"Over and Next!" Norman Lear
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash
Greetings -
I hope you, your families and friends are well! For those who enjoyed Sunday's Super Bowl festivities, I hope you had a fantastic time (and a gentle re-entry into Monday :)).
This edition looks at trends and themes shaping 2024. Some are new and emerging; others are continuations from 2023. Gartner offers its prognostications on 9 workforce trends and the implications for employers and their organizations. Career transitions (freely and not so freely chosen) are also examined, with an emphasis on the technology sector. Other contributors offer their thoughts re: showing up differently to meet the demands of our always on state of work in 2024, including what that might look like from both an organizational and individual perspective.
Finally, with performance review cycles in full swing, there are several articles looking at the importance of both effective developmental feedback and crafting strong assessment narratives that delineate not just your results, but the value and benefits your great work provides.
As always, happy reading and listening!
Be well, take good care of your families and community.
-kj
PS - (Missed a newsletter? Past editions can be found here: https://www.kevinjordan.coach/blog. And if you hit paywall on an article(s), feel free to send me a note and let me know what you need. I have subscriptions to many of the sources that I cite.)
Featured
Maybe someone saw and nurtured your professional potential? A manager, colleague or coach? A trusted confidant, who took the time to create a space to know you and understand what mattered most to you: your values, strengths and aspirations. Maybe you have done the same for others? What a gift: the opportunity to be truly seen and heard for all that we have to offer!
Adam Grant's latest book, Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things, is rich in data, analysis and vivid (often humorous) storytelling re: the importance of and need for learning well, constantly evolving our character and building the skills and "motivational structures" to realize both the potential in ourselves and in others. In short, Grant offers us "...a new framework for raising aspirations and exceeding expectations."
"When we admire great thinkers, doers, and leaders, we often focus narrowly on their performance. That leads us to elevate the people who have accomplished the most and overlook the ones who have achieved the most with the least...[We have the opportunity to redefine what success means and looks like]..."The most meaningful form of performance is progress. The ultimate mark of potential is not the height of the peak you've reached, but the distance you've traveled - and helped others travel."
Articles
Harvard Business Review: 9 Trends That Will Shape Work in 2024 and Beyond. "In 2023, organizations continued to face significant challenges, from inflation to geopolitical turmoil to controversy over DEI and return-to-work policies — and 2024 promises more disruption. Gartner researchers have identified nine key trends, from new and creative employee benefits to the collapse of traditional career paths, that will impact work this year. Employers who successfully navigate these will retain top talent and secure a competitive advantage for themselves."
The Wall Street Journal: More Workers Want to Change Jobs, but the Market Is Getting Tougher. "Job dissatisfaction is colliding with shrinking opportunities for white-collar professionals."
The New York Times: Why Is Big Tech Still Cutting Jobs? "Profits are up and the economy is strong. But the tech industry faces two challenges — dealing with a frenetic work force expansion in the pandemic and building A.I."
McKinsey Health Institute: Addressing employee burnout: Are you solving the right problem? "Employers have invested unprecedented resources in employee mental health and well-being. With burnout at all-time highs, leaders wonder if they can make a difference. Our research suggests they can."
Harvard Business Review: How to Give Tough Feedback That Helps People Grow. "Giving developmental feedback that sparks growth is a critical challenge to master, because it can make the difference between an employee who contributes powerfully and positively to the organization and one who feels diminished by the organization and contributes far less. A single conversation can switch an employee on — or shut her down. A true developmental leader sees the raw material for brilliance in every employee and creates the conditions to let it shine, even when the challenge is tough."
Harvard Business Review: How to Write an Effective Self-Assessment. "When managers have numerous direct reports, they may not have visibility into or remember all your notable accomplishments. They also don’t have time to read a long retread of everything you achieved in the past year. Here are five steps for drafting a self-assessment that covers your most impactful accomplishments and demonstrates self-awareness through a lens of improvement and development."
Books
Nonfiction - "Generation Innovation: Business, Family, and the Journey to Success," by Lisa Levesque, Belle Walker. "...Generation Innovation blends business and family in an engaging story that introduces time-tested business basics critical for any business owner or founder." [KJ note: A shout out to Belle Walker, co-author, friend and colleague, for her great work on this book.]
Fiction - "A Shining" by Jon Fosse, Damion Searls (Translation). "A man starts driving without knowing where he is going. He alternates between turning right and left, and finally he gets stuck at the end of a forest road. Soon it gets dark and starts to snow, but instead of going back to find help, he ventures, foolishly, into the dark forest. Inevitably, the man gets lost, and as he grows cold and tired, he encounters a glowing being amid the obscurity."
Blog Posts & Opinions
The New Yorker: An Exhausting Year in (and Out of) the Office. "After successive waves of post-pandemic change, worn-out knowledge workers need a fresh start."
Korn Ferry: The Unambitious Workforce. "Promotion? No Thanks! A surprising survey finds that over half of employees are happy to stay in a role that offers no room for promotion."
The Quiet Life with Susan Cain. "For 2024, how about living a truly quiet life? It's not about making the right New Years resolution; it's about how you direct your attention."
Podcasts/TED Talks
TED2023: The next global superpower isn't who you think. "Who runs the world? Political scientist Ian Bremmer argues it's not as simple as it used to be. With some eye-opening questions about the nature of leadership, he asks us to consider the impact of the evolving global order and our choices as participants in the future of democracy." [KJ note: For those keeping score at home, this was the most viewed TED Talk of 2023. The title is not sexy; the content and his thesis is extremely interesting.]
TED2023: Why you should stop setting goals (yes, really). "In athletics, in business, in life, everyone sets goals. But that's not the way to excel, according to former NFL player Emmanuel Acho, now an author and TV sports analyst. Here's what he says to do instead." [KJ note: his mental model is counterintuitive and quite interesting all at once.]
Arts, Music, Culture & Humor Corner
Colossal: The 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year Contest Highlights the Stunning Sights Above and Below the Surface. "From a boastful lizardfish to a floating paper nautilus, the lauded shots document marine life above and below the surface."
The Guardian: ‘A sense of Ocean’s 11’: the fascinating true story behind We Are the World. "In the Netflix documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, A-listers from Stevie Wonder to Michael Jackson come together for the recording of an iconic song."
The Athletic: Steve Young, girls flag football, and finding the next calling. "Let go by ESPN [last] summer, Young is coaching his daughters and their teammates and loving every minute of it."
McSweeney's: A Day In the Life of Today's Parent, As Imagined By Grandparents. "In the morning, my son and daughter wander downstairs whenever they want. I don’t bother waking them at a reasonable hour, since my highest priority as a parent is for my kids to see me as their best friend, rather than an authority figure."
Reflections
"When nothing seems to help, I go back and look at a stonecuttter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before." ~ Jacob Riis
”be honest with yourself
about where you are going
how you want to feel
while you are heading there
and who you want to be
when you arrive
every moment is a destination,
an opening, a space for growth
the end goal should not distract you
from taking each step with intention"
~ Yung Pueblo
Beannacht / Blessing
~ John O’Donohue
On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets into you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue,
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.