**For more on improving your “self-concept,” explore our LinkedIn Learning course, “Finding Your Leadership Purpose with Doug Conant,” which guides learners through step-by-step exercises for uncovering their convictions.
Keep Your Brain Sharp in 2025
A leader’s mind is an essential tool. As a new year rolls along, how prepared are you to keep your brain sharp and nimble for the next eleven months (and beyond)? In this article, two New York Times journalists who cover the human brain have compiled ten ways to keep your mind healthy this year. While some of the advice will feel familiar e.g., recommendations to get enough sleep and make sure to move your body, there are several counterintuitive nuggets that can help leaders bring their best to the inevitable challenges ahead. I’ve summarized a few standout tips below.
Try a ‘friction audit.’ “Identify the things that create obstacles and add complications or stress to your everyday and try to trim them away. To get started, ask: Am I repeating certain patterns that are unhelpful? Are there things I do regularly that I don’t enjoy?”
Learn to accept ‘good enough.’ “If you often feel as though you never quite measure up, then it might be time to accept what’s ‘good enough.’ Experts suggest letting go of that nagging feeling that you could or should have done more. Instead, give yourself credit for what you accomplish each day.”
Stay cool. “Summer may feel like a long way off, but keep in mind that when temperatures do rise, heat can dramatically affect the brain. Studies show that hot days impair our cognition and make us more aggressive, irritable and impulsive . . . take the heat seriously and prioritize staying cool and hydrated.”
Don’t isolate. “Feeling lonely and isolated can harm our mental health, and it may change our brains, too. In fact, there’s a growing body of research showing a link between loneliness and Alzheimer’s disease.” To stay connected, “reach out to a friend or family member—even a short phone call can have a powerful benefit. If you want to make new friends, joining a club or support group is a good place to start.”
Get the full story, and all ten tips for brain health, here.
A Guide to Asking Better Questions
“When it comes down to it, the key to asking better questions is simple: Ask a well-crafted, open-ended question rather than a closed-ended one,” writes David Grossman in this deep-dive on how to craft better questions to get better results. Grossman says open-ended questions are more conducive to collaboration and deep understanding because they “give respondents the chance to provide more detailed and expansive answers in their own words,” whereas closed-ended questions, which “often require a simple ‘yes/no’ response,” curtail exploration and cut dialogue short. To practice the skill, he references a framework from Hal Gregersen, another expert in communication. Gregersen says the best questions share these five traits:
- They reframe the problem
- They intrigue the imagination
- They invite others’ perspectives
- They open up space for different answers
- They are nonaggressive, not posed to embarrass, humiliate, or assert power over the other person
In addition to Gregersen’s advice, Grossman offers four additional tips to keep in mind when posing open-ended questions:
- Be Genuinely Curious: Your tone and body language should communicate authentic interest
- Listen Actively: Give employees space to fully express their thoughts without interruption
- Follow Up with Deeper Exploration: Use employee responses as a springboard for more meaningful dialogue
- Create a Non-Judgmental Environment: Ensure employees feel safe sharing candid feedback
Get the full story, including multiple examples of good open-ended questions, here.
**For more on fostering better dialogue, explore our post on ten powerful ways to give thanks with your leadership.
The 70% Rule
In this smart edition of The Imperfectionist, Oliver Burkeman urges people across job functions and disciplines to free themselves of the yoke of perfectionism by adhering to “the 70% rule.” The principle of the rule is simple: “If you’re roughly 70% happy with a piece of writing you’ve produced, you should publish it. If you’re 70% satisfied with a product you’ve created, launch it. If you’re 70% sure a decision is the right one, implement it. And if you’re 70% confident you’ve got what it takes to do something that might make a positive difference to the increasingly alarming era we seem to inhabit? Go ahead and do that thing. (Please!)”
Burkeman adds that “there’s more power to this rule than meets the eye.” The 70% rule is more than just a means to a future less riddled with perfectionistic inertia, it is “also the way to cultivate a particular kind of sane, action-focused, peaceful-but-energized approach to life.” And, says Burkeman, it builds courage: “Moving forward at 70% takes more guts, more strength of character, than holding out for 100%, because it entails moving forward amid uncertainty, anxiety, and the disagreeable feeling that comes with putting less-than-perfect work into the world . . . and each time you do it, you’re building the capacity to do more of it in the future.” Every time you apply the rule, “you’re not only bringing something into concrete reality, you’re also expanding your ability to act in the presence of feelings of displeasure, worry and uncertainty, so that you can take more actions” moving forward. He concludes with a crisp call-to-action: “If you think you might have something to contribute, don’t you have some kind of duty to move forward at 70%, instead of depriving us of your contribution thanks to your finicky and frankly rather self-indulgent insistence on perfection?” Get the full story here.
**For more on this, get your free chapter of The Blueprint: 6 Practical Steps to Lift Your Leadership to New Heights, which offers the motto “Forget Perfection” as its central rallying cry.
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Insights & Resources from ConantLeadership
Limited Series—EQ Answers to AI Questions
In this special limited series, ConantLeadership Founder & CEO, Doug Conant, provides thoughtful, human answers to pressing leadership questions that are generated with the help of AI.
The third and latest question in the series is: “How can you promote self-reflection and growth in your team?” Read Doug’s EQ answer in the most recent edition here.
Then explore the second edition to get Doug’s battle-tested advice for driving change in a complex world.
And read the first edition to find actionable tips for making people feel valued in the digital age.
ConantLeadership Is a Top 100 Leadership Blog
ConantLeadership makes the top 50, at number 32, on this new list of the Top 100 Leadership Blogs compiled by FeedSpot.
10 Powerful Ways to Give Thanks with Your Leadership
In this seasonal reflection from our Founder Doug Conant, now updated with fresh insights, we offer ten practical ways to show people they are valued all year long.
2 Leading CEOs on How to Build Highly Engaged Teams
In this blog recap of their recent conversation at our Blueprint Leadership Summit, explore Jim Donald and Doug Conant’s insights about how to build better teams in the 21st century.
32 Quotes about the Power of Habits
We first published this roundup of quotes about the power of habits in 2018, and it has since become one of our most popular resources, so we’ve updated this piece as an “encore” with 5 new bonus quotes from The Blueprint.
2024’s Best Lessons to Carry into 2025
While our regular newsletter was on hiatus last month, instead we compiled this roundup of all the newsletters from the past year, chock-full of leadership insights to buoy you in 2025. Look for a bonus quote and note from Doug Conant at the end.
About the Author: Amy Federman is ConantLeadership’s Director of Content and Editor in Chief, and co-author with Doug Conant of the WSJ bestseller, The Blueprint.
(Header photo by Nastia Petruk on Unsplash)
