My reading list for 2014 has been shorter than my 2013 list for a variety of reasons- new baby, more time spent devoted to working with some wonderful clients and probably, most importantly, due to not setting a goal around reading this year (But that’s a post for another day- stay tuned for lots of good goal setting stuff soon to help us all kick off those New Year’s resolutions in the right fashion.) But, I have read some good ones this year and want to recommend my top picks organized for those hard to shop for people in which
Have you already started to think about your 2014 New Year’s resolutions? Before you do, consider how you can be most productive is a good way to frame those resolutions before you attempt to define them and then tackle them with the onset of 2014. Fast Company devoted much of its latest issue to productivity by highlighting productive people. These people all found their productivity sweet spot in a variety of ways. I could find no consistency in the activities or routines each person established, but there were several insights gleaned from the ways these highly productive and successful people
What’s impacting performance in the workplace more than anything else these days? Many people would say it is stress, which is pushing some to the point of full-blown mental health issues. Consider how Graeme Cowan, author of Back From the Brink, describes this reality in the Fall 2014 issue of Global Corporate Xpansion Magazine: “In a hypercompetitive global economy, organizations must be ‘on’ 24/7. Yet this scramble for perpetual performance is taking a harsh toll on employees. They relentlessly push to get ahead and stay ahead- working longer days, emailing after hours, taking fewer vacations- often with little acknowledgement for
Do you enjoy biology? Do you also like chemistry and mathematics? Do you think working in a lab conducting experiments and doing research is fun? If any of these things describe you, then a career as a Geneticist might be for you! What do you need to be a Geneticist? Education: Becoming a geneticist requires at least a Bachelor’s degree and most likely a Master’s degree or beyond. If you are a high school student, make sure you are focused on taking biology, chemistry and mathematics. Skills: Geneticists know how to: Use scientific rules and methods to solve problems Be
Quite a while ago, I wrote about the “Es of LEadership” with empathy being one of them. Not included in these essential “Es” was “expectations”. And as the article on empathy points to, sometimes managing expectations and having empathy seem to be in direct conflict. Setting, communicating, monitoring and maintaining expectations is a critical skill for leaders. We must maximize performance of others through effectively setting expectations high and constantly pushing others to reach higher. When we do so, we provide meaningful and challenging work, which has been shown to increase worker satisfaction leading to higher productivity (and profits). Yet