How Not To Talk to Your Kids (Employees)
I often find that many of the principles and approaches I use with my kids, work well in managing deals (I can go into more detail on a later post). A recent post from Whitney Tilson highlighted yet another area where this plays out...the fine art of complimenting/motivating employees. I would hazard a guess that the lessons below apply both at work and at home. In the article, researchers lay out recent findings that praise for effort versus praise for skill or intelligence produces dramatically more positive results. Whitney is referring to a recent article by Po Bronson, NY Magazine, "How Not to Talk to Your Kids"
"STOP THE PRESSES!
I know I send out a ton of emails and I suspect very few of you read them all, so every month or two, when I come across an article that is a must-read, I pull out my STOP THE PRESSES!
This article has rocked my world because the findings it outlines -- for example, that while praising children is good, the key is to focus on praising EFFORT, not intelligence -- have hugely powerful implications for educating children and are completely contrary to conventional wisdom.
I found these results to be particularly amazing: a mere 50-minute class with one powerful message could have such an impact?!