. I’m not talking about having to donate money; I’m talking about donating your time, a resource far more precious than money. We can always make more money, but there’s only a limited amount of time that we each have in this world.

In fact, numerous studies have confirmed that money does not buy happiness. However, money, when used to help others, leads to the most fulfillment in life. If you want to feel more fulfilled in life, contribute something to someone else. Use your expertise to help others out there. Not only does this create good karmic energy, but it makes you feel better, internally speaking. It puts your mind at ease knowing that you helped someone else out there who might not have been able to help themselves.

Pick up a good cause and donate your time to it. Whether it’s Habitat for Humanity, The Red Cross, or any other local organization around you, contact them and find out how you can contribute your time. Also, you could always head down to your local homeless or aid shelter to put in some time there as well.

Tony Robbins once said, “Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.” It’s also a great way to instill an element of gratitude in your life. When  you help and contribute to others, you learn to appreciate what you have rather than what you don’t have or what you want to have.

Like any other behavior, contribution can become habitual. Eventually, over time, your mind can seek out ways to help those around you and you’ll constantly be looking for ways you can give to others in the world. Again, it’s not about money. If you can afford to donate money, great. But donating money is a bit more self-removed. Donate your time, and it will really put you in touch with what you have to be grateful for and fill your heart with fulfillment at the same time.

#4 — Forgiveness

I once battled with an inability to forgive others. As a stubborn person, I often found it hard to see where I was wrong. And if someone crossed me, it was hard for me to go back and forgive them. But the problem with that, or so I found, was that it’s more difficult to live in a state of anger and hate than it is to live in a state of love and forgiveness.

When you refuse to forgive others for things that have happened in the past, it’s one of the surest ways to living the opposite of a fulfilled life. You spend all your mental and emotional energy focused on the anger and hate that you simply forget about the good things that used to exist in that relationship.

Focus is a very powerful thing. It’s the mind’s eye, leading you down the path that you choose to go down. As I said, like attracts like. So, rather than focus your energy on being angry or upset at someone, simply forgive them. I know it’s hard at times, and your forgiveness doesn’t even necessitate a phone call; just a short message saying you forgive that person.

If you don’t want to communicate with them, write it out on a piece of paper and simply save it somewhere. Put yourself in their shoes and think about what you would have done in their situation. Try to find some good out of whatever happened, no matter how small it might be.

#5 — Persistence

Last, but certainly not least, and one of the surest pathways to living a more fulfilled life, is the art of persistence. I once wrote a book on this very topic, so I believe wholeheartedly in staying persistent. Even in the face of negativity and people trying to hold you back, you can be more fulfilled in whatever you do, as long as you don’t give up.