Many people working in large companies speak business-buzzwords as a second language. Business language is full of pretty meaningless words. I Don’t Understand What Anyone Is Saying Anymore article tells that the language of internet business models has made the problem even worse. There are several strains of this epidemic: We have forgotten how to use the real names of real things, acronymitis, and Meaningless Expressions (like “Our goal is to exceed the customer’s expectation”). This would all be funny if it weren’t true. Observe it, deconstruct it, and appreciate just how ridiculous most business conversation has become.
Check out this brilliant Web Economy Bullshit Generator page. It generates random bullshit text based on the often used words in business language. And most of the material it generates look something you would expect from IT executives and their speechwriters (those are randomly generated with Web Economy Bullshit Generator):
“scale viral web services”
“integrate holistic mindshare”
“transform back-end solutions”
“incentivize revolutionary portals”
“synergize out-of-the-box platforms”
“enhance world-class schemas”
“aggregate revolutionary paradigms”
“enable cross-media relationships”
How to talk like a CIO article tries to tell how do CIOs talk, and what do they talk about, and why they do it like they do it. It sometimes makes sense to analyze the speaking and comportment styles of the people who’ve already climbed the corporate ladder if you want to do the same.
The Most Annoying, Pretentious And Useless Business Jargon article tells that the stupid business talk is longer solely the province of consultants, investors and business-school types, this annoying gobbledygook has mesmerized the rank and file around the globe. The next time you feel the need to reach out, touch base, shift a paradigm, leverage a best practice or join a tiger team, by all means do it. Just don’t say you’re doing it. If you have to ask why, chances are you’ve fallen under the poisonous spell of business jargon. Jargon masks real meaning. The Most Annoying, Pretentious And Useless Business Jargon article has a cache of expressions to assiduously avoid (if you look out you will see those used way too many times in business documents and press releases).
Is Innovation the Most Abused Word In Business? article tells that most of what is called innovation today is mere distraction, according to a paper by economist Robert Gordon. Innovation is the most abused word in tech. The iPad is about as innovative as the toaster. You can still read books without an iPad, and you can still toast bread without a toaster. True innovation radically alters the way we interact with the world. But in tech, every little thing is called “innovative.” If you were to believe business grads then “innovation” includes their “ideas” along the lines of “a website like *only better*” or “that thing which everyone is already doing but which I think is my neat new idea” Whether or not the word “innovation” has become the most abused word in the business context, that remains to be seen. “Innovation” itself has already been abused by the patent trolls.
Using stories to catch ‘smart-talk’ article tells that smart-talk is information without understanding, theory without practice – ‘all mouth and no trousers’, as the old aphorism puts it. It’s all too common amongst would-be ‘experts’ – and likewise amongst ‘rising stars’ in management and elsewhere. He looks the part; he knows all the right buzzwords; he can quote chapter-and-verse from all the best-known pundits and practitioners. But is it all just empty ‘smart-talk’? Even if unintentional on their part, people who indulge in smart-talk can be genuinely dangerous. They’ll seem plausible enough at first, but in reality they’ll often know just enough to get everyone into real trouble, but not enough to get out of it again. Smart-talk is the bane of most business – and probably of most communities too. So what can we do to catch it?
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Frank Martelan tutkimusryhmä huomasi, että itseohjautuvuus edistää työntekijän motivaatiota, hyvinvointia, työn imua ja palautumista. Lue lisää aiheesta https://www.yty.fi/uutishuone/itseohjautuvuus-ei-ole-yksilolaji.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lies are liabilities: Why every organization needs a safe channel for whistleblowers
https://brand-studio.fortune.com/diligent/lies-are-liabilities-why-every-organization-needs-safe-channel-for-whistleblowers/?prx_t=pe0HAAAAAAjQ8RA&fbclid=IwAR2Rh3_91k3-3WNUknjETyNsnVGiDFqzltoxp-5hC4LwLrNdP5rfWuiNsVE
At Modern Governance Summit 2022, Diligent gathered three pivotal whistleblowers to share their stories and discuss the importance of a healthy corporate culture. Their insights are shared in Diligent’s latest blog.
It’s the job of audit and compliance professionals to ensure a company stays in line with regulations, but employees across all departments should feel empowered to speak up when they see something that isn’t quite right.
Over the past few decades, more and more individuals have found the courage to call out fraud and other misdeeds within their organizations.
Rather than fearing these whistleblowers, business leaders should encourage open communication and create systems to address problems internally.
Today’s stakeholders—which include not only investors, but also employees, customers, partners, and vendors—expect and demand ethical behavior, which is why it’s so important for companies to address problems from within, before they’re called out for inaction or accused of a cover-up.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Don’t Let Your Career Go the Way of Entertainment 720
https://www.securityweek.com/dont-let-your-career-go-way-entertainment-720
So how can we as security and fraud professionals ensure our careers don’t go the way of “Entertainment 720”? It is perhaps helpful to consider these professional development points:
● Strive to learn every day: Learning something new at work each day is not easy. It requires effort. It may be uncomfortable. It may require finding a way to set aside time for it. But if we are learning, we are growing and developing as people and as professionals. Each day we do this makes us better and more qualified professionals.
● Feel overwhelmed occasionally: It may sound crazy, but we should feel like we are overwhelmed occasionally. It is good for our careers to feel like we can’t keep our heads above water sometimes. Not all the time, of course, but periodically. Why? Because we will overcome the challenges and learn to manage what initially seems unmanageable. And that will make us better employees.
● Take risks: It may sound radical, but we should take risks at work each day. Not stupid risks, of course, but calculated, measured risks. Sure, there can be a downside to taking risks, but there is also huge upside potential. I’ve taken risks – I do so each time I put my thoughts down here on paper. I’ve been wrong. I have my critics. But hopefully I’ve also contributed to the pool of security and fraud knowledge that is out there.
● Offer information: Share collaboratively and in good faith, until someone gives you a reason not to trust them with information. Holding on to information gives a person short-term power over another person, but in the long-run, it limits their ability to build trust and develop relationships. That, in turn, harms their career prospects.
● Go on the record: I once worked for a boss who repeatedly stated, “if it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen.” He was absolutely correct. If we put things in writing, we run the risk of being criticized, called out, and/or mocked. Yet, if we never put anything in writing, what record is there that we worked? It is important to remember that while there is a risk in putting things in writing, there is also a reward – namely that people have the chance to hear our ideas, process them, and respond to them.
● Provide value: I am a firm believer in providing value to the security and fraud fields In the form of content – ideas, suggestions, techniques, and/or methodologies. How this value is provided – articles, blogs, webinars, or otherwise is less important than that it is provided. Sure, it requires an investment in time and energy, and yes, there is not always an immediate reward. Nonetheless, it is worth doing, and people do take notice of it.
● Engage: Do not pick and choose with whom, when, and how to engage. Withholding engagement until a person says the “right thing” is manipulative. It stokes people’s fear of missing out, and it isn’t a nice thing to do. If you put yourself out there openly and transparently, live that in the way you engage with people – whether they like what you’ve put out there or not. People will see this, and it will help your career.
● Build relationships: It sounds obvious, but don’t burn any bridges. Focus on building relationships, even if there is nothing to be gained from them immediately. Ultimately, relationships are what get most people their next gig. It is important to remember that building relationships is the best professional development tool most of us have access to.
Make no mistake, the social media celebrities in our fields are not in the security or fraud business – they are in show business. I may be wrong, but I surmise that their unspoken, unarticulated, deep-down fear is that it may all go away one day. If they haven’t focused on real professional skills, experience, and relationships, that fear might be spot on. Those who have focused in the right areas will have nothing to fear of course.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is your manager demanding too much of your time and overloading you with assignments? Public speaking expert John Bowe shares five simple phrases to help set boundaries without sounding “rude or unprofessional.”
How to tell your boss ‘That’s above my pay grade’—without sounding rude or unprofessional: Public speaking expert
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/04/how-to-say-thats-above-my-pay-grade-without-sounding-unprofessional-public-speaking-expert.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=Intl&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1669900741
As we return to pre-pandemic work hours and arrangements, how do you handle a manager who feels you should still be on call at all hours?
You want to be a team player and remain professional. But when your manager repeatedly ignores your workload, primary responsibilities and schedule, pushing you to the verge of burnout, it’s time to set limits.
If your boss gives you assignments above your pay grade, use these phrases to set boundaries without seeming childish, rude or unprofessional:
1. “Hold on, let me think it through.”
