We tend to view the ability to speak as a sign of leadership potential. What about the ability to listen? This quote by Dalai Lama puts it perfectly. If you want to learn something new, then here is the one thing you must start doing ...
Futurists are experts in systems thinking. They look at socio-economic-political shifts and combine it with technology to create possible scenarios. With practice each one of us can get better at predicting how things may affect us. Thinking and information processing, such as market judgment, can be much faster, more reliable, and ---less subject to political forces than the deliberations of experts or expert committees. Give it a try.
The thought of going in for your first interview can be a daunting one. Nervousness is normal. But the key to a successful interview experience lies in the preparation you do for it ahead of time. Here are four things to remember and practice before your first interview.
The experiments in “growth mindset” were primarily done on children in the beginning and it was observed that intelligence does change in children and fluctuates the most during adolescence and then stabilizes. So just wishing for it to increase is not going to make it happen. Think of intelligence as the processor in a computer. Having a faster processor makes the programs load faster.
Success is not the result of one single quality. It is also about having the right skill and being in the right role where that skill (and your weaknesses) can be an advantage. A job that leverages your natural extraversion or introversion plus a network of people ready to help will take you further than going solo. When you have a story that connects you to the world, you are motivated to work hard at your goal.
Look around and see how much has changed about work and the worker. It is a clear signal that we need to redesign HR. So drop the assumptions of rational human beings. Maybe we will call it Behavioral HR. Google already has taken a lead in this space by starting a lab called Irrational Lab. Maybe it is time for all organizations to start one too where HR will remove outdated policies and replace them with ones that assume people do not make rational choices (mostly).
How do you get people to support your idea? Getting approval from the senior management is often about the language of you have used in the document or presentation. That's what experts say. When I speak about this, a lot of people believe that if the idea is good enough, it does not need selling. Several bright people look at selling an idea as the socially acceptable term for telling a lie. That is so not true. An idea - no matter how brilliant - has to be sold.
Social Psychologist Katherine Milkman speaks about the mental accounting that we do to create landmarks that show the passage of time. According to her research if you reframe any day as a fresh beginning, you can make significant progress towards achieving your goals. So the real magic does not lie in waiting for the new year to start on your goal. It can any day - even today. And especially today. All that it needs is a reframing in your mind to say that you are making a new beginning.
To reimagine the workplace as an experience, one needs to understand the new media. Whether it is AR or VR or Mixed Reality or Holograms or even podcasts, there is lots to choose from. For that the HR teams will need to learn enough about the new media and then layer it with their imagination and creativity to create the experiences. The workplace needs to be a deeper digital experience and instant access to information is one way to create that. The HR teams must work with people who understand web design, user interface design, video production, data visualisation and of course, content creation.
