Weekly Round-Up: Face-to-Face Requests Succeed More, When Growing Gets Tough, Positive Mindset, Fostering Leadership, & Transforming Work Gossip

Welcome to my weekly round-up of recent top leadership and communication blog posts. As many of you know, each week I read and tweet several great articles and on Fridays, I pull some of my favorites together here on my blog.

This week you’ll read articles on how face-to-face requests are 34 times more successful than email, when growing gets tough, use positive mindset to broaden your view, 6 ways to foster leadership in you team, and 5 ways to transform work gossip into positive communication. These articles will provide you with tips, strategies and thought-starters from many of the smart folks in my network. So whether you’re a new leader or an industry veteran there’ll be something here for you.

• A Face-to-Face Request Is 34 Times More Successful than an Email
  By Vanessa K. Bohns (@HarvardBiz), Harvard Business Review
  
  “Imagine you need people to donate to a cause you care about. How do you get as many people as possible to donate? You could send an email to 200 of your friends, family members, and acquaintances. Or you could ask a few of the people you encounter in a typical day—face-to-face—to donate. Which method would mobilize more people for your cause?…”

• When the Growing Gets Tough
  By Julie Giulioni (@Julie_WG), Julie Winkle Giulioni
  
  “Think about the learning that contributed most powerfully to your development and who you are today. Consider the experiences that built the expertise you use and value most every day. Reflect on what you’re most proud of mastering during the course of your career or life…”

• The positive mindset – to broaden your view
  By Stefano Carulli (@MarcellaBremer), Leadership & Change Magazine
  
  “Now that we’ve looked at some models and mental maps, let’s compare the conventional mental map of “control and constraint” with the mindset of positive possibilities. As the world develops, we need to become bilingual to broaden our response repertory and to benefit from both maps. We can let the maps work together as allies to create a positive organization where people and performance thrive.…”

• 6 ways to foster leadership in your team
  By Joel Garfinkle (@JoelGarfinkle in @SmartBrief) SmartBrief
  
  “A lot has been written recently about the differences between good management and great leadership. We could identify all the philosophies that highlight the qualities of a great leader, but that still leaves the question -- what do great leaders do? If you’ve been struggling with taking those next steps in honing the habits that will help you to inspire, elevate and motivate your team, read on. Here are six jobs great leaders do every day in the pursuit of top-performing players…”

• 5 Ways to Transform Work Gossip Into Positive Communication
  By Aviva Leebow Wolmer (@ALeebowWolmer in @Entrepreneur), Entrepreneur
  
  “Work gossip: We’ve all heard it, and some of us have spread it -- whether that action took place around the water cooler, via text or through email...”

What were some of the top leadership articles you read this week?

—David Grossman

Click below for my article on pg. 30, in Switched On Leadership Magazine. The magazine app and a free 3-month subscription included!