Category: Expectations
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Productive pygmalion
In “Pygmalion in Management,” J. Sterling Livingston writes for HBR: Managers’ high expectations must pass the test of reality before they can be translated into performance. To become self-fulfilling prophecies, expectations must be made of sterner stuff than the power of positive thinking or generalized confidence in one’s subordinates—helpful as these concepts may be for…
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Priceless advice, on believing
Miss Tick sniffed. ‘You could say this advice is priceless,’ she said. ‘Are you listening?’ ‘Yes,’ said Tiffany. ‘Good. Now … if you trust in yourself …’ ‘Yes?’ ‘… and believe in your dreams …’ ‘Yes?’ ‘… and follow your star …’ Miss Tick went on. ‘Yes?’ ‘… you’ll still get beaten by people who…
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Lucky girl syndrome
At the time I write this, #luckygirl has over 410 million views on TikTok. It’s clearly a resonant topic. The idea of this hashtag, also known as lucky girl syndrome, is you can make good things happen to you if you behave as if you’re expecting and already experiencing the most positive outcome. You’re not…
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Either way, you’re probably right
There’s a saying often attributed to Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” (Apparently, the quote is a variation of Dryden’s translation of Virgil, “For they can conquer who believe they can.”) A saying like this resonates through space and time for a reason. In this case, it explores…
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The happiness folder, redux
I’m revisiting a fun concept I first described nine years ago: a folder to store your happiest memories. It’s been a delight. In a professional, practical, context, you can consider this a brag document. These can be great companions to the action board.
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Craft, plus
“Fashion is kinda a joke,” Virgil Abloh says to Carl Swanson for New York magazine. “I don’t get too bogged down in the clothes. For me, it’s one big art project, just a canvas to show that fashion should have a brand which has someone behind it who cares about different contexts. Social things.” Jon…
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I dare you to hope
“[Virgil Abloh has] become such an inspiration to so many people. But also he made it look easy,” Eugene Rabkin says (37:53, emphasis added). It’s not. I think down the line, Virgil is going to be indirectly responsible for a lot of streetwear lines who came on the scene and then went out of business…
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Cruel optimism
“The persistence of the American Dream, Berlant suggests, amounts to a cruel optimism, a condition ‘when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your own flourishing.’ … Berlant tuned in to a wider sense of disaffection—the feeling among average voters that neither of these visions for change was really about them, or for them.…
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Acceptance mindset
Growth mindset is eating the world; taken to its extreme, it proposes complete freedom and responsibility. If you don’t change, then it’s your fault. That extreme is a trap just as sticky as a fixed mindset. There are some things that you’re probably not going to be able to change. You’re better off accepting and…
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Stone soup
This is a classic fable about a group of travellers showing up to a village with an empty pot. The villagers are unwilling to feed the travellers, so the travellers put a stone in the pot and boil water. The travellers offer to share their stone soup with some of the villagers, though the soup…