Work Archives

The Importance of Mentors and How to Find the Right One

What’s the importance of mentors for your life and career? How can you find a mentor that will push you toward success? A mentor is someone who guides you through your career, academics, or life. They are likely people who have gone through the same experiences as you, which puts them in the optimal position to offer advice and support. Below we’ll go through the importance of mentors, how to find one, and what you can do to show your gratitude for their help.

How to Improve Your Focus: 3 Simple Steps to Do & Create More

Do you tend to work in fits and starts? Do you let notifications, emails, and squirrels grab your attention? Manage Your Day-to-Day is a collection of essays by some of today’s best-known creative minds. They advise that, to improve your focus, you must be intentional, manage distractions, and stop multitasking. While the advice is directed at creative professionals, it applies to anyone intent on boosting their focus. Continue reading to learn how to improve your focus with tips from several highly-successful people.

Manager Performance Survey: How to Rate What Truly Counts

Are you an effective manager? What would the people on your team say? What score would they give you? Employee engagement in the workforce is at an all-time low. Russ Laraway says the solution is better management. He argues that managers must focus on goals, coaching, and career development, and he says that employees should rate the manager’s effectiveness in each of these areas. Read more to get Laraway’s ideas for a manager performance survey that will help you know how you’re doing where it really counts.

Best Alternative to a Negotiation Agreement: Explained

What’s a best alternative to a negotiated agreement? Why should you calculate your and your counterpart’s BATNA and reservation value? Negotiation Genius by Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman suggests you prepare two main things before entering a negotiation. These are your and your counterpart’s best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) and reservation value (RV). Check out how to easily calculate both below.

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Advice From Creative Professionals

Are you a creative professional or aspiring to be one? Do you need some help figuring out a work routine and staying focused and motivated? Manage Your Day-to-Day is a collection of essays edited and curated by 99U’s Jocelyn K. Glei. The essays help creative professionals learn how to develop a routine that supports creativity, how to improve their focus, and how to hone their creative mindset. Continue reading for an overview of this inspiring book that can take your creative work to the next level.

The Top 3 Negotiation Challenges & How to Overcome Them

How can you keep cognitive biases from ruining a negotiation? How should you handle it when your counterpart lies to you? Is it possible to negotiate from a weak position and come out on top? In Negotiation Genius, Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman look into some common obstacles during negotiations that can impede your ability to understand and communicate with your counterpart. These obstacles include cognitive bias, deception, and a weak position. Take a look at these negotiation challenges, and learn how to overcome them.

How to Develop a Creative Routine: 3 Steps to Real Progress

Do you prioritize your creative projects, or are they always on the back burner? Do you treat your creative work as a marathon or just a scattered series of sprints? Many creative professionals suggest that the first step to becoming more creative is prioritizing creative work. The best way to do this is to build a routine around your projects. Without an intentional creative routine, they argue, it’s unlikely you’ll ever make significant progress on your biggest and best ideas. Keep reading to get tips from Mark McGuinness, Daniel H. Pink, Cal Newport, Gretchen Rubin, and Tony Schwartz on establishing

Unproductive at Work? Here’s a Lesson From The Unicorn Project

Why are so many employees unproductive at work? How does poor management cause an inefficient work environment? The Unicorn Project by Gene Kim follows the narrative of Maxine Chambers, a lead developer in Parts Unlimited’s software development department within IT. Through Maxine’s eyes, Kim illustrates the characteristics of both unproductive and healthy workplace cultures, with an emphasis on how the former can be turned into the latter. Let’s look at the story of Chambers to inspire you to be more productive at work.

Anchoring in Negotiation: Should You Make the First Offer?

What’s the anchoring effect in negotiation? Should you make the first offer? If so, what should it be? According to Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman’s book Negotiation Genius, the anchoring effect refers to the first piece of information offered in a negotiation. This point determines how the rest of the negotiation will go. Learn more about anchoring in negotiation below.

How to Stay Creative: 4 Ways to Maintain Your Inspiration

Do you make time for unstructured creativity? Do you tend toward perfectionism? How often do you unplug from technology? According to many creative professionals and productivity experts, creativity is the result of consistent work habits coupled with a creative mindset. You can foster such a mindset by prioritizing unstructured creativity, rejecting perfectionism, leaning into challenges, and taking opportunities to unplug. Keep reading to learn how to stay creative by following this recipe.