Perfect Is the Enemy

Women at Work

Harvard Business Review

Women, Business, Gender, Progress, Careers, Harvard, Business/management, Equality, Resources, Management, Workplace, Hbr, Human, Business/entrepreneurship, Business/careers, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2018

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Perfectionist tendencies are a trap that can be difficult to avoid, but we’ll be more productive and advance faster if we don’t worry so much about making the occasional mistake. We talk about how perfectionists can get out of their own way, and how to effectively manage a perfectionist. Guest: Alice Boyes. Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Harvard Business School Executive Education develops leaders who make a difference in the world.
0:06.0	In their programs, experience the power of fresh perspectives and connect with a world of new ideas.
0:13.0	Learn more at HBS. Me slash work.
0:17.0	That's HBS. M.E. slash work. Well, not even a word, okay.
0:34.0	Also several of you...
0:36.0	So why is paid parental leave important?
0:40.0	Having access to it is...
0:42.0	Blah! La! Okay. having access to it is, blah, blah, thank God it was you and not me.
0:46.0	And we're doing power poses.
0:49.0	Can I say I'm Amy Bernstein again?
0:52.0	We do a lot of takes, and our producer Can I say I'm Amy Bernstein again?
0:52.9	We do a lot of takes, and our producer edits them together
0:56.1	so that we sound like ourselves, but pithier and more polished.
1:00.3	Even if we never get a line quite right, or even if we stumble through a question to a guest,
1:04.8	we're usually pretty happy with how the show turns out overall by the time you hear it.
1:09.0	If we try to be perfect podcast hosts, we just get in our own way. We'd ruminate over small
1:14.1	mistakes and we'd never take risks in conversation. We'd probably end up
1:18.2	sounding fake and who would want to listen to that. No one.
1:23.0	You're listening to women at work from Harvard Business Review.
1:32.0	I'm Amy Bernstein. I'm Nicole Torres and I'm
1:35.0	Sarah Green Carmichael. This episode we're talking about why we should not be striving for
1:40.1	perfection in our work and how to let go of unrealistically high standards for ourselves.
	...

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