Grant Gochnauer: Awesome Humans — Issue #153
Awesome Human
Leadership and Emotional Contagion — intentionalworkplace.com
“Employees are not emotional islands. Rather, they continuously spread their own moods and receive and are influenced by others’ moods. When they work in groups, they literally can catch each others’ emotions like viruses, a phenomenon known as emotional contagion…. In the past decade, there has been an important finding in neuroscience that should impact on how every leader leads — emotions are contagious.”
Reading Comprehension: How to Retain More of Every Book You Read — jamesclear.com
It’s important to read books, but it’s just as important to remember what you read. Read this article to learn three reading comprehension strategies.
An effortless way to improve your memory — www.bbc.com
A surprisingly potent technique can boost your short and long-term recall — and it appears to help everyone from students to Alzheimer’s patients.
How to motivate older kids without using rewards, punishment or fear. (No, really.) — www.washingtonpost.com
Five strategies for inspiring vulnerable tweens and teens to make good choices.
Here’s How Successful People Avoid Information Overwhelm — medium.com
There are seemingly infinite options in the world today. With increasing options comes increased choices. This may seem like a good thing. But at a certain point, having more options and choices becomes negative. 1) We assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. 2) However, choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them. 3) Choice overload leaves you in a perpetual state of FOMO — always looking over your shoulder and questioning the decisions you’ve made. 4) This puts you in a constant state of stress, ever feeling like you’re falling short, always questioning the decisions you’ve made, always wondering
Healthy Human
Feed Your Head: Foods That Target Depression and Anxiety — www.wsj.com
Holistic approaches to mental as well as physical wellness often include nutrition. But the connection between food and mental health is now gaining traction in the medical community, too. Research in the field of nutritional psychiatry supports the scientific claim that what you eat and how you feel may be connected, especially when it comes to managing anxiety and depression.
Probiotics ‘not as beneficial for gut health as previously thought’
www.theguardian.com
Research finds probiotics caused ‘very severe disturbance’ in gut when taken in conjunction with antibiotics
Human Builders
All Things Sales! 16 Mini-Lessons for Startup Founders — a16z.com
Fantastic. “a16z general partner Peter Levine is constantly asked “Why sales?” by entrepreneurs and technical founders. He himself used to hold the “engineer-centric” view that if you build a great product, customers will come. But the fact is, all world-class companies must have a strong sales force. So — how do they get there? How does a technical founder begin to build a top tier sales motion?
In this series of snack-sized videos — which you can watch all together, or mix-and-match for your particular questions and needs — Levine distills the fundamentals that every founder should know about sales.”
Pitfalls In Performance Feedback — medium.learningbyshipping.com
Even with the best intentions, performance feedback can have negative and unintended consequences when it comes to building a diverse and well-functioning team. Here are some common pitfalls to avoid.
Tesla, software and disruption — www.ben-evans.com
When Nokia people looked at the first iPhone, they saw a not-great phone with some cool features that they were going to build too, being produced at a small fraction of the volumes they were selling. They shrugged. “No 3G, and just look at the camera!” When many car company people look at a Tesla, they see a not-great car with some cool features that they’re going to build too, being produced at a small fraction of the volumes they’re selling. “Look at the fit and finish, and the panel gaps, and the tent!” The Nokia people were terribly, terribly wrong. Are the car people wrong?
How Bosses Waste Their Employees’ Time — www.wsj.com
This article is gold!
Managers are often oblivious to the impact of their words and actions. Here’s how they can open their eyes.
Future Humans
The New Science of Seeing Around Corners — www.quantamagazine.org
“Computer vision researchers have uncovered a world of visual signals hiding in our midst, including subtle motions that betray what’s being said and faint images of what’s around a corner.”

