EDITION 759
1 APRIL 2019

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I'd be very grateful if you did.

1. How to mentor a narcissist. Working with a narcissist [someone who believes the world evolves around them] is hard, but mentoring one can be especially challenging. Your instinct as a mentor may be to criticise the narcissist, to put them in their place, but this typically makes a self-absorbed person defensive - prompting even more problematic behaviour. [MORE]
    
2. The handling of Brexit is a humiliation. 90% of people think the Government’s handling of Brexit has been a national humiliation, according to a Sky Data poll. A ComRes poll for The Daily Telegraph and The Express found that 35% of people support abandoning Brexit and staying in the EU: 48% say they “just want Brexit sorted and don’t really care how”. Sky News
    
3. Is procrastination about time management or feelings? It’s the latter, according research by Carleton University in Ottawa, as we try to manage negative feelings around performing a certain task. That’s because, from an evolutionary standpoint, we're built to prioritise short-term needs over long-term ones. The problem is, putting off the necessary spawns negative feelings of its own, such as stress. So how do we cope with these and perhaps slay procrastination in the process? The effectiveness module of 10/10 will show you how. [MORE]
    
4. Sitting down all day blamed for 1 in 9 deaths. One in nine deaths in the UK – tens of thousands every year – are caused by sitting down in an office all day, a study led by Queen’s University Belfast finds. Sitting for at least six hours a day costs the NHS £700m annually, researchers claim. They say office workers should be encouraged to stand up every hour and walk in breaks. Daily Mail
    
5. Becoming the boss can be tough. Often workplaces don't fully prepare soon-to-be managers for the exigencies of leadership and, even with some training, unexpected problems tend to arise. There are, however, some basic skills to master to be a good boss, including knowing how to run a meeting; how to give feedback to direct reports; how to recruit; and how to keep a team happy, among others. What else makes a great leader? [MORE]
    
6. The most coveted employee benefit of all? Time. In a tight labour market, companies have tried everything, from on-site hair salons to yoga classes, to attract and keep workers. But according to a national survey, what workers want most is simply more free time. Unlimited paid holiday emerged as the most desired benefit, with 72% of workers surveyed saying they’d want it over things like rewards for healthy living, paid sabbaticals or on-site services like laundry or childcare. Metro
    
7. Half of babies born to families renting. Almost half of the babies born in the UK are starting their lives in rented accommodation, according to a housing report from an insurance firm. The Royal London says it is "the first time in living memory" a child is as likely to be born into a rented home, rather than one owned by their parents. Families with children privately renting have risen by 94% in a decade. BBC
    
8. Europe will scrap daylight saving time from 2021. But whether the UK joins its neighbours depends on the results of Brexit. The European Parliament decided on last week to give member states the choice between remaining on permanent summer or permanent winter time year-round. The UK may be affected if it remains in the EU or during the transition period, and the development could potentially split Ireland into two time zones. The Guardian
    
9. How to make your commute less miserable. Instead of listening to music or reading a novel, we’re better off using our trip to the office to focus on our plan for the day’s work. Our commutes are stressful in part because we are stuck between our home identity and our work identity. So, when we use our journey to plot out our goals, we show up at the office with our work identity intact. Such efforts can boost job satisfaction and dial down the desire to quit, the researchers found. Harvard Business School
    
10. The bottom line. Tate Modern was named as the country’s top visitor destination. The gallery attracted 5.87 million visitors in 2018, taking the title from the British Museum, which had held it for ten years – but last year reported just 5.83 million visits. Evening Standard