Your boss changed the direction of a project a day before it was due. You need to cancel your after-work plans with a friend to meet a deadline. You have to unexpectedly cover for a colleague who took a sick day. These difficulties might seem like small bumps in the road, but cumulatively, they can pack a big punch to our well-being. In this edition of Readers & Leaders, Rob Cross, the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College and the cofounder and director of the Connected Commons consortium, calls this “the microstress effect.” In his latest Author Talks, Cross shares how small disruptions can add up to create big barriers to productivity and offers insight into how to buck the trend. In other featured interviews, Zeynep Ton, cofounder of the Good Jobs Institute, presents strategies to reduce turnover, drive profit, and create added value for customers; educator Jamie Sears helps teachers avoid burnout; and Renée Mauborgne explains how nondisruptive creation can unlock economic growth.
Itching for more good reads? Don’t miss our annual summer reading guide for 70-plus book recommendations from CEOs, editors in chief, and other leaders. If you’re looking for insights to share with your middle managers, check out Power to the Middle, which is also among our top summer selections. Written by McKinsey senior partner emeritus Bill Schaninger and partners Bryan Hancock and Emily Field, this book highlights the critical contributions that middle managers make in company productivity and performance and reveals why reimagining their vital roles is more important now than ever.
Also, explore this month’s bestselling business books, prepared exclusively for McKinsey by Circana, and head to McKinsey on Books for more of the latest. |