You’re not saying “yes” or “no” yet; you’re simply taking time to evaluate.
2. “What is most important?”
If you’re overloaded with commitments and your boss wants to add more to your list, it’s fair to ask which of your other responsibilities can be lessened or put on hold.
You could say: “I can’t manage all of these tasks as well as we want. Is there something that could take a backseat or that could be handed to someone else?”
3. “I’d like to help, but I’m not able to right now. Let’s find a workaround.”
If your boss’ objective seems reasonable but their timing is unrealistic, let them know.
Explain why you’re unable to accommodate their request, but go a step further and suggest: “Maybe there’s another way we can handle this.”
Then brainstorm a few potential solutions.
4. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”
Negotiations are a fact of life. Sometimes you’ll lose, and sometimes your boss will lose. They know that.
If your position is reasonable, you need only to stand your ground. Remain polite and resist the urge to over-explain. They asked. You said no.
5. “Sure! Happy to help.”
Somewhere in this conversation lies an assessment of your own self-interest. Never mind how you feel or what you think is fair.
Ask yourself what will make you happiest in the long-term: Will working an extra hour on Friday save you a headache later on?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frequent conflict is a new requirement for startup leaders
https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/30/frequent-conflict-is-a-new-requirement-for-startup-leaders/?tpcc=ecfb2020
“We’re going to need leadership that is actually much more comfortable with complexity.”
Karla Monterroso
Monterroso argued that a diverse workforce needs more than well-intentioned leaders to function properly. The skillset of a founder in 2022 comes with emotional intelligence on how to handle conflict, a mature understanding of power and the ability to offer context around decisions in a way that empowers their staff.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Entrepreneur Peter Shankman has one piece of career advice for anyone trying to find success: Do the job you’ve promised you’d do.
Entrepreneur and TED Talks speaker’s best career advice: ‘Suck slightly less than everyone else’
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/19/peter-shankman-career-advice-suck-slightly-less-than-everyone-else.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=Intl&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1669770779
Shankman has since written multiple books, given a TED talk about the importance of being nice and launched popular ADHD podcast “Faster Than Normal.”
Shankman’s No. 1 piece of career advice for those just starting out: “Be brilliant at the basics,” he says.
For him, this means knowing the parameters of what you’re doing and abiding by those parameters. That’s it.
“I don’t need you to redefine pi,” Shankman says about the level of excellence he’s advising. “I need you to suck slightly less than everyone else.”
‘We live in a world where the bar is so unbelievably low’
This can be widely applied to customer-facing work.
But it can also be applied to jobs that don’t require selling a product or service. If your highest priorities are ensuring your company’s site runs smoothly, adhere to those priorities and do them well. If you work in public relations and your job is to pitch your clients’ stories to media outlets, make sure that you’re pitching the right media outlets.
One more piece of career advice: Perfect your grammar and spelling, says Shankman.
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans (59%) find spelling errors in restaurant menus, store signs and ads annoying
Spelling errors can be a sign of general carelessness. This one erased any sense of trust Shankman had in the organization. He brought her back but spoke to management several times about the incident.
If you deliver the service you’ve promised in a clean and professional way, “I’ll come back every single time,” he says.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yksinkertainen selitys teknologiaosakkeiden nousuun ja romahdukseen
https://viisasraha.fi/Kumppaniartikkeli/Yksinkertainen-selitys-teknologiaosakkeiden-nousuun-ja-romahdukseen
Teknologiaosakkeet olivat 10 vuotta markkinaliidereitä, kunnes kurssit kääntyivät vuoden 2022 alussa. Kerromme yksinkertaisen selityksen tapahtuneeseen ja miten teknologiaosakkeet nousevat suosta.
Pandemia aiheutti voimakkaan kysynnän kasvun ja sitten normalisoitumisen
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brilliant and hard-working as you may be, if your way of speaking comes across as immature, then people will probably have a hard time taking you seriously.
Avoid these 5 types of words and phrases that make you sound ‘immature,’ says speech expert
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/14/avoid-these-words-and-phrases-that-make-you-sound-immature-says-speech-expert.html?utm_content=Main&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1669820053
1. Facts that are already in your slide deck
2. Asides
3. Filler words
4. Business jargon
5. Hedging words
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Avoid these 5 types of words and phrases that make you sound ‘immature,’ says speech expert
Published Mon, Feb 14 202210:36 AM ESTUpdated Tue, Feb 15 202210:08 AM EST
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John Bowe, Contributor
@IN/JOHNFBOWE/
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Man shrugging shoulders while explaining something
Francesco Carta fotografo | Moment | Getty Images
Fairly or not, people judge you for how you speak just as much as they do for what you say.
Brilliant and hard-working as you may be, if your way of speaking comes across as immature or scattered, then people — especially your bosses and co-workers — will probably have a hard time taking you seriously.
As a public speaking coach, I always stress that the key to respect and credibility is to be direct, succinct and informative. And you can start doing that by avoiding these five types of words and phrases:
1. Facts that are already in your slide deck
Examples:
“This slide shows we had $3 million in sales this year.”
“As you can see here, we had 10 clients in 2020, and 14 in 2021.”
“Just to show how we stack up against our competitors, here on slide nine is a side-by-side comparison between the features we offer versus some of the other key players in our space.”
“Our team has deep industry experience, as you can see from this slide showing our seven principles, whose names I will read out loud!”
When you read from your slides as if your audience is illiterate (and bloat your explanations with extras like “as you can see here”), you diminish your authority by wasting everyone’s time.
Visuals are great for illustrating and enhancing your point. Your job, as a speaker, is to add value. Never tell people what they already know. Talk about what is good, bad or otherwise meaningful about the information in your slide deck.
Of course, keep your audience in mind. If you are presenting to people who are blind, have low vision or are sitting too far away to see your presentation materials, some information on your slides may bear repeating.
2. Asides
Examples:
“This research was finicky, just like my mother-in-law.”
“This data took weeks to uncover. It was annoying, because our vendor was switching IT guys.”
“Sorry, this deck is a mess. I’ve been busy traveling.”
“So, I first got inspiration for this project from a guy I met in business school.”
When you divert attention by turning meetings into stand-up or show-and-tell hour, you position yourself as unserious, self-centered or inexperienced. Being smart in professional situations means staying on topic.
3. Filler words
Examples:
“Ahhh”
“Uhhh”
“You know?”
“Like, … ”
We tend to fall back on filler words when we pause and think about what we’ll say next. You won’t be faulted for the occasional “umm” or “so,” but be aware that every syllable demands an equal amount of the other person’s attention. Getting rid of fillers makes you seem more focused and articulate.
Business jargon
Examples:
“Circle back”
“Bandwidth”
“Low-hanging fruit”
“Synergy”
Saying “utilize” instead of “use” doesn’t make you look smarter. Business jargon adds bloat, not gravity, to your speech. And more often, it confuses — or inadvertently amuses — your audience. Say what you mean in plain speech.
Tomi Engdahl says:
6 Types Of Business Data Security Controls You Should Use To Keep Your Business Safe
https://pentestmag.com/6-types-of-business-data-security-controls-you-should-use-to-keep-your-business-safe/
In this age of digital transformation, more and more people switch to hybrid or fully remote work. That’s why it’s becoming more important to protect your data and cloud-based systems from unauthorized access, hacking, or breaches.
Cloud-based technology and tools are used by many businesses to do their day-to-day work. The internet has become an essential part of how businesses work, whether for long-distance conferences, advertising, buying and selling, researching, finding new markets, communicating with customers and suppliers, or even doing banking transactions.
Even though the Internet makes it easier to reach people, it also contains some security vulnerabilities that deteriorate daily.
Types of data security controls for businesses
These are the proven strategies to help your business stay safe and wade off cyber threats in this age of internet and digital transformation.
1. Strengthen password security
Your passwords are the key to your most sensitive business information, meaning you should take every precaution to keep them safe.
2. Manage data accessibility
The risk of a data breach increases with the amount of sensitive data available to your staff. Insider threats are a significant issue since some employees of your firm may intentionally leak sensitive information.
3. Raise phishing awareness and train employees on data security regularly
One of the biggest risks to any company’s data security is phishing, so you need to make sure that every employee is aware of it.
4. Set up encryption
Your consumer and business data can be protected from unauthorized access via encryption. Firstly, you should ensure that the network in your office is encrypted. The most sensitive company data is transmitted over this network, making it a prime target for hackers.
