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Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Despite the popular image of a strong leader as one who makes bold decisions and sticks with them, great leadership actually requires adapting to changing circumstances. A course of action that seemed like a great idea on one day may be a clear losing proposition when additional information becomes available. A complexity with changing your mind as a leader is that your previous choices and plans affect a number of other peoples lives. People who work for you are currently working to implement the plan you laid out. Others, like clients or suppliers, may be planning future engagements based on the initial plan you announced. Furthermore, your change of heart may have a negative impact on some of those people. Your decision may influence peoples jobs or the success of other companies. So it’s natural to feel some regret that your choice may hurt others. It might even feel humane to delay the impact of your decision to the last moment. Resist the urge to kick that can down the road. Why prompt communication is so important As a leader, you are responsible not only for the success of an organization but also for creating a trusted environment that enables people to thrive in their work. When you withhold key information about changes in plans, you may temporarily delay peoples disappointment, but you can have a more permanent impact on the overall environment you have created. The success of most plans is a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a leader, you chart a course of action, provide resources, and move forward. Trust in your leadership creates energy for people who work for you and with you to engage in the effort to turn that plan into a reality. When you delay an announcement about a change, you waste peoples time. They have invested themselves (and perhaps other resources) in your future vision. The longer you delay, the more of that investment they could have put elsewhere. That lost time will create a resentment that will likely affect how much work people want to put into future requests you make. So, kicking the can down the road rather than communicating quickly mortgages the success of future projects to avoid facing a hard conversation in the present. What happens when you do communicate effectively You may push off a difficult conversation to spare someone from having to get bad news, or perhaps to avoid having to deliver bad news. Ultimately, though, this delay does not avoid the problemif anything, it magnifies it. When you change your mind, some people might be upset. But they are going to have to find out eventually. You may as well get it out of the way at a time when you avoid other complications like leading people to make future plans based on their (now mistaken) beliefs about the future. Finally, you may be surprised at how well most people take it when you tell them of a change of heart. Often, other people also have reservations about a course of action you have selected, and so the people you fear upsetting may instead be relieved you have reversed course. Even when youre giving news that will genuinely disappoint someone else, they’re likely to recognize that not every decision in the workplace can go in their favor. Your colleagues are probably mature enough to handle bad news with grace and professionalism. So, your concerns about the consequences of difficult conversations ma be overblown.
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E-Commerce
When Paige DeSorbo was applying to colleges, her mom suggested broadcast journalism school. You would be a great news anchor, she said. DeSorbo agreed; she always loved reading off a teleprompter and ended up attending journalism school in upstate New York. Today, the Bravo reality TV star, 32, isnt exactly reading off a teleprompter, but she is constantly addressing the public. DeSorbo and her best friend and former Summer House castmate Hannah Berner parlayed their weekly Instagram Live musings into a podcast, Giggly Squad, in 2020. There, they bring comedic takes to everything from tariffs (chamoy pickles should have an extra tariff, they decided recently) to the appropriate level of closeness between adult men and their mothers. With more than 44 million downloads as of last year, DeSorbo and Berner have gone on tour, appeared on The Tonight Show, and are now translating their charming and satirical advice into book form, with How to Giggle: A Guide to Taking Life Less Seriously, out today. DeSorbo spoke with Fast Company about the strategy thats propelled her career so far: Choose a business partner like you pick a spouse I met Hannah my first weekend on Summer House, and we immediately hit it off. Not to jinx it, but we don’t see what we do as work because its just talking to each other. Of course, we have to make [business] decisions, but we don’t have a scheduled time during the week for that. We’re talking constantly and bring up work things the way we would any topic. We also have a shared Google Doc and Notes app. When things come up that youd normally text your friend about, we write it down and wait until the podcast. We call ourselves low-maintenance friends. We’re low-maintenance business partners, as well. Hannah and I have never gotten into a fight about anything business-related because we think of things the same way. There’s so many other areas where Hannah and I are completely opposite, but we feel like Giggly Squad is our baby, and we’re co-parenting. Its like getting married. Its the biggest decision of your life, and you have to choose wisely. Know when to sacrifice hair and makeup When we were about to start the Giggly Squad podcast, Hannah and I had to literally go open a Giggly Squad bank account. Doing that with her, I felt like I was 13 years old, but we were represented at agencies. We had to make sure Giggly Squad felt authentic, like the Instagram Lives wed been making before, even though we were making it more professional. That’s why we love our tour so much. On Instagram Live, you’re in the comments. With podcasts, you never get to interact with listeners. Our live