Welcome to Conspire’s Fun Friday Links, a weekly collection of interesting discoveries from around the Web. Most of the time, the goal is to get you thinking differently about innovation, collaboration, business culture, and life in general. Other times, we may toss an infographic or fun video your way. Submissions are welcome, and you can send them to conspire@mindjet.com for consideration.
7 Things That Will Keep You From Being Successful
In the vast universe of things that prevent people from achieving their goals, the average person could close their eyes, point at random, and land on some repetitive mistake they’ve seen stand in the way time and time again. But despite the fact that most of us know we’re our own biggest hurdles, identifying — and eradicating — specific behaviors that keep us down is a lot easier said than done. From Inc.:
“It’s one thing to experience happiness and be content with yourself — that’s a really good thing. But don’t let yourself get so comfortable that you’re not hungry for change. If you didn’t need to change anything, you would already be wildly successful. What you’re doing today can always be improved on and expanded.
Keep your hunger sharp and your drive strong. You can always afford to learn something new.”
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99% of Networking Is a Waste of Time
The percentage of the population that actually enjoys networking (and not just for the free wine) is pretty small — yet it’s been beaten into our heads over and over that doing it, both often and the right way, is the only way to get where you want to go in your career. Thankfully (for most, anyway), this might not be the case at all. From the Harvard Business Review:
“Everyone gets this wrong. They try to look right and sound right and end up being completely forgettable. I’m having a ball just being myself. I don’t wear suits or anything like that. I do not care about first impressions. I’d almost rather make a bad first impression and let people discover me over time than go for an immediate positive response. Curiously, research I read years ago suggests that you build a stronger bond over time with someone who doesn’t like you immediately compared to someone who does.”
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Innovation Magnetism
Formless innovation is no easy task, which is why so many of today’s companies are turning to strategic programs and sophisticated platforms for success. But even with the most powerful tools available, the right innovation philosophy must be established, translated, and communicated if leaders intend to implement any kind of repeatable, scalable approach. From Innovation Excellence:
“The difference between the analogies for burning and magnets is that something on fire will eventually be extinguished, it will burn out or it will be judged not important to address. A magnet creates a powerful attractive or repellant force and it sustains that same force over the lifetime of the magnet. As long as the magnet retains its magnetism, it exerts the same force. That’s what we need for innovation to succeed in any organization – an initially powerful force to attract the right people to the right ideas, and an equally powerful force that remains powerful and attractive over time to keep people focused, even when other forces come into play.”
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