Dan Cable
London
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Trying to put a little more living into life. Organisational Behaviour professor focusing on #Engagement, #Leadership, and #PositivePsychology @LBS
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Articles by Dan Cable
Five minutes with the faculty: Dan Cable
What question has been obsessing you lately – the one you can’t quite let go of? I’ve been thinking a lot about how most humans don’t like uncertainty, but do seem to like novelty. The two concepts seem so intertwined, but seem to lead to repulsion versus attraction. Explain your work as if you’re talking to an intelligent 12-year-old. I’m trying to find ways that leaders can set up work so that it doesn’t suck.
6 ways to make your workforce happier
How happy are the people who work for you, and why should you care? Well, you’re a nice person (probably). But you also know that, these days, it’s a business imperative. Because when your people aren’t happy, everything suffers. Burnout, high stress, quiet quitting, loud quitting, low performance, damage to the bottom line, and a terrible review on Glassdoor. Happiness isn’t a perk, it’s a fundamental and universal human goal, recognised by the US Constitution and the United Nations.
6 ways to make your workforce happier
How happy are the people who work for you, and why should you care? Well, you’re a nice person (probably). But you also know that, these days, it’s a business imperative. Because when your people aren’t happy, everything suffers. Burnout, high stress, quiet quitting, loud quitting, low performance, damage to the bottom line, and a terrible review on Glassdoor. Happiness isn’t a perk, it’s a fundamental and universal human goal, recognised by the US Constitution and the United Nations.
Is searching for purpose an inherent human trait? These experts say yes.
DAN CABLE: It seems that this concept of purpose is uniquely human. This idea of having an answer to the why of what we do. All of us have stories running around in our brains about why we do what we do. A lot of times when I'm teaching a class full of MBAs or a class for executives, they're all sitting, and that would be a truthful answer. But they also could say, I'm learning. That implies that I'm listening to what you're saying, but I'm also comparing it to what I used to believe.
Five books to read this summer
From gripping fiction to groundbreaking social critiques, our faculty have chosen five books for your summer reading ConflictCorporate financeEthicsGlobalisationPsychologySocietyUncertainty In 30 seconds Read an exquisite tale of grief, family, love and choices The biography of one of the world's least known but most consequential investors A provocative exploration of cultural taste and social inequality Intermezzo (2024) By Sally Rooney Recommended by Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational...
Books to help make sense of the world
Conflicted: Why Arguments Are Tearing Us Apart and How They Can Bring Us Together Ian Leslie Recommended by: Selin Kesebir, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour Our opinions and preferences never fully align with others and conflict is needed to reconcile those differences. That being the case, there’s no point dreading conflict – we just need to learn how to be better at it. This book is an enjoyable guide towards that end.
Promote Positive Self-Esteem Outside The Workplace To Boost Performance Within It
We Can Do It! Poster by J. Howard Miller Corbis via Getty Images By Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School Information sharing is a critical component of improved team performance. After all, informed decisions require exactly that: information. But we can all probably recall a time when the potential for judgement has held us back from voicing an opinion in the workplace.
Best-Self Activation
By Dan Cable Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content. By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy
Confident Vulnerability: Three Ways For Leaders To Inspire Others
By Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School Picture a leader and who do you see? Someone motivational? The smartest person in the room? Someone with a transformational vision and the ability to inspire others to implement it? Or someone authoritative and decisive who has all the answers?
How to Build Confidence About Showing Vulnerability
Fabian was feeling anxious as he left the leadership training course. He knew what he had to do, and yet he didn’t know how to actually do it. Fabian had been promoted up through the ranks of a global construction firm, starting in 1994 out of his university as part of a rotational management program. There, he learned that the best leaders demand operational efficiency and perfection out of their teams.
What’s driving the great resignation?
The great reprioritisation Even before the pandemic, Professor Gratton was seeing the effects of these shifts in thinking. “The power pendulum has been, subtly but perceptibly, swinging toward employees. They no longer want to just work and then retire.
Why the upstarts have a head start
Professor Niro Sivanathan has been exploring various aspects of organisational behaviour at London Business School for nearly 15 years. His research focuses on how social, psychological and evolutionary influences shape our perceptions of status and power within personal and professional hierarchies.
Fallout From European Ferry Company Sackings Shows There Is Value In Doing Redundancy Well
Tugboats manouver the P&O ferry MS "Pride of Kent". (Photo: Denis Charlet) AFP via Getty Images By Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, London Business School There is an old PR adage that "you can't communicate your way out of a crisis that you behaved your way into." This has never rung so true as when seen in the context of the recent sacking of 800 British workers by one of the UK's leading ferry companies.
