Set an Email Quota and Stick to It
If you've tried all of the basic ways to manage your email, but are still feeling overwhelmed, try setting quotas. The idea …
Know When It's Time to Quit Your Job
Quitting a job can have negative consequences on both your career and your bank account. But staying in a bad situation can …
Don't Listen to Customers — Observe Them
Every business wants to know what influences their customers. So, they should just ask them, right? Not so fast. There's a …
Improve Your Ability to Anticipate Crisis'
Most leaders, even highly skilled ones, aren't great at detecting ambiguous threats on the periphery of their business. But …
Set the Right Tone for Your Talk
When you present, your audience usually sizes you up before you even utter a word — so it's critical to make a positive first …
Prepare Stories for Your Job Interview
Don't show up for a job interview without a stockpile of good stories. These narratives should be parables with a moral at …
2 Strategic Choices You Have to Make
Every business leader should be able to create a good strategy. Think of it as the intersection of two critical dimensions: …
Use Your Online Network to Test Ideas
Most managers today understand the importance of reaching out to colleagues through LinkedIn, following and being followed …
Avoid Visual Clichés When Presenting
If you want to communicate that your project's goals are "right on target," it's tempting to present your colleagues with …
Give Up Email Altogether
If you spend hours every day trying to keep on top of a huge inbox, try an extreme solution: Give it up. Yes, that's right, …
Walk at Your Next Meeting
Americans sit for an average of 9.3 hours a day. And a slew of studies have shown just how unhealthy that is, linking it to …
Keep Innovation Jams Small and Focused
Bringing together people from different backgrounds to creatively brainstorm a problem — otherwise known as "jamming" – has …
3 Elements of Great Communication
To make it in any job, you need to be able to convey ideas clearly and effectively. There are three things the best communicators …
Don't Bore Your Audience with Your Writing
No one wants their writing to put readers to sleep. And yet, many managers write boring and repetitive e-mails, reports, and …
Before Your Next Salary Negotiation, Do Your Homework
It's important to have realistic expectations before negotiating a salary offer. Employers base salaries on what they currently …
How to Connect With a Remote Colleague
It's challenging to work with someone you don't chat with every day at the coffee station. But you can still build strong …
Act with Care When Someone Cries at Work
It's natural to feel helpless or uncomfortable when someone cries in front of you in the office. But remember that tears are …
Make Customers Happier by Helping Them Accept Their Decisions
Research participants who covered a tray with a transparent lid after choosing a single chocolate from a large selection on …
Aim for Smart Failure
If you want to encourage people to take healthy risks, you need to make sure they're not afraid to fail. The first step in …
Allocate Your Time and Your Effort
To succeed in today's busy world, you need to decide what to excel at and what to do just adequately enough. Break down activities …
Use Personal Rituals to Make Changes Stick
How many times have you promised to exercise more, or start meditating, or spend less time at the office? To make changes …
Quickly Quiet Your Mind
A clear head produces the best insights. But it's a challenge to take time off in the midst of a busy day to rest your brain. …
Choose the Right Chart for Your Slide
When displaying data in a presentation, clarity matters above all else. Your audience has to get meaning from your numbers …
Perfect Your Personal Elevator Pitch
If you're in the market for a job, you need to be able to communicate your value as a potential employee in 15 seconds or …
Make Yourself an Expert
The most valuable people in any organization have deep smarts — business-critical expertise built up through years of experience …
Evaluate Remote Workers Fairly
We tend to trust what we can see, which makes it difficult to evaluate employees who don't spend time in the office. Here …
Reframe a Tough Interview Question
You've probably been asked this perennial, annoying question: "Where do you see yourself in five years?" Your interviewer …
Strike the Right Tone in Your Writing
Getting tone right takes work — but it's critical to the success of your business documents. If you sound likable and professional, …
Keep Your Company's Secrets in the Digital Age
Through social sharing technologies like Facebook and Twitter, your employees may be unwittingly exposing company secrets. …
Startups with Female Directors Have Better Chance of Survival
Newly incorporated companies with one female director have a 27% lower risk of becoming insolvent than comparable firms with …
Get the Most Out of Your Q&A
As a presenter, a question-and-answer session is a powerful way to address your audience's concerns and drive your point home. …
When You Become the Boss, Build Your Credibility
Managing people who used to be your peers is tough. You need to establish your authority without acting like the promotion's …
Make Your Mission Meaningful
When work has personal meaning, people feel a sense of ownership in their jobs. But few employers do what it takes to make …
Expand Your Company's Innovation Network
Organizations get it wrong when they rely on only a few people to come up with all the new ideas. Instead, they should connect …
Try Out a Career by Volunteering
It's impossible to know if you'll really like a career direction until you try it. To avoid costly mistakes — and wasting …
Eliminate Jargon from Your Next Presentation
Buzzwords, insider concepts, and industry lingo have no place in your presentation. Each field has its own lexicon that's …
3 Ways to Use Persuasion to Get What You Need
In today's organizations, persuasion trumps formal power. To get things done, you need to be able to sway the undecided and …
Companies: Don't Treat Executives' Time as an Infinite Resource
Just 52% of executives surveyed worldwide by McKinsey say the way they spend their time fits well with their organizations' …
Survive Networking Events by Being Generous
You're not the only one who walks into a networking mixer full of dread. Before you make a run for the door, try a different …
Change Small Things, Not Your Entire Culture
When people don't achieve company goals, senior managers often declare that it's time to change the culture. But sweeping, …
Don't Make a Career Move You'll Regret
No matter what industry you work in, what role you fill, or how successful you are, chances are you've made a bad career decision. …
Build a Better Online Network
Most managers today understand how to use online tools to build and expand their networks. It's easy to reach out to industry …
Make the Most of Your Downtime
It's hard to carve out time to relax in a 24/7 world. But just as it's healthy to focus at work — ignoring Facebook and personal …
Make Your Writing Chronological
Stories are inherently sequential. One thing happens, then another, then another. That structure works well not only in books …