How to fight meeting overload, office romance hits 10-year low, and more trending stories

What’s happening in the world of work: The Saturday edition of the Daily Rundown highlights the business trends, perspectives, and hot topics you need to know to work smarter. Read on and join the conversation.

Don’t let meetings defeat you. Many workers spend their days running between meetings — and only devote whatever time is left to getting actual work done. But employees can take control of their schedule, argues Jory MacKay. One trick starts in the morning: Block out a recurring time to tackle your most important work. If you get that done first, you can ride the momentum for the rest of the day. ? Share your thoughts: #CalendarControl

Want to be more creative? Copy someone else. In a study from the University of Tokyo, students who were asked to imitate the artwork of others while contemplating the original artists’ intentions subsequently produced more novel, creatively ambitious pieces than students who were asked to start from scratch. It’s not the copying itself that inspires the additional creativity — it’s the process of being pushed outside our habits and familiar ways of thinking. ? Share your thoughts: #CopyingCreativity

Is dating a coworker a good idea?

Workplace romance is at a 10-year low: 36% of US workers say they’ve dated a coworker, down from 41% in 2016, according to CareerBuilder. And amid recent sexual harassment scandals, many employers are reconsidering their dating policies. “There's an overall awareness that has permeated the workplace, and people are being more cautious,” career coach Barbara Safani told CNBC. Is dating a coworker a recipe for professional disaster? We asked LinkedIn members for their take. ? Join the conversation: #DatingAtWork

• “Most people you know well are your colleagues. It's natural that an attraction or romantic interest could develop. The company needs to be concerned about power coercion and sexual harassment, but consensual relationships are part of working closely with other people.” — Ramona Paetzold, Professor at Texas A&M University
• “Why risk it? There are millions of other people out there. I would never put my career at risk by engaging in an office relationship. Most office relationships that I have seen, while they didn't end in disaster, they ended with awkwardness all around.” — Jo LaBrecque, Vice President, Communications and Marketing at Wolf Trap Foundation
• “It's just more of knowing how to be a mature and reasonable person in the workforce.” — Jenny Yao, Student Assistant at California Energy Commission

Pride may be one of the seven deadly sins, but it can help you out at work. Pride can give workers that extra boost to get something done: It can increase motivation and perseverance, according to Northeastern University psychology professor David DeSteno, and even lead to greater impulse control and diminished anxiety. It only becomes a problem when we fall victim to the “halo effect” — when pride expands into areas where we might not be so fantastic. That can lead to hubris, which is associated with greater anxiety and impulse control issues. ? Share your thoughts: #PrideBenefits

If you want to win people over, stop talking. We tend to think of arguments as a competition of ideas with one clear winner; we even structure meetings as a procession of presentations, with actual conversation relegated to the end. But the best way to get others on your side is to listen, says author and innovation expert Nilofer Merchant. “Listening is the key pathway to go from your idea to our idea,” she explains — and that “shared ownership” is the key to making change happen. ? Share your thoughts: #ListeningArguments

One last idea: It stings to lose one of your best workers, but there’s plenty you can do to prevent this scenario — and most of it doesn’t cost a dime. It comes down to giving consistent feedback and making sure your workers know that what they're doing has meaning, writes executive advisor Lisa Earle McLeod. ? Share your thoughts: #StarWorkersRetention

“If you treat your employees like a number they’ll return the favor. It costs you nothing to tell an employee how their actions make a difference to the team, your customers, or the world at large.”

What's your take? Join the conversations on today's stories in the comments.

— Scott Olster / Share this using #DailyRundown