Kate C Arnold, MD, MBA’s Post

Harvard's HBR Today’s Tip Are You Afraid of Becoming Obsolete? Professionals across the career spectrum have moments where they fear they’re becoming obsolete. Different from the occasional bout of self-doubt, this fear can make you fundamentally question your professional significance. Here’s how to reclaim your agency and stay relevant—no matter where you are in your career journey.   Assess your unique talents. Take an honest inventory of your skills. Seek feedback from colleagues and mentors to identify what makes you valuable. Recognize and build on these strengths—and stay open to developing new ones.   Focus on abilities that technology can’t replace. Human traits like empathy, curiosity, resilience, and leadership will always be in demand and will equip you to adapt to future roles.   Honor the past, focus on the future. Celebrate your past achievements, but don’t dwell on them. Nostalgia won’t secure future opportunities; your ability to adapt and innovate will. So pack away your “trophies” and look forward. Bridge generational gaps. If you’re senior in your career, share your knowledge and mentor others. Collaboration across generations enriches both your legacy and future potential, keeping everyone’s skills sharp.   Seek new challenges. Think of uncertainty as a chance to grow. Step out of your comfort zone and volunteer to take on new projects. This demonstrates your willingness to learn and adapt and reinforces your relevance. This tip is adapted from “Face Your Fear of Becoming Obsolete,” by Ron Carucci

One of our secret sauce at AbilityMatrix Innovation Consulting is that we know quite a few things about corporate decision makers' irrationalities. Surprise: a few years ago we also realised the connection between the displayed behavior AND traits that are called "narcissistic" in psychology. If you know that - you can understand a LOT about why certain methods do NOT work with particular people, what COULD work, and in some cases, what is your key to make it work. But whatever we have understood is observation-based and/or coming from business experiments: whenever our clients or colleagues asked for numbers or available researches, we had been unable to support. So really glad TU Dortmund University did the effort and published a few results! https://lnkd.in/e5aEefm2

1 reason why it's hard for you to make decisions I've been speaking with a number of senior business leaders over the last year & 'how do I become better at making big decisions?' often comes up in our sessions. In short, there's one particular reason that happens. You are either mentally operating from ➡ The Past: It didn't go well last time, what if make the same mistake again? What if history repeats itself and the same result happens? OR ➡ The imagined future: What if it goes wrong? What if it doesn't work out well? WHat's the cost of this? By mentally living in the past or future, you are not working from ➡ The Present: What current information do I have? What information is required? What is the data telling me? What is my gut telling me? One of the best things I have done to free myself up, is to embrace the goldfish mentality. Learn from whatever has happened and then......completely drop and let go of what has happened. Secondly, to remember I can't predict the future....but I can work to create it by controlling the controllables. That is where my power lies...to do what I can right now Thirdly, I then ground myself and come back to where I am right now. I return to what information do I currently have, what my gut is telling me, what looks like the 1 small minuscule step and I act from there. Your mind works similar to any athlete or artist or creative. The more relaxed & present you are with what's in front of you....the more your creative abilities and rational thinking kicks in. It's about turning your decision making in to a more organic natural process and less of an intellectual game.

Check out the latest article from Megan Seibel, looking at leading through questioning, given differences in problem-solving styles.

"Sell success rather than an idea." Check out this great article from HBR about #changemanagement. The article recommends focusing on convincing a small group of influential individuals rather than everyone at once. This concept of "social proof," where people are more likely to adopt a new behavior if they see others doing it, is developed with some examples and academic studies.

Great article Eric , and yes, starting small is important. And yes, people are afraid of change in their own habits and behaviour. It’s no one’s fault, human brains are made that way to protect us. That’s not always useful, and the only way to achieve change is to find a positive attractor which is more powerful than the desire to stay in our comfort zone. That’s why a change prescribed by others usually don’t work. What works is to have someone decide for the change they need to make so they can be what they need to be to do what they need to do to get what they want to get. 😊

Love when worlds collide! Fun to see Valerie Galinskaya, head of the Center for Family Wealth @ Merrill, in conversation with Hal Hershfield, prof of Marketing & Behavioral Decision Making at the UCLA Anderson School of Management (my alma mater, go Bruins!) My biggest takeaway: there will always be a gap between current self & future self (we can't predict the future). The goal is to shrink that gap through thoughtful planning & decision-making. Fun exercise: try writing a letter to yourself or someone else from the point of view of "future you." The research shows it can have a positive impact on your decision-making process. Next on my reading list: Hal's latest book, Your Future Self - How to Make Tomorrow Better Today

How important is for you to ask questions? Unlock the power of curiosity with this article from Harvard Business Review

I am curious to know your thoughts. 🤔 💭 Do you trust your intuition? Ever heard of "thin-slice judgments"? Several studies explore the concept of making quick decisions based on minimal information, as well as those predictions being accurate. Of course, we all carry internal biases, however, researchers have proven that we are typically pretty accurate with our initial thoughts. "Faces affect impressions of individuals throughout the lifespan and influence others’ behavior. Facial appearance has been found to affect individuals’ employment opportunities (Collins & Zebrowitz, 1995), their levels of success within particular jobs (Stevenage & McKay, 1999), and their outcomes in court (Zebrowitz & McDonald, 1991) .... Judgments of power from the faces of chief executive officers (CEOs) of Fortune 1,000 companies predicted their actual success as leaders, as measured by the amounts of profits that their companies earned (Rule & Ambady, 2008)."- See the "Judgments of Power From College Yearbook Photos and Later Career Success, Nicholas O. and Nalini Ambady," below. I'm fascinated by the idea of how we form impressions and decisions with just a "thin slice" of data and the accuracy of those initial impressions. 🕵️♀️ What are your thoughts on this? Do you trust your gut instincts, or do you prefer to gather more information before making a judgment? Let's dive into a discussion! Share your insights and experiences. 🗣️💡 #ThinSliceJudgments #DecisionMaking #CuriousMinds #linkedindiscussion #socialscience https://lnkd.in/gVAeZgxG

What's your breaking point in the workplace? Every professional faces moments of overwhelming stress or dissatisfaction, but recognizing when you've had enough is crucial. Imagine reaching that moment where clarity strikes, and you realize it's time for a change—whether it's shifting roles, seeking new opportunities, or simply advocating for better conditions. The article discusses the signs and emotional signals that indicate you may have reached your limit in your current job situation. It also offers insights on how to assess your professional landscape and make empowered decisions about your career path. Have you ever felt pushed to your limit at work? How did you respond, and what changes did you make to regain control over your career satisfaction? #CareerDevelopment #WorkplaceWellness #Leadership #JobSatisfaction #HBS