Karen Dillon, author of the "HBR Guide to Office Politics", explains how to gracefully decline excessive projects–and thankless tasks.

Susan David, author of "Emotional Agility" and psychologist at Harvard Medical School, on learning to unhook from strong feelings.

Long-term thinking, short-term savvy, and relentless focus on employees.

Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Suzanne Heywood, authors of "ReOrg: How to Get It Right" explain how good planning and communication can help employees adapt.

HBR contributing editor Amy Gallo discusses the best tactics to recognize, react to, and recover from stressful situations. She's a contributor to the "HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work."

Danielle Brown, Intel Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, talks about the corporation’s $300 million initiative to increase diversity, the largest such investment yet by a technology company. The goal is to make Intel’s U.S. workforce mirror the talent available in the country by 2020. Brown breaks down what exactly Intel is doing, why the corporation is doing it, where it’s going well (recruiting), where it’s not going as well (retention), and what other companies can learn from Intel’s experience.

Joan C. Williams, director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, discusses serious misconceptions that the U.S. managerial and professional elite in the United States have about the so-called working class. Many people conflate "working class" with "poor"--but the working class is, in fact, the elusive, purportedly disappearing middle class. Williams argues that economic mobility has declined, and explains why suggestions like “they should move to where the jobs are” or "they should just go to college" are insufficient. She has some ideas for policy makers to create more and meaningful jobs for this demographic, an influential voting bloc. Williams is the author of the new book, “White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America.”

Mihir Desai, professor at Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School, argues for re-humanizing finance. He says the practice of finance, with increasing quantification, has lost touch with its foundations. But he says finance can be principled, ethical, even life-affirming. And demonizing it or ignoring it means that the rest of us – those not in finance – risk misunderstanding it, which has all kinds of implications for how we make decisions and plan for our futures. Desai is the author of the new book, "The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return." He also writes about finance and the economy for hbr.org.

Dorie Clark, a marketing strategy consultant, answers a burning question: how do people make money off of what they know? She outlines the options for experts who want to monetize their knowledge. Clark explains, using herself and other successful solopreneurs as examples, how to earn revenue from public speaking, podcasting, e-books, and online courses. She also goes over what to charge and when to get an assistant. Clark teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and is the author of the new book “Entrepreneurial You.”

Nancy Koehn, a Harvard Business School historian, tells the life stories of three influential leaders: the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the pacifist Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the ecologist Rachel Carson. They all overcame personal challenges to achieve and inspire social change. In Koehn’s new book, "Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times," she argues that tomorrow's leaders of social change will come from the business world.

Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a senior adviser at the global executive search firm Egon Zehnder, makes the case for finding a company’s next CEO inside the firm. But to find the best contenders, organizations have to learn what to look for, how to find it, and how to nurture it. Fernández-Aráoz is the co-author of the new HBR article “Turning Potential into Success: The Missing Link in Leadership Development.”

Moshe Cohen, a senior lecturer at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, says you can't take the emotion out of a negotiation. After all, negotiations revolve around conflict, risk, and reward — which are inherently emotional. Instead of sidelining your feelings, understand them. Cohen explains how to understand your triggers and use your emotions and those of your counterparts to your advantage.

Tasha Eurich, an organizational psychologist and executive coach, talks about why we all should be working on self-awareness. Few people are truly self-aware, she says, and those who are don’t get there through introspection. She explains how to develop self-awareness through the feedback of loving critics and how to mentor someone who isn’t self-aware. Eurich is the author of the book “Insight.”

Mo Gawdat, founder of One Billion Happy and former Chief Business Officer at Google's X, spent years working in technological innovation. At Google's so-called "dream factory," he learned how to operationalize moonshot ventures aiming to solve some of the world's hardest problems. But then a personal tragedy — the loss of his son — set him on a new path. Gawdat launched a startup with the moonshot goal of helping one billion people find happiness. Gawdat is also the author of "Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy."

Ashley Whillans, professor at Harvard Business School, researches time-money trade-offs. She argues more people would be happier if they spent more of their hard-earned money to buy themselves out of negative experiences. Her research shows that paying to outsource housework or to enjoy a shorter commute can have an outsized impact on happiness and relationships. Whillans is the author of the HBR article “Time for Happiness.”

