How To Be Assertive Without Being Pushy

It can be awkward, intimidating or uncomfortable to confront a colleague who has maligned us, but it's necessary to preserve our self-respect and peace at work. It rights a wrong, and restores a healthy culture, Andy Molinsky writes in the Harvard Business Review.

First, have a private conversation with the person and begin with a straightforward and objective statement such as: "When you interrupt me in meetings..."

Then, establish a cause-and-effect logic by telling the person the negative impact their actions and behaviors have on you: "...it prevents me from sharing my thoughts and ideas."

Lastly, and this is contrary to what most of us are told about talking about feelings at work, Molinsky advocates for ending with a statement of feelings because feelings are hard to refute. Something such as "I feel marginalized" or "I feel belittled" are very effective he says.

The person may get defensive or dismissive or angry, so be prepared for that possibility. No matter what, stay calm and confident.

'I Hope You Will Be Treated Unfairly, So You Come to Know the Value of Justice'

U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts gave one of the best graduation speeches I've ever heard when he spoke in June at his son's ninth-grade graduation ceremony from Cardigan Mountain School, an elite all-boys boarding school in New Hampshire.

He wished the teens ill luck, unfairness, betrayal, loneliness, failure and having others ignore them so that they can come to learn the value of random chance, justice, loyalty, friendship, success and having their voices heard.

What powerful words for young people in their formative years.

The Question We Should Be Asking Is: What Are You Willing to Struggle For?

Author, armchair philosopher and globetrotter Mark Manson wrote a beautiful column a few years ago that is just as timely today, prompted by the question: What do you want out of life?

The answer is stunningly simple.

What matters most to you?

How do you value your time and energy?

What are you willing to struggle for?

Most of us dabbled in several sports, activities or hobbies before we found one that took, one we stuck with despite the pain or sacrifice or failure along the road to learning and becoming expert (or at least proficient). We stayed with it because it fulfilled us. We decided the hard parts were worth it.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners encounter a lot of struggle as they try to make a go of things. Low pay or no pay. Exhaustion from road shows pitching their idea. Skepticism. Rejection from prospective investors. Enormous risk.

But they decided the struggle was worth it. 

Airbnb was founded by a couple of guys who couldn't afford to pay their rent, and decided to let people crash on an air mattress at their apartment for $80 a night. Lots of investors scoffed at their idea. Bookings were poor. They almost gave up.

Then they realized that better pictures might give people confidence in the idea of staying at a stranger's place. They went door-to-door in New York City to take better pictures of hundreds of listings. They pitched their idea to dozens more investors. Everyone said no.

Then Sequoia said yes, and made a $600,000 seed investment. Soon Airbnb raised a $7 million round, followed by a $112 million round.

In early 2017, Airbnb raised a $1 billion round that valued it at $31 billion.

The Humble No. 2 Pencil: Arbiter of Global Economy

Benj Miller, Founder and Creative Director of Syrup in Atlanta, narrates a delightful video about how the humble No. 2 pencil is the product of dozens of small businesses that are collectively arbiters of the global economy.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-love-small-business-benj-miller

From the planters of forest land to the road crew that paves the streets the cedar trees travel on to be milled, to the graphite mined in Sri Lanka and mixed with clay from Georgia, to the rubber eraser that comes from Romania, where a South American businessman imports the raw material with help from the British government.

Then there's the little metal piece that clamps the eraser to the wooden shaft. It's called a ferrule (FUH-rule) and it's made from aluminum, zinc and copper -- all mined from different places around the world. 

All of these bits and pieces must be assembled from across the globe, with contributions from dozens of small and medium sized businesses, to make the ordinary and ubiquitous No. 2 pencil.

Want Happy Employees? Give Them Autonomy.

Great article in Quartz about giving employees autonomy, which leads to happiness, greater engagement and increased job satisfaction. A healthy balance between autonomy and structure is ideal.

Interesting stat: People are two and a half times more likely to take a job that gives them more autonomy than one that gives them influence and power.

 https://qz.com/676144/why-its-your-call-is-the-best-thing-you-can-say-to-keep-employees-happy/

Four Things That Set Successful CEOs Apart

Fascinating 10-year study by Harvard Business Review finds that successful CEOs share four common traits:

• They are decisive, and make decisions quickly and with conviction

• They get buy-in from employees and key stakeholders

• They look for early signs of success or failure, and adapt or pivot speedily

• They are reliable, and deliver results. That means they are judicious with what they promise, and strive to over-deliver.

The HBR study was based on 17,000 executive assessments by ghSMART, which studies career history, business results, behavioral patterns and emotional intelligence (EQ) in the C-suite of large companies ranging from publicly held Fortune 500s to privately held medium-sized firms and others backed by private equity.

Fun fact: Only 7% of high-performing CEOs graduated from an Ivy League university, and 8% didn't graduate from college at all.

https://hbr.org/2017/05/what-sets-successful-ceos-apart