Not everything you say will stand out. But you can’t make a difference unless you’re also willing to risk voicing your opinion — For every step forward you take in your career, how many steps are you taking back? Do you actively recognize and pay attention to mistakes that limit your career? Those who succeed at work do not have special skills and abilities. They aren’t more intelligent or talented than others. What…

Don’t see the world as a limited pie but view it as an endless ocean where there’s enough for everyone — Limited number of promotions. Limited salary hikes. Limited opportunities to lead high-visibility projects. Limited number of people who can receive awards. Thinking this way makes winning in corporate parlance equivalent to beating someone else. In order for you to succeed, someone else must fail. …

Get over nonsense and start putting some sense into your work — Too many meetings. I had said those three words way too many times that month. Sometimes as a fleeting comment to myself. Other times in the form of self-pity as this excessive, self-absorbed unhappiness over the current state of my work. Instead of shouting at the top of my lungs…

Goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I’ll miss you until we meet again! — As a manager, hearing that someone on your team quit is the most challenging experience. On the one hand, you’re worried about the impact it may have on your team. On the other, you’re concerned about how it reflects on you as a manager. Though you have plenty of time…

Occasional errors in thinking make us form an inaccurate view of reality and stick with it, thereby impacting our behaviors and actions — In part 1 on cognitive distortions, I wrote about the five cognitive distortions that impact your decision-making by impairing your ability to think clearly. In this article, I will cover five cognitive distortions that impact communication: Heaven’s reward fallacy

Thinking better is about finding simple processes that help us work through problems from multiple dimensions and perspectives — We work in environments that aren’t optimized for solid decision-making. We also have irrational or negative thought patterns from time to time. This leads to habitual errors in thinking, which creates an inaccurate view of reality. From an evolutionary standpoint, human beings developed cognitive distortions as a survival method —…

Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth — Do you want to 10x your impact at work? Do you know what behaviors hold you back? What about your team — do they admire, respect, and acknowledge you? Do they find you helpful? The gap between how you view your behaviors and actions and how others perceive you is…

“No” helps you recognize your limitations and empowers you to make the right choices — Early in my career, I got into the habit of saying an enthusiastic yes to every last-minute request — meeting request that showed up just when I was about to leave from office, so-called minor changes or product enhancements just a day before the release, a colleague asking me to…

It’s not a choice between candor and kindness — Some discomfort is natural if you have recently moved from an individual contributor to a manager position. What further compounds this discomfort is if you have elder people or those who are more experience reporting to you. Your concerns — how can I assign tasks to my team, how can…