Forbes articles from Mark Murphy and Leadership IQ

You Got Promoted To Manager, And A Coworker Is Mad: Here's What To Say

New Manager | tying a tie and getting ready for the new job

Congratulations on getting that big promotion to manager! But, what happens if you had to compete against one or more of your colleagues to win the job? And now they’re mad because you won and they lost? Well, I’ve got bad news and good news. The bad news is that you can’t really control whether a few of your former coworkers are mad at you for winning the promotion.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 05 January, 2018 Communication Skills, Forbes, Leadership Skills, no_cat, no_recent, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

The Player-Coach Philosophy That Has Nasdaq's Leaders Invested

I regularly see leaders struggling to balance ‘leading’ and ‘doing.’ How much should leaders engage with employees and inspire them to produce great stuff? And how much should leaders roll up their sleeves and produce great stuff themselves? It’s the $64,000 question...

Posted by Mark Murphy on 03 January, 2018 Forbes, Leadership Skills, Leadership Styles, no_cat, no_recent, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

How To Stop A Presentation That's Going Badly

Bad Presentation; When a presentation goes wrong | Leadership IQ Not only does stopping the presentation keep you from (figuratively) crashing into a wall, it also awakens your audience. So few presenters have the courage to stop a presentation that it’s a surprise. And with presentations going badly, it’s a very nice surprise.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 04 December, 2017 Communication Skills, Forbes, no_cat, no_recent, Presentations, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

Talented Terrors And 'Bless Their Hearts'

Lots of organizations acknowledge only three categories of performance: high, middle and low. Hiring managers in these organizations are tasked with hiring desirable high performers and avoiding undesirable low performers. Now, high, middle and low performers certainly exist, but low performers come in several different types, and some are a lot harder to discern in an interview than others because they tend to do a really good job faking high-performer qualities.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 30 November, 2017 Communication Skills, Forbes, Interpersonal Skills, no_cat, no_recent, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

People Who Set SMART Goals Are Less Likely To Love Their Job

An employee who is unhappy with her head in her hands

If you’ve had a job for any length of time, you’ve undoubtedly set a SMART Goal (most commonly defined as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound). But while everyone knows how to set a SMART Goal, what most people don’t know is that they could really be hurting how they feel about their job.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 16 November, 2017 Forbes, Goal Setting, no_cat, no_recent, Research, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

3 Simple Ways To Make Your Workplace More Truthful

It’s an unfortunate feature of humanity that people, even smart, ostensibly-rational people, don’t always like to hear the truth. That’s why the study The Risks Of Ignoring Employee Feedback found that only 23% of people say that when they share their work problems with their leader, he/she Always responds constructively.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 14 November, 2017 Communication Skills, Forbes, no_cat, no_recent, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

Rather Than Faking Your Emotions At Work, Use This Flattery Technique Instead

You might have seen my recent Forbes article “If You Have To Fake Your Emotions At Work, Research Shows You're Probably Going To Be Miserable.” After analyzing data from the online test “Does Your Job Require High Or Low Emotional Intelligence?” I discovered that 51% of people said that they Always or Frequently have to ‘act’ or ‘put on a show’ at their jobs.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 06 November, 2017 Emotional Intelligence, Forbes, no_cat, no_recent, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

This Script Can Stop A Micromanaging Boss

Working for a micromanager can be demoralizing. It’s hard to be confident and motivated when your boss is so obsessed with control that they hover over your every move. But typically, the boss’s micromanaging behavior has less to do with your actual performance and much more to do with their own anxiety.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 01 November, 2017 Communication Skills, Forbes, Interpersonal Skills, no_cat, no_recent, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

Only 1 Out Of 4 Leaders Encourage Suggestions From Their Employees, New Data Shows

I recently conducted a study called The Risks Of Ignoring Employee Feedback that involved 27,048 executives, managers and employees. And what I discovered, among other things, is that very few leaders encourage, or are open to hearing, suggestions for improvement from their employees.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 01 November, 2017 Communication Skills, Forbes, Leadership Skills, no_cat, no_recent, Research, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

Many Companies Aren't Being Truthful With Their Employees About The Challenges They're Facing

Chart of data; reviewing data to inform decisions | Leadership IQ

Every company faces challenges, from competitors, industry changes, regulations, staffing shortages and more. But whether those changes are serious or minor, companies are doing a terrible job keeping employees in the loop. And while many leaders think that ignorance is bliss, when employees don’t feel like the company is being honest about the challenges facing it, employees get irritated very quickly.

Posted by Mark Murphy on 09 October, 2017 Employee Engagement, Forbes, no_cat, no_recent, Research, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

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