Business projects, opportunities, or endeavours typically involve conjunctive risk—that is, the endeavour will succeed only if multiple, uncertain events occur. If just one of these required events fail to occur, the endeavour fails. For example, the success of a new product might depend on new technology and successful marketing. A technologically amazing product for which […]
Read More… from The Risk of Ignoring the Lesser Risk in Projects
Often treated as a joke or as a facetious explanation for unexpected behaviour, the mid-life crisis is in fact real, according to a detailed report from a global team of researchers—and it is impacting the health and wellness of employees and business leaders in the most affluent countries. The research team reviewed numerous statistics relating […]
When we find ourselves in social situations that are unfamiliar, unsettling, or confusing, our tendency is not to react immediately, but rather to take a moment and think about what we want to do or say—that is, we appraise the situation to determine the appropriate behaviour in which to engage. As we appraise the situation, […]
Read More… from Don’t Let Employees Become Too Inhibited to Do the Right Thing
A manager overreacts to an employee’s minor mistake and yells at the employee in front of his peers. Afterwards, the manager feels some guilt about the outburst for several reasons: she generally strives to be supportive of her employees, the employee is usually very trustworthy, and the mistake was easily repaired. The manager apologizes to […]
Read More… from How Mindfulness Reduces Guilt… But Also Apologies
Your thoughts and feelings impact how you interpret what is happening around you. You might, for example, receive a vague email from your boss asking for a meeting. For hours, you stress about why he or she wants a meeting, imagining a variety of worst-case scenarios. In the end, the meeting is rather innocuous—no big […]
Read More… from Jumping to Conclusions and Other Bad Thinking Habits Hurt Leadership Effectiveness
Collaboration and teamwork are key elements of successful workplaces. Past studies have shown that gratitude—employees being aware and appreciative of the benefits they receive at work—inspires the generous, helpful behaviour toward other employees that underpins effective collaboration and teamwork. However, the pressure-packed, high-paced environment of today’s workplaces leaves little time for employees to contemplate and […]
Read More… from Mindfulness Sparks Collaboration and Teamwork
As human beings, we are spectacular at pulling off all the complicated tasks it takes to have a conversation. The one conversation challenge we have not mastered is coordinating the end of the conversation. In most cases, according to recent research, a conversation ends either later or earlier than either partner wants it to end, and for […]
Read More… from Conversations Don’t End When We Want Them To
A study based on an exhaustive review of the research related to personalized marketing—marketing that is tailored to the interests or personalities of consumers—dissects the psychological and contextual factors that impacts how consumers react to personalized matching, including whether the marketing is more or less persuasive. In addition to individual personality traits or interests, marketing […]
Read More… from Why Personalized Marketing Succeeds or Backfires
Repeatedly making decisions for extended periods of time is mentally taxing and leads to what psychologists call ‘decision fatigue’. As a result, the decision makers will revert to default decisions—decisions that require the least amount of mental work. For example, one study showed that judges tended to refuse parole at a greater rate during periods […]
What is charisma? Much of past research focuses on the outcomes of charisma and often within the context of leaders in an organizational setting—e.g., charismatic leaders generate emotions that inspire others to follow them. However, leaders are not the only people in our lives who exhibit charisma, argues a team of researchers from the University […]
Read More… from Charisma beyond Leadership: Influence + Affability
