Morning Advantage: Your Inner Voice Should Keep Its Big Yap Shut
HBR.org 2012-06-19
To get loyal, dedicated, and passionate employees, try shutting up for a change — at least on the inside. Among the half-dozen tactics to improve your leadership communication skills offered by Dr. Andrew Newberg in Fast Company is this juicy nugget: learn to control your inner voice. Most of us are only able to stay relaxed and in the present moment for brief periods of time, Newberg explains. Soon, we are interrupted by our own inner speech. Research shows that you can suppress those distracting feelings and thoughts: the more you consciously think about not thinking (as a formal training exercise) the more you gain control over the brain's spontaneous cascade of inner chatter. Unconsciously, people know when we're distracted by our inner speech, and the lack of interest they perceive will make them distance themselves from you. In active communication, silence is not the enemy.
COMMUNICATIONS BREAKDOWN (PART TWO)
The True Pay-As-You-Go Wireless Plan (Slate)
Verizon made headlines last week with a new approach to mobile-data pricing, but according to Slate's Farhad Manjoo, much of its strategy is still "dumb." Manjoo says he has a better plan: just charge customers for the data they actually use. This plan is simple, fair, and it could save a lot of people a lot of money, he claims. It would also bring more customers to any wireless carrier that rolled it out, and "as all those people spend more time using their various mobile devices over the next few years... the network would cash in." The problem? "It’s so transparent and customer-friendly that it’s hard to imagine there’s any wireless company forward-thinking enough to consider it."
The Modern Job Candidate's Approach to Social Media (Forbes)
This recent data point provides no surprise: one in five tech executives say that a candidate's social media profile has caused them not to hire that person. Post enough drunken photos and someone will take notice. But as employers use social media as key recruiting tool, you don't want to go too far in the squeaky-clean direction either. As one expert notes, "employers are looking for a social presences that illustrates creativity, engagement in a community or a level of expertise, all things that can be proved or disproved online." So keep being yourself digitally, just consider doing it fully clothed and sober.
The Great Right Whale?
Jamie Dimon Welcomes You to the Next Financial Crisis (Marketplace) 12 Signs of the Europocalypse (Foreign Policy) How China's Emerging Airlines Will Change the Industry (BCG Perspectives)