I used to believe that managing up was all about managing your boss(es)—which is an important skill, especially when dealing with an emotionally immature boss, who constantly needs validation or never shares any credit.

However, I have learnt that smart managing up is also about managing your stakeholders, about moving outside of your work silo, and about cooperating with people outside your department, or even in different organizations. It's a deliberate effort to increase cooperation and collaboration with those who have influence over your career, even when you don't particularly like how they operate.

In this episode, Dr. Sean O'Fergusson is teaching us that managing up is not "sucking up."

It’s about understanding the needs of all your stakeholders, their preferences, priorities, and goals. It's about looking ahead in the future and preparing for their needs; it’s about adapting to work in new environments and creating the best possible outcome for ourselves, our leaders, and our organizations.

Make sure to download the book:
“The Job Is Easy, People Are Not! 10 SMART Skills to become better people!
by Loredana Padurean

“Humility is such an important skill at Asia School of Business (ASB) that it is part of our admissions criteria! As professors, we have learnt that only humble people can learn. As our president and dean, Prof. Charles Fine says, “The world is full of smart and arrogant individuals; give me the smart and humble ones!”

Humility is not the belief that we are not talented or intelligent, but an awareness of the limitations of our knowledge, judgments, and understanding.

Humility leads to curiosity, to openness, to collaboration. Humble people ask great questions, are interested in new ideas, listen, learn new ways of doing things, and are willing and flexible to build mutually beneficial partnerships.

In this chapter, Prof. Renato Lima-de-Oliveira will speak on humility. He was my first choice when thinking about a spokesperson for humility. A Ph.D. graduate from MIT in political science, he demonstrated from day one a deep curiosity for learning and collaboration. When I asked him to speak about humility for this book, he said, “I don't think I’m worthy of this task; there are others who are so much better!” Case in point!”

The most predictable characteristic of modern management is the unpredictability of our challenges, and cognitive readiness is the super skill that helps us address unpredictability. This smart skill is part of advanced conscious processing (slow thinking) that enables leaders to confront whatever new and complex problems they might face. The COVID pandemic challenged every single one of us and demanded more mental, emotional, physical, and financial preparation than anything we have seen recently. Companies that were able to adapt quickly, that were able to understand the complex system dynamics of not only their organizations, but of their industry and value chain, saw success. To help us reflect on this skill, I asked MIT Sloan professor and ASB president and dean, Prof. Charles Fine, one of the most cognitively ready leaders I know, to share his views on how to develop this mental preparedness. Make sure to download the book: “The Job Is Easy, People Are Not! 10 SMART Skills to become better people! by Loredana Padurean

Have you every heard of Nuchi? Nunchi… is the art of entering a room and being able to speed read what's happening, who's in the room, and the emotions or feelings of those in the room. This helps to understand what presence and energy you should bring to the room. It’s about being comfortable to take a step back to listen, so that you know when the right time is to step in. In this episode, I interviewed ASB alumna Jin-Sohn on the power of listening. Make sure to download the book: “The Job Is Easy, People Are Not! 10 SMART Skills to become better people! by Loredana Padurean

“How often do you hear people talk about leadership, take leadership training programs, and read leadership books? It seems that management is all about leadership these days. However, the reality is that most of us, including our leaders, practice more followership than leadership. I define followership as the willingness to follow not just a leader, but more than anything, a vision, a mission, an agreed upon plan. Bosses are not necessarily good leaders; subordinates are not necessarily effective followers. Good followership is characterized by active participation in the pursuit of organizational goals. It is not a mindless practice, but it demands constant course correction to make sure that despite obstacles, disagreements, and conflicts of opinions, once a decision is made, the whole organization follows. I have seen too many times, especially during digital transformation processes, intentional efforts to destabilize an agreed plan, just because one doesn't believe in it or worse, doesn’t want it to succeed. Followership demands humility, adaptability, and a healthy dose of emotional maturity, as it challenges the egos of most. In this chapter, I interview Dr. Hadija Mohd about her views on followership, a smart skill that she exhibits beautifully. Make sure to download the book: “The Job Is Easy, People Are Not! 10 SMART Skills to become better people! by Loredana Padurean

