Strategy, Innovation, Leadership and Security
What Microsoft giveth, Microsoft can taketh away. And so Microsoft did the unthinkable last year and announced it would be rolling back the free storage add-ons it gave users (base free 15GB storage going down to 5GB and camera roll bonus) and was clawing back the unlimited Office 365 storage to 1TB.
Understandably there was an uproar and now Microsoft has a setup a special webpage where you can ask them to keep your free storage levels.
Image by US department of agriculture used under creative commons license
Communication isn’t only about carefully crafted words. Negotiations aren’t about arguments and leverage. A good experienced negotiator will marry strong arguments & leverage to carefully practised body language.
There have been dozens of studies and research papers on the power of body language during negotiations. An MIT one measured a negotiator’s ability to convince a jury (body language was accurately measured using a body worn device). It turns out that the right body language can significantly improve the negotiators chances of closing a deal (or convincing a jury in this case). The key takeaways were standing upright, facing the jury and speaking in a lower tone.
So clearly there is something to this body language mumbo-jumbo and it is worth studying and practising. To get you started, here are some tips:
A true leader captivates the attention of his audience almost immediately and hold it without fail. Certainly being self-confident and a good wordsmith are important but the reality is that body language plays a much more important role.
When you walk in front of an audience, most have already made up their minds about you before you utter your first word. This isn’t magic but basic physiology. This non-verbal communication is a combination of many factors including your posture, tone, facial expression, eye contract, arm and hand movements and more.
Study after study have confirmed that we evaluate a person’s credibility, likeability or trustworthiness within seconds of meeting them.
This primal evaluation comes from the brain’s limbic system. These are the structures that are responsible for memory and emotions. It is our brain’s first response system. As soon as it receives information, it determines whether there is a threat. It’s automatic and almost immediate.
Most of us don’t live with the constant treat of tiger attacks but this basic human system is still alive and well.
Another interesting fact is that body language interpretation seems to be uniformly coherent across different cultures. Basic emotions (fear, anger, etc.) are the same everywhere.
I have been in hundreds of meetings where participants have crossed their arms. Regardless of the reason why, this is seen as a primal sin in body language interpretation. It comes across as cold and unwelcoming. So what is the opposite? Use an open body stance. - This means face your speaker. Don’t sit diagonally from them. Don’t swing your chair back into a semi-sleeping position. Don’t talk to them over your shoulder. - Synchronize your body movements with the other person. If the person is leaning slightly towards the table, do the same. This is often called mirroring. - Nod occasionally to show you are following the conversation (don’t just sit there like a tree stump). - Smile sometimes if acceptable - Sit with your legs and arms uncrossed. - Don’t fidget (including your feet), bite your nails or wipe your forehead.
So a good leader must be authoritative and confidence inspiring. Maintain good posture. Speak at a comfortable pace and pronounce your words clearly. Keep your eyes (comfortably) focused on the other person.
In an increasingly connected world, even the smallest companies can afford video conferencing services which means there will be more and more opportunities for people to judge you based on your body language.
The best tip I can give you is to practice speaches and presentation in front of a mirror, a friend or to record it. You may have ticks or habits that aren’t immediately apparent to you. Practice, learn, practice, learn & repeat.
Image by Becky Wetherington used under creative commons license
Last minute work on school assignments was the norm for most university students. They wait until the last minute then “pull an all-nighter”.
Many feel that this pressure to deliver makes them work better but recent scientific evidence shows that this may actually be completely false.
It seems pressure may actually stifle innovation and creativity. It pushes you down a conventional path.
Some of the most successfully entrepreneurs are people that have learned to deal with pressure. Even when carrying the weight of the world, they are cool, calm and in control.
Any yogi or meditator will extort the virtues of living “in the moment”.
Think about the last time you were waiting in the lobby to be interviewed for a job. In this particular situation, most people feel stressed. They feel fear. They feel eager. Their body reacts to this stress by releasing cortisol. They may sweat a little and even have some nervous ticks.
None of these is ideal for creativity. You are rarely putting your best foot forward in these stressful situations.
But remember that the stress you feel isn’t because of something that is happening then and there (in the moment). It is because you are worried about what you think may happen.
If you are able to be “in the moment”, then you will release the stress and shine like the star you are meant to be.
