Psychological tools are proving to be very effective in helping people in the workplace gain the right frame of mind in challenging situations. Imagine that you are about to enter a room where you will make a presentation in front of a powerful client. Appearing diffident or unsure would be the worst impression you could […]
Read More… from How ‘Power Recall’ Is an Effective Technique When Easy
Is sarcasm in the workplace as destructive as usually assumed? While sarcasm — in which people express one thing by saying the exact opposite — is rampant in organizations, most leadership and communication books urge people to avoid sarcastic remarks, which are considered a negative form of communication. However, a team of researchers argue that […]
Read More… from The Unexpected Creative Effect of Sarcasm
Hierarchies have been taking a bad rap. The mantra for a number of years has been to ‘flatten’ the organizations. Hierarchies were not only seen as inefficient, but worse: as a mechanism for the out-dated belief that leaders must ‘control from the top down’. In place of hierarchies, flat organization advocates argued for a more […]
Read More… from Hierarchical or Egalitarian Organizations? The Advantages of Hierarchy
The next head of General Electric will be somebody who spent time in Bombay, in Hong Kong, in Buenos Aires. We have to send our best and brightest overseas and make sure they have the training that will allow them to be the global leaders who will make GE flourish in the future Jack Welch, […]
Read More… from Multicultural Experience: Better Performance, Better Job Prospects
Spending time overseas has long been associated with the development of a more open and optimistic view of humanity and the world. In his 1869 autobiographical work Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain described travel as “fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness”, arguing that “broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating […]
Read More… from How Travelling Abroad Builds Trust and Tolerance
Previous research demonstrated that a sense of power can give a person increased confidence and reduce that person’s stress — two outcomes that can only enhance the effectiveness of that person in interview or meeting settings. Through two experiments, a team of international researchers confirmed the interpersonal impact of momentary changes in power that can […]
Read More… from Priming Power to Influence and Persuade
When it comes to setting and achieving goals, power makes a difference. Those with more power are quicker to establish goals, and to take action to achieve those goals, than people with less power. To some extent, this is understandable: the powerful are less dependent on others and have greater control over outcomes. They also […]
Read More… from Power Reduces Awareness of Constraints
Several studies have made the connection between body postures and feelings and perceptions of strength and dominance. Open and expansive body language has not only been found to communicate power but also to affect power-related thoughts and feelings and neuroendocrines (cells that release hormones such as testosterone to the blood). Constricted poses, on the other […]
Read More… from Body Language: Power Poses That Get Lost in Translation