27 Posts found for Author: Sally Helgesen

One of the ways that I assess whether an organization has an inclusive culture is one of the simplest possible methods: Does the largest possible percentage of people speak of the organization in terms of “we” or “they”? If it’s we, it’s probably inclusive, and if it’s they, which it often is, then despite all the mission statements extolling diversity and inclusive culture—it’s not an … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Culture, Diversity, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

Overconfidence should actually be viewed as a warning sign that someone will turn out to be a poor leader — immune to feedback, resistant to change, and unlikely to consult others when making key decisions.

Content: Quotation | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Human Resources, Leadership, Organizational Behavior

Studies confirm that both men and women tend to equate confidence with competence because they assume that those who do not question their own ability and who view themselves as destined for greatness must have good reason for doing so. In fact, inept individuals tend to be less accurate in evaluating their own talents for the simple reason that they lack the expertise to know … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Organizational Behavior

One of the hard problems of leadership is that an organization is only as strong as its weakest leader.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Fred Kofman, Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Leadership

The exclusive focus on monetary rewards inevitably leaves organizations fighting a fierce but losing struggle to balance individual and team results. Rewarding high performers serves the imperatives of accountability and excellence but can undermine alignment and cooperation among team members. Yet basing pay on team results in order to incentivize collaboration often ends up inadvertently rewarding subpar individual performance and penalizing individual excellence. Neither approach … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Fred Kofman, Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Motivation, Organizational Behavior, Teamwork

Business scholar Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic demonstrates, women’s confidence almost always aligns with their level of competence — or falls below it — which is not usually the case with men, especially at leadership levels. This is true primarily because the number of overconfident men tends to be relatively high. And overconfidence, and the assertiveness it engenders, can be extremely helpful to someone pursuing a senior position, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Sally Helgesen, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Diversity, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, Women in Business

Successful people are often particularly skilled at coming up with reasons for continuing workplace behaviors that in fact no longer serve them. In What Got You Here, Marshall [Goldsmith] showed how their resistance is often rooted in what he calls the success delusion—the belief that because you’ve been successful, not only do you not need to change, you probably should not change. Because if you … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Marshall Goldsmith, Sally Helgesen | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

It’s not surprising that many of the behaviors that hold men and women back would be different. After all, women often have very different experiences at work. And experience shapes habits and responses. Familiar habits and responses may feel intrinsic, like part of who you are. But they are not you; they are you on autopilot. Bringing them to conscious awareness is the first step … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Marshall Goldsmith, Sally Helgesen | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Women in Business

Trying to master every detail of your job in order to become an expert is a great strategy for keeping the job you have. But if your goal is to move to a higher level, your expertise is probably not going to get you there. In fact, such mastery often serves to trap you in your current role. […] Of course, we’re not advocating sloppy … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Marshall Goldsmith, Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Career

People buy what you’re selling because they like and trust you, and because they believe that what you offer may have value for them. Why do they believe this? Because you so obviously do. Mesmerizing belief in the product is the secret of every great salesperson.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Marshall Goldsmith, Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Everyone has self-limiting behaviors; this is simply part of being human. But our combined six decades of professional experience coaching and working with women in virtually every sector have taught us that even women at the highest levels can undermine themselves with specific self-sabotaging behaviors that are different from those that most frequently undermine men.

Expertise, connections, and personal authority are all non-positional kinds of power … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Marshall Goldsmith, Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Career, Women in Business

The design of defaults is thus of great importance. And that importance is only magnified by the flawed nature of human decision making. Although lawmakers, economists, and providers of healthcare and social services used to assume that people based decisions on their own rational self-interest, seven decades of behavioral data have demonstrated that this is rarely true. In reality, people are influenced by random factors … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Decision Making, Management, Organizational Behavior

This rising quantity of quantification has surely improved our understanding of what superior leaders can achieve, and has given organizations valuable information to use when hiring and developing talent. But has it improved the quality of leadership in the real world? High turnover rates and a paucity of effective leaders suggest either that there’s no correlation between studying leadership and leading or that the scientific … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Leadership

The law professor who brought behavioral science into public policy believes that with a little intervention, we can all have the freedom to choose wisely.

Content: Article | Authors: Cass R. Sunstein, Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Customer Related, Economics, Marketing / Sales, Organizational Behavior

I was struck, yet unsurprised, by a new survey featured in the Financial Times showing that women view “workplace culture” as the biggest impediment to their careers by a significant margin. Although work–life balance continues to monopolize public discussion, the number of female respondents reporting that a workplace designed by and for male advancement was the primary barrier to their own advancement was nearly double … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Women in Business

Leaders who worry excessively — the up-all-night types — can set a cautious or even frightened tone that spreads discouragement. In Beveryly Kaye’s experience, “worried leaders tend to fail their people in one of two ways. They may be distracted and overlook signals people send about what they are capable of. Or they micromanage, either because they don’t trust their people or as a way … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Beverly Kaye, Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Leadership, Management

Could differences in how women and men articulate ambition early in their careers play a role in determining what opportunities come their way?

Content: Article | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Women in Business

The belief in the essential equity, not to mention the efficacy, of pay for performance remains a bedrock of many modern firms. And it’s often a prime reason that companies today are so likely to describe themselves as meritocracies in which anyone with smarts, talent, commitment, and guts can thrive.

Yet the work I’ve done in recent decades with organizations’ diversity efforts suggests that this meritocratic … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

As most of us who’ve worked in even well-run and successful companies can attest, a hearty, “Great idea, boss!” is the grease that keeps most careers moving. Rebels may start and build companies, but they rarely get promoted to run them.

Content: Quotation | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Career

One of the most encouraging recent management trends has been the move away from rigid, numerically based annual performance reviews. As larger companies follow Silicon Valley early adopters in rethinking the wisdom of the annual performance review, the question arises: What might replace it? What might a more human and flexible way of assessing employee contribution and gauging developmental needs look like? As yet, no … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior