How to Be Awesome at Your Job 1138: Breaking Free from the Invisible Norms that Limit Our Best Work with Nilofer Merchant
22 snips
Mar 19, 2026 Nilofer Merchant, author and longtime technology leader known for collaborative strategy, challenges invisible workplace norms that hold us back. She explores how power, politics, and fear shape decisions. Short takes cover AI’s human edge, protecting originators, learning the unwritten rules, and practical steps to influence norms and create more choices at work.
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Human Connection Comes Before Tech Gains
- Work quality depends on human connection before technology can help scale it.
- Nilofer Merchant argues that without reinventing how humans connect, AI and tools won't deliver their full value.
Idea Theft Treated As An Organizational Norm
- A manager told Nilofer's friend to accept idea theft as normal, which revealed an organizational norm devaluing idea origins.
- The friend had built a six-month plan, but the company treated idea genesis as unimportant and tolerated credit-stealing behavior.
Longstanding Norms Are Persistent Not Persuasive
- Longstanding management norms persist but aren't necessarily persuasive or helpful.
- Nilofer urges examining the 'water we swim in' to decide which norms help or hurt and imagine better ones.
