Speaking of tiny habits, Deborah Gruenfeld, a social psychologist and the Joseph McDonald Professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, describes one about three-quarters of the way through her book, Acting with Power: Why We Are More Powerful Than We Believe. After realizing that she was routinely obsessing about negative student reactions and that the habit was coloring her attitude toward teaching, Gruenfeld began spending a few minutes before each class thinking about positive student reactions.
“It was a turning point in my life as an educator,” she explains. “It may not always come naturally, even to this day, but it is foolproof, and it is not hard to do.” For Gruenfeld, this is not so much a tiny habit as it is an example of choosing love over fear — a technique that actors (and managers) can use to “show warmth and caring in a powerful role.”
Many managers are uncomfortable with power. Perhaps it is because they occupy a middle ground in which they have power over employees and yet are still subordinate to the power of executives. Acting with Power offers a means of reframing how we understand power and tapping into a wellspring of influence that is available to all of us. Read the rest here: https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Best-Business-Books-2020-Management