Cybersecurity demands communication, leadership

Ongoing crises from geopolitical unrest to changes in the office can create a "conflict debt" -- unresolved issues that create tension and cripple the effectiveness of teams, writes Jonathan Kirschner, the founder and CEO of AIIR Consulting. Kirschner suggests three ways to cancel that debt, including giving clear feedback, addressing the root causes of conflict and setting expectations, knowing they could change over time.

Put it into practice: Feedback is critical to team growth, but nobody likes to engage in it, so Kirschner suggests teaching your team how to give effective feedback and make it an ongoing practice. "Create opportunities for feedback in team meetings that will build habits over time."

A writing prompt developed by psychologist Laura King encourages people to imagine the ideal future, helping reduce anxiety and identify values and goals, writes licensed clinical social worker Katie Willard Virant. "Keeping our identified values in mind helps us maintain motivation for taking identified action steps," Virant notes.

Specialized voice boxes, adapted over tens of millions of years, allow baleen whales to sing at volumes high enough to travel underwater, experiments on three whales suggest. The study in Nature, though too small to be definitive, will guide further research into communication by baleen whales, which lack vocal cords and instead breathe large amounts of air through a U-shaped tissue and then push the tissue against their unique cushion of fat and muscle to sing.

Jeff Haden's advice to get to know your team better by asking them open-ended questions and listening to them share information about themselves reminds me of Dale Carnegie's similar advice in his seminal book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

The advice plays off our penchant for wanting to talk about ourselves. Both Haden and Carnegie note that when we refrain from talking about ourselves and allow others to have the floor, they come away from those conversations liking us and feeling connected to us -- even if they don't realize we haven't shared anything personal with them. As Haden suggests, this builds a connection with our direct reports, which means they'll likely want to continue working with and for us.

I had a friend who was excellent at this technique. I knew her quite well, but I'd watch her at social gatherings chatting everyone up those around her but hardly sharing any personal details. In fact, if others asked about her, she found a way to turn it around to get them talking about themselves again. Everyone loved her, but none of them really knew her (which was okay with her).

I invite you to try this method and see how well it works. Get a direct report (or even an acquaintance) talking about themselves and share as little information about yourself with them as you can. I think you'll find that it is an incredible way to win friends and influence people.

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