Professor Teresa Amabile (from Harvard Business School) conducted research into creativity in the workplace and discovered that employees under pressure almost never performed optimally when completing tasks. Funny enough many thought they were optimally creative but measurably they were not.
Rear my article Monotasking is the new productivity hack
Read my article How to set personal goals, which talks about starting with the end in mind.
Epinephrine and norepinephrine are stress hormones produced when you feel stressed. It is the physiological response know as flight or fight. These hormones help you move faster during emergencies.
The other hormone produced during excessive stress is cortisol. Psychology Today called Cortisol The Stress Hormone public enemy No 1
Excess cortisol in your system can lead to a host of health issues including weight gain, osteoporosis, digestive problems, cancer and much more (1, 2, 3.
In addition to wreaking havoc on your body, it can have devastating effects on your mind.
Cortisol creates a surplus of the neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate in turn creates free radicals that attack brain cells (similar to how rust affects metal).
One of the early symptoms of stress is becoming forgetful and emotional.
Studies show that stress causes a reduction in brain electrical activity associated with memories and an increase in activity associated with emotions.
I wrote about stress on creativity and stress makes your brain seize up. Think about our primitive ancestors and how they reacted when being chased by a lion. The fight or flight response means your physical characteristics are improved, your reactions are improved but your reasoning and logic suffer. After all you don’t need deep critical thinking when running to save your life.
First thing first, remember that regardless of how important you think your job is, you aren’t performing brain surgery. Our job is important to us but it isn’t critical to the survival of all humans so chill. Take it easy on yourself.
When feeling stressed about an upcoming situation, ask yourself, “whats the worst that can happen? Then realize that things aren’t actually that bad and relax.
Olympic athletes spend as much time mentally preparing as they do physically. They mentally perform their duties over and over to ensure they are relaxed when they need to perform. It becomes automatic and routine. If you are heading into an interview and you know you will be stressed, prepare and practise.
The second tip is to mentally practice over and over. Make sure you know what the ideal final result looks like and focus on that.
I ran the information security team for a large multinational manufacturer that was regularly attacked. By constantly practising the incident handling processes, our handlers were calmer and more confident when the real thing did happen.
Confidence is the third technique I want to share.
Having confidence in yourself will usually lead to less stress and increased productivity.
When handling an incident, it is easy to get overwhelmed. You are dealing with a skilled adversary out to get you. They are technically strong, well funded and extremely motivated. It is easy to get overwhelmed and freeze up. But I always tell my people to be optimistic. Regardless of how bad it may seem in that moment, I truly believed that things would get better. And my ensuring my team believed in that as well, it makes the process easier to manage and made my people more productive and efficient.
Optimism is the fourth technique.
Image by EFF Photos used under Creative Commons License
As a security professional, I know the risks of using WIFI, particularly when using WIFI outside of work or home. It can open you up to an entire world of hurt from hackers and bad actors. They can steal information and trick you into visiting questionable websites.
But WIFI is how most hotels offer internet connectivity these days. WIFI allows you to connect to the wonderful world wide web when flying 30000 feet in the air using services like Gogo.
Instead of telling you *not to use wifi*, I’m here to tell you to protect yourself by using a VPN service (from a laptop, tablet or smartphone).
A good VPN service means your communication (between you and the VPN service provider) is encrypted which means bad guys snooping on WIFI won’t be able to steal your information.
Using a VPN when connecting to WIFI means you are protecting your identify, you are protecting your sensitive information, you are ensuring bad people aren’t tracking you and you can visit geo-locked websites when abroad (HULU, Pandora, etc). I used a VPN when travelling in China to visit sites that would have otherwise been blocked and to conduct more sensitive tasks like banking.
There are a lot of VPN services out there and you have to remember that the VPN service you use *will see all of your outbound traffic* as they send it of to the public internet. You should pick a reputable company that ideally has a very minimum level of loging.
My personal VPN service of choice is ProXPN. ProXPN has outbound locations around the world which is useful for accessing geo-locked content. ProXPN uses OpenVPN technology and works on all platforms (Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows Phones, etc).
ProXPN has a no loging policy, which I like. They have a VPNGuard feature for PCs and Macs that allows you to shut down any running app on the desktop if the VPN connection were to drop (this is useful for apps that must absotely be protected).
I am not paid by ProXPN and do not receive any compesation for recommending them. I am simply sharing my personal tool to help you guys/girls.