5. Set up anti-malware programs
Antimalware software should be installed on every computer, tablet, and mobile device used in an organization.
6. Always back up data
Would your company’s data still be secure and backed up if all of your devices abruptly stopped working? Most firms have a data backup system in place, but it’s usually insufficient. A reliable and updated backup is crucial.
Bonus tip:
● Ensure your business is compliant
Making sure that your business complies with data privacy laws is crucial. By stepping up their cybersecurity, some companies are already meeting expectations when it comes to data protection.
The consequences of a cyber attack on your business can be devastating. It can have a negative impact on your financial line, as well as your company’s reputation and consumer trust.
Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly common among businesses, but you can take safety measures to prevent them. You should keep your business safe by utilizing the data security controls highlighted above. However, your business must get better and better at protecting the information hackers want, regardless of how fast their skills and tools advance. Avoiding any cybersecurity blunders that may put your business at risk will also help
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forty-two percent of managers in a survey said that they sometimes forget about remote workers when assigning tasks.
What Is Proximity Bias and How Can Managers Prevent It?
https://hbr.org/2022/10/what-is-proximity-bias-and-how-can-managers-prevent-it?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
The recent shift to remote and hybrid work has created a “visibility” concern for many employees. Proximity bias describes how people in positions of power tend to treat workers who are physically closer to them more favorably, and stems from the antiquated assumption that those who work remotely are less productive than those who work from the office.
This concern is not unwarranted. Last year, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) released findings from a survey of more than 800 supervisors. SHRM reported two-thirds (67%) of supervisors overseeing remote workers admitted to believing remote workers are more replaceable than onsite workers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hbr.org/2022/10/what-is-proximity-bias-and-how-can-managers-prevent-it?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
Mitigate face time concerns proactively.
Typically, managers meet with their direct reports during quarterly or annual performance evaluations. To address the problem of decreased face time with remote workers, initiate more frequent (weekly or biweekly), low-stakes performance evaluations or one-on-one check-ins.
Use this framework to start:
With each team member, agree on three to five weekly or biweekly performance goals. Depending on their roles, these may vary from short-term, tactical goals like “writing 10 social media posts” to longer-term goals like “reducing average response time to 48 hours.”
Three days before your check-in meeting, ask your team member to send a brief report of how they’re progressing, what challenges they’re facing, how they might overcome them, and propose a few goals for following week(s). Ask them to keep it to a few short bullet points.
One day before the meeting, respond with your initial impressions of the report. Include any feedback you have, and a proposed agenda for your check-in.
At the one-on-one, focus on coaching your team member on how to solve any challenges they’re facing, revise any goals that need to be adjusted, and affirm the work they’ve been contributing. These check-ins can be used to inform your more formal performance reviews later on.
The intention behind these meetings is to give personalized face time to each of your team members, ensure that you’re aware of their work, and also let them know that their work is visible to you.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Konsulttiarki – valmennusta, ennakointia, työkalupakkia ja kuokkimista
23.11.2022
https://brunnen.fi/konsulttiarki-valmennusta-ennakointia-tyokalupakkia-ja-kuokkimista/
Mielikuvat konsultin työstä tuntuvat vaihtelevan. Siinä missä konsultointi näyttäytyy yhdelle luennoivana jargonina, toiselle se on käytännönläheistä projektityötä ja kolmannelle strategista neuvonantoa. Lisätäkseni ymmärrystä konsulttityön moninaisuudesta poimin alle konkreettisia esimerkkejä viime keväältä. Arjen työn avaaminen voi olla avuksi sekä viestinnän ammattilaiselle että alan opiskelijalle, olipa harkinnassa viestintäkonsultoinnin osto tai työskentely alalla.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Päivässä todettiin, että paras tapa lähentää viestintää liiketoiminnan kanssa on opetella puhumaan liiketoiminnan kieltä ja tehdä viestinnän vaikuttavuudesta näkyvää. Näin viestintä nähdään selkeämmin osana johtamista ja sen potentiaali kirkastuu paremmin. Vahvalla yhteistyöllä sekä liiketoiminnasta että viestinnästä tulee vaikuttavampaa eli tuottavampaa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/10-smart-not-soft-skills-leaders
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tyohaastattelussa-rikotaan-usein-lakia-tata-asiaa-ei-saa-kysya-edes-vapaamuotoisesti/b2cb16c1-b74e-43e6-ad14-7434e7c8375b
Tomi Engdahl says:
If you’re a bootstrapped startup, turn to user-centered design to thrive during adversity
https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/05/if-youre-a-bootstrapped-startup-turn-to-user-centered-design-to-thrive-during-adversity/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here are 9 other phrases to avoid.
10 common phrases that make you sound passive-aggressive in the workplace
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/19/these-phrases-make-you-sound-passive-aggressive-in-the-workplace.html?utm_content=Main&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1669667783
According to the findings, here are the top 10 most passive-aggressive phrases in the workplace:
1. Please advise
2. Noted
3. Friendly Reminder
4. Will do
5. Thanks in advance
6. Per our last conversation
7. Circling back
8. As per my last email
9. As promised
10. As discussed
WordFinder also identified some of the least passive-aggressive work phrases, including “Sorry to bother you again,” “Any update on this” and “I’ll take care of it.”
According to Mercurio, the difference in the delivery of these phrases have to do with timing and attitude. He also urges employees to think twice before sending their emails.
“To communicate effectively, employees should remember not to respond to messages or emails when in a state of frustration. They should also assume good intent, show empathy and encouragement, and avoid digital ghosting. As a rule of thumb: if you feel uncomfortable reading it directed toward you, try rethinking your approach.”
Communication is one of the most important parts of an effective workplace, according to BetterUp, as it “boosts employee morale, engagement, productivity, and satisfaction.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://blog.frontkom.com/en/what-is-a-digital-strategy
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kärsitkö boreoutista? Töissä tylsistyminen on tabu, mutta se on burnoutin kaltainen uhka työhyvinvoinnille
https://atalent.fi/blog/boreout-toissa-tylsistyminen?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=facebook+instagram&utm_campaign=b2c_some&utm_content=boreout_v1_kuva&hsa_acc=10150179678108607&hsa_cam=6271425139202&hsa_grp=6271524335802&hsa_ad=6278142898602&hsa_src=fb&hsa_net=facebook&hsa_ver=3&fbclid=IwAR3beYthCU56Yj8oCBlICM0fAMdy1tbfTTyWLKhk4NmIQt37UAu7l9dT0lw
Boreout, eli töissä tylsistyminen ja turhautuminen voi oireilla jopa työuupumuksen tavoin: työtehtävät eivät enää tunnu mielekkäiltä, väsymys vaivaa ja olo on kaikin puolin passiivinen ja ankea. Boreout on myös vaiettu puheenaihe, sillä moni pelkää laiskurin leimaa – turhaan.
Boreoutista puhutaan paljon vähemmän, sillä se nähdään usein jonkinlaisena burnoutin hieman häpeällisenä serkkuna. Saatetaan olettaa, että työntekijä on laiska eikä yksinkertaisesti jaksa tehdä työtehtäviään, minkä vuoksi aikaa on liikaa – ja se käy pitkäksi.
Boreout-oireista kärsivät usein tunnolliset ja päämäärätietoiset työntekijät, jotka kaipaavat uraltaan haasteita, merkityksellisiä työtehtäviä sekä selkeitä etenemismahdollisuuksia.
Boreout voi johtaa usein myös burnoutin kaltaisiin stressioireisiin, kuten selittämättömään väsymykseen ja jatkuviin keskittymisvaikeuksiin – ja jopa varhaiseen eläköitymiseen.
Ilmiön juurisyyt ovat tavallisesti kuitenkin muualla kuin työntekijässä itsessään.
Haasteiden puute ja merkityksettömyys turhauttavat helposti
Työterveyslaitoksen tutkimus vuodelta 2014 osoittaa, että boreoutista kärsivät eritoten nuoret, uransa alkutaipaleella olevat työntekijät.
Nuoret työntekijät ovat motivoituneita näyttämään kykynsä ja oppimaan uutta. Jos toivottuja haasteita ja mahdollisuuksia näyttää omaa osaamista ei ole tarjolla, pettymys vallitseviin työoloihin voi näkyä passivoitumisena ja turhautumisena.
