How to Grow at Work when Your Manager Won’t Give You Feedback
Senior professionals often experience a sharp decline in feedback as they climb the corporate ladder, a pattern highlighted by Amy Edmondson’s research on authority bias and reduced transparency. Without regular input, leaders can lose the reassurance that once guided their performance. The article proposes three practical tactics—asking for advice instead of feedback, fostering psychological safety, and posing specific, goal‑oriented questions—to restore constructive dialogue. Implementing these methods helps senior staff regain clarity on expectations and continue growing.
Our Favorite Management Tips on Leading with AI
Harvard Business Review outlines how leaders can harness AI without overloading staff. It stresses redesigning work for human‑AI collaboration, setting clear expectations, and measuring outcomes rather than tool usage. The article also highlights managing employee anxiety, preventing low‑quality "workslop," and...
The 6 A.m. CFO: How Fundrise’s Alison Staloch Starts Her Day
Fundrise CFO Alison Staloch outlines a disciplined morning routine that centers on sleep, hydration, light exercise, and data‑driven decision making. She begins her day around 7 a.m., skips caffeine, reviews fundraising dashboards, and limits email by favoring Slack and batch processing....
Happiness Break: A Meditation For When You Have Too Much To Do
In a March 2026 episode of *Happiness Break*, host Dacher Keltner guides listeners through a brief meditation designed for professionals swamped with tasks. Guest Kia Afcari, director of Greater Good Workplaces at UC Berkeley, frames overwhelm as a relationship issue rather than...
Freedom of Focus
The article argues that our off‑clock media choices are not entirely free, as powerful platforms and algorithms steer attention toward content that serves their interests. It highlights the psychological toll of doom‑scrolling and the internal narratives that shape our attitudes...
JP Morgan's Justin Nelson on Resilience in Wealth Management
JP Morgan Private Bank’s Justin Nelson, who oversees more than $11 billion for high‑net‑worth clients, stresses that resilience in wealth management comes from embracing calculated risk and honest communication. He makes hundreds of decisions daily, believing that being right more than...
IWD Voices: Hiroko Okita – ‘A Leader Isn’t Merely Someone Who Articulates What’s Right; They Are Someone Who Demonstrates It’
In an International Women’s Day interview, branding executive Hiroko Okita emphasizes that true leadership goes beyond articulating values; it requires embodying rights, justice, and authentic action. She links personal authenticity with tolerance, celebrating diversity and urging organizations to accept multiple...
Developing the Next Generation of Leaders
Higher‑education leaders Marilu Goodyear and Jenny Mehmedovic discussed how intentional mentorship, sponsorship, and cross‑disciplinary insight shape the next generation of campus leaders. Drawing on decades of experience in IT, research, and faculty development, they emphasized tailoring communication to each leader’s...
Five Beliefs and Behaviours Keep Overachievers "Stuck"
Performance strategist Fleur Marks’ new book, *The Overachiever’s Reset*, pinpoints five beliefs that keep high‑performers stuck. She labels them the five Ps—perfectionism, people‑pleasing, proving, performing, and pushing through—behaviours that fuel relentless work but can jeopardise health. After a personal health crisis...
Courage Can Hit Differently For Leaders Of Color
Veteran communications leader John G. Clemons discusses how trust, credibility, and courage differ for Black and Brown executives on the Taking the Lead podcast. He cites Paul Robeson, the Obamas, and Ray Day as mentors and stresses that DEI must be...
A Meditation to (Gently) Interrupt Habitual Reactions
Family physician and mindfulness expert Patricia Rockman outlines a step‑by‑step meditation designed to interrupt automatic, habit‑driven reactions. The practice guides practitioners from posture awareness through breath focus, body scanning, and gentle redirection of attention when the mind wanders. By inviting...
How to Build Good Habits that Last, According to a Navy SEAL
Retired Navy Admiral William McRaven argues that lasting success stems from tiny daily habits rather than grand vision. He promotes simple rituals—like making the bed or completing a morning task—to trigger positive feedback loops, reduce decision fatigue, and build momentum. McRaven...
