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Advice My Younger Self Probably Wouldn’t Take
Every so often, someone asks the “younger self” question: “What advice would you give…” I’ve never had a good answer. Usually dodge the question. “No advice. I needed to figure things out for myself, make lots of mistakes.” But in the past month, something hit me. My younger self would LOVE the current remote work…
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How to Identify the Best Leaders
Want to identify the best leaders? Here’s a tip: Don’t look for the person who inspires the most followers. I spent most of my career working for one company. When possible, we promoted from within, but every so often we would bring in a lateral hire. I would tell them, “You have great perspective, which…
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Investing in Microsoft’s Unproven Quantity
For fourteen years, Microsoft had a larger-than-life CEO, his intensity the stuff of legend. He embraced a radical candor that sometimes meant meetings would devolve into shouting matches. He implemented a stack-ranking system that mirrored his own love of competition. The spotlight found him, and he consumed much of the oxygen in the room. His…
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Time to End the Work/Life Balance Debate
Can we end the “work/ life balance” debate? It’s based on a faulty premise. Who decided “work” was the opposite of “life,” and why have we given this false dichotomy so much oxygen? Don’t get me wrong. I understand that work can be soul-sucking, but it doesn’t have to be. And it shouldn’t be. Work…