I thoroughly enjoyed Liz Wiseman’s descriptions of impact players and how they approach challenging work situations in her book, Impact Players.
I’ve also included at the end the following references I thought was helpful:
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15 Ways to Alienate Your Boss
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15 Ways to Earn Trust w/ Your Boss
On Messy Problems
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He saw people spending too much time on presentation slides, developed a tool to fix that, rolled it out globally. He saved us hundreds of hours of work.
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It wasn’t her job. She just did it.
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Repeatedly pivots to become the expert in what is needed.
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Looked at the whole picture, then fixed the problem for everyone.
On Unclear Roles
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You don’t need to ask him to do something, he just starts it.
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She gives credit to others and doesn’t need to claim [all] the success.
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She makes everything better.
On Unforeeen Obstacles
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It is more often that he’ll remind me of a deadline than I have to remind him.
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She recognizes problems and issues before they become big problems and solves them. She doesn’t rely on anyone else to solve her problems.
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He can hit a roadblock, figure out a way around it, and keep on moving rather than getting disheartened and slowing down.
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She sees things to the end even if she gets no credit.
On Moving Targets
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He seeks out new information without being prompted.
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She takes feedback as a positive.
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She learns quickly from errors.
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When I have feedback, she takes it and does something with it. She doesn’t get down, she sees it as a chance to improve.
On Unrelenting Demands
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He frequently comes to me and says, “What can I take off your plate? How can I make your job easier?”
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She avoids drama. Things don’t get to her. She is compassionate but refuses to be an actor in any soap opera.
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She exudes positive energy. It’s just big fun working with her.