shows are almost like we’re back in our Instagram Live days, but in person. When we first started touring, Hannah and I wanted to get our hair and makeup done [for every show]. This is the most non-Paige-coded thing ever, but Hannah suggested we do our own hair and makeup so we could nap during the day. I was like, that’s the best idea. I need to nap before the show. I’ll sacrifice hair and makeup. Now, we’ve gotten so good at doing it ourselves. Use your own voice When Simon & Schuster came to us to write a book, any Bravo person I talked to said you get a ghostwriter. But both Simon & Schuster and Hannah said it needed to be in our voices, because its comedy. We wrote the book fifty-fifty. Some of the stories are the same, but one version is from Hannah’s view and the others mine. It starts with how Hannah and I met. I love seeing her perspective. Then we have different personalized stories from our childhoods that have to do with our moms and growing up. We were influenced by magazines from when we were younger, full of quizzes, graphs, and charts. We wanted that element in our book because its fun and nostalgic for us. Now, I can’t imagine our book being written by a ghostwriter. Giggly Squad is so nuancedwe have so many inside jokes. Explaining that to someone would take too much time. Be fully present At this point in my life, in my early thirties, Ive got passion for my career. It is my number-one focus. Not to say that I don’t want to get married and have childrenI absolutely do. But it’s slowly [becoming] okay for women to say, I’m going to wait on that part because I want to give it my all. When Im doing something, I want to be fully present. With Giggly Squad, writing a book, and going on tour, I want to be fully present. The same goes for motherhood and being a wife. Dont believe the haters . . . or your fans Before I was on Summer House, I watched a lot of Bravo. When you’re watching it, you see people do things and think, That is so crazy! How do you not remember you’re being filmed? Then when you film a reality TV show, you forget there’s cameras there, and you become so close with production. When they’re in the room, you forget they’re producers. A producer told me, before my first season even airedhe was preparing me for it being on TV50% of people will like you and 50% will not. You can’t believe either [group]. You can’t believe your hype, but you also can’t believe the meanest thing anyone’s ever said about you. That was really good advice because when I started, I didn’t have that many followers on Instagram and didn’t think about that aspect. That helped me with all the social media reactions and opinions. Trusting your gut is the biggest partand not just with your career, but in your entire life. There have been so many times in my career where people have questioned Giggly Squad or what I was doing on Summer Houseanything. Knowing yourself and believing in your decisions and power is the most important career advice.
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E-Commerce
At first glance, your Kindle might seem like a no-frills reading device: straightforward, minimal, and focused on the basics. Kind of like an actual book, huh?But beneath its simple exterior lies a surprising range of features, tools, and tricks designed to make reading smoother, smarter, and more enjoyable.So, whether youre a seasoned reader or new to Kindle, here are five hidden gems to take your reading experience to the next level.Double-Tap to Turn Pages[Gif: Doug Aamoth]Amazon may have killed off physical buttons, theres a new feature that might help ease the pain.If youve got the most recent Kindle Paperwhite or the new Kindle Colorsoft, you now have access to double-tap functionalityavailable with the 5.18.1 update that dropped in March.It lets you turn pages with two quick taps to the side or back of your Kindle, making one-handed reading a far easier endeavor.Once your Kindle is updated to version 5.18.1, go to Settings > Device Options and toggle on Double Tap to Page Turn.Pinch to Adjust Font Size[Photo: Doug Aamoth]Im embarrassed that I didnt know about this sooner and, frankly, shocked I never did it by accident.For the aging-eyed among us, theres no need to dig track down your cheaters or dig through settings to change text size. Just pinch, baby.To try this, use two fingers to pinch or spread apart on the screen while reading. Itll instantly adjusting the font sizeeasy as that.Send-to-Kindle for Easy File Sharing[Photo: Doug Aamoth]One of my favorite features lets you can transform your Kindle into an all-in-one reading hub by sending documents, PDFs, and even web articles directly to it.Locate your Kindle email address in Settings > Your Account > Send-to-Kindle Email, and then email files to that address. Theyll soon appear in your library after syncing.You can also use the Chrome browser extension for web articles to streamline the process. And you can go to Amazon.com/MyK to customize your Send-to-Kindle email address to make it easier to remember.Export Notes and Highlights[Photo: Doug Aamoth]If you make use of the note-taking and highlighting features, Kindle makes it easy to export your musings via email.To use this feature, tap the top of the screen while reading and select the Notes and Highlights icon in the upper-right corner, which looks like a little notebook. From there, tap the share icon in the upper-right corner and youll find the option to email your notes to yourself or someone elsejust follow the prompts to complete the process.Whispersync for Voice[Photo: Audible]Why choose between reading and listening when you can do both?Whispersync for Voice enables seamless transitions between the Kindle version of a book and its Audible counterpart.Purchase both versions of a book with Whispersync compatibility, open it, and tap Switch to Audio or let the Kindle automatically sync your position between formats.You can also use Amazons Matchmaker feature, which scans your Kindle library and offers a discount price for to add audio to audio-compatible books.
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E-Commerce
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