The Personal MBA^TM

PMBA member Vincent Touquet points us to this extraordinarily interesting article: “He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t”, written by Daniel Gilbert of Stumbling on Happiness fame. (A non-business book I highly recommend.)

Key Takeaways:

• Conflicts naturally escalate because of three factors: (1) we can easily observe the actions of others, but not our own; (2) we can easily observe our own thoughts, but not those of others; (3) any pain we receive appears to be more real and hurtful than pain we inflict.
• The best way to diffuse this psychological aspect of conflict is to try to trust the good intentions of others and ignore what our brains infer to be escalating ill intent.

Think of this the next time you’re tempted to respond in retribution in any context, business or otherwise.

(Tip o’the hat to Penelope Trunk, who tipped Vincent off to the article.)

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I’m loving the Manager Tools podcast and forum, which I came across recently. The current podcast topic is company strategy and SWOT analysis… worth a listen. (Part 1 | Part 2)

The forums are also stellar. There’s a great conversation going on right now about the positives and negatives of having ex-military managers. Here’s a gem of a quote from one of the members, which he picked up from his manager, a former Marine of 12 years:

“Direct orders are for combat operations, insubordination, new recruits and delivering public policy. For everything else, define the job and let good people do that job. And the best part of it is that not only is that the most effective way to lead, it’s also the easiest.”

There’s also some information on the DiSC assessment, which is a tool for understanding your behavioral styles and preferences when interacting with others. It seems that DiSC is a particularly effective tool to use when providing feedback to your direct reports and peers. I’ve never heard of DiSC before, but it’s certainly on my radar screen now.

• Carnival of the Capitalists: This week’s edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists is up! Notable posts:
  • Mastery vs. learning.
  • The top 3 challenges that make or break new managers.
  • Business card etiquette for entrepreneurs.
  • How much capital you’ll need to start a laundromat.
• PMBA Discussion: there’s quite the conversation going on regarding whether or not it’s appropriate to put the PMBA on your resume. What do you think?
• News: According to Reuters, MIT is making all of its course notes and materials available online by the end of the year, including courses from the Sloan School of Management. What a great resource!