WorkTies

Many professions have templates, or prototypes, for who is expected to fill a role (e.g., pilots are male, sales people are extraverted). When workers do not meet all elements of a role prototype, they may have trouble entering an occupation or being seen as legitimate within the profession. These challenges may be exacerbated when workers see their job as a calling, or a role tied to immense passion and meaning, since a calling would come with an intense desire to occupy sai

Mentoring relationships were once clear and easy to recognize. Organizations offered formal mentoring programs where a senior employee guided a junior colleague over time, providing career advice, coaching, and support. Because these relationships were visible and sustained, mentors were widely recognized for their role and benefited when protégés reciprocated their mentoring through advocacy, information sharing, and support, which in turn enhanced mentors’ learning and sati

Most organizational research treats surprise as something that happens to us—e.g., market disruptions, crises, or unexpected setbacks that require reactive management. But our research reveals a powerful alternative: leaders and professionals who proactively engineer surprises as strategic tools. In other words, this review shows how leaders, peers, and employees can engineer surprises to drive performance and productive change in organizations . Surprise as a Strategic T

Conventional wisdom says that high-status mentors—star connections—help you get ahead at work. From CEOs to sports coaches to (yes)...