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The “Just One Song” Method Turned Me Into Someone Who Actually Enjoys Tidying Up
The article introduces the “just one song” rule, a time‑boxing technique that pairs a single music track with a brief cleaning session. By limiting effort to the length of a song, the method transforms an open‑ended chore into a concrete,...
The Emotional Price Of Staying Single Through Your Twenties (M)
Staying single throughout the twenties, a period known as emerging adulthood, can trigger psychological effects that intensify over time. Research highlighted by Dr. Jeremy Dean points to heightened loneliness, reduced emotional support, and increased stress for individuals without a partner....
Young People Are Happier in Sub-Saharan Africa than in the Wealthy West
Sapien Labs’ global survey of one million respondents finds that young people in affluent nations report far worse mental health than peers in sub‑Saharan Africa, where the top five youth‑well‑being scores are recorded. The study links four factors to this...
What It Takes to Execute a Successful Company Turnaround
Peter Cuneo, former Marvel CEO, outlines a repeatable playbook for rescuing underperforming businesses. He stresses that cultural misalignment is often the hidden cause of failure and that diagnosing problems requires listening to insiders. Successful turnarounds hinge on assembling a decisive...
The Psychological Reason We Judge Groups Much More Harshly than Individuals
Researchers led by André Vaz published five studies showing people view themselves as morally superior, strangers as moderately moral, and groups as morally deficient. Participants estimated the frequency of everyday moral and immoral actions for themselves, specific individuals, and collectives,...
10 Simple Mindfulness Practices for Couples That Improve Your Emotional Connection
The article outlines ten easy mindfulness exercises that couples can use to rekindle emotional connection, from daily gratitude moments to eye‑gazing and partner yoga. Each practice emphasizes present‑moment awareness, intentional touch, and active listening, which research links to higher oxytocin...
Sleep Is the New Management Flex
The article argues that sleep, once dismissed as a luxury in startup culture, is now emerging as a strategic asset for leaders. With burnout at record levels in 2026, executives are re‑framing rest as essential infrastructure for decision‑making, creativity, and...
Why Staying the Same Is the Biggest Mistake You Can Make
Voltaire’s warning that “stupid is the man who always remains the same” is reframed as a modern business imperative. The article argues that rapid industry evolution renders static skills and mindsets a liability, while continuous adaptation becomes the true measure...
New Psychology Research Reveals the Cognitive Cost of Smartphone Notifications
A study published in *Computers in Human Behavior* shows smartphone notifications interrupt concentration for roughly seven seconds. Researchers tested 180 university students with Stroop tasks and three notification types—personal, generic, and blurred—to isolate visual, conditioning, and relevance effects. The personal‑notification...
The Unglamorous Power of Routine
The article argues that unglamorous daily routines are a powerful productivity lever. By pre‑positioning items like gym shoes and fixing wake‑up times, the author eliminates decision fatigue and frees mental energy. He links personal habit stacking to lean “standard work,”...
Avoid Digital Distraction With These Mindfulness Practices
The article explains how pervasive digital devices hijack attention through design features like notifications and endless scrolling, leading to fragmented focus and reduced productivity. It presents mindfulness techniques—three‑breath resets, naming urges, and single‑task windows—as practical ways to strengthen reflective attention...
How to Write Yourself Every Day
Write Yourself Every Day (WYED) is a low‑tech journaling method that uses a phone’s voice‑to‑text feature to capture unfiltered inner monologue for ten minutes each day. After recording, the transcript is reread as if it belonged to a fictional character,...
What Happens After You Retire Early? People Who Have Done It in Their 30s Describe Boredom, Identity Shifts, and Second...
The Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement promises freedom through aggressive saving, yet early retirees like Josette Chang, Gwendolyn Merz and Rose Han report post‑retirement boredom, identity crises, and unexpected costs. While they achieved net‑worth milestones and left demanding jobs,...
