SkillInside

You can move closer to your ideal work and life. Here's how If today were the last day of your life, would you want to be doing what you're doing? Every day of his working life, Steve Jobs looked in the mirror and asked himself that question, he told a Stanford graduating class in a justly famous speech. "Whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something," he added. He lived by his word. At Apple, then  NeXT , then Pixar, then Apple again, the answer was most often yes. So much so that he spent much of the last two or so years of his life continuing his work at Apple despite being desperately ill with pancreatic cancer. He worked right up to the day before he died. We should all ask ourselves the same question. If you knew you were in the last day, the last month, or the last year of your life, would you want to be doing the work you're doing now? Would you want the life you're living? If the ans...

How to create meetings that people want to go to and that actually drive progress Think of the last meeting you were in. Was it efficient and focused? Did it lead to great conversations, clear decisions and action items? Did people feel good about the time they spent? If you're like most people, the answers are "not really." And if you're like most leaders, you don't know how to make your meetings better. As an executive coach to startups, I have the pleasure and pain of observing hundreds of leaders in thousands of meetings. I basically have a Ph.D. in meetings. Over the years, I've found that one of the main reasons meetings fail is that leaders don't prepare in the right way. Here are five common ways leaders fail to set up a good meeting, and how you can make sure your meetings are great. 1. Not having a clear goal This may sound obvious, but in my normal conversations with leaders, they cite the agenda when I ask them what...

Mark was always one of the smartest kids in his class. He’s done well in his career, but when he checks Facebook, he sees people he outperformed at school who have now achieved more. Likewise, there are colleagues at his firm who have leapfrogged him. Sometimes he wonders, “What am I doing wrong?” Sound familiar? You might relate to Mark yourself, or have an employee or loved one who struggles with similar feelings. Raw intelligence is undoubtedly a huge asset, but it isn’t everything. And sometimes, when intellectually gifted people don’t achieve as much as they’d like to, it’s because they’re subtly undermining themselves. If you’re in this situation, the good news is that when you understand these foibles you can turn them around. Here are five I’ve seen smart people particularly struggle with: 1. Smart people sometimes devalue other skills, like relationship building, and over-concentrate on intellect.  Very smart people sometimes see their success as inevitable because...

Here is fun little task for you. Take a quick look around your office or premises. You will quickly realise you are working alongside a wide variety of personality types. Can you pick them out? The joker, the perfectionist, the thinker, the risk-taker…. A mix is vital for balance, but as a business owner or manager, there is no doubt that dealing with multiple personalities can be challenging. It’s your job to make sure everyone on your team is being as productive as possible, and this may mean having to treat everyone a little bit differently to do so. As a leader in your business you must learn to be versatile in how you lead, communicate and motivate your employees. What works for one employee may not work for another. The more effective you are at changing your managing style to suit your employee, the more effectively your employees will carry out their assignments. Here are 5 Ways to Manage Different Personality Types: What personality type is each of your emplo...

It is an undeniable scientific fact that humans are built to live and work in groups. Throughout the history of humanity, our species has always been striving to create strong social structures that would benefit the majority and protect its weaker members. From tribes to today’s multicultural megacities, we evolved and achieved greatness by collaborating with each other. This is not by any means something that happened by chance. There were many circumstances that stalled this process and moved us backward – wars, economic catastrophes etc. Yet, somehow we have always managed to pull through. The “team” has most of the times prevailed over absolute, totalitarian regimes in the course of our history. Besides, politics is not as far a concept than the one of  creating effective teams  that can manage the different aspects of a business. Creating a team culture in business That said, just like each society has its unique culture the same applies to organizatio...

Dealing with different employee personality types can be a struggle. Especially if you don’t know how to recognize their traits and weak points. Every person has a unique character. If you add cultural, religious and gender differences into the mix, things may get messy. This is especially true in the office environment, where employees have to cooperate with each other in a way that brings out positive results. Understanding and managing different personality types in the workplace is crucial if you want to improve productivity and create effective teams. Moreover, as a leader, even though you are expected to treat everyone the same, this may turn out to be counterproductive. Because what works with one might not work with another! We don’t imply that you should favor some and underestimate others. However, it is important to understand that motivation, inspiration and effective leadership are intrinsic concepts that heavily depend on the  individual personalit...

These very small tweaks make you dramatically more persuasive. You're having a conversation with your co-worker, employee, boss, customer, or maybe even your spouse. There's something you want the other person to do, or agree to, or remember. It turns out there are a few simple psychological maneuvers that will increase the odds of your getting what you want.  That insight comes from Travis Bradberry, author of  Emotional Intelligence 2.0  and president of Talent Smart. In an article on CNBC.com that's a couple of years old but has surged in popularity recently, Bradberry shares 10 harmless manipulations you can use to better understand the person or people you're speaking with or influence them toward your point of view.  [Disclosure: I'm also a CNBC.com contributor.] 1. If you want someone to like you ... Ask the person for a favor. You may think that people will like you if you do  them  a favor. They may--or t...