All politics aside, ever wonder why it seems so hard for high ranking government officials to come to an agreement? Why is it that these powerful men and women have so much trouble with consensus building? Well, recent research by UC Berkeley researchers Angus Hildreth and Cameron Anderson has shown that power can actually impede performance when it comes to working with others of similar high ranking. In fact, it was found that in groups of low, medium, and highly powered members, only 41% of the high-powered groups were able to reach agreement in experiments, versus 88% of the low-powered…

Delegation is one of the hardest skills to learn – most of us just aren’t very good at it. A 2007 study showed that nearly half of the companies it surveyed were concerned about their employees abilities to delegate effectively, something they deemed essential for their workforce. While sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint delegation shortcomings in ourselves, most all of us have experienced working with a supervisor who did not know how to delegate well. For instance I remember doing a graphic design project for an employer years ago, during which my boss hovered over my shoulder constantly, examining every…

Recently I returned from a lovely week long vacation in Mexico, a country which holds a special place in my heart since it’s where I first studied Spanish full-time. Being able to speak the language while traveling in a foreign country is obviously a valuable skill, but it also makes you more keenly aware of fellow travelers who have a lesser command of the language, or none at all for that matter — something I bore witness to on various occasions during my trip. What’s interesting is the typical approach that people take when they begin to struggle to communicate…