Työpaikan ongelmat vaikuttavat jaksamiseen
Turhautumisen taustalla voi olla myös työpaikan hallinnolliset ongelmat. Jonkun työpöytä voi tuntua jatkuvasti liian tyhjältä toisten paiskiessa joka ilta ylitöitä, koska resursointi tökkii. Myös muut työkulttuurin ongelmat, kuten työpaikan henkinen ilmapiiri vaikuttavat jaksamiseen olennaisesti.
Jos leijonanosa työajasta kuluu työpaikan byrokratian tai tehottoman teknologian kanssa kamppailemiseen, motivaatio voi pudota nollaan alta aikayksikön.
Mikäli työpaikan palautekanavat eivät toimi, tieto ongelmista ei välttämättä välity johdon korviin. Tämän takia anonyymien palautekanavien ylläpito on ensisijaisen tärkeää.
Tomi Engdahl says:
If you’re underperforming, don’t just sit back and wait for that painful performance review. Talk to your boss.
How to Talk to Your Boss When You’re Underperforming
https://hbr.org/2018/12/how-to-talk-to-your-boss-when-youre-underperforming?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit
It’s normal to underperform on occasion. After all, everyone has an off quarter — or even an off year — from time to time. But don’t just sit back and wait for that painful performance review. You need to have a conversation with your manager sooner rather than later. How should you position the news? How can you maintain your reputation while being honest? And what sort of explanation — if any — should you give?
What the Experts Say
When you’re having a bad time at work — your big project isn’t coming together as planned or you’re missing your sales targets by a wide margin — talking to your manager may be the last thing you want to do. But you shouldn’t shy away from the topic, according to Jean-François Manzoni, president of IMD and the author of The Set-Up to Fail Syndrome. “You don’t want your boss annoyed at you and wondering” about what’s going on, he says. It can be a tricky conversation, however.
Dick Grote, a management consultant and author of How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals, says you must do two things to preserve your professional standing. First, “come clean” about your underperformance “before your boss has had a chance to discover it another way,” and second, focus on “solutions, not excuses.” Here are some ways to think about — and prepare for — the discussion.
Reflect
The first step in owning up to your underperformance is determining the source of the problem. For starters, says Manzoni, you need to consider “whether you really are underperforming.” Often our efforts don’t “immediately translate into desired organizational outcomes.” In other words, “you could be doing all the right things but, unfortunately, it’s taking a long time for it to lead to positive results.” Look at what both the “leading and lagging indicators” tell you. If both point to underperformance, Grote recommends a period of “soul-searching.” You need to figure out if this “is a one-off situation or more of a trend.”
Prepare
Next, says Grote, you need to think about your underperformance from your boss’s perspective. Ask yourself, how will my boss react to this news? “If you have a boss who has a propensity to blow up, you need to prepare for that,” he says. “You don’t want to go in naïvely thinking ‘I hope my boss is in a good mood today.’”
Own up
When the time comes to talk to your boss, be straightforward and direct, says Grote. “Start the conversation by saying, ‘I have some bad news for you.’” Doing so “rivets the person’s attention” and ensures “no mixed messages.” Second, “appropriately express contrition and remorse.” A sincere “I’m sorry” goes a long way. Finally, segue into how you can make it right. “Focus on correction, not blaming, shaming, or fault finding,” he says.
Ask for advice
As you offer ideas and suggestions on how to improve the situation, it’s worthwhile to ask your manager for guidance, according to Manzoni. “Asking your boss for advice shows that you respect your boss’s intellect and that you trust your boss,”
Think long term
If your underperformance is representative of a bigger problem, you need to address it. This will be a separate and “longer conversation” with your manager, says Grote. He recommends saying, “When we get over this hump, I’d like to schedule a time to talk with you about the implications of this and what I can do in the long term to make sure it never happens again.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
In a study of 60 leaders, those who were most successful in overcoming resistance were the ones who diagnosed the root of a disagreement before trying to persuade.
How to (Actually) Change Someone’s Mind
https://hbr.org/2020/07/how-to-actually-change-someones-mind?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit
If you’re a leader, it’s likely that not everyone who works with you will agree with the decisions you make — and that’s okay. Leadership involves making unpopular decisions while navigating complex relationships with colleagues, partners, and clients. But often, you will need to get buy-in from these constituents, and therefore you will need to convince them to change their mind.
There is little friction involved in convincing people who are your natural supporters. But trying to change the mind of a dissenter, or a detractor, is a different story. How do you go about convincing someone who, for one reason or another, doesn’t see eye-to-eye with you? Someone who gives you a flat out “no”?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Most people don’t work in isolation. So instead of prioritizing individual productivity, more organizations should prioritize productivity at the system level.
https://hbr.org/2021/01/productivity-is-about-your-systems-not-your-people?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit
Tomi Engdahl says:
One company built a dashboard to monitor employee burnout.
How People Analytics Can Help You Change Process, Culture, and Strategy
https://hbr.org/2018/05/how-people-analytics-can-help-you-change-process-culture-and-strategy?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit
It seems like every business is struggling with the concept of transformation. Large incumbents are trying to keep pace with digital upstarts., and even digital native companies born as disruptors know that they need to transform. Take Uber: at only eight years old, it’s already upended the business model of taxis. Now it’s trying to move from a software platform to a robotics lab to build self-driving cars.
Tomi Engdahl says:
When people experience gratitude from their manager, they’re more productive. And when teams believe that their colleagues respect and appreciate them, they perform better.
https://hbr.org/2020/01/the-little-things-that-make-employees-feel-appreciated?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit
Tomi Engdahl says:
Psykologinen turvallisuus ja luottamus on tunnistettu kilpailuvalteiksi, joita Parhaat Työpaikat hyödyntävät.
Suomen Parhaissa Työpaikoissa 91% työntekijöistä kokee, että ”Johto on helposti lähestyttävissä ja heille on helppo puhua.”
Lue lisää sivuiltamme!
https://greatplacetowork.fi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kuuma startup-trendi sai tuomion: rajoittaa luovuutta
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tv/6dbbdaf1-a1e5-453f-8044-064b26ff7857
Erityisesti startupien suosimat coworking-tilat eli yhteisölliset työtilat eivät välttämättä ole pidemmän päälle toimiva ratkaisu. Näin antaa ymmärtää tuore tutkimus, jossa tarkkailtiin yhtä Euroopan suurimmista yhteisöllisistä työtiloista. Tutkimuksesta uutisoi EurekAlert.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The one slide 99% of founders get wrong when fundraising
https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/11/the-ask/?tpcc=tcplusfacebook
The ‘ask and use of funds’ slide is an opportunity to shine as a founder. Don’t waste it.
There’s one slide that almost every founder gets wrong when they are putting together a pitch deck to raise money from venture capitalists. The slide is usually known as “the ask,” and it typically lives toward the end of the pitch deck.
It is meant to do something pretty straightforward: Explain how much money a startup is raising and for what. It shouldn’t be rocket science, but it’s almost universally a struggle to get right.
Here are the most common mistakes:
Forgetting to include the slide altogether.
Not naming a specific dollar amount you are raising.
Including a valuation on the slide.
Omitting what the funds will be used for.
Listing a specific runway, i.e., “This will keep us running for 18 to 24 months.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stop Eliminating Perfectly Good Candidates by Asking Them the Wrong Questions
https://hbr.org/2019/03/stop-eliminating-perfectly-good-candidates-by-asking-them-the-wrong-questions?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=Linkedin&tpcc=orgsocial_edit
I could tell right away from the tone of his voice that the VP of Engineering wasn’t happy. He practically growled at me. He had just finished interviewing a job candidate named Anand, who I had directed his way, and was calling me to say he was going to pass.
He had interviewed for nearly a full day, meeting with different leaders across the organization, including, at the end of the day, the VP of Engineering. I had helped this company build out a new “platform” strategy, which is why I was trying to identify the right candidates to work on it, and I thought Anand would be a great fit.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard a leader say that a perfectly qualified candidate is a “bad fit.” Candidates are too often screened out because they don’t fit a particular pattern – one survey found as many as 75% of resumes don’t make it past Applicant Tracking Systems.
As I discussed the issue further with the VP, I learned that he thought that Anand had the right skills and experience but that he found Anand’s questions annoying. He said: “He asked us a ton of questions that the team didn’t have the answers to.” His assessment that Anand was a “bad fit” was really code for “I don’t want to feel uncomfortable.”