Fallout From European Ferry Company Sackings Shows There Is Value In Doing Redundancy Well
Tugboats manouver the P&O ferry MS "Pride of Kent". (Photo: Denis Charlet) AFP via Getty Images By Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, London Business School There is an old PR adage that 'you can't communicate your way out of a crisis that you behaved your way into.' This has never rung so true as when seen in the context of the recent sacking of 800 British workers by one of the UK's leading ferry companies.
How to hack your brain to cope with change
Today, Professor Cable describes the pattern of thinking many adults fall into as a groove. “The thing about these grooves is that they can easily become ruts,” he explains. “The brain uses about 20% of our energy, more than any other single organ in the body.
What to do if your employees have switched off
How are your teams responding to the challenges of Covid-19? Are they engaged and switched on? Do they see the crisis as an opportunity? Are they pulling together to spot opportunities and build the roadmap to recovery? Or are they washed out, fed up and switched off?
Turn Your Boring Job into a Job You’ll Love
Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here. A lot of us grew up thinking that when we got hired by a company, we would have to do exactly what was written in our job description. “You are responsible for X, and this is how you should go about it.” To be fair, that made sense in the past when most people were rewarded for doing what they were told. But these days, that mindset doesn’t work so well.
The Transformative Power Of Positive Feedback
Seeking positive feedback from friends, family and colleagues to create a 'personal highlight reel' ... [+] can be a powerful step towards unlocking your potential. getty By Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, London Business School We are bombarded with images and stories of other people’s successes each day of our lives.
You Need a Personal Highlight Reel
Richard Seagraves/Getty Images Sometimes, personal trauma — recovering from a serious illness, losing a close friend, getting laid off, or struggling through a pandemic — can make you question your assumptions and push you to change the path you’re on. But positive events can lead to post-traumatic growth, too: landing a new job, having a new baby, or falling in love.
Viewpoint: How to Bring Your Best Self to Work
Editor's Note: SHRM has partnered with the London Business School Review to bring you relevant articles on key topics and strategies of global interest. Lockdown has been a time to reassess the way we work. For many of us, pre-pandemic, our routine was to commute to the office five days a week. Now, after spending the past months working remotely, we are questioning our work-life balance. Do we want to go back to the workplace or do we prefer working from home?
How to bring your best self into your work
Lockdown has been a time to reassess the way we work. For many of us, pre-pandemic, our routine was to commute to the office five days a week. Now, after spending the past few months working remotely, we are questioning our work-life balance. Do we want to go back to the workplace or do we prefer working from home? Are we more productive working remotely or do we thrive better in the office? Maybe we need a flexible approach that combines the two?
Stop sleepwalking through life
The coronavirus pandemic has been a hugely traumatic period, enforcing huge changes in our lives. But for many it has also provided a wake-up call; taking them out of their whirlwind existence and providing time to look at life from a different perspective. Take Ella, a hard-working but unconfident communications assistant in a London marketing firm. In the office she would frequently be “reassurance-seeking” – asking her colleagues their opinions before she felt she could move on with a project.
Business must adapt to manage the pandemic and beyond
Think - AT LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL Coronavirus has exposed how slow-moving business can be, but it could also provide the push it needs to become more agile Coronavirus Innovation People management Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship The global outbreak of coronavirus is highlighting how poorly equipped firms are to deal with one-off shocks, but many large firms were falling behind the curve even before this crisis.
Seeing Oneself as a Valued Contributor: Social Worth Affirmation Improves Team Information Sharing
Julia Lee Cunningham, Francesca Gino, Dan Cable and Bradley Staats Abstract Teams often fail to reach their potential because members’ concerns about being socially accepted prevent them from offering their unique perspectives to the team.
Post-COVID19: Invest in Employee Returnment
By Dan Cable and David Fairhurst As the world struggles to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, employees are worried about their futures. With furloughs mounting and salary cuts spreading, many people feel vulnerable about employment and their relationship with their employers. Millions of people who still have jobs have lost their normal set of work routines and processes; many have been working under strange new conditions at home.
How to energise your relationships
Think - AT LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL Lockdown is a great opportunity to work on your relationships – there’s no time like the present Communication Collaboration Teams In 30 seconds... We wait too long to tell others why, and how much, we appreciate them. Don’t leave it until someone’s funeral before praising their unique qualities. If you can formalise a way of showing (and experiencing) gratitude you will re-energise your relationships.
