Ask 4 questions to identify your leadership style Identify your top three values, how you've demonstrated them and how you'd explain their importance to create a personal leadership brand you can practice and preach, writes Adam Bryant. "If you're lucky enough to work for an authentic leader, you won't have to spend energy wondering which version of the boss is going to show up on a given day, depending on either their mood or the stresses they are facing," he writes. Full Story: Strategy+Business (free registration) (7/14)
How to give remote employees informal feedback Employers can maintain informal feedback with remote employees by setting up short, frequent virtual meetings, says Ben Wigert, research and strategy director for Gallup's workplace management division. "Find a time that works for both of you to take a phone call from your favorite trail or treadmill," Wigert says. Full Story: Society for Human Resource Management (tiered subscription model) (7/14)
10 tips to stay focused on the task at hand Get more done by minimizing distractions from email and social media, as well as by setting deadlines and goals, and breaking up projects into manageable tasks, writes Naphtali Hoff. The Pomodoro technique can help you if you're struggling to lock in, Hoff adds. Full Story: SmartBrief/Leadership (7/14)
The State Department cautioned that new and renewed passports are currently taking 12-18 weeks to secure, even with paid expedited processing. However, citizens currently living overseas with a passport that expired after Jan. 1, 2020, can use that through 2021. Full Story: The Associated Press (7/14)
Business' role in helping Black Americans at work Businesses can help improve Black Americans' economic mobility before and after hiring, including through skills-building in lower-paying occupations to help people advance to better-compensated roles, write McKinsey's Shelley Stewart III, Duwain Pinder and Michael Chui. Pathways are needed because the McKinsey Global Institute expects "demand falling for four of the top 10 occupations with the greatest absolute numbers of Black workers today: cashiers, janitors, cooks, and retail salespeople," they write. Full Story: Harvard Business Review (tiered subscription model) (7/14)
McCormick & Co. has created the temporary role of director of taco relations, complete with a $100,000 salary and year's supply of tacos for four months of work. People are invited to post a video about their love of McCormick's taco seasonings by July 20 for the chance to be hired, collaborate on taco-related recipes and serve as a social media influencer for the seasoning line. Full Story: Adweek (7/13),Progressive Grocer (7/13)
The Water Cooler
DNA helps parents find their son after a 24-year search Two parents have been reunited with their son thanks to 24 years of persistence and a little help from DNA tracing. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better story about passionate parents. Full Story: USA Today (7/14)
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