Category: 1-Minute Strategy

When you’re preparing your next presentation or report, set it aside when you’re through and re-approach it as if your boss has just told you, “Whoops! This is exactly twice as long as it’s allowed to be.” Go through the process of re-imagining it at this new, impossibly short length. You’ll find yourself needing to […]

How many of us who should know better keep accepting at face value unusual emails from companies we deal with regularly—especially ones alerting us that we need to “click here” to update our accounts or passwords, or react to an alleged fraud, or provide new information that hasn’t been required before. At this point in […]

The next time you find yourself struggling with an ethical question, you might want to try a bit of a shock technique to snap yourself into reality: Imagine clicking on Google News tomorrow morning and seeing how the online media’s headlines would present your decision to the world. Go ahead and put your photo next […]

This one’s as true as it was years ago: If any correspondence requires more than four emails, pick up the phone or take a walk down the hallway to talk in person. Something’s not quite getting communicated correctly or clearly. Plus, don’t you find yourself getting irrationally irritated with someone when you keep seeing messages […]

What’s one thing many people do without knowing it, yet causes people to immediately lose a little confidence in them? Sighing. More specifically, those heavy “Oh man, here we go again” or “I can’t believe this is happening to me” sighs that really say, “I consider myself halfway to defeat.” Try to catch yourself in […]

You want personal investment from the members of your admin team and a way to put a charge into their work? Try suddenly taking away their nets. Make them responsible for their own quality control on a project rather than delegating the loose ends and final touches to others. It allows them to be real […]

The alarm goes off and you just cannot believe it’s morning already. If you have to go into work dragging to the extreme because of a severe lack of sleep, make the day into an even mix of sitting and moving. Too much staring at a computer screen or too much exertion will make you […]

Didn’t get that dream job you were hoping for? Sure, spend an hour or so moping, but then remind yourself that you really only had a sliver of the whole picture of what you might have been getting into. No one told you at the interview about how the people really work together there, what […]

One type of employee who definitely does not inspire confidence is the rusher—someone who physically moves much faster as he tackles a task or tears down the hallway at a sprint because he feels rushed. This type of frenetic movement doesn’t save any significant time, but it does broadcast to everyone that you’re not in […]

By casually mentioning a downside or two of your ideas when you discuss them, you gain credibility as an objective, fair-minded person who thinks everything through. You also get ahead of the arguments that you may encounter, leaving opponents with less firepower to their objections.