TGIF – Be Yourself … But Not Too Much

As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.

Quote of the Week: “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” Maya Angelou

Humor Break:

Bev: Al, do you like this quote: “In the end you just have to be yourself.”

Al: Nah, there has got to be more to me than that.

Bonus Humor Break: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde

Stat of the Week: 5 tips for being yourself at work. “(S)haring thoughts, feelings, and experiences at work can backfire if it’s hastily conceived, poorly timed, or inconsistent with cultural or organizational norms.” General rules of the (work) road are (1) Build a foundation of self-knowledge; (2) Consider relevance to the task; (3) Keep revelations genuine; (4) Understand the organizational and cultural context; and (5) Delay or avoid very personal disclosures.

Action Tip: While it is tempting to suggest the article was written by someone with low disclose scores on personality inventories, the gist of the article is all things in moderation. It helps to build relationships by letting people get to know you, and some want to know you better than others, so some self-disclosure maybe very helpful; but there is a reason we have expressions like “too much information”. Want to know more about your own tendencies? The authors provide a short self-assessment that you are invited to try.

Self-Development Corner: This week our favorite free online university offers two general business courses, courses for our many healthcare readers, and as always, courses related to the computer:

General courses: Introduction to Finance (Oct 7, 15 weeks, University of Michigan) and Model Thinking (Oct 7, 10 weeks, University of Michigan).

Healthcare related: Understanding and Improving the US Healthcare System (Oct 7, 6 weeks, University of Michigan); Global Health: An Interdisciplinary Overview (Oct 7, 8 weeks, University of Geneva, in English); Network Analysis in Systems Biology (Oct 7, 7 weeks, Mount Sinai); Introduction to Pharmacy (Oct 11, 7 weeks, Ohio State University).

Somewhere in the computer universe: Social Network Analysis (Oct 7, 9 weeks, University of Michigan); An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python (Oct 7, 9 weeks, Rice University) and Internet History, Technology, and Security (Oct 7, 11 weeks, University of Michigan).

Happy learning.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.