Jordan Cohen

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With over 20 years of experience in human resources, I am passionate about leading…

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  • Knowledge Workers Are More Productive from Home

    Harvard Business Review

    We studied knowledge workers in 2013 and again during the 2020 pandemic lockdown and found significant changes in how they are working. They learned that lockdown helps people focus on the tasks that really matter. They spent 12% less time drawn into large meetings and 9% more time interacting with customers and external partners. Lockdown also helped people take responsibility for our own schedules. They did 50% more activities through personal choice and half as many because someone else…

    We studied knowledge workers in 2013 and again during the 2020 pandemic lockdown and found significant changes in how they are working. They learned that lockdown helps people focus on the tasks that really matter. They spent 12% less time drawn into large meetings and 9% more time interacting with customers and external partners. Lockdown also helped people take responsibility for our own schedules. They did 50% more activities through personal choice and half as many because someone else asked them to. Finally, during lockdown, people viewed their work as more worthwhile. The number of tasks rated as tiresome dropped from 27% to 12%, and the number we could readily offload to others dropped from 41% to 27%.

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  • How To Mentor Someone Who Doesnt Know What Their Career Goals Should Be

    Harvard Business Review

    “Tell me about your career goals.” How often have you said this to a person you’re managing or mentoring, only to get a blank stare in return? In this situation, it’s tough to know how to help them. Usually, the problem lives not in a lack of career opportunities but rather in the very concept of a career. We are all suffering from the career myth — a delusional belief in the outdated idea of linear career progression. So first, tell the person that it is fine and even preferable not to have a…

    “Tell me about your career goals.” How often have you said this to a person you’re managing or mentoring, only to get a blank stare in return? In this situation, it’s tough to know how to help them. Usually, the problem lives not in a lack of career opportunities but rather in the very concept of a career. We are all suffering from the career myth — a delusional belief in the outdated idea of linear career progression. So first, tell the person that it is fine and even preferable not to have a concrete career path in mind. Focus instead on developing transferrable skills. Ask them what they’d like to learn. Then create milestones so that they can see that they’re making progress (or not). And encourage them to try small experiments to learn more about what they like to do and where they need to develop.

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  • To Get People to Change, Make Change Easy

    Harvard Business Review

    Have you ever noticed that in a bowl of free fruit, the bananas will always go first? And no one takes the oranges at all? The reason is simple, and it’s not that the world is full of orange-haters. It’s that oranges are harder to peel. (Yes, you might say that the bananas are more a-peeling.) This principle — call it the Banana Principle — is an important one for managers to keep in mind. If you’re trying to get people to change, remember that any amount of friction could stop them. What…

    Have you ever noticed that in a bowl of free fruit, the bananas will always go first? And no one takes the oranges at all? The reason is simple, and it’s not that the world is full of orange-haters. It’s that oranges are harder to peel. (Yes, you might say that the bananas are more a-peeling.) This principle — call it the Banana Principle — is an important one for managers to keep in mind. If you’re trying to get people to change, remember that any amount of friction could stop them. What positive actions are thwarted by small obstacles? What bad habits are easy to continue? How might you introduce friction so that detrimental behaviors are harder to start? Instead of trying yet another persuasive speech or detailed explanation, consider making small changes to the work environment to get people to change.

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  • Use Subtle Cues to Encourage Better Meetings

    Harvard Business Review (HBR)

    How to improve meetings without talking about it

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  • Stop Telling Your Employees What to Do

    HBR

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  • The Case for Stealth Innovation

    HBR

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  • What Manufacturing Taught Me About Knowledge Work

    HBR

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  • Love, Trust and Candor Today's Management Priorities

    HBR

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  • MT Expert: Avoid workplace distractions

    Management Today

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    • Sylvia Clow-Wilson
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  • Evade an Innovation Blackout

    HBR

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  • Caught in London with No Pants

    HBR

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  • Companies must treat knowledge workers as assets

    Financial Times

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