Instead of being annoyed by Anand’s questions, the VP should’ve welcomed them — and asked Anand questions in return. That is, of course, the value of an interview. An employer seeks to learn about the candidate’s skills and relevant experiences. And a good candidate uses questions to learn about the role, the boss, and the company to assess whether it’s the right job. Here are some types of questions the VP might’ve asked — and the ones you should ask — to avoid screening out a perfectly good candidate based on the wrong criteria.
Questions that uncover capabilities, not just experience. Are you asking questions that get to someone’s capabilities or are you seeking confirming data that someone has done exactly what you have already scoped?
The upside of asking for years of experience is we get someone who has done what we need. The downside is we risk limiting what we can create next by doing what has already worked. Instead of asking, “Have you done x or y or z?” you want to ask, “How would you approach doing x or y or z?” This shift in question lets you learn someone’s capacity to think with you.
Unfortunately, right now, an estimated 77% of all jobs (60% in the U.S. and 80% worldwide) require little to no creativity, decision-making, or independent judgment. But if you are working on innovation, you need someone who can think with you. And by focusing on capability over experience, you increase the chances you find that person.
You might ask candidates, “How would you handle a situation where it’s become clear that there is a gap on your team?” Interviewees are often told to use “I” to get credit for work done, but “we” is probably a more realistic depiction of how work gets done.
You want to find people who can play together, filling in the gaps between predefined roles to get the work done.
Questions that uncover the kinds of things they love to work on. If you’re hiring for innovation, you need to ask what this person authentically brings to work. Ideas, after all, are not invented and grown in a vacuum; they grow and evolve by connecting previously separate elements. Figuring out what people genuinely care about lets you put people together who don’t have the same approaches but who want to reach the same goal. It’s that connection where innovation happens.
Too often, leaders screen out perfectly good candidates because they don’t understand how to hire people for co-creative problem solving. It’s easy to forget that the job of a leader isn’t to know all the answers but to create the conditions by which the entire team gets to learn and innovate.
In the end, the VP did hire Anand
Tomi Engdahl says:
Corporate culture is 100% drunkard search fallacy. They ALWAYS look for answers, where it is easy to find answers, not where the truth lies. And the reason is simple: management is detached from market reality, so their goal is scoring corporate wins, not market wins.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kari Enqvistin kolumni: Jos haluaa rationaalista keskustelua, sitä pitää käydä kielellä, jonka toinen ymmärtää
Usein emme vaivaudu kuuntelemaan toista vaan panemme hänen suuhunsa sanat, jotka olemme hänelle roolittaneet, kirjoittaa Enqvist.
https://yle.fi/a/74-20008248
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kun työntekijää yritetään savustaa ulos työpaikasta, on kyse quiet firingista eli hiljaisesta irtisanomisesta. Onko asialle tehtävissä mitään?
Quiet firing ajaa työntekijän ahtaalle
https://proliitto.fi/fi/ajankohtaiset/quiet-firing-ajaa-tyontekijan-ahtaalle?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=marraskuu&fbclid=IwAR0CJRXc2pZBirzWGTtwfueZMyhvcE3I9chw3QJvYhMg72Njr7WPjqobLGE
Quiet firingista on alettu puhua työelämäpuheessa vilahdelleen quiet quitting -termin rinnalla. Hiljaisessa irtisanomisessa koetetaan työntekijä saada kokemaan olonsa niin nurkkaan työnnetyksi, että hän lopulta äänestää jaloillaan. Onko mitään tehtävissä, jos hiljainen irtisanominen osuu omalle kohdalle?
Quiet firingista puhutaan, kun työntekijä koetetaan saada vaihtamaan oma-aloitteisesti työpaikkaa. Sinänsä kyseessä ei ole uusi ilmiö, vaan vanha tuttu savustaminen.
– Jos meihin on oltu yhteydessä tämän ilmiön tienoilta, silloin on yleensä puhuttu savustamisesta. Työntekijän olo pyritään tekemään niin hankalaksi, että henkilö tekee itse ratkaisun lähteä pois työpaikasta
Miksi sitten vaivaudutaan savustamaan?
– Eri syistä. Joskus syy on se, että ei ole rohkeutta lähteä tekemään ratkaisuja ja nostamaan asioita pöydälle. Toinen syy on, että halutaan ihmisestä eroon, mutta Suomen lainsäädäntö ei mahdollista irtisanomista ilman kunnon perusteita.
Quiet firing tai savustaminen ei kerro yrityskulttuurista mitään hyvää. Jos sitä esiintyy, johtamisessa on aina ongelmia.
Laki säätelee sitä, millä perusteella työsuhteen voi päättää. Jos ollaan epävarmoja siitä, täyttyvätkö kriteerit, saatetaan kokeilla savustamista.
– Tätä ongelmaa nähdään kyllä kaikilla toimialoilla, valitettavasti.
Quiet firingissä konstit ovat monet
Palkankorotus, joka jätetään antamatta. Komennus läsnätöihin, vaikka kaikki muut saavat halutessaan tehdä etätöitä. Jättäminen pois työpaikan viestiketjuista. Palaverikutsu, joka ei koskaan saapunut.
Quiet firingin keinovalikoimasta löytyy kaikenlaista.
– Käytännössä työarki tehdään niin hankalaksi ja epämieluisaksi, että työntekijä irtisanoutuu tai ainakin ryhtyy etsimään uutta paikkaa aktiivisesti, Peter Peitsalo kiteyttää.
Tyypillisin quiet firingin muoto on ulkopuolelle jättäminen.
– Työntekijä jätetään kokousten ja tapaamisten ulkopuolelle, ei tarjota mahdollisuutta kouluttautua tai kehittyä työssään.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sam Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes And 9 Other Epic Billionaire Blowups
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2022/11/19/sam-bankman-fried-elizabeth-holmes-and-9-other-epic-billionaire-blowups/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainFB&sh=1351b4c64bcb
From financial ruin to jail time, here are the big billionaire downfalls that compete with Sam Bankman-Fried’s $17 billion FTX collapse.
Over the past 20 years, other fortunes have imploded for a wide variety of reasons including fraud and deceit. Many of these blowups have led to lawsuits and even jail time. That includes Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of now-defunct blood testing firm Theranos, who was sentenced on Friday to more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors. Three others are now behind bars while one is on house arrest and another is awaiting trial.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://atalent.fi/blog/boreout-toissa-tylsistyminen?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=facebook+instagram&utm_campaign=b2c_some&utm_content=boreout_v1_kuva&hsa_acc=10150179678108607&hsa_cam=6271425139202&hsa_grp=6271524335802&hsa_ad=6278142898602&hsa_src=fb&hsa_net=facebook&hsa_ver=3
Tomi Engdahl says:
Too many cooks? The challenges and benefits of working with multiple teams
https://www.taiste.fi/post/too-many-cooks-the-challenges-and-benefits-of-working-with-multiple-teams?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=promotedpost&utm_campaign=website&utm_content=toomanycooks&fbclid=IwAR0mTlhHWrQaNTl6eg2ufzVwLwfG1TClWiGHT7GxHc6oiIl0LPpnVWyn88w
The bigger the digital project, the more common it is to have multiple teams from different companies working together. In this article, UX Designer Tiina Viljakainen shares her experiences with such situations – using the work we did for Suomen Kuvalehti as an example.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Deliver Bad News to Your Boss
https://hbr.org/2022/06/how-to-deliver-bad-news-to-your-boss?utm_campaign=ascend&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
“The website crashed this morning.”
“We lost the bid to a competitor.”
“We have a problem with the project.”
This is probably how most of us bring problems to our managers: We tell them what’s wrong, and wait patiently while they come up with a solution, hoping the moment will quickly pass.
It makes sense. Telling your boss that something isn’t going right can be daunting, especially when you’re just starting out or have recently joined an organization. As the new person, you want to appear responsible, put together, and keep your tasks in control. Admitting that something is going wrong or that you failed to meet an expectation may even trigger major stress or anxiety.
But before you lose your calm or try to manage it all on your own, here’s what you need to know: These conversations are an inevitable part of every job. Your ability to get through them gracefully is largely dependent on how well you can explain the issue to people in positions of power.
When you can effectively communicate a problem to your manager, you not only benefit yourself but also your entire team. You set the example for how people should respond in moments of crisis, improve collaboration, and keep people accountable. On a personal level, you make a positive impression, maintain a good reputation, and build a foundation of trust with your manager and peers.
