Business Articles That Translate To Everyone

I love the Harvard Business Review blog. It's always an interesting read. It's common to have HBR Case Studies for business and MBA classes, but they are often long and dry.

The HBR Blog articles are short and powerful. They also translate to situations outside the business world, which makes them all the more useful.

Here are a few interesting reads:

• The Best Way To Handle A Power Struggle: The general idea of the article is the following... Getting defensive and try to gain power almost always doesn't work. Instead of trying to use power you don't have, appeal to the generosity of the person who actually has the power. People, when asked and respected, will often willingly do the exact thing they're refusing to do when they feel like you're pushing them.
• How To Avoid (and Quickly Recover from) Misunderstandings: The general idea of the article is the following... Listen carefully. It doesn't matter who's right. It only matters how we communicate, connect, and collaborate. Other good points:
  • Who's responsible for making the first move to clear up the miscommunication? Whoever sees it first.
    
  • How do we know when there's something deeper and more significant going on? What should you do? Don't slam the other person for making no sense. Don't accuse him of being unreasonable. And don't make the mistake of telling [them] what [they're] really trying to say. All of that will backfire. Instead, even if you think you know what's going on, ask a question. When someone expresses a request, demand, assertion, or thought that doesn't seem to make sense, resist the temptation to react. Instead, pause. Ask yourself what's going on. Ask the other person.
    
• Living Life As An Experiment: The general idea of the article is the following... Living life as an experiment allows you to take more risks, learn how to fail and develop. The example used in this article highlights the concept of the first article I listed above on power.

 

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