The most productive workers tend to work smarter instead of harder, says Charles Duhigg. Highly productive people are also more likely to envision potential outcomes of their actions in a very specific way, Duhigg says.

You must be willing to embrace change to get better results at work, write Kate Sweetman and Shane Cragun. It can be uncomfortable to make changes to your daily routine, but pushing the envelope can help you make big strides in your career.

Good speakers must be able to boil their speech down into one short sentence that is memorable and answers the main question, writes Jim Anderson. "If you told it to someone they would have to understand what you are saying and they'd have to be able to repeat it," he writes.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley decreased employee-compensation budgets an average of 17% in the first half of 2016 to improve profit, according to regulatory filings. Goldman Sachs' reduction was 28%.

Job seekers should tell stories as they respond to questions at interviews, allowing them to express their capabilities and values in the process, says Gabrielle Dolan. Personal anecdotes can be just as useful as work-related stories for showing employers you have a good attitude and the skills necessary to succeed, Dolan says.

Burnout isn't just a recent concept, but predates the modern workplace, author Anna Katharina Schaffner writes in a new book. Historical figures such as the Roman physician Galen studied conditions that match what we would currently describe as exhaustion from burnout, Schaffner says.

The Transport Accident Commission of Victoria, Australia, has commissioned a sculpture showing a human who has evolved to survive auto wrecks. The figure, nicknamed Graham, includes an enlarged skull, a torso padded by rolls of fat and no neck.