Productive inclusion is a way to create a professional environment that makes everybody feel like they are equally treated and have equal access to resources and opportunities, with a focus on marginalized people, those coming from vulnerable families, disadvantageous economic conditions, refugees, minorities, etc. As managers, we need to create an inclusive environment and a system that recognizes and rewards people who bring in unique talents and perspectives. In this episode, I interview ASB professor Yi-Ren Wang and discuss how everyone of us are all psychologists by nature. We are always trying to assign reasons for people’s behaviors. That’s similar to what psychologists do. But the difference is that psychologists spend significant time trying to understand behaviors with reliable evidence while the rest of us take shortcuts and make most of the time, the wrong assumptions. Make sure to download the book: “The Job Is Easy, People Are Not! 10 SMART Skills to become better people! by Loredana Padurean

Adaptability is kind of a paradox in the human condition! On one hand, adaptability is one of our most fundamental survival skills; we are hardwired to adapt, to evolve and to survive. On the other hand, we are naturally quite resistant to change, and we can feel threatened by the unexpected. Adaptability is to me a reconciliation of these two things and that’s what makes it such a fascinating smart skill. 2020 was the year of global adaptability to working in a pandemic. Overnight, we had to figure out how to work from home, communicate digitally, manage our teams virtually, share space with family and pets, and face mental health issues and social isolation. Back in 2011, in a HBR article, Martin Reeves and Mike Deimler called Adaptability “The New Competitive Advantage”, arguing that believing that we live in a relatively stable world is dangerous. We must learn how to adapt to new environments by reading and acting on signals of change, we must experiment, and constantly move. Or as Prof. Charles Fine explains in his Clockspeed book, “every advantage is temporary”, and adaptation is the only survival mechanism. Adaptability, however, is expensive, painful and can even cause trauma. In this chapter, we will hear a perspective on adaptability from Asia School of Business’ Senior Director for Admissions, Emily Preiss. There are few people that I admire as much. She is beloved by everyone, she’s profound but also light and easy, she’s charismatic but without an ounce of ego, and more than anything, at ASB, she has been the magnet that attracted our extraordinary and unconventional students. Emily talks about how too much stimulation and we become too hyper, too aggressive. Too little and we get bored, numb, passive and even depressed and she speaks about the window of tolerance, the best state of stimulation in which we are able to function and thrive in everyday life. Make sure to download the book: “The Job Is Easy, People Are Not! 10 SMART Skills to become better people! by Loredana Padurean

Oprah said that the one thing all humans have in common is the need for validation! But validation is not just cheering for one, or complimenting one. Validation is evidence based recognition or affirmation of someone's work, feelings, contribution. Validation is a smart skill that allows you to demonstrate how somebody else’s work and contribution allows the evolution and advancement of the work. Let me give you an example. A while ago, I had a very “annoying” albeit very hard-working colleague. He would constantly take credit for the work of the team, always talk about how hard he and his department worked (unlike others), express how he was entirely responsible for keeping the company afloat, and he always made sure everyone knew he was working late nights and weekends even though nobody asked him to. One day he asked me to give feedback on a paper he wrote. And I did. I made detailed comments and suggestions and when I handed it back, he got really upset with me. I realized right there that he wanted validation, not feedback! Validation is, in essence, an evidence-based act of helping someone feel heard and understood. It has the power to calm fears and concerns, add a boost of joy and excitement, avoid or quickly resolve arguments, make people much more open to your advice, and much more. Validation is a human desire to feel appreciated and engaged and in the right dose, is critical for building healthy, satisfying relationships. In this chapter, we will hear my own perspective on validation as I am interviewed by MIT Sloan and Asia School of Business Dean, Prof. Charles Fine. Make sure to download the book: “The Job Is Easy, People Are Not! 10 SMART Skills to become better people! by Loredana Padurean

"The job is easy, the people are not! 10 SMART SKILLS to become better people" is the recent book published by Prof. Loredana Padurean in collaboration with a dozen of contributors from MIT Sloan and Asia School of Business.  Professor Loredana Padurean shares in 10 candid and authentic interviews, with professional managers and academic leaders from Asia School of Business and MIT Sloan, 10 essential skills that she coined as “smart” skills, (to replace the “soft” skills), such as validation, emotional maturity, followership, cognitive readiness and more. In the 10 interviews, you will hear how “regular” people navigate the complex waters of working with others, will get practical suggestions about how to develop your own smart skills, and realize that you are also one of the people that makes the job harder than it should be! This podcast is the 10 interviews with all her SMART co-authors! Enjoy and let us know, what do you excel in when it comes to SMART skills? What do you need to work on? And how can we help?