What does “effective communication” in this scenario look like? Here’s a four-step framework that will help you deliver bad news to your boss.
Step 1: Introduce the problem.
Before you approach your manager, take some time to gather your thoughts. Practice summarizing the problem in a couple of sentences. Think about what happened, when, and who is affected (or will be). This could be customers, your team, other teams, the overall business, or a combination of all these stakeholders. Being clear about these details will help your manager quickly understand the situation.
Avoid the temptation to go into detail about why the problem happened.
Step 2: Briefly describe the impacts.
For each stakeholder you’ve identified, list out what impact this problem is having on them and the timeframe in which you expect it to take place.
In your explanation to your boss, aim to answer the following questions:
Will this problem financially hurt the company? Has it already?
Will customers be unhappy with their experience? Are they currently?
Have employees lost trust and morale?
How long was this a problem before you identified it?
If you’re dealing with a problem that hasn’t yet had a tangible impact on the stakeholders, when will it start and how much time do you have to solve it before it does?
When you bring the problem to your boss, start with the bad news (the greatest impact) and end with the less bad news (the least impact).
Step 3: Propose a solution.
Having clearly laid out the issue and the impacts, it’s time to focus on the solution. This is a pivotal point in the conversation where you should aim to switch from past and current events, to what happens in the future.
For this to work, you need to go into the conversation with one or two solutions in mind and why you think they will work, as well as any potential risks associated with your proposals. Sharing possible fixes shows your manager that you’re a problem-solver with the capability to think on your feet. It also demonstrates your accountability and your ability to move forward after experiencing a setback rather than dwelling on what went wrong or passing on the blame.
Start by explaining any actions you’ve already taken to address the issue.
Next, reassure your manager by showing them you have prepared for the worst-case scenario
Let your boss know how you’ll avoid a similar situation in the future
Lastly, ask for their feedback on your proposed solution: “What do you think about the plan?”
While this is the ideal scenario, it’s important to acknowledge that, in certain situations, you may not realistically have a clear strategy on how to solve the problem. This typically occurs when you aren’t able to access all the information you need or when the solution must be executed by an entirely different person or department. In this situation, aim to approach your boss with as many details as possible, but also know that it’s okay to tell them you’re still figuring things out.
Whatever the case, be honest. Tell them what you’ve done, what information you’re waiting on, who needs to execute the solution, and when you’ll be able to get back to them with more details. You can also use this moment to ask your manager for any feedback or advice on how to navigate the situation.
Step 4: Execute the plan.
This final step ensures that your conversation ends with specific “next steps.” If you’ve followed the first three steps, you’ll have everything you need to move forward, pending your manager’s response.
If your manager approves the solution you’ve proposed, begin to take action. Alternatively, you might work together to adapt the plan or come up with something new based on their feedback. No matter what happens, focus on taking action. You should leave this meeting with a clear idea of who will do what by when.
As you wrap up the conversation, show that you’re committed to implementing the solution and reiterate how you’ll avoid this issue in the future. This is your moment to take accountability and initiative.
Following this framework will not just help you have difficult conversations with your manager. It will also demonstrate to your manager that you can think strategically and lead a productive discussion.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.dna.fi/yrityksille/blogi/-/blogs/miten-teknologiayritys-uudistuu-palveluorganisaatioksi
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://x.campwire.com/fi/opas/verkkokurssintekijan-tarkistuslista
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mitä psykologinen turvallisuus oikeastaan on?
https://greatplacetowork.fi/artikkelit/mita-psykologinen-turvallisuus-oikeastaan-on/
Psykologinen turvallisuus on merkittävä osa kehittynyttä yrityskulttuuria, ja yrityspäättäjät ovat alkaneet kiinnittää siihen yhä enemmän huomiota 2020-luvun muuttuvassa maailmassa. Tässä blogissa kerromme, mitä psykologinen turvallisuus on, miten se muodostuu työpaikalle ja miltä työpaikalla saattaa näyttää, jos psykologista turvallisuutta ei ole.
Psykologinen turvallisuus lyhyesti
Mitä psykologinen turvallisuus on? Psykologinen turvallisuus on kokemus siitä, ettei ideoiden, kysymysten, huolenaiheiden tai virheiden esiintuominen johda eristämiseen, rankaisemiseen tai nolaamiseen työpaikalla.
Kokemus ulottuu työntekijän mahdollisuuksiin kehittää toimintaa, tuoda esiin epäkohtia ja esittää muutosideoita. Yksilölle tämä näyttäytyy stressin vähentymisenä, työtyytyväisyyden lisääntymisenä ja vahvistuneena itseluottamuksena.
“Lyhyesti, psykologinen turvallisuus lisää hyvinvointia ja tuottavuutta työpaikalla.”
Psykologinen turvallisuus ja luottamus ovat käytännössä erottamattomia. Mutta miten ne eroavat toisistaan? Luottamus syntyy kahden henkilön välille, kun taas psykologinen turvallisuus rakentuu ryhmän kesken. Yhtä ei kuitenkaan ole ilman toista.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Build a Network from Scratch
https://hbr.org/2022/11/how-to-build-a-network-from-scratch?utm_campaign=ascend&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
The “100 Lunches with Strangers” Movement
In 2018, Chu promised herself that she’d start connecting with more people and get over her fear of social interactions. Her New Year’s resolution was to have lunch with 100 strangers in one year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Make Money Online – 32 Proven Ways to Make Extra Money Fast
See how you can make money online, plus more details on how to bring in the bucks quickly.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/starting-a-business/how-to-make-money-online-see-32-ways-to-make-money-fast/298348
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adam Grant says your vision, passion, and confidence won’t sell your idea or land you that job.
Everything You Know About How to Sell Yourself Is Wrong, According to Wharton Psychologist Adam Grant
https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/everything-you-know-about-how-to-sell-yourself-is-wrong-according-to-wharton-psychologist-adam-grant.html?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=freeform&utm_source=facebook
Whether you’re pitching a startup, making a speech, or applying for a job, don’t follow this common advice.
Vision. Passion. Confidence. Most of us–especially in the startup world–have heard over and over that we need these things to be successful. Whether you’re pitching a potential investor, selling a big customer, or even applying for a dream job, the more of these three things you have, the better–so conventional wisdom goes.
Adam Grant, Wharton psychologist, TED speaker, and best-selling author, says this is all wrong. In fact, he himself receives dozens of pitches every day, and he rejects many of them for leaning too hard on those three elements and being too light on things like data, asking for advice, and a desire to collaborate.
1. Don’t start by talking about your vision
2. Preparation is more important than passion.
3. Don’ act like you have all the answers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A new study of wolves underscores a strange link between being an entrepreneur and having a brain parasite
Of alpha dogs and cat poop
Is the urge to start a company caused by a brain parasite?
https://www.businessinsider.com/parasite-cat-feces-wolves-entrepreneur-silicon-valley-startup-company-2022-12?utm_campaign=sf-bi-main&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&r=US&IR=T
So why would any wolf take the risk of striking out on its own?
The traditional answer: ambition. “Not a lot of wolves survive the process,”
But what inspires a particular wolf to get up off its hindquarters and leave its pack behind? What is motivating them? Cassidy and her colleagues had a hypothesis: Maybe a parasitic infection was egging them along. Specifically, a microorganism called Toxoplasma gondii.
Toxo, as it’s colloquially known, has a baroque life cycle. It reproduces in cat species (like the cougars in Yellowstone) but then leaps to other hosts, from rats and hyenas to people and wolves. And once it takes up residence in a new animal, Toxo is linked to all sorts of weird behavior — much of it spurred by a strangely elevated appetite for risk.
Wolves that left their packs were twice as likely to be positive for Toxoplasma. And Toxo-positive wolves were 46 times as likely as uninfected wolves to become pack leaders.
“As we’re watching them, we definitely see differences in what seems to be like personality — how shy they are, how bold they are, how willing they are to cross a road,” Cassidy says. “A lot of things I may have chalked up completely to personality in years past, now I have to rethink some of that stuff. Now I think maybe part of that was because of the parasite.”
If Toxo turns wolves into risk-takers, could it be having the same effect on us? It’s primarily contracted from coming into contact with cat feces, contaminated water, or undercooked meat, and as many as 80% of humans may be Toxo-positive, most of them without even knowing it. And there’s sketchy but tantalizing evidence that Toxoplasma alters our behavior, too — especially entrepreneurial behavior.
