If you've read this site for any period of time, you know I'm a big fan of Harvard Business Publishing's multiple blogs. There's a lot of wisdom over there, much of it arriving in the snack-sized servings my short attention span can manage. Two terrific (and unrelated) posts from the past week caught my attention today:
 
Since we talked about delivering bad news last week, let's talk about the art of giving praise this week. Steven DiMaio, a teacher, discusses 4 key points to giving praise effectively (including my favorite--#2, not confusing politeness with praise). And over at the Management Essentials section of the site, Amy Gallo discusses strategies for managing pessimists on your team. This piece is slightly longer, and includes a couple case studies along with some concise recommendations for handling the pessimist in your midst.
 
[via Harvard Business Publishing]