Is your agility obstructing effective leadership? | Tap your self-awareness to be a better leader | Redefining what confidence looks like in the workplace
Is your agility obstructing effective leadership? Agility is an important aspect of leadership, but frequent change can confuse employees, writes Schaffer Consulting partner emeritus Ron Ashkenas, who recommends leaders define and communicate long-term goals to help prevent agility from having a negative effect. "If you are on a project, or leading a project, that seems to be constantly thrown off by changing course, then step back and ask the following question: Are we clear about our end-goal -- the outcome we need to achieve -- and do we feel that our changes are getting us closer to that goal?" Ashkenas writes. Full Story: Harvard Business Review (tiered subscription model) (9/20)
Self-awareness helps business leaders adapt to change, make better decisions, understand how others perceive your choices and recognize what triggers your responses, writes author and consultant LaRae Quy. Self-awareness requires eschewing self-absorption for the discomfort of making improvements, such as developing emotional intelligence and authenticity. Full Story: SmartBrief/Leadership (9/20)
Redefining what confidence looks like in the workplace Confidence is typically associated with traits like assertiveness and bravado, but what it really means is "an understanding and appreciation of your own talents and abilities," according to author Lisa Sun. Sun identifies eight confidence languages that people can draw on in the workplace: leading, performing, achieving, giving, knowing, creating, believing and self-sustaining. Full Story: Fast Company (tiered subscription model) (9/18)
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It's normal to celebrate significant employee accomplishments, but small, day-to-day successes that leaders want to see repeated should also be recognized and honored to build engagement, connection and loyalty, writes Leslie Zemnick-Folsgaard, an organizational leadership development consultant and principal at Kotter. Zemnick-Folsgaard outlines specific actions leaders can take to celebrate everything from individual achievements to team successes. Full Story: TLNT (9/12)
The Landscape
Amazon, Target, USPS ramp up holiday hiring Amazon is gearing up for the holidays and combating a labor shortage by hiring 250,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers, with some receiving $1,000 to $3,000 bonuses, and increasing its average pay for logistics personnel to roughly $20.50 an hour, according to a company announcement. Target is enlisting nearly 100,000 seasonal workers for stores and fulfillment facilities and the US Postal Service is onboarding 10,000 seasonal workers. Full Story: The Wall Street Journal (9/19),BNN Bloomberg (Canada) (9/19)
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Humming quietly did some heavy lifting for our health Sometimes we just need a simple, affordable, portable way to give ourselves a healthy lift. Humming turns out to be one of those ways. It stimulates our vagus nerves, which have a role in calming us down, and does multiple other good things including possibly relieving sinus issues. Next time you need a quick boost, knock out an "om" or a "hmm" and see what it does for you. Full Story: The Conversation (9/19)
You might not expect the infamous Chernobyl to house structures that hold the key to the future of renewable energy, but in some ways, it actually makes perfect sense given the isolation of the Exclusion Zone. There's hope that a new wind farm there could create enough power for 800,000 homes in Kyiv. Full Story: Interesting Engineering (9/20)
SmartBreak: Question of the Day
It's the 21st -- do you remember which album R&B group Earth, Wind & Fire's hit "September" appeared on?
