SkillInside

Are you a  perfectionist ? And if the answer is yes, are you secretly proud of your perfectionism? You may think the fact that you never accept second best from others or yourself is behind all your career and personal accomplishments. Most people who say, "I'm a perfectionist" are really engaging in a humblebrag.  It turns out, though, that perfectionism is nothing to brag about, not even humbly, because there's just nothing good about it. Perfectionism doesn't make you better at anything, according to fascinating research by Thomas Curran and Andrew P. Hill, of the University of Bath and York St John University, respectively. Curran and Hill have done a massive review of studies from 1989 to 2016, measuring rates of perfectionism over the years, and their effects on people. The results are disturbing. First, they found that perfectionism is associated with a wide range of mental illnesses, including depression, social anxiety, agorapho...

Leaders who understand how brains work can make themselves and their teams more nimble, innovative, and resilient. Kevin Chin wants his executives to limber up their brains. Chin's investment company, Arowana, based in Melbourne, Australia, is expanding into London, Los Angeles, and Asia, and "it is imperative to have a senior leadership team that is mentally agile and resilient," says Chin. Last year, the entrepreneur began working with Tara Swart, a neuroscientist, executive coach, and lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management. Now, he is extending that coaching to his top decision-makers so they, too, can get in touch with their amygdala. Interest in applying neuroscience to business has been mounting for decades. One reason, according to Swart, is that leaders prefer the idea of optimizing an organ--which is tangible--to the idea of optimizing behavior--which is not. "If I say, 'You need to be more emotionally intelligent,' I ha...

To be effective in organizations today, you must be able to influence people. Your title alone isn’t always enough to sway others, nor do you always have a formal position. So, what’s the best way to position yourself as an informal leader? How do you motivate colleagues to support your initiatives and adopt your ideas? How can you become a go-to person that others look to for guidance and expert advice? What the Experts Say Having influence in the workplace has “clear value,” says Dorie Clark, author of  Entrepreneurial You . “You get more done and you advance the projects you care about and are responsible for,” which means “you’re more likely to be noticed, get promoted, and receive raises.” But gaining influence in the modern workplace is difficult, according to Nick Morgan, author of  Power Cues . “ It’s never been harder to influence others, because they’ve never been more distracted,” he says. “Information overload and the pace of our digital lives have [led to ...

Advice on how to improve one’s self is everywhere. It accounts for about 2.5% of all book sales in the United States. Add in speeches, training programs, TV programs, online-products, coaches, yoga, and the like, self-help is a $10 billion industry per year, and that’s just in the U.S. However, research shows that much of the advice extolled may be misleading or even wrong. Several myths about performance persist, despite research and practices that show they are half-truths at best. That might explain why the most likely purchasers of self-improvement books have bought another within the previous 18 months. The first myth-riddled book didn’t work, so they bought another, and maybe another soon after. A recent report in the  Journal of Management  noted that of nearly 25,000 academic articles on performance, only a fraction include what psychologists call  within person variance , which describes ranges, such as that between individuals’ top, aver...

What makes a brand successful in the digital age? A joint study by SAP, Siegel+Gale, and Shift Thinking suggests that digital brands don’t just do things differently; they also think differently. Where traditional brands focus on positioning their brands in the  minds  of their customers, digital brands focus on positioning their brands in the  lives  of their customers. Furthermore, they engage customers more as users than as buyers, shifting their investments from pre-purchase promotion and sales to post-purchase renewal and advocacy. As part of our study, we conducted an online survey of more than 5,000 U.S. consumers and asked them about 50 different brands, both digital and traditional. We asked them about their perception, usage, preference, and advocacy for the brands. We also supplemented the survey with well-known brand rankings, Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and an analysis of their marketing expenditures and strategies. We found distinct differences...

Successful leaders are the power and intellect behind their organizations. They are the visionaries charged with steering their brand around pitfalls. They must know when to seize opportunities and how to rally employees to work hard toward their company’s goals. Effective leaders transcend the title of “manager” or “boss.” They have found a way to achieve the right combination of charisma, enthusiasm and self-assurance, probably with a healthy dose of luck and timing. It may seem like some people are just gifted with these skills, but the truth is most leadership traits can be learned and sharpened with time and practice. You can begin building your success by developing these 11 must-have traits of a powerful and successful leader. Watch on Forbes: Play Video 1. Self-Managing It’s hard to manage others effectively if you can’t manage yourself. Self-managing means being able to prioritize your goals and being responsible for accomplishing those objectives....