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Locus of Control and Your Life
Locus of control describes whether individuals believe outcomes stem from their own actions (internal) or external forces. Originating from Rotter’s 1950s theory and later refined by Zimbardo, the construct predicts motivation, stress response, and achievement. People with an internal orientation...
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Situational Leadership Theory
Situational leadership theory, created by Hersey and Blanchard, posits that effective leaders must adapt their style to the maturity and competence of their team members. The original model outlines four styles—telling, selling, participating, delegating—matched to four maturity levels, while the...
Narcissistic Traits and Celebrity Worship Are Linked to Excessive Instagram Scrolling via Emotional Struggles and Fear of Missing Out
A new study in The Journal of Psychology links narcissistic traits and celebrity worship to problematic Instagram use. Researchers surveyed 450 Iranian university students and found that both personality factors increase excessive scrolling, but the relationship is mediated by fear...
How High-Performing Entrepreneurs Design Their Businesses to Prevent Burnout and Constant Chaos
High‑performing entrepreneurs are shifting from relentless hustle to intentional slack. They schedule only 80 % of their weeks, add staff before teams hit full capacity, and treat AI as a time‑filter rather than a task‑generator. By auditing false urgency and delegating...
Do You Really Need Closure?
The article examines the human drive for closure after traumatic events, highlighting its psychological roots and the mixed outcomes of seeking definitive answers. Researchers Arie Kruglanski and Dan McAdams show that while closure can aid decision‑making and emotional transition, it...
Maximize Your Utility: Career, Family, and Time Strategies
The article proposes a utility‑based framework for women navigating high‑pressure periods such as early parenthood, urging them to prioritize long‑term fulfillment over short‑term multitasking. It outlines five actionable practices—defining a personal utility function, ruthlessly prioritizing time, strategic outsourcing, thinking in...
In Times of War, We Must R.I.S.E.
The Mindful Leader team introduces R.I.S.E., a four‑step reflection framework designed to help individuals respond to war, humanitarian crises, and societal polarization with clarity and responsibility. Drawing on mindfulness, Viktor Frankl’s meaning‑making, and Stoic teachings from Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius,...
Not Everyone Has an Internal Monologue
Psychologist Russell Hurlburt, who has studied inner experience for five decades, argues that most people do not constantly engage in an internal monologue. Using a beeper‑prompted sampling method, he found that only about a quarter of recorded moments involve inner...
How I Coped with 40 Rejections – Farzana Rahman, CEO, Hexarad
Former NHS doctor Farzana Rahman pivoted to entrepreneurship, founding Hexarad, an AI‑powered end‑to‑end radiology platform that delivers diagnoses from CT and MRI scans. After enduring 40 rejections, she secured funding and partnership support from HSBC Innovation Banking, enabling rapid scale‑up....
Abandoning Ourselves
The article explores existential regret, linking it to anxiety and guilt, and argues that authentic decision‑making can mitigate its pain. Drawing on philosophers like Kierkegaard, Sartre, and Nietzsche, it shows how confronting mortality and freedom leads to more purposeful lives....
It Gets Easier: Creatives Share the Lessons that Changed Everything
The Creative Boom piece gathers seasoned creatives who recount early‑career hurdles such as imposter syndrome, difficulty saying no, pricing confusion, and presenting ideas. Contributors like Daniel Poll and Kirsty Hepworth illustrate how repeated client interactions and embracing discomfort gradually built...
These Leisure Activities Make You More Fulfilled & Creative At Work (M)
Dr Jeremy Dean argues that leisure activities are a hidden driver of workplace fulfillment and creativity. He cites psychological studies showing that hobbies such as gardening, playing music, reading fiction, and volunteering improve mood, cognitive flexibility, and intrinsic motivation. The article...
Guided Breathwork: What It Actually Is and What Happens When You Try It
Guided breathwork is a structured, facilitator‑led breathing practice where participants lie down and continuously breathe through the mouth for about 28 minutes, followed by a rest period. The guide helps participants push through the brain’s natural resistance that peaks around...
