Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More

When you work smart, you select a tiny set of priorities and make huge efforts in those chosen areas (what I call the work scope practice). You focus on creating value, not just reaching preset goals (targeting). You eschew mindless repetition in favor of better skills practice (quality learning). You seek roles that match your passion with a stron

If you can’t obtain full resources, reduce the scope of the project, extend the schedule, or kill the project.

We need to start with value, then proceed to goals. Ask yourself: what benefits do your various work activities produce, really?

Show up to every meeting 100 percent prepared. • Craft an opinion and deliver it with conviction (and data). • Stay open to others’ ideas, not just your own. • Let the best argument win, even if it isn’t yours (and often it isn’t). • Feel free to stand up and shout, but never make the argument personal. • Always listen—really listen—to minority vie

forceful champions (chapter six). They inspired people by evoking their emotions.

Maximize diversity, not talent • Make it safe to speak up • Prod the quiet to speak

play “devil’s advocate,” a tactic that reduces interpersonal conflict by allowing you to play a role rather than speaking for yourself (“for the sake of argument, I am going to disagree”).

break with convention and try new ways of working.

try shifting the metric in your mind from hours worked per week to energy per hour.

Watch your output per hour increase as well,