After 70 years, hundreds of millions of copies, and countless hours of inspiration to armchair interior designers, Ikea has done the unthinkable: It has decided to kill its beloved catalog. There's a lot to unpack in the company's statement...but four words noticeably stick out: Ikea called this an "emotional but rational decision." In that simple phrase, we find a brilliant lesson in emotional intelligence that every business can learn from. (Read more in today's column.) #IKEA #leadership #emotionalintelligence #management #marketing #strategy #eqapplied #MakeEmotionsWorkForYouNotAgainstYou …see more

My monthly innovation newsletter is coming back. Join the 12,452 people and bots by signing up here. Voted "Best Monthly Innovation Newsletter" by Blackberry Owners Monthly.

Few entrepreneurs have impacted the world as much as Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. But leading this type of innovation doesn't come easy. There's a lot of value to extract from studying these two brilliant men. Both were known for having incredibly high standards, and for inspiring their colleagues to do brilliant work. But there are also lessons to be learned from analyzing what I like to call the "dark side" of each of these leaders' management styles. And it has much to do with the concept of emotional intelligence: the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions. #EmotionalIntelligence #elonmusk #tesla #stevejobs #apple #leadership #management #productivity #MakeEmotionsWorkForYouNotAgainstYou …see more

I was a young manager when my boss, Marc, called me in to his office. Oh boy. I was sweating. What did I do wrong? Was I in trouble? I sat there, tense and nervous. And then, it happened: Much to my surprise, I wasn't in trouble at all. Instead of pointing out my recent mistakes (of which there were many), Marc told me exactly what I had been doing right--and encouraged me to keep up the good work. Wow. Marc wasn't a boss who was eager to point out every single thing I got wrong; he was a coach, a mentor. Someone who focused on the good, saw my potential, and wanted me to succeed. I learned a lot from Marc about how to give emotionally intelligent feedback: namely, that commendation needs two things to be effective. First, it's got to be sincere. And second, it has to be specific. There's a body of research that supports what I learned from Marc all those years ago. (Read more in today's column.) #EmotionalIntelligence #leadership #management #BestAdvice #PersonalDevelopment #BusinessIntelligence #careers #GrowthMindset #EQApplied #MakeEmotionsWorkForYouNotAgainstYou …see more

How would you react if a drunk stranger suddenly rushed you at work? Would you run? Fight? Freak out? That's the situation singer Celine Dion had to deal with during one performance at Caesar's Palace. During the middle of a concert, an intoxicated fan rushed the stage and managed to get right next to the singer. The woman then resisted security guards' attempts to remove her. This situation could have quickly turned ugly, if not for Dion's remarkable poise and handling of the situation. Managing to keep calm, Dion quickly built rapport with the woman, convincing her  to walk offstage with her "friends" (the guards), making the absolute best of a challenging situation. Afterwards, Dion fell to the stage in relief, to wild applause from the crowd. "Some people go through a lot," Dion told the crowd. "And some people need to talk." Dion then went on to praise the security guards for their actions.  This was a case study in emotional intelligence--the ability to make emotions work for you instead of against you. Read more in my new book, "EQ Applied: The Real-World Guide to Emotional Intelligence": https://amzn.to/2sxFLho #EQ #leadership #management #PersonalDevelopment #EmotionalIntelligence #Empathy #EQApplied #MakeEmotionsWorkForYouNotAgainstYou …see more

CCed on too many emails? Write a rule to automatically move all of the CCed messages to a folder. Read these messages later. Are you a Prioritizer, Planner, Arranger, or Visualizer? Take my free assessment to identify your Personal Productivity Style. CLICK HERE NOW: https://lnkd.in/g2cCxGu …see more

It’s currently recommended that Americans get in at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week (that's about 20 minutes a day), but in reality, about half of American adults are falling short of this goal. Could it be that some internal, demotivating dialogue has killed our fitness mojo? …see more

Our inboxes have become perpetually overflowing mountains of irritation—and instead of helping us to be more productive, they just seem to suck hours out of our days. Getting your email under control is the best thing you can do for your productivity. These strategies and tactics will make it happen. …see more

It’s 5:40 pm. Your day is almost over. But, you have no idea where your day went. Sound familiar? Most of us don’t know how we actually spend each hour of our day. Which makes it very It’s hard to achieve your goals. It’s time to reimagine how you are spending your time. Check out my blog post for proven strategies and tools to help you. …see more

Welcome to 2018! I have great articles and resources coming your way this week to get your 2018 started off right!

