Making Your Ambitions Real
WE ALL ADMIRE people who deftly conquer one challenge after another. How do they do it? Most often they are astute about how they set goals and pursue them. Goals provide a sense of purpose that focuses your energy. When you need to galvanize other people to articulate their intentions and actually get things done, “if-then planning” is an effective technique. In “Get Your Team to Do What It Says It’s Going to Do,” Heidi Grant explains that leaders excel most in this effort when they define what needs doing—and specify in concrete terms how to get it done. “Humans are very good at encoding information in ‘If x, then y’ terms and using those connections (often unconsciously) to guide their behavior,” writes Grant. “In this way, they establish powerful triggers…