Which is to say, many members of our species who exhibit “alpha dog” tendencies in the business realm may be Toxo-positive. Feel like starting your own company? The Yellowstone wolf data hints that it’s just the side effect of a protozoan inhabiting our brains in a failed attempt to make more protozoa.
The Toxo-entrepreneur link
Before wannabe Elon Musks in Silicon Valley start throwing Toxo parties, let me just say: Don’t. Not only would it almost certainly not work, but it could almost make you really sick. “In academia, if we pursue interesting questions like this, maybe we’re a little different, with screws slightly looser,” says Dan Lerner, a business professor at IE University in Spain who studies Toxoplasma’s link to entrepreneurship. “But to read the papers and think, ‘Oh, yeah, let me go eat some cat droppings’ would be a really shitty idea. No pun intended.”
So why would any of this make an infected wolf want to start its own pack? No one’s really sure of the mechanism by which Toxo affects behavior. Maybe it increases production of testosterone. Maybe the brain cysts it causes in a host mess with neurotransmitters like dopamine, altering the brain’s reward system. Or maybe it’s just a generalized inflammatory response to infection. But whatever the mechanism, don’t think of it as, like, alien parasite zombification. Microbes don’t “want” anything. They just reproduce. If they create any sort of push in a host, it’s the barest of nudges, the gentle redirect of a mother guiding a toddler away from bonking into a table leg.
Except in this case, it could be guiding them toward a Series A round. Lerner and his colleagues have found that students positive for Toxo are significantly more likely to major in business, with a particular interest in entrepreneurship. Sampling the saliva of attendees at entrepreneurship events, they found that Toxo-positive people were more likely to have started their own businesses. And looking at national entrepreneurship data, countries with more business-starting action also have higher levels of Toxoplasma overall.
“Any one person, you would never say, ‘Oh, this person has Toxoplasma and therefore they’re going to be an entrepreneur,” says Stefanie Johnson, the director of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University and a frequent collaborator of Lerner’s. “It’s within populations. Our data were huge samples.” The effects weren’t as pronounced as with the wolf leaders. But they were there.
It might be tempting to think of this as an inherently male thing — that the urge to play a dominant role in the world is the result of an infection. Maybe toxic masculinity is literally toxic. But wolf biologists, it turns out, have been trying for decades to get people to stop using the phrase “alpha male.” Wolf packs are usually led by both a male and a female, and the pack leaders don’t act anything like Harvey Weinstein. They want to lead, but they’re not jerks.
There’s more: Toxoplasma affects females, too. One good database for human Toxo infection is pregnant women — they get tested for the parasite, because it can infect the fetus and cause severe harm.
Now, let’s not get too far out on a limb here. Other than starting a company, Toxo in humans has been correlated only to a handful of behaviors: elevated rates of schizophrenia and suicide, most notably, and an increase in the likelihood of getting into a car crash. I haven’t been able to find studies linking it to any other alpha-sounding behaviors, like political leadership, military service, skydiving, or slapping Chris Rock. And all these human studies show correlation, not causation. Without a clear mechanism — without knowing how Toxo might be altering our behavior — the most you can say is that all of this is worth looking into further. Humans are, you know, complicated. “The way our mind is constructed, its range is like animals, but that range is off the chart,”
Meaning, other factors could explain all those Toxo-infected entrepreneurs.
However Toxoplasma works, it can’t make someone do anything they didn’t have the capacity for. It’s possible that Toxo just intensifies a person’s baseline appetite for risk, sort of like turning up the volume on a song that’s already playing. That’s how Ajai Vyas views the studies that have been done in animals. “Probably there’s a continuum of the behavior,” he says, “and the parasite shifts it toward impulsivity and risk-taking.”
Johnson and Lerner don’t disagree. In the subjects they studied, Lerner says, the parasite seemed to be “reducing fear of failure.”
“Normally,” he continues, “people are going to think about the risks, and here — I won’t say it nudges them to do it, but it stops them from thinking about it.”
It’s common for germy things to affect behavior. There’s a fungus that makes ants climb up to a high vantage point and then explodes out of them, to spread more widely. A species of worm makes grasshoppers jump into swimming pools in search of water. The microbes in the human gut can apparently affect our mood. And if Toxo alters behavior in humans, maybe we’re full of other microorganisms that are doing the same thing.
Which is a wild thought. Sum up all those effects and pretty soon you start to wonder: How much of what you do is you, and how much of what you do is them?
The magnitude of Toxo’s effect in Yellowstone wolves surprised even that paper’s author, a parasite ecologist with the US Geological Survey named Kevin Lafferty. “I’m just fascinated by the idea that this parasite, with no benefit to itself, can determine outcomes of social interactions,” Lafferty tells me. “It’s not just about, Toxo determines who’s the alpha male.”
Since 2006, Lafferty has gotten more and more interested in the way Toxo might affect people through testosterone levels. That idea won’t come as any surprise to the “high T” bros who view their masculinizing hormone as the ghost in their high-performance machines. But Lafferty thinks it’s more complicated than that. High testosterone levels, after all, don’t provide an incontrovertible advantage. High T levels make you do dumb stuff and die sooner.
“Being an alpha male in a pack or any social system probably requires having testosterone well beyond the optimal,”
Lafferty says. “You might actually predict men could be less likely to be successful in those fields, if the testosterone boost is pushing them past the peak of performance for those traits.” Just because Toxo might drive an alpha male to start a company, that doesn’t mean it’ll be a successful company.
So yes, maybe launching a startup is “synonymous essentially with leading the pack,” as Lerner puts it. But even he wonders whether that same trait might make the companies more likely to fail. “In terms of entrepreneurial success, the ability to get on with others is often a good thing and typically necessary,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
Sources: at a town hall, Tencent CEO Pony Ma ranted for 10 minutes about staff laziness, graft, “superficial” reforms, Tencent’s aging social network, and more
Tencent Billionaire Goes on a Tirade as Cracks Appear in Empire
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-22/tencent-billionaire-goes-on-a-tirade-as-cracks-appear-in-empire
Pony Ma goes on a year-end rant against laziness and graft
It was a rare show of frustration from a mild-mannered CEO
Many multinational CEOs like to close out the year with a message of congratulations. Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s billionaire co-founder Pony Ma delivered a no-holds-barred rant about slacking, oblivious and even corrupt employees.
Ma’s tirade marked a rare show of frustration for the usually mild-mannered mogul who helped create China’s largest internet firm away from the spotlight. Last week, the tycoon convened a town-hall meeting to personally deliver a blistering attack against the way staff managed businesses from social media and content to gaming. The message: with the survival of some businesses in doubt, they all needed to get their act together, according to people who attended the 10-minute lecture.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen on the number of people hired via LinkedIn being a core metric, generative AI, regulation, and more
‘We might be wrong, but we’re not confused’: how Tomer Cohen, chief product officer at LinkedIn, figures out what works best
We dive into managing the relationships between designers, engineers, and PMs.
https://www.theverge.com/23517319/tomer-cohen-linkedin-chief-product-officer-business-management
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to negotiate tedious and unimportant tasks out of your schedule.
https://hbr.org/2016/06/stop-doing-low-value-work?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit
In the past, time management experts would recommend that you divide up your work into A tasks, B tasks, and C tasks. The concept was to do the A tasks first, then the B tasks, then the C tasks, when you can get to them. If priorities changed, you just changed the order of your As, Bs, and Cs. Doing all aspects of a job seemed possible then, if you just followed some basic time management rules.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A deep understanding of context, the ability to embrace complexity and paradox, and a willingness to flexibly change leadership style will be required for leaders who want to make things happen in times of increasing uncertainty.
A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making
https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here are the five most important and in-demand types of skills to put on your resume today, according to this executive.
Why you need these 5 skills on your resume today, says CEO who has read over 1,000 resumes this year
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/07/types-of-skills-to-add-to-your-resume-today-says-ceo-who-read-over-1000-resumes-this-year.html?utm_content=Tech&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1671546500
1. Remote collaboration tools
Don’t expect the work-from-home economy to go anywhere soon. Being able to effectively collaborate in a remote environment is a top priority for employers.
It’s worth mentioning if you have experience with video meeting software like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex Meetings, or collaboration tools like Slack, Trello and Monday.
2. Critical thinking skills
Many employers have developed hiring processes to measure how your mind works. Google hiring managers, for example, “ask open-ended questions to learn how [candidates] solve problems.”