In this fast paced world we all want to do more, achieve more, feel productive more. Peter Shankman talks about how he creates a ritual instead of a resolution to achieve his goals. What are some of your ways to get you charged up in the morning? …see more

Working from home skyrocketed in China in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis as companies told their employees to stay home. Around 200 million people were working remotely by the end of the Chinese New Year holiday. While this arrangement has some benefits, such as avoiding long commutes, many employees and companies found it challenging. On the personal front, employees found it difficult to manage kids’ home-schooling via video conference while coordinating with remote colleagues. At a company level, many felt that productivity rapidly tailed off if not managed properly. This article by my colleagues Raphael Bick, Michael Chang, and Kevin Wei Wang brings together our experience helping clients navigate remote working, in-house analysis, and insights from conversations with executives in China as they responded to the situation and addressed the challenges. https://lnkd.in/fYnyatY #productivity #workingremotely #workingathome #businessandmanagement #China #economy …see more

Today the McKinsey Global Institute is publishing a year-long study of China’s economic integration with the rest of the world: “China and the world.” In this video, I talk with Jonathan Woetzel , director of MGI and lead author of the report, to understand what it’s about and what we learned from our research. You can download a free copy of the report at https://lnkd.in/fnbFDac #china #economicgrowth #trade #consumer …see more

If you had to build your company today, what would it look like? So what's the best way to get there? start again? tweak? self disrupt ? These are interesting thoughts.

The internet connects us and offers us glimpses in every direction. Realistically you are either on it to reinforce your preexisting world view and be part of a tribe. Or you’re using it to have that view challenged. Think increasingly our time is spent on the former

Top 5 lessons I learned from taking 2 months off my weekly newsletter: 1. Nothing 2. Seriously, chill. 3. 2020 is hard. 4. It's OK to take a break. 5. You can always begin again. I'm beginning again here: https://lnkd.in/eCAHRvF PS: Thanks to all who asked "where ARE you!?" …see more

The 2018 Women in Digital National Conference is 50% sold out, and we're still 10 weeks away. Hooray! (Win a VIP Dinner with me and Alaina - details at the end of the post.)

The most dangerous selling myth of all is this: that you should take from the rich and give to the poor. If you see yourself in this Robin Hood role, you are not alone. Most people in sales do. The problem with the Robin Hood concept is that it does not allow you to relax into free and productive relationships. As long as you think of yourself as a taker (even a good taker like Robin), you will be unable to expand your relationships with your clients and customers. Because the more you take from them, the harder it will be to become close. And in the relation-shift paradigm, becoming close is vital. Again, it is exactly this self-image of being a taker that destroys the effectiveness of a salesperson (or anyone in any kind of relationship!) "Taking people's money" is what stops us from being able to receive a lot of money from people. But you can change that forever once you are willing to shift your mission from solicitation to contribution. And you begin the process by realizing how much you have to contribute. Michael Neill - 👏🏽. Please tag the sales person in your circle who needs to hear this. #salesenablement #b2b #b2bsales #b2bmarketing …see more

Selling to other businesses is usually all about getting to the heart of it: practical value. But that doesn’t mean your PR campaign can’t have a bit of heart. Or humor. Or both. #PR #b2bmarketing #b2b #digitalmarketing #digitalpr #inspirations

Just like your current online marketing plan, your international strategy needs to touch every facet of digital marketing. Read my latest article from Bank of America 's Small Business Community 🔽