Thinking of making a New Year’s resolution? This graphic shows an example of how you might align your Big Picture stretch goals with the more specific SMART method of setting goals. Specific: Make it simple and concrete. Avoid vague statements. Measurable: Describe in measurable terms what success looks like. Achievable: Ensure you have control and
It’s that time of year for thoughtful reflection & self-assessment. I often wish I were a faster reader…I started 2018 with a longer & different list of books to read, but time & circumstances took me to unexpected paths. Overall, though, it’s been a fruitful year of discovering: • fascinating views of cultural differences in
“Getting to Yes” is a popular book about winning negotiations, but when talking about inter-cultural communication, “Getting to No” might be more instructive. Professor Zeng’s humorous description of different ways to handle a demanding McDonald’s customer shows deep cultural differences in seeing the world. The American way is to stand on rules, communicating the reasons in
General Electric pioneered a system of goal-setting in the 1940s, in which employees developed their own specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals which became a contract for performance. In most cases, this dramatically improved work performance. But some units were setting goals that were trivial or short-sighted; they met the SMART criteria but
Make Goals in Your Circle of Control Are you ready to make a New Year’s resolution? Step one to avoiding frustration and defeat…make sure you have control over the required inputs for achieving the goal. For example, making a goal to get promoted to head of your department may seem good, but you don’t control promotions. Instead,
Things aren’t always as they seem. But we may prefer it that way. Sometimes we want to be deceived. The power of expectation helps us enjoy life more. Imagine this story as Daniel Ariely tells it in his book Predictably Irrational: A Hungry Traveler’s Tale “Imagine walking into a truck stop off a deserted stretch of
Have you started thinking about making a New Years’ resolution yet? Our challenge will be overcoming old or starting new habits. One study showed only 46% of people who made a resolution were successful after 6 months. According to The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg, who gathered the latest scientific research, habits work in
Trust is important in economies for reducing the cost of trade. But the marketplace has been a place where a few bad actors have driven down the general social level of trust. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely & some other researchers set out to measure how much trust people have in the market. They set up
The full story may not be out, but it appears that a Southwest Airlines gate agent acted inappropriately when she saw an unexpected name for a child. When a mother names a child with an unusual name that is not obvious how to pronounce, she might expect unusual reactions, but apparently the gate agent went
It appears that culture heavily influences how well people incorporate the context of an environment versus how well they can filter out the context to focus on a prominent object. This has been illustrated in eye measurements of Asians versus North Americans as they evaluate photographs, of Japanese & Americans recalling foreground objects versus background
