"Let me start by saying that nothing gives me more hope in the world than amazing women who are passionate about making work better."

The second he started speaking, I had chills. This was a total fan-girl moment and I am not ashamed to admit it!

This past week I had what felt like the opportunity of a lifetime: to hear directly from Adam Grant. As a member of CHIEF, the world’s largest network of executive-level professional women, we had a unique opportunity to hear from Adam in a small-group setting.

I’ve read his books, I’ve watched his TedTalks, and it was a true privilege to hear from someone I admire so deeply in such an intimate setting. Here are my top five takeaways. I hope they’ll move the dial for you as much as they did for me.

On feedback: how you react to it determines how much of it you'll receive—period.
On self-doubt: instead of seeking advice from others, seek somebody who could benefit from your advice and share your expertise as the ultimate confidence boost—an unlikely antidote to self-doubt and Imposter Syndrome.
On return to work: it's way too soon to make permanent decisions— the smartest companies are rolling out preliminary plans and openly communicating about plans to reassess.
Flexible cultures don’t work like they’re designed to: Adam shared research that demonstrated why flexible cultures so often don’t work. When everyone can set their own hours, individuals’ boundaries are significantly less likely to be honored. When companies schedule flexibility en masse, however— company-wide closure days, no-after-hours-emails policies with real consequences, or even a few meeting-free mornings, these boundaries are almost always respected.
On procrastination: apparently, it’s not the worst thing in the world because … you know all those pithy things we see from Adam on social media? Turns out most of them get written down when he’s actually procrastinating something else!

There we so many other pearls of wisdom and, if you haven’t already, I highly recommend giving his latest TedTalk a listen: How to Stop Languishing and Find Flow.

If you weren’t able to join the conversation, what’s one thing you’ve learned from somebody you respect that keeps you inspired? I’d love to hear from you, so drop me a note, and happy holidays!

Five Things I Learned from Adam Grant This Week

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