Make an Introduction on Giving Tuesday
Today is Giving Tuesday. It arrives on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two days marked by heavy consumption and spending. It’s nice to have a day where we’re encouraged and reminded to give back to others (though I’d argue that every day should be a giving day).
There are a lot of ways you can give to people in your communities, and there’s no one thing you have to do. However, there is one easy thing to give, according to Adam Grant, a professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. It’s simply an introduction.
“When I look back on the moments that fundamentally changed my life, the vast majority began with quiet and generous introductions,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “I met my wife through an introduction (thank you, Mike) and chose my career due to an introduction (thank you, Tal). When I wrote a book about the hidden power of helping others, it was featured in a New York Times magazine cover story because of an introduction (thank you, Wendy). Adam Rifkin was one of the stars of the book, and fittingly, I met him through an introduction (thank you, Jennifer).”
Grant says that most people overlook introductions as a form of giving, with only 27 percent making an introduction last year.
“One of the barriers is that we worry about putting our own reputations on the line,” he wrote. “As Liz Ryan pointed out last week, most introductions are reactive: we make them after someone reaches out for help. This puts us in a position of evaluating whether we want to stick our necks out on behalf of someone else. We can circumvent this problem by being more proactive, initiating introductions before people ask. When we choose who we want to connect, we can introduce people where there’s likely to be a mutual benefit and provide a compelling reason for why they should meet.”
I encourage everyone today to take a moment and introduce two people who were previously strangers. Ask them then to pay it forward. In the end, we’ll all get to know each other a little bit better and perhaps a few good things will come of it.
Are You Surface Acting During Meetings?
Do you present a blank face during meetings? Is your body language more akin to a fence post? Are your words less than two syllables when you talk? Then you may be suffering from “surface acting,” a serious occurrence of managing emotions.
“According to a new study, meeting attendees who feel the need to mask their emotional reactions get less from the meeting itself, and are more likely to experience negative long-term outcomes such as burnout,” wrote Alex Fradera at BPS Research Digest.
The study, conducted by Linda Shanock and colleagues, is part of a growing body of research on work meetings and their effectiveness.
“Shanock’s team predicted that because surface acting demands self-control and puts pressure on our resources, it can restrict the attention we put towards the actual goals of the meeting, making it less likely to get a satisfactory outcome than if we were not so distracted,” Fradera wrote.
Data was collected from 178 participants and long-term effects from three months out were also measured. Those participants who exhibited high amounts of surface acting were more burned out and more likely to quit their jobs.
“Surface acting during meetings and perceived meeting effectiveness may relate to how emotionally exhausted employees feel and their intentions to seek other employment,” the researchers wrote in the study’s abstract. “Given the cost and pervasiveness of meetings in daily organizational life and their potential effects on the well-being of employees, understanding how to make meetings effective is paramount—particularly if researchers and practitioners want to better understand how perceived meeting effectiveness may be related to various employee outcomes.”
How do you encourage your employees to express authentic emotions during meetings? Please let us know in the comments.
Batten Down the Hatches – Study Shows Severe Storms are on the Rise
As venue professionals we are all aware of Severe Weather Season. It’s the time when Mother Nature ramps up the likelihood of a severe weather incident, and it typically runs March to August. While once isolated to a few months, severe weather has now become a full-time concern, and the severity of storms has seemingly increased. This up-tick in destruction isn’t all in our heads, fed by social media and personal accounts captured on camera phone video. It’s real and you better buckle your seatbelts and batten down your venue’s hatches.
A recent USA Today story about a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report shows that deadly and destructive thunderstorms, and the violent tornadoes they produce, are forecast to see a “robust” increase across parts of the U.S. in upcoming decades because of climate change. While most previous research has been inconclusive, this study is one of the first that’s found a solid link between climate change and severe storms.
“Springtime severe thunderstorms could increase by as much as 40 percent over the eastern U.S. (roughly from the Rockies to the Atlantic) by the end of the century,” says lead author Noah Diffenbaugh of Stanford University.
In addition to spring, the study also predicts an increase in storm days in winter and fall as well. Overall, for the entire year, the researchers forecast an increase in severe storms of 25 percent to 30 percent. Continue Reading →
October 2013 Leadership Report Available
From IAVM President and CEO Vicki Hawarden, CMP:
“We had an extremely productive IAVM Board of Directors conference call in October. The board unanimously approved the adoption of a new IAVM membership model, allowing a venue to secure a $3,000 group membership which allows up to 20 professional members, interns and stakeholders (such as the mayor) to join the association. More details will come as the program is more fully developed and launched, tentatively set for April. Also, the board discussed the proposed IAVM bylaws changes and the member feedback received so far, and confirmed its intention to use this information to re-evaluate the changes and the voting timeline during its January meeting.
“The new IAVM website is nearly complete. By the time the board meets in January, board members and other volunteer leaders will have the opportunity to review the new site and provide staff with valuable input. An external launch of the site is planned for the spring, once we have used this early feedback to make improvements where necessary.”
Industry News Weekly Roundup
There was a lot of industry news this past week you may have missed. Here are some headlines that caught our eyes.
The Case of the Errant Hot-Dog Toss
—Slate
“Can a hulking man in an outlandish costume fire a projectile into a crowd, hit someone in the eye, and get away with it? Maybe—if the costumed guy is the Kansas City Royals mascot, and the projectile is a hot dog that’s fired into the stands during a baseball game.”
SMT Panel: How NFL Programming is Driving Viewership
—Sports Business Journal
“The opening panel at Day 2 of the ’13 Covington & Burling Sports Media & Technology conference was a discussion among three NFL team presidents and two network execs on what is being done and what we can expect in relation to the in-stadium experience.”
Want to Innovate? First Get Rid of What’s Not Working
—Convene
“Sometimes in order to get things done, futurethink CEO and founder Lisa Bodell was saying, ‘You have to stop doing things.'”
Can You See the Opportunities Staring You in the Face?
—Harvard Business Review
“Companies suffer from inattention blindness too. And in a business context, the weird thing that gets overlooked can turn out to be a crucial differentiating factor. If one company doesn’t notice it, another will—to great advantage.”
Google Maps Now Lets You Preview International Travel With Images of Airports, Rail/Subway Stations
—The Next Web
“Google Maps features a range of international transit locations, including 16 airports, more than 50 train and subway stations and even details of a cable car station in Hong Kong and the inside of an Emirates A380 plane at Dubai Airport.”
How to Get Press for Anything
—Medium
“Should you listen to my advice? Yes, absolutely. I even reached out to my friends at TechCrunch, Forbes, ReadWrite, and other publications so that you could hear directly from the writers themselves on the best way to get their attention.”