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Business Hacks | being happier at work

Emma Seppälä, author of The Happiness Track, explains the proven benefits of a positive outlook; simple ways to increase your sense of well-being; and why it’s not about being ecstatic or excited all the time. Audio IdeaCast available too.

Jumping business executive man and woman in photo shot by corporate Los Angeles photographerSARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Sarah Green Carmichael. Today, I’m talking with Emma Seppala, science director of Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. She’s the author of the brand new book, The Happiness Track, How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success. Emma, thank you so much for talking with us today.

EMMA SEPPALA: Oh, you’re more than welcome. I’m happy to be here.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So I thought we should just start by talking about how you define success in the purposes of the book because you started, I thought was really interesting, with a quote from late poet Maya Angelou, who actually was one of my all-time favorite interviews that we’ve done on the IdeaCast. That was a few years ago. But she stuck out in my mind.

Jumping business executive man and woman in photo shot by corporate Los Angeles photographer
© photo by Gregory Mancuso – Jumping business executive man and woman in photo shot by corporate Los Angeles photographer

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Business Hacks | what is disruptive innovation now?

The theory of disruptive innovation has proved to be a powerful way of thinking about innovation-driven growth. Here’s an excellent article and video about how it’s evolving.

What-Is-Disruptive-Innovation-evolving toBy Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, Rory McDonald

The theory of disruptive innovation, introduced in these pages in 1995, has proved to be a powerful way of thinking about innovation-driven growth. Many leaders of small, entrepreneurial companies praise it as their guiding star; so do many executives at large, well-established organizations, including Intel, Southern New Hampshire University, and Salesforce.com.

Unfortunately, disruption theory is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. Despite broad dissemination, the theory’s core concepts have been widely misunderstood and its basic tenets frequently misapplied. Furthermore, essential refinements in the theory over the past 20 years appear to have been overshadowed by the popularity of the initial formulation. As a result, the theory is sometimes criticized for shortcomings that have already been addressed. (more…)

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Life Hacks | you’re already more persuasive than you think

Life-Hacks--top-10-tips-to-show-you’re-already-more-persuasive-than-you-think TIt’s amazing the opportunities we miss because we often doubt our own powers of persuasion.

You’re Already More Persuasive than You Think

by Vanessa K. Bohns

Our bosses make shortsighted decisions, but we don’t suggest an alternative, figuring they wouldn’t listen anyway. Or we have an idea that would require a group effort, but we don’t try to sell our peers on it, figuring it would be too much of an uphill battle. Even when we need a personal favor, such as coverage for an absence, we avoid asking our colleagues out of fear of rejection. (more…)

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Business Hacks | the new science of customer emotions

When companies connect with customers’ emotions, the payoff can be huge.

Business Hacks-The New Science of Customer Emotions - best tips to increase sales
© photo by Gregory Mancuso

The New Science of Customer Emotions

By Scott Magids, Alan Zorfas, Daniel Leemon

When companies connect with customers’ emotions, the payoff can be huge. Consider these examples: After a major bank introduced a credit card for Millennials that was designed to inspire emotional connection, use among the segment increased by 70% and new account growth rose by 40%.

Within a year of launching products and messaging to maximize emotional connection, a leading household cleaner turned market share losses into double-digit growth. And when a nationwide apparel retailer reoriented its merchandising and customer experience to its most emotionally connected customer segments, same-store sales growth accelerated more than threefold. (more…)

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Dog Videos | heartwarming story of sick Cheetah cub and his puppy savior

Just when the Cheetah cub was having a hard time surviving, some kind-hearted humans and a brave shelter puppy came to his rescue.

Funny-and-heartwarming-dog-video-for-kids-of-cheetah-and-puppy-friendshipMeet Kumbali and Kao, two very unique friends. Kumbali the Cheetah was the runt of his litter and wasn’t getting enough milk from his mother to survive, so the staff at the Richmond Zoo decided to nurse him themselves. But they also knew the youngster needed a companion. Cheetahs are very sociable big cats and need company to thrive and not become anxious. The zoo found Kago, a lab mix who was rescued from a high-kill shelter in Alabama. (more…)

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Life Hacks | mindfulness as a productivity tool?

A wisdom tradition associated with personal growth and insight is now being absorbed by our culture as a tool for career development and efficiency.

Life Hacks-mindfulness as a productivity tool for career development and efficiency TIs Something Lost When We Use Mindfulness as a Productivity Tool?

by Charlotte Lieberman

I came to mindfulness as a healing practice after overcoming an addiction to Adderall during my junior year of college. I found myself in this situation because I thought that using Adderall to help me focus was no big deal — an attitude shared by 81% of students nationwide.

Adderall simply seemed like an innocuous shortcut to getting things done – and to do so efficiently yet effortlessly. I still remember the rush I felt my first night on Adderall: I completed every page of assigned Faulkner reading (not easy), started and finished a paper several weeks before the due date (because why not?), Swiffered my room (twice) and answered all of my unread emails (even the irrelevant ones). It’s also probably worth noting that I had forgotten to eat all night, and somehow found myself still awake at 4 a.m., my jaw clenched and my stomach rumbling. Sleep was nowhere in sight.

Life Hacks-mindfulness as a productivity tool for career development and efficiency
© photo by Gregory Mancuso

What I saw initially as shortcut to more focus and productivity ultimately turned out instead to be a long detour toward self-destruction. Rather than thinking of focus as the byproduct of my own power and capability, I looked outside of myself, thinking that a pill would solve my problems.

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Business Hacks | marketing – why some videos go viral

In “Puppyhood,” a video for Purina Puppy Chow produced with BuzzFeed, a guy spontaneously adopts a puppy, they bond in typical roommate fashion…and a marketer’s dream comes true.

This is the best funny youtube video of a man who doesn’t know anything adopting a puppy dogWhy Some Videos Go Viral

A viral video is every marketer’s dream. It’s the surest way to cut through the noise of the internet. And studies show that social viewers—people who watch shared content rather than videos they’ve found by browsing—are far more likely to buy a product and recommend it to others.

Why do some videos catch fire and others just sputter out? Unruly, a marketing technology company, offers an answer. Its analysis of some 430 billion video views and 100,000 consumer data points reveals the two most powerful drivers of viral success: psychological response (how the content makes you feel) and social motivation (why you want to share it).

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