Edition 1: Questioning Vacations and The Meeting Manifesto

We started The 90th Percentile: An Unconventional Leadership Podcast in 2020. During the pandemic, we were looking for some avenues for growth, and admittedly, we had more time on our hands. Despite our increased pace, we have found joy in sharing these short 10-15 minute episodes featuring valuable research and insights about developing leaders.

This podcast is quite different from the LONG interviews you hear in most leadership podcasts.

It is short.

We use large data samples to validate our research.

We always include simple applications to better yourself as a leader.

Subscribe to the podcast for weekly episodes where Joe Folkman, BreAnne Okoren, and I will share additional information, research, and graphs we discuss in this newsletter.

Our mission at Zenger Folkman is to fill the world with better leaders. Everyone deserves a great boss.

This month on the podcast, we talked about vacations.

We live in a fast-paced world where busyness is glorified. People wear their never-ending to-do lists like badges of honor, fearing that if they take time off, they’ll miss out or appear lazy.

EPISODE 115: Are We More Productive When We Have More Time Off?

In a dataset of 2,310 respondents, we looked at data from the 20 countries with the most paid vacation days (247 respondents) and compared them to respondents in the United States (1,151). The 20 countries with the most vacation ranged from Australia, with 28 days allotted, to Sweden and Brazil, with 41 days. By contrast, the United States has?no law requiring paid time off, and the average full-time worker with a year of service gets?ten paid vacation days?(and only?25% of Americans take their full allotment, according to another survey).

When we tested the differences between these groups for speed, quantity focus, and impatience, we came upon some intriguing results: First, we found that leaders in countries with more paid vacation days actually tend to seem slightly?more?likely to work at a faster pace, have a higher quantity focus, and feel more impatient.

Listen to the full episode.

Episode 116: The Meeting Manifesto—How to End Wasteful Meetings

Much good can come from a well-planned and conducted meeting.?The challenge is to structure and conduct meetings that fulfill the needs of most of the attendees.

The average leader spends between 20 and 25 hours per week in meetings. This is about 30% of their workweek.?How do we make the time we spend together be of maximum benefit to as many as possible?

1. Take your time.?The value of a meeting is greatly enhanced if time is spent on matters of importance.
2. Consider the order.?The most important agenda items should be placed first in case time runs short.?
3. Clarify the purpose for agenda items.?Is the objective merely to collect opinions, or does it call for a decision??
4. Suggest times for each topic.?Creating aggressive time expectations not only establishes a cadence for the meeting and can assist in moving things ahead but also signals the importance level of each topic.

But do meetings need an ACTIVE DRIVER? You can learn more by listening to the FULL EPSIODE.

-Jack Zenger, Joe Folkman and BreAnne Okoren

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Have you just started listening? Here are some other episodes we HIGHLY recommend.

Episode 76: Identifying and Managing Microstressors with Karen Dillon

Episode 104: The Lost Art of Asking Good Questions

Episode 113: Entering The Learning Zone with Kevin Wilde

Zenger Folkman combines hard data with actionable applications dedicated to helping individual leaders thrive and organizations succeed.

The discipline of leadership requires more than occasional training. We help leaders utilize their strengths and embrace a lifestyle of continuous learning and growth.

Learn more at zengerfolkman.com.