Why tough conversations are worth it, ‘cutting the BS’ is key to good leadership, and more top insights

Today’s Daily Rundown was written by special guest editor Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston and author of “Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.”

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.

Choosing courage over comfort: People are opting out of vital conversations about diversity and inclusivity because they fear looking wrong, saying something wrong, or being wrong. Choosing our own comfort over hard conversations is the epitome of privilege, and it corrodes trust. I love this TEDx talk by Kori Carew, attorney and Director of Strategic Diversity Initiatives at her firm in Kansas City, who talks about interrupting bias with courage: “We can’t be empathetic when we’re busy telling people how to feel about their life. We have to listen.”

When simple and straightforward beats flashy and complicated: Tom Peters has studied leadership for over 50 years, and his message is still to the point and completely relevant: “Cut the BS. Can the excuses. Forget the fancy reports. Get moving now. Get the job done. On this score nothing has changed in 50 years, including the maddening fact that all too often a business strategy is inspiring, but the execution mania is largely AWOL.” Peters earned his MBA and PhD at Stanford Graduate School of Business in the 1970s, and this month they’re sharing his key learnings.

You Asked: “I'm only 18 and lack a degree, so how do I make recruiters and companies take me more seriously? What is the best way for me to progress in my career?” — Cameron Souter, windows server engineer at RBS

“It is important to recognize that, time and again, fear is the key factor in decision making, no matter if we are choosing a hamburger, electing a head of state, or deciding between job candidates. If you want to convince people of your value, you should follow the words of the marketing strategist Harry Beckwith: ‘Do not try to be a good choice. Eliminate everything that could make you a bad choice.’ No matter whom you want to convince, and no matter of what, if your primary concern is helping them overcome their fear, then you automatically become a more effective salesperson of your own competence. So always ask yourself what your clients’, your colleagues’, or your supervisors’ specific anxieties look like and focus on eliminating these fears.” — Jack Nasher, author of "Convinced!: How to Prove Your Competence and Win People Over," Stanford faculty member, and founder of the Nasher Negotiation Institute

We’re trying something new! Dare to Lead + LinkedIn = Global Read-Along! Check it out here.  Leave a question in the comments section of my read-along post and I’ll answer it! #YouAsked

A picture may be worth far more than 1,000 words after all: I’ll confess that I’m a sucker for good infographics. In his six-minute 2018 TED talk, information designer Tommy McCall walks us through a quick history of graphics and wows us with what’s possible – including how he captured 25,000 data points on one piece of paper. “Graphics can transmit data with incredible efficiency,” he says. “Our visual cortex was built to decode complex information and is a master at pattern recognition.”

Focus on one thing and be the best at it: Alli Webb is the founder and co-CEO of DryBar and she is living out her motto of focusing on thing and being the best at it. As a hairdresser who drove house to house blow drying hair, she had the idea of opening up a salon that didn’t cut hair or color it. Just blowouts. Nothing else. Sound crazy? Today, she has over 100 salons and a $100 million business. Check out Guy Raz’s interview with Alli on “How I Built This.”

One last idea: The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage to start.

As the London School of Economics’ Minouche Shafik recently said,

“In the past, jobs were about muscles, now they’re about brains, but in the future they’ll be about the heart.”

— Brené Brown