Your work emails will be probed by AI

Leadership advice you can ignore | Power won't corrupt with the right motivation | What it takes to make zero-based budgeting work Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( August 14, 2018 CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF  [LinkedIn]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Google+]( [SmartBrief on Leadership]( [SmartBrief on Leadership]( Innovative Ideas. Ahead of the Curve. [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [FORWARD]( [] Leading Edge [] [Leadership advice you can ignore]( Popular but dubious recommendations for leaders include focusing only on your strengths, being authentic at all times and worrying about how you pose, argues Marc Effron of The Talent Strategy Group. "Be a critical consumer and realize that management advice that sounds too easy to be true, very likely is," he writes. [SmartBrief/Leadership]( (8/13) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( [] [Power won't corrupt with the right motivation]( Leaders exert more influence when they seek to understand people's perspectives and draft team goals that align with organizational strategy, writes Dan Rockwell. Managers who use their title to coerce others are usually trying to get their own agenda advanced, he writes. [Leadership Freak]( (8/10) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( From 3 founders to 27,000 employees In just 30 years, VCA Animal Hospitals has grown to become an industry leader. [Learn how strategic advice and financing help VCA continually drive innovation in pet healthcare.]( ADVERTISEMENT [] Strategic Management [] [What it takes to make zero-based budgeting work]( Businesses have seen zero-based budgeting reduce costs up to 75% in some areas, but it doesn't last unless leaders maintain oversight, say Kyle Hawke and Jan Perkins of McKinsey. Two important parts of zero-based budgeting are persuading managers to test the idea and giving them the right incentives. [McKinsey]( (8/2018) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( Live Webcast: Women in Leadership Panel Tune in on Aug. 30th at 2 p.m. ET, as four women leaders in the HR and tech industry share their journeys and the obstacles they overcame to shatter the glass ceiling, as well as the opportunities in the workplace to promote fairness and equality. [Register now]( ADVERTISEMENT [] Smarter Communication [] [Your work emails will be probed by AI]( Text analytics algorithms have been able to show, for instance, how Enron's internal emails indicated lower morale and ethical discomfort, and companies are seeking to test its applications for employee monitoring in real time, writes law professor Frank Partnoy. "The lesson: Figure out the truth about how the workforce is feeling not by eavesdropping on the substance of what employees say, but by examining how they are saying it," he argues. [The Atlantic]( (9/2018) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( [] [How to create a safe environment for discourse]( Companies foster safe environments for communication when leaders reflect a positive attitude, ask open-ended questions and show a willingness to listen, writes Markus van Alphen. "By being inquisitive and not straightaway rejecting what another says, you encourage difference of opinion," he says. [Lead Change]( (8/13) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( [] Innovation & Creativity A weekly spotlight on making the next big thing happen [] [Stuck? Try looking at the problem in a different way]( If your business is not finding the innovation it needs, step back and identify the core problem and its components, trying from scratch to brainstorm off of those variables, writes Ellen Huxtable. "There's nothing as deadly to creativity as a single-minded determination to be creative on schedule," she writes. [Advantage Business Concepts]( (8/8) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( [] SmartPulse [] Which environment is harder to lead in: A crisis or the boring day-to-day? Day-to-day environments are harder to lead in. 82.70% Crises are harder to lead in. 17.30% [] Harder to lead during the calm. It makes sense that it’s harder to lead a team during day-to-day calm periods. There’s no "enemy" to galvanize your efforts. There's no crisis to rally the team around. It's just the boring daily operations that have to be done, but they also have to be done well. Just remember the old military aphorism that how you train in peace defines how you fight in war. If you're not maintaining standards and holding people accountable during the slow times, they're more prone to mistakes that can be costly during a crisis. If you place the right [focus on the details]( when things are slow, that will be one less thing to worry about during the crisis that’s inevitably going to come your way. -- Mike Figliuolo is managing director of [thoughtLEADERS](. Before launching his own company, he worked at McKinsey & Co., Capital One and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He's the author of three leadership books: "[One Piece of Paper](," "[Lead Inside the Box](" and "[The Elegant Pitch](." [] What is the biggest challenge you face with respect to focus? [Vote]( [I simply get too many tasks given to me.]( [Vote]( [I don't have clear direction from my leaders.]( [Vote]( [I have trouble saying "no."]( [Vote]( [I'm not sure what our priorities are.]( [Vote]( [I struggle with something not on this list.]( [Vote]( [I don't have any trouble with focus.]( [] In Their Own Words [] [Carnival CEO: Start by listening]( Young leaders will do well when they learn the value of honoring others, doing the right thing and listening, says Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival. "If you learn how to listen well, the world will reveal itself to you," he says. [Los Angeles Sentinel]( (8/9) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( [] Daily Diversion [] [The roller coaster has its origins in Russian ice]( Roller coasters race today for the titles of tallest, fastest and most death-defying, but the technology has changed little since the first ones in 15th-century Russia, writes Matt Blitz. These ice-covered wooden ramps gave way to wheeled carriages locked into wooden tracks centuries later, followed by the beginnings of the modern roller coaster in the early 20th century. [Popular Mechanics online]( (8/13) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( [] [] Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact. William James, philosopher and psychologist [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google+]( [Email]( [Sign Up]( [SmartBrief offers 200+ newsletters]( [Advertise]( [Learn more about the SmartBrief audience]( Subscriber Tools: [Manage Subscriptions]( [Update Your Profile]( [Unsubscribe]( [Send Feedback]( [Archive]( [Search]( Contact Us: Jobs Contact - jobhelp@smartbrief.com Advertising - [Laura Engel](mailto:lengel@smartbrief.com) Editor - [James daSilva](mailto:leadership@smartbrief.com) Mailing Address: SmartBrief, Inc.®, 555 11th ST NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20004 © 1999-2018 SmartBrief, Inc.® [Privacy Policy (updated May 25, 2018)]( | [Legal Information]( Â