Entries by First Sun Team

#Leadership : Why My Company Started Helping Our Best Employees Quit…This Company Sits Down with Every Employee who’s Stayed for Three Years to Plan their Career Options—within the Firm and Without.

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 In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Superbosses author Sydney Finkelstein argues that some of the most successful leaders encourage their top-performing talent to leave. He also observes that some of the most transformative executives have the shortest tenures at the companies they reshape. The reason, Finkelstein says, is simple: It’s difficult to acquire and […]

#Leadership : 10 Bad Habits You Must Eliminate from Your Daily Routine…When it Comes to Productivity, the Little Things Make All the Difference. Quit Sabotaging Yourself with These Bad Habits.

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You are the sum of your habits. When you allow bad habits to take over, they dramatically impede your path to success. The challenge is bad habits are insidious, creeping up on you slowly until you don’t even notice the damage they’re causing. “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are […]

#Leadership : 3 Lessons From Tim Ferriss About Avoiding Burnout…A Chance Encounter with the Productivity Guru yields Three Priceless Insights.

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We sat in the southern courtyard of Oheka Castle, the 127-room chateau-style estate along New York’s affluent North Shore. As the other guests at the Shopify Build-A-Business VI dinner made their way back inside, I saw Mr. Productivity himself sitting a few chairs down: Tim Ferriss. I’d been a staunch follower of his work since 2007 — the release […]

#Leadership : 3 Signs You Have Succumbed to Helicopter Management…There is Nothing Efficient about Hovering Over the People you Hired because you Trusted they Can Do the Job.

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Helicopter parenting took off in the 1980s, when paranoia was at an all-time high over child abductions, and the U.S. was in an economic boom that made things like SAT prep classes and expensive extracurriculars the standard. For years now, there have been discussions about how helicopter parenting is ruining America’s children and we know […]

#Leadership : 15 Social Media Podcasts to Take Your Marketing Skills to the Next Level…Take it From the Pros — these Podcasts will Help Boost your Social Media Presence.

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What should you do if you want to become the best at what you do?  There’s probably a long list, with lots of options. One thing we’re particularly fond of at Buffer when it comes to improving ourselves is listening to podcasts relevant to our niche and industry. In our case, that means social media […]

#Leadership : 3 Steps to a Well-Structured Presentation…Many People Struggle with Writing Business Presentations. What’s Needed is a Structured Way to Think about the Presentation.

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PowerPoint presentations are an ingrained part of the business experience: A 2015 survey by OutsidetheSlide.com found that more than 25 percent of workers surveyed said they see at least one presentation every workday. Related: Avoid the PowerPoint Trap by Having Less Wordy Slides And that may be a problem, considering the less-than-optimal way in which today’s organizations communicate […]

#Leadership : Managing Conflict Is Essential to Success…A Functional Workplace of Diverse People and Ideas is Fertile Ground for Creativity — and for Conflict. Here’s How to Be a Good Referee.

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You gotta give a little. De-escalation relies on both parties being able to see another person’s point of view. They must be willing to give a little bit. By becoming able to compromise, they free themselves and each other to work toward the win/win.   Those of you who have read my articles before can probably envision me embroiled in […]

#Leadership : Doing Good While Doing Well: 3 Ways to Bring Purpose to Your Business…Donating Money Helps, but, Nothing Compares to Hands-On, Thoughtful Philanthropy.

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Writing a check might take only a minute, but it could never accomplish the results that hands-on, thoughtful philanthropy achieves. Corporate philanthropy is a great way to grow your network, build your brand and influence a cause dear to your company. In 2015, corporate philanthropic giving saw a 3.9 percent increase from 2014, reaching $18.46 billion. This […]

#Leadership : 3 Crucial Things I’ve Learned In My First 30 Days As A Manager…Here’s How this Buffer Engineer Quickly Faced her Fears about Managing People she Felt were Better Developers Than she Was.

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It feels ridiculous for me to write about being an engineering manager. It’s a job I’ve done for not even 30 days yet. But that’s what I want to know from others—how did you start? How did you make it through your first month? No two first rodeos are ever alike. But they’re all rodeos, and […]