Tuesday Dispatch: Issue #56

The Owl and The Beetle

This week we learn about how to run a department, mitigate bias in performance reviews, and honesty. As well as how to deflect asteroids and preserve endangered sounds.

Let's get going!

3 Droplets of Leadership

How to Run a Department

The first rule of running a department is that department leaders don’t get much real coaching.

Since your manager won’t be an expert in your field, succeeding will be both more difficult and judged more aggressively.

If your manager can’t coach you, however, they won’t have a strong opinion on whether your skills or behaviors were correct until their output can be observed.

Don't miss this great article on leadership!

10 Performance Review Biases and How to Avoid Them

I am biased. You are biased. All humans are biased. Not buying it yet?

Consider the research of Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work applying psychological insights to economics.

In his research, Kahneman demonstrated one simple truth: the vast majority of human decisions are based on biases, beliefs, and intuition, not facts or logic.

How to mitigate those biases in performance reviews? Find out here!

A Moment of Honesty

Real life doesn’t make great cinema.

There’s no punchy dialog, glamorous backdrops, time jumps, or plot armor.

You toil in darkness, perpetually at risk.

You can only hope you survive long enough to craft your happy ending.

Don't miss this great article on honesty.

2 Grains of Technology

NASA Confirms DART Mission Impact Changed Asteroid’s Motion in Space

Analysis of data obtained over the past two weeks by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) investigation team shows the spacecraft's kinetic impact with its target asteroid, Dimorphos, successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit.

This marks humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.

Here is the announcement.

The Museum of Endangered Sounds

Imagine a world where we never again hear the symphonic startup of a Windows 95 machine. Or the ICQ message notification.

You can find these sounds, and more, at the Museum of Endangered Sounds. Don't miss it!

1 Atom of Reflection

The best a leader can do is create an environment where good things are more likely to happen. - Author Disputed