Description

Most of us end the day having been relentlessly busy and yet not entirely sure what we achieved. Personal effectiveness generates a lot of noise, but Melissa Swift's research cuts through to something more useful: the question isn't how much you can do, it's whether you're doing the work that actually counts.

Melissa is founder of Anthro Insight, a former practice leader at Mercer, Korn Ferry and Capgemini, and a columnist for MIT Sloan Management Review. Her book Effective is the practical follow-up to her debut Work Here Now, aimed squarely at how individuals and teams can do their best work despite conditions that often make it surprisingly hard.

In this conversation, Nigel and Melissa cover:

• Why effectiveness isn't about hustle or ticking off more tasks — and what it actually requires
• How your working environment shapes your output more than your raw effort ever can
• What emergency room physicians and firefighters do differently, and why that translates to knowledge work
• The "see one, do one, train one" principle and why consulting has drifted away from it
• Why AI amplifies existing habits in both directions — making effective people more effective and ineffective people more so
• How to spot in an interview whether a role is structurally set up to let you succeed

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Melissa's book can be found on Amazon here.