The Importance of Being a Good Leader

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Herbie Hancock was a young jazz pianist who auditioned for Miles Davis's band. After five minutes of the audition, he throws his trumpet on the couch and doesn't see him for three days. He goes over to Davis at the end of the day and says, I thought I'd lost you. You went upstairs after five minutes. And Davis said to him,You often have these kind of zen-like sayings. But I knew you wouldn't play properly if I heard it live. Even though he was this incredible hard-ass, he knew that there were times when he had to take the pressure off.

Adam Alter reveals the secret to breaking yourself out of any rut.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) When it pays to lower your standards.

2) The question to ask for better insights.

3) The essential skill to accomplish your goals.

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep872 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT ADAM —

Adam Alter is a professor of marketing, and the Stansky Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He also holds an affiliated professorship in social psychology at NYU’s psychology department. In 2020 he was voted professor of the year by the faculty and student body at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and was among the Poets and Quants 40 Best Professors Under 40 in 2017. Alter is the New York Times bestselling author of two books: Drunk Tank Pink and Irresistible.

• Book: Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most

• LinkedIn: Adam Alter

• Twitter: @adamleealter

• Website: AdamAlterAuthor.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Book: Goodbye, Columbus: And Five Short Stories (Vintage International) by Philip Roth

• TED Talk: Why our screens make us less happy

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.