Leadership Accelerator
Back To Insights

Articles and Commentary

December 31, 2012 - The Management Blog

New Year’s Resolutions in 140 Characters or Fewer

Diane Brady

We asked several prominent business leaders and management consultants to use a tweet to suggest one resolution you should make to enhance your life and your career in 2013. Here’s what they had to say in 140 characters or fewer:

Please remember to be polite to each other in 2013. In and out of business, manners go a long way. Thank you.

—Richard Branson, Chief Executive Officer, the Virgin Group

The greatest advice I can give is the greatest advice I’ve been given: be humble. It has changed me and I think about it every day. (@claychristensen)

—Clay Christensen, Harvard professor and author of “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

Don’t try to be interesting; try to be interested. (@pfugeomagic)

—Ping Fu, CEO, Geomagic and author of “Bend, Not Break”

Dedicate 1 hr a week to hosting office hours: open your door, block off your calendar & invite your team to drop in & share. (@carolineghosn)

—Caroline Ghosn, CEO, the Levo League

Stop agonizing about personal decisions & start asking, “What would I tell my best friend to do in this situation?”

—Chip and Dan Heath, authors of “Made to Stick” and “Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work”

Prioritize your tasks by importance & track your time to make sure you’re focused on what matters most. (@Sheena_Iyengar)

—Sheena S. Iyengar, Columbia Business School professor

Be courageous enough to take a risk on a new product, service, or business model that’s never been tried before.

—A.G. Lafley, former CEO, Procter & Gamble (PG), and co-author of “Playing To Win: How Strategy Really Works”

Decide to get out of your own way in 2013 by focusing on that 1 experience, mentor or behavior change that will take you to the next level. (@CEO__Coach)

—Stephen A. Miles, CEO, the Miles Group

Cut hierarchies by teaching senior managers to ask more questions than they answer & give more power to frontline employees. (@vineetnayar)

—Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies

Mean what you say, follow through, and be consistent in sticking to your principles. Don’t try to control people; connect with them. (@DovSeidman)

—Dov Seidman, CEO, LRN and author of “HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything”

Brady is senior editor at Bloomberg Businessweek in New York

Read More