The George Marshall Method for Leaving Work at 5 PM
General George Marshall, WWII Army Chief of Staff, managed the world’s largest military effort while leaving the War Department precisely at 5 p.m. each day. He slashed direct access to his office from over sixty people to six, created an Operations...
Motivation Isn't Enough to Drive Change
The article argues that motivation alone cannot drive sustainable change in construction; behavior occurs only when motivation, ability, and a prompt align. Ability, defined as the ease of acting under time pressure, is eroded by high cognitive load from complex...
New Psychology Study Reveals We Consistently Underestimate Our Power in Close Relationships
Researchers analyzed 1,304 couples from Germany and New Zealand and found that individuals consistently underestimate their power to influence partners. The bias persisted across friendships and romantic relationships, with men showing larger underestimation than women. Self‑protection and power‑driven motives intensified the...
Want to Stop Putting Important Things Off? Use the 5-Minute Rule to Stop Procrastinating
Procrastination stems from the brain’s limbic system favoring immediate comfort over long‑term goals. The article promotes the 5‑minute rule—committing to work on a task for just five minutes—to bypass resistance and activate the neocortex. By starting rather than finishing, individuals...
Emotion Regulation Strategies: How to Choose What Works
Susan McGarvie, Ph.D. outlines a decision framework that helps therapists match emotion‑regulation techniques to the specific emotional moment and intensity. The article distinguishes regulation from coping, distress tolerance, and suppression, and identifies six underlying mechanisms such as attention control and physiological...
Is There Anyone Middle Managers Can Trust?
Middle managers are caught between unrealistic strategic goals and limited authority, forcing them to mask contradictions and hide capacity constraints. This isolation, termed Organizational Latchkey Syndrome, erodes psychological safety and turns emotional intelligence into a liability. The article argues that...
I Was Facebook's Youngest Engineer at 17. I Left Meta at a Moment when AI's Lead Can Change Every Few...
Michael Sayman, who taught himself to code at 13 and built a #1 App Store game, joined Facebook at 17 as its youngest software engineer. After stints at Google and founding SocialAI, he returned to Meta to lead its Superintelligence...
With Just a Few Short Words at the Peak of His Career, Oscar Winner Ryan Coogler Just Taught a Brilliant...
Oscar‑winning director Ryan Coogler used a few concise words during his acceptance speech to remind the audience that glory is temporary and true impact lies beyond the spotlight. He invoked ancient Greek wreaths and Roman triumphs as symbols of fleeting...
Surviving Redundancy: Tips on How to Cope, and Why It Can Be a Blessing in Disguise
Creative professionals facing redundancy often experience shock, financial anxiety, and emotional turmoil, but many transform the setback into a catalyst for growth. Real‑world stories illustrate how individuals turned unexpected job loss into thriving freelance businesses, new agency launches, or higher‑level...
Productivity Toxins: Getting Past Distraction
The article frames everyday distractions as "productivity toxins" that turn potential procrastination into certainty. It draws a parallel between modern interruptions—emails, instant messages, and colleague drop‑ins—and Newton’s first law, describing distractions as unbalanced forces that halt momentum. By becoming aware...
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Shy Vs. Introvert: Understanding the Dimensions of Introversion and Shyness
The article separates shyness—fear of negative evaluation—from introversion—susceptibility to overstimulation and a need for solitude. It maps four possible personality combinations (outgoing‑extrovert, shy‑extrovert, outgoing‑introvert, shy‑introvert) and illustrates how each behaves in common social settings. Practical tips for managing shyness, such...
Restoring Our Natural Rhythms
The piece argues that modern culture idolizes expansion—growth, acquisition, and constant achievement—while marginalizing contraction, the natural slowdown associated with grief, fatigue, and melancholy. It suggests that labeling these periods as "contractions" rather than pathology reduces shame and reveals opportunities for...