Coping with ‘Death Awareness’ in the COVID-19 Era
In Charles Dickens’s much beloved novella A Christmas Carol, the curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge is unmoved when the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present show him how his cruelty and selfishness have harmed others. Only when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come brings Scrooge face-to-face with his own impermanence in the form of his tombstone does the old miser begin to show benevolence and compassion toward others. The coronavirus pandemic has brought all of us a lot closer to our impermanence.
Finding your purpose: A less intimidating approach
Dan Cable Dan Cable is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. Dan's research and teaching focus on employee engagement, change, organizational culture, leadership mindset, and the linkage between brands and employee behaviors. Dan was selected for the 2018 Thinkers50 Radar List, The Academy of Management has twice honored Dan with Best Article awards, and The Academy of Management Perspectives ranked Dan in the 'Top 25 most influential management scholars'.
Coaching Your Team Through Uncertain Times
FPG/Getty Images We’ve made our coronavirus coverage free for all readers. To get all of HBR’s content delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Daily Alert newsletter. As they try to ride out the coronavirus pandemic, people are stressed and scared — nervous about others’ and their own health and the state of the world. For those lucky enough to be healthy and working from home in quarantine, their jobs can seem trivial and irritating.
How to activate the ‘seeking system’ of your brain
Dan Cable Dan Cable is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. Dan's research and teaching focus on employee engagement, change, organizational culture, leadership mindset, and the linkage between brands and employee behaviors. Dan was selected for the 2018 Thinkers50 Radar List, The Academy of Management has twice honored Dan with Best Article awards, and The Academy of Management Perspectives ranked Dan in the 'Top 25 most influential management scholars'.
Helping Your Team Feel the Purpose in Their Work
No one wants to be a nine-to-five robot. People want to feel inspired, find meaning, and see the impact their work has on others. And when they do, they’re more engaged, innovative, and productive. That isn’t a secret or a revelation. It’s common sense. If you’re a leader, helping others feel a sense of purpose can be a powerful tool. So, why then do so many leaders have trouble lighting up their employees? The simple answer is it’s extremely difficult to instill purpose in others.
Helping Your Team Feel the Purpose in Their Work
Paul Taylor/Getty Images No one wants to be a nine-to-five robot. People want to feel inspired, find meaning, and see the impact their work has on others. And when they do, they’re more engaged, innovative, and productive. That isn’t a secret or a revelation. It’s common sense. If you’re a leader, helping others feel a sense of purpose can be a powerful tool. So, why then do so many leaders have trouble lighting up their employees?
New Year, New Music: Three Portland Artists to Watch in 2018
Photo by Matt Vrvilo Drowse GENRE: Ambient rock ESSENTIAL TRACK: “Rain Leak” FOR FANS OF: My Bloody Valentine, Unwound, Codeine, Explosions in the Sky Kyle Bates has been unabashed in chronicling the oft-times spiraling mental escapades he’s endured throughout his young life.
To Develop Leadership Skills, Practice in a Low-Risk Environment
It was the second day of an intensive leadership program I lead once a year and there were 20 participants in the room. Gupta and Randi* were standing in the middle of the group, opposite each other. “I can’t do it!” Gupta insisted as Randi stood opposite him, waiting. Earlier in the day, Gupta told me that he overheard Randi speaking about him behind his back and he was angry and hurt.
Press Play on #PDXmusic Podcasts: Storytellers Telling Stories, That Much Further West, Haute Garbage and DIY Musician Podcast
Jude Brewer, creator, producer and host of Storytellers Telling Stories Storytellers Telling Stories YEAR FOUNDED: 2017 GENRE: Great stories from artists of all backgrounds—from writers to actors to musicians—accompanied by original compositions from local music makers NOTABLE GUESTS: Y La Bamba’s Luz Elena Mendoza, Haley Johnsen, Karyn Ann, The Colin Trio, Hayley Lynn, Talk Station As a novelist, Jude Brewer recognizes the value of a good story.
How Humble Leadership Really Works
When you’re a leader — no matter how long you’ve been in your role or how hard the journey was to get there — you are merely overhead unless you’re bringing out the best in your employees. Unfortunately, many leaders lose sight of this. Power, as my colleague Ena Inesi has studied, can cause leaders to become overly obsessed with outcomes and control, and, therefore, treat their employees as means to an end.
Why People Lose Motivation — and What Managers Can Do to Help | HBR Ascend
At some point, every leader has dealt with a person — or, worse, a group of people — who has lost motivation. It’s frustrating, isn’t it? As much as we’ve been there ourselves, sometimes it’s hard to sympathize with others who are disengaged from work and unproductive as a result. Sometimes, we view their unhappiness as a bug in their mental makeup — and, therefore, we think they should be able to suck it up and snap out of it.