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a psychologist and chief talent scientist at ManpowerGroup, says we're not picking leaders in the right way. While we should be promoting people based on their competence and potential, it's often the incompetent, overconfident candidates -- most of them men -- who get ahead. Studies show that, by many measures, women are actually better equipped to become strong, successful managers. But the solution to getting more of them into the executive ranks isn't quotas or other initiatives that mandate gender diversity. To improve leadership across the board, we need to focus on the metrics proven to enhance performance and set higher standards for everyone. Chamorro-Premuzic is also a professor of business psychology at University College London and Columbia University, and the author of the book "Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It)" (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019).

Caitlyn Collins, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis, conducted interviews with mothers in four countries -- the United States, Italy, Germany, and Sweden -- who have jobs outside the home to better understand the pressures they felt. She found that American moms were by far the most stressed, primarily because of the lack of parental benefits offered by their employers and the government. In Europe, women told Collins they had more help, but at times cultural norms around their personal and professional roles had yet to catch up. Collins thinks companies can work to improve the situation but argues that the real solution is carefully designed government interventions that will help families at all income levels. She’s the author of the book “Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving.”

Patrick McGinnis, creator of the term FOMO, engages business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians and more about the paths they’ve taken in life – and what they’ve let go of. In this episode, he speaks with Zola CEO Shan-Lyn Ma and Female Founders Fund founder Anu Duggal about how women are driving diversity in the start-up world. "FOMO Sapiens with Patrick J. McGinnis" is part of HBR Presents, a new network of business podcasts curated by HBR editors. For our full lineup of shows, search “HBR” on your favorite podcast app or visit hbr.org/podcasts.

Spencer Harrison, an associate professor at INSEAD, says that managers in any industry can learn from the success of the Marvel movie franchise. While some sequels lack creativity, Marvel manages to make each of its new releases just different enough, so consumers are not just satisfied but also surprised. Research shows that several strategies drive this success; they include bringing in different types of talent while also maintaining a stable core creative team then working together to challenge the superhero action-film formula. And, Harrison argues, leaders in other industries and functions can easily apply them to their own businesses. He is the co-author of the HBR article "Marvel's Blockbuster Machine."

Dave Ulrich, professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, argues today's companies need to replace old hierarchical models with he calls a “market-oriented ecosystem.” From research at Alibaba, Google, Huawei, Supercell, and others, he shows the impressive results of orienting teams and processes toward market opportunities. Ulrich is the coauthor, along with Tencent senior advisor Arthur Yeung, of “Reinventing the Organization: How Companies Can Deliver Radically Greater Value in Fast-Changing Markets.”

On The Anxious Achiever, Morra Aarons-Mele explores the way anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues affect people at work – for better or worse. In this episode, she speaks with clinical psychologist Ellen Hendriksen and Arvind Rajan, the CEO of Cricket Health, about the tension between work and social anxiety. "The Anxious Achiever with Morra Aarons-Mele" is part of HBR Presents, a new network of business podcasts curated by HBR editors. For our full lineup of shows, search “HBR” on your favorite podcast app or visit hbr.org/podcasts.

Rebecca Henderson, professor at Harvard Business School, says that both capitalism and democracy are failing us. She argues that it will take public and private leaders working together to simultaneously fix these two systems because free markets don't function well without free politics and healthy government needs corporate support to survive. She is calling on the business community to take the first step. Henderson is the author of the upcoming book "Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire." And the March Big Idea article, "The Business Case for Saving Democracy."

In 1958, writer Rachel Carson began her exhaustive research on the effects of widespread pesticide use for her next book, Silent Spring. Over the next four years, she built up an airtight case showing how the world’s most powerful chemical companies were harming animals, plants, and people. Her effort was also a race against time, as she struggled against an aggressive form of breast cancer. In the second episode of a four-part special series on leadership, HBR Editor in Chief Adi Ignatius and Harvard Business School professor and historian Nancy Koehn trace the modern environmental movement back to Carson’s pioneering reporting and powerful prose. They discover lessons in how to strengthen your resilience, gather your energy and skills for a coming challenge, and why caretaking is an act of leadership.

In 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln wrote a scathing letter to his top Union general, who had squandered a chance to end the Civil War. Then Lincoln folded it up and tucked it away in his desk. He never sent it. Lincoln understood that the first action that comes to mind is often counter-productive. In the third episode of a four-part special series on leadership, HBR Editor in Chief Adi Ignatius and Harvard Business School professor and historian Nancy Koehn explore Lincoln’s career both before and during America’s greatest crisis. They discover lessons on how to learn continuously, communicate values, and exercise emotional self-control.

Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School, says that there are simple ways leaders can help their employees stay productive, focused, and psychologically healthy as they work from home during the current global pandemic. The right technology tools and clear and constant communication are more important than ever. She recommends that managers do an official remote-work launch, carefully plan and facilitate virtual meetings, and pay extra attention to workers' behavior. For individual contributors, it's critical to maintain a routine but also embrace flexibility, especially if you're in the house with family.

J. Martinez & Company fine coffees would like to discuss what exactly it is that makes Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee so incredibly good.

GiftWorksPlus offers an extensive line of custom wood picture frames that can be engraved with names, dates, messages, and more at no extra charge.

GiftWorksPlus urges a New Year's resolution to capture treasured memories in personalized custom picture frames.

An Avenue Apart is an eCommerce platform for boutiques all over the world that offers a wide selection of handmade fashion products selected from international boutiques, including Italy, India, and Argentina.

Molton Brown's products have been certified as free from animal tests by Cruelty Free International.

February 10, 2013 (New Freedom, PA) - Nevermore Toys is excited to announce Legendary Monsters, a new line of figures based on creatures from popular urban legends. The announcement accompanies a new Kickstarter campaign offering special incentives.

Maiden Gifts, easiest and fastest gift has expanded their fast delivery offers all through the month of February including their Valentine's Special Catalogue of Products.

Make it the best Easter ever. Decorate with style, entertain with ease and give beautiful unique gifts to create a memorable EGGCELLENT holiday. It is about Family, Eggs and Bunnies of course.

After last year's popular Nashville Diamond Week, King Jewelers has opted to dedicate the entire month of April to diamonds and diamond jewelry. Nashville clients can benefit from discounts, gift card offers and a chance to win a special gift package

Leading-edge candy company continues its highly successful candy pooper series with the launch of four new categories

The video below features three mask tutorials. In the first, industrial designer Eric Strebel's wife shows you how to sew a pleated mask that contains a slot you can slide a filter into; then Strebel shows you how he modified his shop mask for easy on/off; finally, he runs you through making a BU Mask, which is a cardboard mask (designed by Evgeny Maslov, freely downloadble plans at the link) that can also take a replaceable filter.

In the sci-fi series The Expanse, set in the 2300s, characters carry smartphone-like devices and are often seen "throwing" data from their device onto a nearby screen for group viewing. Here in humble ol' 2020, designer Cyril Diagne has figured out how to do it, without the histrionic swiping gesture performed on the TV show, and including a capturing step:

Diagne calls it "AR Cut Paste" (though some have commented it's really copy and paste) and has made the code freely available on Github.

Handrail manufacturers often weld straight pipes to elbow connectors, then must grind the welds smooth. To speed this task, some use contraptions like this MB 650 RV product by German power tool manufacturer GeBrax, which attaches to an angle grinder to turn it into a flexible strip sander:

Other German companies, like Flex Tools and Fein, make dedicated pipe sanders:

There are also a host of sketchy-looking "As Seen on TV"-type companies flogging their own angle grinder attachments…

…but I think I'd stick with the reputable German brands.

I don't play golf, and didn't realize there's apparently an occasional need to change the locations of the holes on the greens. But there is, and this is how they do it:

I'm going to say that guy rates his job satisfaction a 10 out of 10.

My DIY project for the weekend is to build a planter box with trellis to support a climbing vine, and I think I’ll stain it black. Last year I built some vegetable trellises and before that a criss cross wall trellis. I still have them both and they still function and look amazing! April is

Last winter i purchased a Polaroid Zip Mobile printer, and decided to give it a first try-out on the road, as it was intended to be used. Here’s my review, and what I learned!

October typically brings Halloween ghost stories, pranks and trick or treating, but scary stories about cyberattacks and trickery around data breaches run rampant all year long. Aside from Halloween, October is also National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), bringing awareness to… Read More

The post Trick or Treat: Cybersecurity Awareness Month Brings Light to Cyberattacks appeared first on Anders CPAs.

Is your company prepared to support the imminent demand for remote work options caused by the coronavirus? Take this quick Remote Work Assessment to identify potential issues in your technology environment and avoid problems later when deploying a Work from… Read More

The post Is Your Company Equipped to Implement a Work from Home Policy? Take the Remote Work Technology Assessment appeared first on Anders CPAs.