Working from home is a not a new experience for many employees. In the United States, 50% to 70% of jobs can be done from home, but the number of remote workers is actually much lower. This trend is mirrored around the globe. That is, the actual number of remote workers trails the number of jobs that can be done remotely. At least, this was the trend before the current situation we find…
As governments around the world are under increased demands to reopen, leaders everywhere are making decisions in the face of staggering uncertainty and conflicting information. In many ways, the decisions that first closed down businesses and quarantined cities, although certainly difficult, were much easier exercises in short-term decision making and execution than those that leaders will have to…
A narcissist is defined as “a person who has an excessive interest in or admiration of themselves.” Given their self-obsession, it seems obvious that narcissists would be more likely to overuse first-person pronouns like “I,” “me,” “my,” and “mine.” We might especially think this is true on social media, where everyone has a platform to reach…
One of the most popular mantras for innovation is “avoid criticism.” The underlying assumption is that criticism kills the flow of creativity and the enthusiasm of a team. Aversion to criticism has significantly spread in the last 20 years, especially through the advocates of design thinking. (In 1999, in the ABC Nightline video “The Deep Dive,” which ignited…
Meaningful work is experienced as an accumulation of moments, not through all-day experiences of transcendent bliss. Thankfully we don't need meaning all of the time in order to love our work, as I discussed in a recent article. Research shows that if just 20% of our moments at work feel meaningful, we're less likely to burn out and more likely to feel engaged in our jobs. Put differently,…