How to kill your dreams: Count on overnight success. Think someone else has the answers you need.Decide to settle when growth is guaranteed.Assume failure is someone else’s fault.Believe that the only things that matter are the dreams themselves. This is a playbook by Brazilian entrepreneur and author Bel Pesce. Her advice for reaching your … [Read more...]
How to Build a Strong Company Culture
Want to build something great for the world? First, you have to build something great inside your company. This is the argument Fast Company co-founder Bill Taylor makes. He believes that companies that do great things operate from within a great company culture, and that culture is always built on unique rules. For instance, there’s … [Read more...]
Stop complaining about the same problem
A wise man spends all day listening to a seeker complain about the same problem over and over. One day, he tells a joke to the seeker, who laughs wildly. A moment later, the wise man tells the seeker the same joke. And a few minutes later, again. Confused, and no longer laughing, the seeker just stares. “See,” says the wise man, “you … [Read more...]
Turn fear into Opportunity
We all have an ambiguous relationship to fear. To some extent, if you’re not nervous, you’re not paying attention. Fear about financial security, for instance, can be a big motivator. But not every type of fear is productive, and some can be downright destructive. The trick is to know the difference. There is a often a healthy … [Read more...]
What great leaders understand about emotional intelligence
Do you ever let them see you sweat? The archetype of the stoic, unflinching leader is a hard one to shake in our culture. But displaying emotion is not necessarily a sign of weakness. As JotForm founder Aytekin Tank explains for Entrepreneur, it all comes down to the brain and how we use it. While raw emotion comes from the limbic brain, … [Read more...]
Why you should define your fears instead of your goals
What are you afraid of? Here’s an exercise the best-selling motivational author Tim Ferriss believes in for overcoming personal and professional obstacles. It’s called fear-setting — kind of like goal-setting, and related. Say your goal is to go back to school. Your list of fears might look something like this: I’ll run out of money and … [Read more...]
The obstacle in our path
How we deal with adversity is key to our professional success. There’s an old parable about a King who tested his subjects by placing a giant boulder in the middle of the road. He then hid in the bushes and watched as merchants, courtiers and citizens walked around the boulder, not bothering to do anything to fix the problem. You can be sure … [Read more...]
How to Sell Yourself to a Prospective Employer
How much are you worth? If you’re in the midst of a job search, you have a product to offer: yourself. Prospective employers are your customers, and you truly have to sell yourself to them. Think of a labor market as a true market. You need a competitive advantage. As Reid Hoffman writes in his book The Startup of You (a great title): “You … [Read more...]
The Power of Overcoming Adversity
Do you know the fable of the butterfly who didn’t get to struggle? It goes something like this: A man finds a cocoon and waits for the butterfly to emerge. But once a hole appears, he notices that the butterfly seems to get “stuck.” Trying to be helpful, the man uses scissors to enlarge the opening. The butterfly crawls out easily. Here’s … [Read more...]
Microsoft Study Reveals Top Three In-demand Skills
Robots might be great at crunching numbers quickly, but they don’t do empathy. In a world where automation can accomplish an increasing range of tasks, soft skills and other talents that only humans can provide are more and more important. Interestingly, the most in-demand, on-the-rise skill, according to World Economic Forum, … [Read more...]