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The art of receiving a compliment
PLUS: Get more supernodes to accelerate your career
Good Morning. For the next 5 minutes, your career is the most important thing.
In today’s email:
Get more supernodes to accelerate your career
The art of receiving a compliment
Clump your way to productivity
Defeat the tyranny of when and enjoy life more now
Three tips from the brilliant career of Marie Curie
ON YOUR CAREER
More supernodes!
Career success is accelerated if you cultivate a powerful, professional network. A powerful network has multiple supernodes: well-connected people who will act as a bridge for you to their professional network. Supernodes could be colleagues or someone external to your organisation.
When they introduce you to their contacts, supernodes are providing you social proof, making it easier for you to form new relationships and do more business. You owe your supernode to present well. You don’t want to compromise their credibility and lower their social capital.
Follow-up with your supernode on the outcome of their introduction and thank them. Look for opportunities to reciprocate value. If you don’t know what this value could be, ask them. Ideally, you will be regarded as a supernode in your supernodes’ networks.
Who in your network are your supernodes? Who else could be?
COMMUNICATION
The art of receiving a compliment
❌ It’s nothing, don’t mention it.
✅ Thank you, I appreciate you saying that!
It can take courage to compliment a colleague. The compliment giver can feel disappointed, and even rejected, if their compliment is dismissed. They may be discouraged from complimenting the person again.
There is a simple art to receiving a compliment. Say ‘thank you’. If it’s true, you could also add, ‘this means a lot coming from you!’ Be gracious. Even if you feel a bit embarrassed about acknowledging compliments.
Sincere compliments, and broader positive feedback, strengthen bonds between colleagues. And positive feedback balances the helpful and unhelpful negative feedback we receive in our jobs.
PRODUCTIVITY
Clump
Switching between different tasks disrupts our focus and wastes time. It’s efficient to clump similar tasks to perform in the same time block. Examples of useful clumping:
Interviewing graduate candidates on the same day
Telephoning prospective customers in blocks of 90 minutes, 3 x per week
Responding to emails for 20 minutes in the morning, at midday, and late afternoon
Checking the logic of calculations when we are most alert
Spending a morning at a library to write a report
1 MINUTE TO INCREASE HAPPINESS
Defeat the tyranny of when
The Tyranny of When sounds like: when I have been promoted to Director, I’ll be happier. When I’ve closed the deal, been ranked top 3, or paid-off my student debt, I can relax. The tyranny of when delays satisfaction until we have achieved our big goals. It can defer happiness until we have a worry-free life – which may never come.
The tyranny of when can be defeated. We can strive to achieve our big goals and celebrate our victories along the way. We can experience setbacks and savour our progress. Permitting ourselves happiness doesn’t mean we will become complacent and lose our edge. Positive emotions make us more resilient. And they make life sweeter. Now.
GET SMARTER
Three Tips from the Brilliant Career of Marie Curie
Marie Curie won Nobel Prizes in Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911), developed mobile X-Ray units, and discovered multiple treatments of cancer. A brilliant career! While Curie’s scientific genius is beyond most of us, she displayed attributes that are within the reach of all of us. Three tips:
1. Stay Tenacious
First Principle: never let one’s self be beaten down by persons or events.
Curie experienced career discrimination because she was a woman, endured the early death of her husband and collaborator, juggled work-life as a single parent, and suffered radiation poisoning from her work. Curie acknowledged these were difficult but she remained tenacious.
2. Be Generous
Curie did not patent her research because she did not want to hinder other scientists from advancing their research. She was also a kind mentor to many aspiring scientists. Generosity is part of Curie’s enduring legacy and why she remains much loved and respected.
3. Keep Your Integrity
Marie Curie is, of all celebrated beings, the only one whom fame has not corrupted.
Humility and integrity characterised Curie throughout her career. We want to play the long game with our careers. When we are trusted, people want to work with us. And we reach agreements faster because our reputation and word counts.
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