Building credibility requires more than just competence and knowledge. — What erodes credibility at work and what builds it? Most employees don’t think about credibility consciously which prevents them from taking the right steps to build it. They think that if they keep their heads down and keep doing the good work, someone will take notice and good opportunities will…

Disagreements can save time and energy by preventing critical mistakes and course correcting before it’s too late — What do you do when you disagree with your manager or someone senior? Do you voice your opinion, or do you choose to keep quiet? Speaking truth to power is a rare skill. Telling someone above you that they’re wrong requires courage and confidence. Holding your tongue and staying silent…

Thinking errors are a common part of being a human. Let’s understand the traps to watch out for and learn how to avoid them — Leaders are ordinary human beings who make mistakes from time to time. While some mistakes are insignificant or have minor negative consequences, others might be potentially harmful and damaging to the organization and its people. Most of these mistakes are unintentional — they stem from thinking errors, applying shortcuts, and…

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

How can you trust your managers to do the job while you’re still responsible for it? — When you stop managing individual contributors and start managing other managers, a lot needs to change. Your role is no longer about assigning tasks, meeting deadlines, or taking care of your team’s work assignments and other responsibilities. Your managers are now doing the work you used to do yourself. You…

5 factors that have the ability to overpower and completely color your thinking. — Our thoughts aren’t clear most of the time. Instead of a clear blue sky, they often appear as dark clouds and storms in the sky. While some people are able to look beyond this temporary darkness into the hidden bright blue sky, others get bogged down by it and feel…

Potential is not a matter of where you start, but of how far you travel. — We all have tremendous potential waiting to be unleashed. Some people utilize their potential to achieve amazing feats while others never realize what they’re capable of as they let their self-limiting beliefs get in the way of their growth. When you consider talent as the only measure of success and…

A blueprint to success to guide you in your journey towards your goals — In all our endeavors, success is a desired end state. It brings a moment of exhilaration, joy and pride that’s hard to explain. Failure on the other hand is disappointing, frustrating and can even demotivate some people from trying to reach for their goals. Multiple setbacks, challenges and obstacles are…

Respect is like air. As long as it’s present, nobody thinks about it. But if you take it away, it’s all that people can think about. — Do you have smart, talented, high potential or high performers on your team? Those who have a knack for solving complex problems and those you always seem to rely on when it comes to getting things done. Their brilliance may be admired by many, but what if they only shine…