Like sleep, creativity is a non-conscious process that can't be forced. Instead of demanding ideas, leaders should practice "creativity hygiene." This involves arranging conscious behaviors to facilitate creative output, such as seeking novelty, embracing ambiguity, and building the team's creative confidence.
Our brains evolved for a world where change was a sudden threat. Modern work, with its constant, complex changes, creates a fundamental mismatch that causes stress. This explains why we instinctively register change as a danger, a holdover from our hunter-gatherer past.
In a world of constant change, the ability to adapt and learn (AQ) is more valuable than raw intelligence (IQ). Studies show employees with high learning agility receive more promotions and salary increases, making AQ the key aptitude for modern professionals seeking advancement.
The feeling of having no time, or "time famine," damages connection and well-being. Counterintuitively, research shows that spending just 15 minutes doing a kind act for someone else shifts your mindset to "time abundance," making you feel like you have more time, not less.
Satya Nadella transformed Microsoft's stagnant, IQ-based "know-it-all" culture into a high-agility, AQ-based "learn-it-all" one. This cultural overhaul was the foundational step that enabled strategic pivots into cloud and AI, leading to a 1,000% stock price increase.
Hard skills like programming have a half-life of just 2.5-5 years. To future-proof your career, focus on developing transferable "durable skills" like agility, receiving feedback, and persuasion. This strategy makes you a versatile "general athlete" who can thrive in any future role.