If you’re a software developer, you could put: “Created a digital tool that clients used to reduce customer service wait times by an average of [X] minutes.”
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This couple paid $7,150 for Amazon, Walmart and Target returns—and made $19,500 reselling them
Couple made $19,500 by reselling Amazon, Walmart and Target returns—here’s how
26-year-old coffee CEO lives on $25,000 a year outside of NYC: ‘You don’t need much to survive’
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31-year-old makes $15,000/mo recording voiceovers, works ‘3 to 5 hours per day’
LAND THE JOB
Why you need these 5 skills on your resume today, says CEO who has read over 1,000 resumes this year
Published Tue, Dec 7 202110:38 AM ESTUpdated Tue, Dec 7 20215:14 PM EST
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Peter Yang, Contributor
@THEPETERYANG
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Woman on laptop writing her resume
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Emerging technology and pandemic-related disruptions are redefining the skills people need to succeed in their jobs.
In fact, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, which surveyed executives across 15 industries in 26 countries, 73% of employers plan to offer reskilling and upskilling opportunities to their employees by 2025.
As the CEO of a resume writing service, I’ve reviewed more than 1,000 resumes this year. Here are the five most important and in-demand types of skills to put on your resume today:
1. Remote collaboration tools
Don’t expect the work-from-home economy to go anywhere soon. Being able to effectively collaborate in a remote environment is a top priority for employers.
As simple as it may sound, listing basic remote work skills on your resume can go a long way. It’s worth mentioning if you have experience with video meeting software like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex Meetings, or collaboration tools like Slack, Trello and Monday.
You can also indicate your remote work experience in the summary, location section, or as a bullet point (e.g., “Managed four remote employees using online collaboration tools like Zoom and Trello.”).
2. Critical thinking skills
Many employers have developed hiring processes to measure how your mind works. Google hiring managers, for example, “ask open-ended questions to learn how [candidates] solve problems.”
Showcasing your critical thinking skills on your resume is just as important as demonstrating it in an interview. And it isn’t as simple as writing “quick learner” or “critical thinker” in the skills section. Go into detail about lessons you’ve learned or problems you’ve solved in previous jobs.
If you’re a software developer, you could put: “Created a digital tool that clients used to reduce customer service wait times by an average of [X] minutes.”
3. Digital literacy
According to a report from Burning Glass Technologies, a firm that analyzes millions of job listings, 82% of online job listings look for basic digital software knowledge.
Depending on your industry, here are a few important ones to consider:
Spreadsheets: Excel, Google Sheets, OpenOffice
Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
Web and coding: HTML, Javascript, CMS
Word processing: Microsoft Office, Google Docs, DropBox Paper
4. Data analysis
Even if you aren’t applying for a job in data science, recruiters want to see an ability to analyze data that pertains to your role.
In your experience section, mention ways that you’ve analyzed data and used it to make an impact. If you’re a software engineer, for example, write about how you increased the speed of your software after looking at data to see where users were getting slowed down.
One easy formula you can always apply is: “Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing [Z].”
5. Skills mentioned in the job description
The skills that employers value most are the ones mentioned in their job descriptions, so include them in your resume — but don’t copy the language verbatim.
Nine times out of 10, it’s better to market yourself as the perfect candidate for the job, rather than the candidate who can do it all.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Matthew Boyle / Bloomberg:
Memo: Shopify cancels all recurring meetings with over two people “in perpetuity” and encourages staff to decline invitations, leave big group chats, and more — Shopify Inc. spent last year cutting costs. Now, it’s cutting meetings. — As employees return from holiday break …
Shopify Tells Employees to Just Say No to Meetings
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-03/shopify-ceo-tobi-lutke-tells-employees-to-just-say-no-to-meetings
The e-commerce firm is canceling all recurring meetings with more than two people and encouraging staffers to decline invitations and detach from big internal chat groups.
Shopify Inc. spent last year cutting costs. Now, it’s cutting meetings.
As employees return from holiday break, the Canadian e-commerce firm said it’s conducting a “calendar purge,” removing all recurring meetings with more than two people “in perpetuity,” while reupping a rule that no meetings at all can be held on Wednesdays. Big meetings of more than 50 people will get shoehorned into a six-hour window on Thursdays, with a limit of one a week. The company’s leaders will also encourage workers to decline other meetings, and remove themselves from large internal chat groups.
“The best thing founders can do is subtraction,” Chief Executive Officer Tobi Lutke, who co-founded the company, said in an emailed statement. “It’s much easier to add things than to remove things. If you say yes to a thing, you actually say no to every other thing you could have done with that period of time. As people add things, the set of things that can be done becomes smaller. Then, you end up with more and more people just maintaining the status quo.”
Large, long and unproductive meetings have become a scourge of today’s hybrid workplace, prompting companies to try and curtail them. Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., household product maker Clorox Co. and tech firm Twilio Inc. are among those that have instituted no-meeting days. Employees spend about 18 hours a week on average in meetings, according to a survey conducted last year, and they only decline 14% of invites even though they’d prefer to back out of 31% of them. Reluctantly going to noncritical meetings wastes about $100 million a year at big organizations, the survey found.
Poorly managed meetings can also hurt employee engagement and even boost their intention to quit
Data from Microsoft Corp. based on thousands of users of its workplace software found that time spent in meetings more than tripled in the first two years of the pandemic, and the number of weekly meetings more than doubled. The share of virtual meetings that are one-on-one, though, increased from 17% in 2020 to 42% last year
“Over the years, we’ve seen excess meetings creep back into our day to day,” Kaz Nejatian, Shopify’s vice president of product and chief operating officer, said in an emailed reply to questions. “We know no one joined Shopify to sit in meetings.”
The latest changes come amid a cost-cutting drive at the company, which lets merchants set up websites for online sales, allowing them to manage inventory and process payments, along with tools for in-store purchases. It was among the hottest pandemic stocks as online shopping boomed and became Canada’s most valuable company, but the shares plummeted 75% last year.
No-meeting policies can boost productivity and reduce employee stress, according to research from France’s NEOMA Business School. But meetings aren’t disappearing entirely at Shopify.
It will only use Slack as an instant messenger from now on, with “large, unwieldy” chat groups used only for announcements, it said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LinkedIn Career Experts Offer Advice On How People Can Succeed In 2023
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/01/02/linkedin-career-experts-offer-advice-on-how-people-can-succeed-in-2023/?sh=3815c8bf3473&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainFB
Likely, the first few quarters of 2023 will also be challenging. Usually, the beginning of January is a time for workers and management to get acclimated to the daily routine. Headcounts and budgets are discussed. For many firms, bonuses, raises and promotions are still open items. Although the holiday season is seen as the time for vacations and personal days, many people also take off after New Years, avoiding travel congestion.
“My advice is to seek out professional organizations. Professional organizations host events and meetings where individuals can get to know and connect with other members. In addition, these organizations afford learning opportunities through webinars, conferences and certification courses that help increase confidence and help them stay up-to-date on industry trends and technology. Participation in organizations also yields content for rèsumès and interview answers.”
“2023 will be the year job seekers collectively embrace the power of personal branding: articulating their wins with context and with clear business impacts. A personal brand consists of who you say you are, who you manifest as and what your victories say about you.”
“It is more important than ever to have your own job-search accountability team, where you can each practice and role play everything from rèsumè review to interviewing. Make sure your LinkedIn profile markets you and how your previous successes will support a future employer. Attend networking events and keep learning. Take care of yourself along the way.”
“It’s important to keep it simple. LinkedIn and rèsumè need to be clear, consistent and have your accomplishments, not the job description posted on your rèsumè. Rèsumès should be easy to read and tailored to the job you’re applying to, skip the fancy templates and colors. Stay organized, apply to a job and reach out to a recruiter or the hiring manager letting them know you applied to the role.”
“My advice is to be crystal clear on what you want and what you don’t want. Your target informs everything, from how you write your rèsumè to how you answer interview questions. Being clear on your deal breakers will ensure you don’t jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
“There’s always a lot of advice on how to get the job, but once you have that job or once you get the promotion, what happens next? Don’t allow complacency to set in. Start thinking of how to advance in 2023 and beyond. What do you need to do? Who do you need to connect with? What skill sets do you need to learn or improve on? Who are potential mentors and sponsors I could reach out to?”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_catchlove_how_a_habit_of_self_reflection_could_help_improve_your_career