KACHARAGADLA

The world tends toward continuums. We order everything from temperature (cold to hot, with tepid in the middle) to wealth (poor to comfortable to rich). Continuity along a linear line, like the inexorable laws of hydrodynamics, helps to capture and comprehend the complexities of science and society, and offers the promise of progress and growth. It’s tempting to think leadership also follows a continuum, one anchored by bad and great, with good somewhere in between. This deeply rooted belief reassures us that leadership follows a predictable pattern, and that through hard work and experience one can progress along the drawn line. That anyone can develop as a leader is not in question. What I dispute is the stubborn resolve that great and good are points along the same stream. That just isn’t so. Great leadership and good leadership have distinctly different characteristics and paths. Leadership is not one-dimensional. It can be great and good, or one but not the other, or neith

Early leadership experience can be very valuable. Selective colleges screen for  demonstrated leadership experience , and   studies   have found that people with high school leadership experience are paid up to 33% more than those without it. This wage premium is similar to the one associated with a college degree. However, we know little about what types of skills early leadership service may help to develop. Although adults who serve as leaders are observably different from nonleaders — leaders tend to have  higher cognitive ability, more self-confidence, and more motivation or drive  — we don’t know much about whether these differences arise because leadership service changes individuals or because these individuals are selected for their preexisting skills. To investigate this question, we  studied  378 seventh-grade students in a Chinese secondary school. Among the top 92 students, we randomly assigned classroom leadership positions to 46 of them. We tracked the students f

To understand what benefits fantastic employees truly value, why not just ask 'em? Every entrepreneur knows how important employee engagement and retention are to the success of any growing company. You’ve probably read the data yourself about how much time and effort go into replacing a good employee; surveys describe a cost equating to  six to nine months  of that employee’s salary. You're probably aware that countless factors come into play in an employee’s decision to stay or move on -- including benefits and perks. In my experience growing my  content marketing agency , I found that benefits and perks themselves weren't the main reason employees choose to stay or leave to pursue other opportunities. Instead, what contributes significantly is the satisfaction they feel about their work, their long-term career-development opportunities and the support, respect and appreciation they receive from managers and co-workers. But the benefits offered matter, too. An

Turning Negativity into Productivity Dealing with a pessimist on your team can be a frustrating and time-consuming experience. Attempts to ignore or counter frequent negative comments may simply incite further negativity. Good news: by being proactive you can help the pessimist change his behavior and enable your team to achieve greater productivity. What the Experts Say The first step is to figure out what is causing your team member’s negativity. Roderick Kramer, William R. Kimball Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, says that it is the role of the leader to understand the underlying cause of the pessimism before acting. “Some people are dispositional pessimists whose knee-jerk reaction is to see the negative in everything, while others may be expressing a pessimistic point of view based upon informed logic,” Kramer says. Some common sources of pessimism include resentment at not having been promoted, a need for attention, or a

Applying for jobs just out of college or grad school, comfort may have seemed like the ultimate goal: to find the perfect job that was a natural fit and have a long, fulfilling career there. Forget all of that: comfort is the enemy. If things are easy, it's time to shake up your career. Remember when you were young, and you first attempted to write a bicycle? Were you scared at first? Absolutely. Was the end result worth it? I'm betting it was.  Hopping into a new job or career path is indeed a lot like that first ride on a bike: a heart-pumping, adrenaline-inducing risk-- and the payoffs can be as meaningful as the life-changing freedom of mastering two wheels.  Getting out of your comfort zone is a must if you want to achieve extraordinary success. I like to think of it as a shift into your "strength zone": identify, highlight and hone in on what makes you unique and lean into it so you stand out. The hardest part of shaking things up is taking

Entrepreneurship is a  deeply personal   endeavor that requires dedication, discipline, and passion. For most founders, myself included, there is virtually no separation between the personal and professional. For me,  BodeTree’s  successes are my successes, and its failures are my failures. When someone attacks my company, I can’t help but take it personally. Unfortunately, this lack of separation between my personal and professional lives has taken its toll. Looking back, I can see how my tendency to take things personally has clouded my judgment, led to disappointment and prevented me from taking decisive action when needed. While it’s impossible for truly committed entrepreneurs to maintain the same kind of work/life separation that traditional employees enjoy, it is possible to find balance. There are certain aspects of the entrepreneurial journey that are touchier than others, at least in my case. Identifying these areas and understanding the lessons contained therein is

Once you have defined success for yourself your path there will become apparent. How does someone become off-the-charts successful? Some say it’s luck. Others say it’s hustle. The truth is, success only comes with a combination of both-, as well as a few other ingredients. Defining   success   can be tricky because it’s so subjective. Some people want to make a million dollars a year. Others want to make a good living and have three weeks of paid vacation time a year so they can travel. Then there are those with the desire to build something of their own, and still others who want to find ways to make money passively so they can spend more time on their hobbies. Whatever your definition of success, these 11 skills can help you achieve it faster. 1. Stop replaying negative thoughts in your mind. A recent article in   The New Yorker   reveals that when we remember the past, we do not remember it in the way we think we do. The images that come to mind aren’t like old f