3 Crucial Traits of Effective Managers
“I’d like to work for a manager I can learn from.” This phrase has come up again and again in interviews I’ve conducted for my team at the World Economic Forum and from more junior folks who I’ve met through various mentoring programs. These people aren’t looking for someone to lecture them, they’re looking for someone who can help them build knowledge and skills as they work toward a valuable goal.
There's a happiness crisis in the modern workplace. Here's what to do about it.
There's a happiness crisis in the modern workplace. Here's what to do about it.
Maurice and the Stiff Sisters and Brother Not Brother at Turn! Turn! Turn!
Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 7:30pm doors, 8pm show 21+ $7 day of show SALT will open the evening. Get Tickets
European Tour Kickoff: Autonomics at The Library at Growler's Taproom
The Library at Growler's Taproom3343 SE Hawthorne Blvd. PortlandOR97214 Show Pick by Dan Cable Saturday, April 13, 2019 - 9pm show 21+ $7 day of show Autonomics are headed across the Atlantic—come send 'em off! Blue Crush opens. Get Tickets It’s hard to be recognized as a unique band in a city like Portland, a city that prides itself on being weird.
How to be yourself at senior job interviews
Research reveals that the best way for senior professionals to land a job offer is to relax at interviews and be themselves. So... how can you be yourself at job interviews? What does that really mean? Professor Dan Cable condenses it into five key points: 1. Be authentic Interviewers are instinctively drawn to individuals they perceive as being genuine and this is why authenticity is so important.
Dan Cable Presents: Autonomics Live at the Doug Fir Lounge [Video Premiere]
Autonomics at the Doug Fir Lounge—click to see more photos by Joe DuquetteIt’s hard to be recognized as a unique band in a city like Portland, a city that prides itself on being weird. Home to many celebrated and unconventional acts, sometimes in this sort of climate the way to be unique is to create something a little more down the middle, something fueled purely by the raw amount of energy put into the performance of the songs.
PDX Jazz Festival: Adebisi and Tribe Mars at White Eagle Saloon
Friday, February 22, 2019 - 8pm show 21+ $8 advance, $8 day of show Get Tickets
WIN TICKETS: Portland's Folk Festival at Mission Theater
WIN TICKETS: February 1 - 2, 2019 Mission Theater1624 NW Glisan St. PortlandOR97209 Show Pick by Dan Cable, Chris Young 21+ After last year's wildly successful inaugural showing, Portland's Folk Festival doubles down in year two by adding more nights, more space and more bands with which to share the stage.
Comment fonctionne réellement le leadership par l'humilité
Quand vous êtes un leader – peu importe depuis combien de temps ou les difficultés rencontrées pour y arriver –, à moins que vous sachiez tirer le meilleur de vos employés, vous ne faites que contribuer aux frais généraux de l’entreprise. Et ça, malheureusement, beaucoup de dirigeants l’oublient.
4 Things That Are Super Important When You’re Asking for Help
You may also like: 5 Ways to Get Better at Asking for Help It’s OK to Ask for Help How to Ask for Help When You Need It Coaching an Employee Who Doesn’t Want Help
The Most Powerful Lesson My Cancer Taught Me About Life and Work
I was 34 when I heard my doctor say “stage-four Hodgkin’s lymphoma.” The news hit me like a punch to the face. I was stunned. Then every two weeks for six months, I had to go the Lineberger Cancer Center to receive chemo. I had a hard time getting out of bed on those days. I loathed the nurses injecting poison into me. Once I was there, and the chemo slid into the port, making my chest cold and my mouth taste like metal, I fought back panic.
Can You Afford to Change Your Career?
Who wouldn’t want a meaningful career and better balance between work and home? For many of us, it’s finances that keep us from making a career change. Sure, our current job has lost its spark, but it’s stable. Dependable. Reliable. Steady. We worry and wonder: What would a career change do to our bank accounts? To our way of life? To our family? We assume that a major reinvention would involve a gap between paychecks when we’d leave our job and break into a new field. Take Steve.
The Problem with Using "I Statements" at Work
It has become common advice for businesspeople to use “I statements” — such as, “I feel frustrated that you missed the budget deadline twice” — as a way to raise challenging conversations without causing colleagues to feel blamed or under attack. Indeed, I statements may be helpful during situations in which you have a close personal relationship to a colleague who cares about your well-being, or when you want to show that a particular issue has moral implications for you.
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