RECOMMENDED READINGS
RECOMMENDED READINGS
To Become Your Best Self, Study Your Successes
Summary : Nearly fifteen years ago, in 2005, the authors’ Harvard Business Review article introduced a new approach to personal and professional development: the idea that receiving affirmation is a powerful way for us to grow, particularly when it comes in the form of stories describing moments when we are at our best. Their tool is now used by thousands of people globally in corporate trainings, team building, executive leadership programs, and in graduate and undergraduate courses in a variety of disciplines. But there are organic ways that you can learn about and activate your best self at work every day as well. There are five practices for noticing and capitalizing on everyday opportunities for development based on your best self: noticing positive feedback, asking the right questions, studying your successes, enacting your best self, and paying it forward.
How to Become More Adaptable in Challenging Situations
Summary : In unfamiliar, high-stakes situations, we’re hard-wired to default to the mechanisms that we’ve relied on the past. However, new situations often can’t be met with old solutions. This is the adaptability paradox: When we most need to learn, change, and adapt, we are most likely to react with old approaches that aren’t suited to our new situation, leading to poorer decisions and ineffective solutions. To better overcome the obstacles posed by our old habits, the authors propose the strategy of Deliberate Calm to help leaders take stock of their situation and encourage them to discover new solutions with intention, creativity, and objectivity. The authors outline what Deliberate Calm looks like in practice and how leaders can develop this practice through its three elements: learning agility, emotional self-regulation, and dual awareness.
Intentional Personal Development:
A Game-Changer For Leaders Of Today And Tomorrow
Balancing the inner and outer game is the need of the hour for the leaders of today and tomorrow in the new hybrid work culture.
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The outer game is about what we do—business acumen, performance, results orientation, etc. This is accelerated by professional development focusing on knowledge and skills to improve business potential in a particular work environment.
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The inner game is about who we are—human aspects, personality, openness to learning and growth, which is cultivated by personal development. Each person has their own internal resources, strengths, limitations and mental blockages that can get in the way due to our background, fear, insecurities, limiting beliefs, etc.
Are you reaching your full potential? A guide to personal development
I’m no stranger to feeling stuck.
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There are days I wake up and just go through the daily motions. I make coffee then sit down at my computer for a day of work. I’ll usually work out, walk the dogs, make dinner. Then, read, watch a show, go to bed. The next day? Wake up and do it all over again.
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Especially at the height of the pandemic, it started to feel like vicious monotony. Our lives seemingly stalled in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It feels like dreams, goals, and ambitions are buried in thick molasses or honey at the back of our brains. And even as we navigate this new normal, that “stuck” feeling might be stuck with us.
