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HBR: Most Popular Articles of 2010

AN EXCITING YEAR IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE. Coming full circle of seasons it is winter again while the haven freezes over and a friend messaged from Leh in north-western Himalayas, "Its -15.4° C (4.2° F) here. Expect snow typing." I am almost sure it was meant to read "slow typing".


HBR on their part collectively published some 1000+ articles over the last 365 days. Recently, one of the editors listed the top 10 most popular articles among them (try here). Listed below are the five articles that I liked most.

1. Why I Returned My iPad by Peter Bregman
Peter Bregman stands in a two-hour queue-for-a-gadget for the first time to get his hands on iPad on its launch day. And within days, he is hooked. In this I-fear-I-might-loose-boredom post, Bregman talks about returning his iPad to Apple because it was "too good". He writes, "It's too easy. Too accessible. Both too fast and too long-lasting. For the most part, it does everything I could want. Which, as it turns out, is a problem." Because, he feared, he might loose his boredom, and hence, creativity. Go here to know why. [Tags: Managing yourself, Time management]

2. 12 Things Good Bosses Believe by Robert Sutton
Coming from Sutton’s popular book "Good Boss, Bad Boss", this short article is more of a link list where the items in the list go on to become articles in themselves. Some pretty common-sense stuff that sounds too apparently recognizable and one might just nod one’s head through it without the real attention or much effort in remembering it. That’s where the associated articles come in useful. Go here for the first branch of the tree. [Tags: Managing people, Leadership]

3. The Best Cover Letter I Ever Received by David Silverman
This remains one of the most popular articles of 2010 even though Silverman actually published it the year before. The answer to the question in the title is rather sarcastic. Silverman doesn't want people to waste time over writing cover letters, and explains the reasons in this post. Go here for this short and sweet post, and go here for his preceding and popular article - How to Write a Résumé That Doesn't Annoy People. [Tags: Career planning, Hiring, Business writing]

4. Define Your Personal Leadership Brand by Norm Smallwood
Smallwood published his book around personal branding about three years ago. This article provides a decent synopsis of his overall ideas. Targeted at leaders in general and consultants in particular, this five-step approach is a good lead to put the basics in place, and to build upwards from there. How different this is from developing and grooming a leadership personality? Well, I suppose a "personal leadership brand" is short-lived in comparison, and like most products, it carries a shelf-life and an expiry date. Go here for your own branding tips. [Tags: Personal effectiveness, Leadership development]

5. Six Social Media Trends for 2011 by David Armano
Published earlier this month, this forecasting post talks about the six likely trends that we could encounter in '11: Social media integration in corporate policies, Cheaper devices and faster connectivity, Facebook reigning over Foursquare for more business-friendly services, Social media schizophrenia and Identity crisis, Google to "strike back", and finally, Integration of brands in Social media e.g. Apple + Twitter = Ping. Go here for Armano's blog post. [Tags: Social media]

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