Be confident and offer your expertise in meetings

Reclaim your power in a toxic work environment | Ask these 10 questions to better understand your career | What does successful change execution look like? Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( September 17, 2019 CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF  [LinkedIn]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [SmartBrief on Leadership]( [SmartBrief on Leadership]( Innovative Ideas. Ahead of the Curve. [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [FORWARD](  [] Leading Edge [] [Reclaim your power in a toxic work environment]( You have control over your actions and attitude in the face of a toxic culture, and focusing on small improvements can help you build safety for others around you, writes David Dye. "When people interact with you and your team, how can they come away refreshed?" he writes. [Let's Grow Leaders]( (9/16) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [Ask these 10 questions to better understand your career]( This article builds on Peter Drucker's five questions for self-evaluation with five additional questions intended to explore learning, change and impact on others. "If you frame your career as an adventure to places unknown, instead of the increasingly irrelevant ladder to climb and prepare yourself accordingly, it will be a grand adventure," Art Petty writes. [Art Petty]( (9/16) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Strategic Management [] [What does successful change execution look like?]( CEOs can implement change by being disciplined, empowering people to make decisions, spending on training and celebrating success and failure as equal measures of progress, writes R. Paul Vuolle of Bellevue SME Advisors. "Luddite CEOs and business leaders who grit their teeth and ignore the inevitable in always-fluid and changing market forces are doomed," he writes. [IndustryWeek]( (9/12) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Smarter Communication [] [Be confident and offer your expertise in meetings]( Make the most of meetings by offering your expert knowledge, asking good questions and seeing yourself as a peer to higher-ups, writes Joel Garfinkle. "There's a reason you've been included, so own it and resist the urge to defer to others' voices," he writes. [SmartBrief/Leadership]( (9/16) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Innovation & Creativity A weekly spotlight on making the next big thing happen [] [Next time you want to say "no," reconsider]( Approving seemingly risky projects means missing out on potentially company-changing success, writes Phil McKinney. "Those organizations who say 'yes' more often than 'no' are more willing to throw their hat in the ring and be part of the answer," he writes. [Phil McKinney]( (9/12) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] SmartPulse [] When someone is being disruptive in a meeting you're running, how do you handle it? I call them out directly in front of the group. 40.72% I pull them aside on a break and ask them to behave. 38.81% I play along with their disruptiveness to make a point. 10.45% I ignore them and hope they pick up on it. 8.74% I ask someone else to get a handle on them. 1.28% [] Time to behave. Sometimes people forget they're adults, and unfortunately they might do this in the middle of one of your meetings. For those of you ignoring it and hoping the behavior changes, it won't. You're enabling them to get away with it. If someone doesn't teach them it's inappropriate, they'll come to believe it's acceptable. Whether you choose to correct the behavior in the moment or pull them aside, they need to receive the feedback. If you're playing along with the disruptiveness, you might inadvertently encourage more of it. While I acknowledge it's uncomfortable to provide direct feedback or confront someone, it's even harder to deal with chronic misbehavior. Stop it before it becomes a chronic pattern of bad behavior. -- 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](." [] How challenging is it for you to be direct and unapologetic in an email when you ask for something you have every right to ask for? [Vote]( [Not at all challenging. I'm direct and unapologetic all the time.]( [Vote]( [A bit challenging. Sometimes I apologize or am indirect.]( [Vote]( [Challenging. I'm not comfortable being direct and unapologetic.]( [Vote]( [Very challenging. I'm constantly indirect and apologetic.]( [] In Their Own Words [] [Nike CEO embraces controversy]( Nike CEO embraces controversy Parker (Mike Coppola/Getty Images) Nike continues to be athlete-focused, whether it's in its designs or standing up for its athletes against criticism, says CEO Mark Parker. "It's important for me personally, but also for the company, to stand for some values," he says. [Fast Company]( (10/2019) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Daily Diversion [] [Who won this year's Ig Nobels?]( A study that used a popular dog-training clicker method to train surgeons and another that touts the health benefits of pizza are two of this year's Ig Nobel winners, which are given to odd scientific discoveries. The awards are given by the Annals of Improbable Research, which holds a ceremony each year for the honorees. [The Associated Press]( (9/12), [CNN]( (9/14) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [] People are good or half good or a quarter good, and it changes all the time -- but even on the best day nobody's perfect. Colum McCann, writer [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [Sign Up]( [SmartBrief offers 200+ newsletters]( [Advertise]( [Learn more about the SmartBrief audience]( Subscriber Tools: [Manage Subscriptions]( [Update Your Profile]( [Unsubscribe]( [Send Feedback](mailto:leadership@smartbrief.com) [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 © 1999-2019 SmartBrief, Inc.® [Privacy Policy (updated May 25, 2018)]( | [Legal Information]( Â