Additional Resources for Being Courageous

Still working along the lines of an earlier post, I thought I'd add a few more tid bits from my ongoing research into what differentiates highly respected achievers from others.  The following ten items are direct observations from the "what not to do/be" side of the world.  The post might better be titled, "10 [...]

Conflict is a necessary part of a functioning team. But it doesn’t need to be mean.

Many employees have opinions about their workplaces but never voice them for fear of reprisal. This tendency keeps valuable information hidden from those who make decisions. Voicing opinions in a professional manner can boost the profile of an employee and improve the morale of a company. Leaders who are receptive to ...

There is a paradox of innovation and status quo - both are needed but in different ways and at different times.

You can push back without being pushy No one likes a pushy person. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't push back from time to time. In fact, if you don't, your career will suffer and you’ll fail to build the trust you want from others - both in your work and [...]

“Vulnerability” still sounds like a squishy abstraction to many, but it can be a powerful tool in emotionally intelligent managers’ toolkits.

Especially if they are older workers, or confident ones.

(This column is the work of Doug Guthrie and Sudhir Venkatesh*.) During one of the 2004 presidential debates, an audience member stood up and asked Democrat John Kerry if he could give an example of when he had been wrong about something. The questioner was asking the question as a measure [...]

Here's how to handle employees when a kick in the rear is more appropriate than a pat on the back.

I once hired a McKinsey consultant into a country manager role in a developing region. Two years later, despite great success, he told me he wanted to find a job at another company in his home country. I could see he was motivated, and still eager to grow, so I pushed him to instead think […]

Gayla Benefield was just doing her job -- until she uncovered an awful secret about her hometown that meant its mortality rate was 80 times higher than anywhere else in the US. But when she tried to tell people about it, she learned an even more shocking truth: People didn't want to know. In a talk that's part history lesson, part call-to-action, Margaret Heffernan demonstrates the danger of willful blindness, and praises ordinary people like Benefield who are willing to speak up.