N icole Wolfe, B.S. At one point or another, no doubt, you’ve flipped through the channels and seen a zebra instinctively fleeing a hungry lion. This reaction is part of a natural response to threats called the acute stress response—or more commonly, fight-flight-or-freeze—which is hard wired in the brains of humans and animals. And while taking flight from a lion is a zebra’s productive response to a threat, this response does not work so effectively in the workplace. Unlike in the animal kingdom, the threats that induce the acute stress response at work are not life threatening. More often than not, these “threats” are merely criticisms of our work. When a boss or co-workers criticize us, we feel the same immediate stress that causes the zebra to flee. In the workplace, this automatic response is characterized by verbal defensiveness (fight), avoiding the situation (flight), or having no response at all (freeze). These responses do nothing more than leave us with a sinking feelin...

T he Qualities that Distinguish Women Leaders  Women leaders are more persuasive, assertive and willing to take more risks than male leaders. Mara Swan, Chief People Officer for Molson Coors, points out, "I believe this study shows that for a woman to become a leader today, she has to fight harder against the status quo, which requires her to be more focused and determined." Women leaders are more assertive and persuasive, have a stronger need to get things done and are more willing to take risks than male leaders, according to a new study conducted by Caliper, a Princeton-based management consulting firm, which has assessed the potential of more than two million applicants and employees for over 25,000 companies around the world, and Aurora, a London-based organization which advances women and comprises a 20,000 member businesswomen's network. Women leaders also were found to be more empathic and flexible, as well as stronger in interpersonal skills than...

林書豪旋風席捲全美與兩岸，讓球迷為之瘋狂，驚呼 Linsanity! Lincredible!   究竟為什麼他可以在關鍵時刻，那樣神奇地投進那三分球 ? 為什麼先前的球探與教練沒有慧眼看出他的潛力呢 ? 評估球員的實力，永遠是讓球探、教練以及管理者頭痛難眠的問題。每次選拔前，他們總是想知道，到底哪些球員具備了那些足以讓他們在跨出校園後仍然可以繼續成長但事先卻難以辨識的能力 ?  美國大學的籃球隊球員約有兩萬名，能夠晉升參加 NBA 球員選拔賽的選手，不到四百名。這些選手個個都是得分好手、隊長、甚至是國家代表隊的球員。選拔單位從這些菁英中，再挑選出約不到兩成的球員。亦即，兩萬名的大學球員當中，不到百分之三比率的人會成為 NBA 球員。而獲選球員當中，只有少數幾位日後能夠在 NBA 裡存活，尚且不用談是否能成為耀眼的明星球員了。 我們之所以這麼難以判斷一個運動員是否能在專業領域裡出人頭地，是因為我們很難去知道一個運動員內在潛藏的人格特質與動機因素，但這些因素卻是影響每個人日後是否能在運動場上得以發光發熱的關鍵。 真實的情況經常是，校園裡出色的運動員，很少人能夠有機會真正面對挑戰試出自己的潛能或實力。通常他只要靠著原有的天資與能力，就可以讓他在校園的競賽中表現相當的水準。事實上，他真實、內在的特質卻可能還未被真正發掘與測試。一名運動員只有身處在職業競賽的領域裡，能夠棋逢高手，這個問題才可能得到解答。只有在這個時候，他內在真正的實力、可能的限制與深層的動機，才會浮上檯面。當然，可能這名運動員在這時早已被選拔為職業選手，而之前球探、教練未識英雄的錯誤判斷也已造成。 美國知名心理學家創設的 Caliper 顧問公司，很早就開始著手探究明星運動員的人格特質與在內動力。曾經有項研究是針對四千多名來自棒球、籃球、美式足球與曲棍球等領域的運動員，進行心理的評估。根據評估結果，發現那些能在專業領域裡取得一席之地的運動員，都具備了三項關鍵的心理素質：自律 (self-discipline) 、競爭動力 (Competitiveness)  以及挫折回復力 (Resilience) 。對運動員而言，絕佳的體能與技巧是基本功。真正影響他成為運動場上非凡閃耀明星的關鍵，不在體能、技巧與努力，而...

Catch Up on the Latest Industry News from DDI Resource Center by Krista Ford, Resource Center Manager Recent Articles: Gilt Groupe's CEO on Building a Team of A Players. By: Ryan, Kevin. Harvard Business Review, Jan/Feb2012, Vol. 90 Issue 1, p43-46. Ryan believes that a CEO should spend more time on recruiting and managing people than on any other activity, and that the head of HR is one of the most important people in the company. He insists on his freedom to bypass managers and speak with any employee at any time. And he espouses certain talent-management principles, such as that your best people are usually underpaid (reward them with performance pay) and that people leave jobs mainly because they don't like their managers. Recruiting at Gilt Groupe focuses on references more than on résumés and interviews because, Ryan says, résumés only establish basic qualifications for a job, and interviewers can't help being influenced by wellspoken or attractive people. But...

