When a people situation at work becomes a challenge, the reflex is to react quickly and resolve the problem. The more effective skill is to read the situation, including what it is stirring in you, and choose deliberately.

Every leader experiences this regularly: someone on the team becomes a probl...

What actually happens when someone relates to you as if you were someone else? A new report treats you with a wariness you haven't earned. A client keeps asking you to decide things they are perfectly capable of deciding. A colleague's irritation with you is calibrated to some offense you did not co...