The body of research around leadership, executive presence and organizational dynamics is growing at an exponential rate. Each month, hundreds of articles hit the web and print media. Here were some of our favorites from the past month:
Engage Both Head and Heart with Your Story: The Moyers & Company blog has a fantastic article that lays out the basic elements of an effective leadership narrative. Great leaders are organizers and great organizers are able to craft powerful personal and organizational narratives that bond, inspire and galvanize their teams.
Persuasion and the Art of the Con: The ability to persuade others is key to developing strong executive presence. While we certainly don’t advocate the actions of conmen and women, this blog at time.com is full of great information about the art of persuasion, the importance of listening and how to step into a leadership role.
The Challenges Women Face in Negotiating Salaries: Research shows that women are more reticent than men to negotiate their salary offers. This article explores the social cost of negotiating for higher pay as a woman and lays out evidenced based strategies to support women in advocating for themselves effectively in negotiation. The articles focuses specifically on salaries, but the ideas are more widely applicable.
Do You Really Want to Be Yourself at Work?: According to recently published research, executives identified an environment where they could be their authentic selves as a top priority in the workplace. Other research suggests, however, that many professionals may be reluctant to reveal their true selves at work. This Harvard Business Review blog discusses the apparent paradox and links to some great assessment tools.
Go with Your Gut: There’s a growing debate between ‘quants’ who believe that advanced algorithms and analytics hold the key to effective decision making and those who believe that our intuition is the most effective guide. This article lays out the debate and points out the inherent flaws in an over-reliance on even the most intricate economic or mathematical models.
Finally, the book, “Executive Presence, The Missing Link Between Merit and Success” by Sylvia Ann Hewlett was released in June, to mixed reviews. Some critics say it finally unlocks the mystery of executive presence, while others say it merely restates and reframes some of the many image management books on the market. Have you read it yet and, if so, what’s your take?