What a chicken can teach leaders about boosting culture

A manager who learned of an employee's distress over the loss of her pet chicken and went out of his way to buy her three new chicks is an example of how leaders can use kindness to build a thriving workplace culture, writes Randy Ross, the author of "Remarkable!" Ross also recommends ensuring new hires align with company values, focusing on what you want for your people as much as what you want from them and monitoring and measuring engagement levels.

Put it into practice: Take your time bringing in new hires until you're sure they mesh with company culture, and quickly remove those who do not align, Ross recommends. "Culture is about engagement and has a direct impact on discretionary effort, loyalty and ultimately the performance of your teams."

Having power can boost your happiness, self-esteem and decision-making, but it also can create isolation and amplify your weaknesses, writes leadership coach Nik Kinley, who recommends bridging the empathy gap, fostering openness and regularly checking your judgments. "The more power you have, the more likely your actions are to be informed not by objective data but by subjective impulses, biases and opinions," Kinley notes.

Put it into practice: Having power can make you more likely to take risks, which could lead to poor decision-making due to overconfidence and a lack of openness to the opinions of others, Kinley writes. "This means persistently asking questions, praising people for input and not publicly criticizing people when they get things wrong because building openness is all about reducing people's anxiety to speak up."

Employees are finding it harder to collaborate since returning to offices, with satisfaction dropping from 36% in 2021 to 29% this year, a Gartner survey finds. "Organizations looking to boost collaboration can focus on creating intentional opportunities for connection, as physical proximity alone does not create emotional proximity," says Carmen Amara, chief people officer for Yelp.

Put it into practice: Increase collaboration in the office by guiding team members on how to do it, says Jessica Knight, the vice president of research at Gartner. "Any organization, regardless of their existing work model, can benefit from guided collaboration and taking a more active role in helping employees identify those needs and understand those norms," says Knight.

Booking.com's 2025 Travel Predictions notes that 27% of Americans are considering airport experiences when choosing destinations, with 52% feeling less stressed at airports with unique offerings such as spa services and sleep pods. "These spaces are becoming gateways of relaxation and entertainment," said Ben Harrell, US managing director at Booking.com, and "for many travelers, especially Gen Z and millennials, it's no longer about rushing through security; it's about embracing experiences."

You can recognize narcissistic leaders by traits such as grandiosity, entitlement and manipulation, which may have initially helped them ascend to leadership roles, write Melissa Wheeler and Saima Ahmad, who observe that these same traits often lead to their downfall as they create a hostile work environment and prioritize self-interest over team well-being. Protect yourself by setting boundaries, keeping written notes of interactions, practicing emotional detachment and finding trusted colleagues to share your concerns, they advise.

Researchers found that rats who were taught to drive a car as part of an original experience on anxiety instead displayed what may be joy at the anticipation of driving the vehicle and even chose to drive to a tree of fruity cereal when walking would have been faster, writes Kelly Lambert, a professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Richmond. The experiment, called "Wait For It," showed researchers "that planning, anticipating and enjoying the ride may be key to a healthy brain," Lambert writes.

The great philosopher Tom Petty once observed, "The waiting is the  hardest part." But, in our world of instant gratification, it's nice to know that even rats still have something to teach us about the joy of anticipation.

The rats in Kelly Lambert's experiment learned how to drive a small vehicle and, over time, apparently came to find joy in the experience. So much so that when Lambert went into the lab, the rats clamored to get into the vehicle. Not only that, they chose to drive the car to a tree filled with fruity cereal rather than walk, though walking would have been faster.

We're a culture that believes waiting for what we want is burdensome and unnecessary if you can have what you want right now. Remember, though, the anticipation of Christmas morning when you were a kid. Just knowing something great was coming could keep me on cloud nine for weeks before Christmas. That anticipation made Christmas morning even more special and exciting.

What good things are you anticipating these days? It's easy to worry about bad things we may fear coming to pass. If you're stuck in worry, plan a fun activity for a week from now so you can look forward to it and experience the same joy these rats did.

As Lambert writes: "As animals -- human or otherwise -- navigate the unpredictability of life, anticipating positive experiences helps drive a persistence to keep searching for life's rewards. In a world of immediate gratification, these rats offer insights into the neural principles guiding everyday behavior."

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