Monday, July 30, 2007

Looking to Make a Sale or Get Promoted? Emotions Will Help Determine the Outcome


High emotion contributes to great opera. It does not, however, serve us well when making judgments about others. This is the argument advanced in "Feeling and Believing: The Influence of Emotion on Trust," a new paper by Maurice E. Schweitzer, Wharton professor of operations and information management, and Jennifer Dunn, a PhD student in the department.
The two researchers conducted five experiments to determine the influence of emotional states -- happiness, gratitude, anger, and guilt -- on trust. Each experiment confirmed that incidental emotions (emotions from one situation that influence judgment in a following, unrelated situation) affect how willing we are to trust others. For example, our anger over a speeding ticket is likely to affect how we judge someone later in the day. The researchers conclude that despite feeling we are rational beings who make clear, lucid judgments, in reality we all walk around in a sea of emotions that are likely to influence how we act in both business and social contexts.
The article, recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, stems from Schweitzer's ongoing interest in negotiation, where trust plays a critical role.


Read on ...

Friday, July 13, 2007

Networking Tip: The Elevator Pitch

Successful individuals are first, last, and always salespeople. They are constantly selling themselves and their ideas to investors, management, co-workers, vendors, and even their families.
An opportunity to sell yourself and/or your ideas can come up on the subway, in the checkout line at the grocery store, after your yoga class - just about anywhere. To be ready to make a useful connection at any time, it's a good idea to be prepared with a short (one minute is ideal) self-promotional speech.

Read on ...

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Trying to "Keep up"?

And I thought it was only me ...!

From the Creating Passionate Users Blog

Do you have a stack of books, journals, manuals, articles, API docs, and blog printouts that you think you'll get to? That you think you need to read? Now, based on past experience, what are the odds you'll get to all of it? Half of it? Any of it? (except for maybe the Wired magazine)

So you let the stack of "things to read" pile up, then eventually when the pile gets to high you end up tossing half of it--or worse, moving it to a deeper "stuff to read someday stack. We have selective amnesia about what we'll ever get to, but mainly because most of us keep feeling like we have to keep up! Keep up with what?

Read on ...

Tag:
time management