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Picture of Dorie Clark

Dorie Clark

Dorie Clark is a marketing strategy consultant, professional speaker, and frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, TIME, Entrepreneur, and the World Economic Forum blog. Recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press, Fortune, and Inc. magazine, she is the author of "Stand Out," which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine.
Picture of Dorie Clark

Dorie Clark

Dorie Clark is a marketing strategy consultant, professional speaker, and frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, TIME, Entrepreneur, and the World Economic Forum blog. Recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press, Fortune, and Inc. magazine, she is the author of "Stand Out," which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine.
Successful HR Leader

5 Strategies to Increase Your Influence as an HR Leader

Some people still think of HR departments as those guys that just do the “people stuff,” shuffling contracts and recruiting new hires. In fact, the role of the HR professional has changed dramatically over the past few years. If you’re an HR executive, you know that your role has expanded to include major financial and bottom line issues, corporate reputation management, and keeping companies safe. The challenge for HR professionals now is to claim their power and show their value added in a profound way. During times of crisis, it is often the HR department that hears about problems early on.

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Overcoming bad first impression

4 Ways to Overcome a Bad First Impression

We’ve all been there — accidentally alienated a new coworker with a bad joke, underwhelmed the new boss by botching our first assignment, or had a client we didn’t just click with. The trouble is that initial impressions are hard to shake. In a psychological phenomenon known as the “fundamental attribution error,” humans are quick to “essentialize” the behaviors of others. You might have simply been having a bad day, or you might have been off your game because of a recent breakup or death in the family, but your new colleague isn’t likely to extend that generous of an explanation. Instead,

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Say no

5 Ways to Say No to a Networking Request

Successful professionals get them all the time: plaintive emails from long-ago colleagues, or college friends — or even those friends’ adult children — seeking “an hour of your time” or a chance to “pick your brain” or an offer to “buy you a cup of coffee.” Early in your career, it can be flattering that someone respects your opinion and your network enough to want to meet you. But that quickly grows old. When you start to receive dozens of requests per week — almost always for 30-60 minutes of private consultation — you would dramatically handicap your productivity if you

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What to Do When People Don’t Support Your Next Career Move

You’ve weighed the pros and cons and carefully assessed the impact. After in-depth consideration, you’ve decided to accept that new job, or launch your own business, or take time off to be with your children. You know it’s the right choice — but your boss, friends, and colleagues aren’t convinced. What should you do when people you respect disagree with your decisions? Consider their motivations. This is the time to get clarity about who has your best interests at heart, and who’s a frenemy with their own agenda. One college student who wrote to me for advice was planning to drop out at the

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Help Your Employees Be Themselves at Work

How can managers create workplace environments where people feel comfortable being themselves? Research has shown that hiding our true identities can cripple professional performance. For instance, closeted LGBT employees feel much more isolated at work than their openly gay peers, and 52% of closeted employees feel their careers have stagnated, compared to just over a third of their out colleagues. “This appears to be the case largely because closeted workers suffer anxiety about how colleagues and managers might judge them,” write study authors Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Karen Sumberg, “and expend enormous effort concealing their orientation, which leaves them less energy for actual

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How Diversity And Inclusion Are Driving the Bottom Line At American Express

At many corporations, diversity is viewed as a “nice to have.” But according to Valerie Grillo, chief diversity officer at American Express, their commitment to diversity is “not just because it’s the right thing to do, but frankly, because our business leaders believe that a focus on diversity is actually going to help us with the bottom line.” Diversity isn’t about ticking off boxes, however. “You can have as many diverse employees as possible, but if we don’t have a culture where employees feel that they can speak up and their voices are heard, you’re not going to really take advantage

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How to Build a Competitive Talent Advantage

How can your company attract and retain the best talent? Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Talent Innovation, says it’s crucial to recognize upfront that “our career model is hopelessly dated.” In many ways, the corporate world is still stuck in the 1960s and 1970s, she says, but both the demographics and the needs of the workforce have changed dramatically. So what are the most successful companies doing? First, they’re re-evaluating the trend toward “extreme jobs” that require punishing hours and 24/7 availability. “What we’re finding is that many cohorts of people would really like to take some

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