GRANTED: Good listening and bad PowerPoint

February 2020

In grad school, on my first major paper, I wanted to include 2 undergrads as coauthors. An advisor told me it was a mistake. I agreed… and coauthored the paper with 5 undergrads instead.

Sharing credit with others takes nothing away from you.

Here are some people whose writing deserves credit this month:

1. Listen More. Here’s How (Kate Murphy, NYT)
Listening well is more than talking less. It's skill in asking and responding. Show an interest in people's interests, not in trying to judge their status. Help them express their thoughts clearly and crystallize your understanding.
 
2. Why Your Students Forget Everything on Your Slides (Mary Jo Madda, EdSurge)
How to use words in PowerPoint, according to research:
(a) Don’t put them on your slides, period
(b) If they’re on your slides, don’t say them out loud
The redundancy of both hearing and reading a message increases cognitive load, undermining learning.
 
3. When a Promotion Leads to Divorce (Derek Thompson, Atlantic)
After getting promoted to CEO, women are 2x as likely as men to get divorced. Derek explores many of the possible causes, from violated expectations to shifting priorities to destabilized routines. I would’ve liked to see him delve further into the evidence on precarious manhood, which suggests that some men feel insecure when their wives become the breadwinners or the powerholders.
It’s a good reminder for all of us that when the women we love succeed, it’s not a threat to our status—it’s a cause for celebration.
 
4. How Will You Measure Your Life? (Clay Christensen, HBR)
The world lost a gentle giant this month. His most disruptive innovation was reminding us not to overinvest in careers and underinvest in people:
-Create cultures in families, not just companies
-Build self-esteem by building others up
-Measure success by the lives you touch
 

New from My Desk:

5. Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (Podcast)
Enjoying helping others doesn't make it a selfish act—the joy is a byproduct, not the goal. I had a blast chatting with Dax and Monica Padman about generosity, introverts and extraverts, being (dis)agreeable, takers and fakers, supertasters, and the most delicious of all Midwestern delicacies: Olga bread.

6. A Psychologist’s Best and Worst Parenting Advice (World Economic Forum)
I talked in Davos about how kids don’t just need to feel that they can count on others. They need to feel that others are relying on them too.

Cheers,
Adam

Adam Grant, Ph.D.
Organizational psychologist at Wharton, author of ORIGINALS, GIVE AND TAKE, and OPTION B, and host of WorkLife, a TED original podcast