GRANTED: A better way to end workplace harassment and how to handle not-so-happy holidays

December 2017

Too often, people ask for advice and then ignore it. You're never obligated to follow a mentor's advice, but you should always show that you've considered it.

Here are some favorite recent articles for your consideration:

1. Why Do Smart People Do Foolish Things?
Being smart doesn't prevent stupid decisions, but critical thinking does. Be an amiable skeptic: treat your beliefs as hypotheses to be tested, and refine them based on evidence.

2. How to Get Your Mind to Read
Teach reading but not knowledge, and you get a society that's technically literate but functionally illiterate. A great education emphasizes information, not only skills.

3. The Secrets of Resilience
To build resilience, take on long-form projects that feel like challenges rather than threats. Hard things that aren’t emotional or unexpected help us practice for those that are.

4. Training Programs and Reporting Systems Won’t End Sexual Harassment. Promoting More Women Will
Mandatory sexual harassment training often backfires with the men who need it most. Since harassment is most rampant in male-dominated organizations, a better solution is hiring and promoting more women into leadership roles. (And to all the companies buying sexual harassment insurance, how about instead, you stop promoting sexual harassers into power?)

From My Desk:

5. Holiday Blues: Four Mistakes We Make When Comforting Friends Who Are Struggling
Here's some unsolicited advice: when people are struggling, don't give unsolicited advice. Tell them they won't go through this alone—and show up for them. Sheryl Sandberg and I share what we've learned about supporting others through the holidays.

Here are some of the questions you asked last month—click any question for my response, plus my favorite resources on 7 other topics you raised:

• In a job application, how can I demonstrate character or social/emotional skills?

• How do I prevent my support network from turning into an echo chamber?

• What is the meaning of life?

Submit your own questions to wondering@adamgrant.net. Include your first name and city, or ask to be anonymous, and I'll pick a few next month to answer here.
 

And you might be interested in First Search by First Round, a just-launched database of curated, high-quality writing on all aspects of starting and growing a company.

Cheers,
Adam

Adam Grant, Ph.D.
Author of ORIGINALS and GIVE AND TAKE,
coauthor of OPTION B, and Wharton professor.