Weekend Reading: December 2016

Weekend Reading: December 2016

Looking for something to read this weekend? We’ve scoured the web for thought-provoking articles and essays. Enjoy!

In a recent article for the Harvard Business Review, David Maxfield demonstrates that, in cultures of silence, employees are less likely to speak up about a range of problems – including strategic missteps and rude or abusive behaviors from colleagues and management alike. Fortunately, Maxfield writes,

“Cultures of silence can be changed – but only if leaders become teachers and models of candor. People won’t speak up unless they feel safe and competent to do so. When leaders engage in dialogue, people acquire both the skills to present their concerns and the confidence to share their views. They also speak up knowing their thoughts, opinions and views are welcomed and valued.”

Read his article along with our own blog post on psychological safety at work.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

100 Americans on work and meaning.

Reading should spur further engagement.

Psychological safety is critical to corporate ethics.

A beautiful essay on Dostoyevsky – and his sympathy with “those who suffer and live on the margins.

CNN recognizes the heroes among us – 10 people working to build connections and make the world better.

Isabel Wilkerson – a favorite Books@Work author – on the power of untold stories.

Listen to great actors read Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories.

Image: Vincent van Gogh, Still Life with French Novels, 1887, The Robert Holmes à Court Collection, Perth [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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Cecily Erin Hill

Cecily Erin Hill

Cecily Hill is the Project Director, NEH for All at the National Humanities Alliance and former member of the Books@Work team.