By: Gavetti, Giovanni. Harvard Business Review, Jul/Aug2011, Vol. 89 Issue 7/8, p118-125. Abstract: Firms in an industry typically cluster around a few strategic positions, and the intense competition on those occupied "mountaintops" makes it hard for firms to gain attractive returns. Superior opportunities lie on unoccupied mountaintops. Yet because those opportunities are "cognitively distant"-far from the status quo- strategists have trouble recognizing and acting on them. Competition, therefore, is weak. Most managers are trained to analyze economic forces when they want to identify new opportunities. But that approach usually won't uncover the kinds of ideas that overturn the status quo. Recent research on human cognition suggests that leaders would do better to use associative thinking to spot, act on, and legitimize distant opportunities. They should learn to make analogies with businesses in other industries, for example. For example, Charles Merrill la...

雜誌採訪 :  美商 DDI 亞太區首席顧問林妍希談「高效人才管理 5 大關鍵」 隨著全球化的發展，任何企業均無法自外於國際競爭。企業欲在這場圈地競賽裡，取得長線勝利，仰賴的是人才，強調連結企業目前以及未來的策略目標下，廣泛進行人才發掘、培育與發展，是企業取勝全球化賽局的關鍵。 ( 呂玉娟、蔡士敏 )  根據勤業眾信顧問公司針對全球５百大快速成長科技產業的 CEO 所做的調查顯示， 21 ％的 CEO 認為「高品質的員工」是貢獻公司成長最多的關鍵因素。所以，微軟比爾 ‧ 蓋茲說：「失去最優秀的 20 位人才，微軟就不再是重要的公司。」 隨著全球化迅速發展，資訊技術革命的推動與國際競爭白熱化，幾乎使任何企業都必須參與國際競爭。企業欲在這場圈地競賽裡，取得長線勝利，必須實施正確的人才管理，充分鼓舞人才，激勵員工為企業發展貢獻才智、不斷創新，發揮潛能。 人才管理是目前組織發展的熱門話題，擺脫企業缺人找人的缺憾，也能彌補接班人計畫，解決儲備高階主管的問題。強調的是連結企業現在以及未來的策略目標下，廣泛的人才發掘與發展。 然而，根據 IDC 顧問公司調查顯示，人才管理阻礙的原因之一，即是企業對人才管理的複雜過程，沒有設定良好的管理平台與系統，讓人才管理與公司策略，或與個人發展計畫，生涯成長缺少連接性。因此，企業要有適當的人才培養或接軌，才有可能面對這項挑戰。 連結策略找出未來人才 美商宏智國際顧問 (DDI) 亞太區首席顧問林妍希表示，人才管理必須與公司策略緊密結合。人才管理的起點是先釐清企業的願景，以及根據願景所訂的短、中、長期目標連結策略目標。 因為，企業經營有特定的目標及方向，不可能只為人而發展人。反而是因根據企業願景， CEO 開始沙盤推演要達到願景策略該怎麼走、需要多少人、這些人需要具備哪些關鍵特質與技能、 Key leader 要多少位 …… 而展開人才管理。 她舉例解釋，假設某家企業的 CEO 希望公司未來３、５年的營運目標，要達到新台幣 1 千億元。現階段已經達到 4 百億元。為了要達到 1 千億元的目標，企業現在要規劃未來的產品、通路、行銷策略，需要由誰來做？這些人才需要具備什麼樣的能力？ CEO 必須針對這些未來人才的能力開出規格，此人才的規格是依據企業願景、目標和方向來訂...

Author: Dr. Robert Hogan /President of Hogan Assessment Systems Social psychology concerns how people behave in specific situations—for example, as members of a jury panel or eye witnesses to a mugging. Social psychology is very popular, but it doesn’t concern “human nature,” it concerns how people behave in carefully defined contexts. Personality psychology concerns “human nature"—understanding oneself and other people independent of specific situations. Despite its importance, it is vastly less popular than social psychology—for example, there are only about 400 personality psychologists in the United States. Even worse, modern personality psychology largely focuses on aspects of the so-called Big Five Theory. According to this respected academic model, what we know about ourselves and other people can be described as follows: 1. Some people are shy and reserved; others are outgoing and talkative 2. Some people are nervous and guilt prone, others are confident and resili...