Dorie Clark

Today I implemented something I’ve been talking about for *years*. Starting today, I’m taking Fridays off.

I was immediately tested! A new potential client emailed this very morning asking if I could hop on a call today. The answer is no! And we scheduled it for Monday. From now on, Fridays are my day for learning and personal growth. Right now, I’m studying an online course I purchased in March & hadn’t had proper time to study. Trying to practice what I preach!

What are you doing to build in time for your own learning & development?

#business
#leadership
#selfdevelopment
#worklifeintegration

Celebrating! Thank you so much for your help in making ‘The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World’ a Wall Street Journal bestseller! (It was #3 on the list this week). Grateful!

The Long Game:
https://lnkd.in/e4b5aDdr

#business
#gratitude
#leadership
#management
#strategy

How do you deliver bad news effectively?

It’s never easy, but at times it’s paramount to take control of your time and your schedule. Over the years, I’ve navigated partnerships that didn’t work out—whether due to misaligned schedules or a vision that no longer matched. Here are three principles I’ve found invaluable for making those tough conversations more constructive:

👉 Make it quick 
Don’t draw it out. If someone knows a difficult conversation is coming, their mind is already racing. Deliver the news promptly to ease anxiety and minimize discomfort.

👉Be compassionate 
Put yourself in their shoes. Be honest, but kind. It’s not about sugarcoating—it’s about finding the cleanest, clearest, and most empathetic way to communicate.

👉Don’t over-apologize 
Apologies can confuse the message or make it seem like you’re unsure of your decision. Be calm, clear, and confident.

These moments are challenging, but they’re also an opportunity to show empathy, leadership, and integrity. How do you approach delivering difficult messages?

It’s a wrap! One of my favorite things that I do is travel down to Deloitte University and speak to transitioning military veterans as part of their CORE Leadership Program. This is the 27th time I’ve gotten to speak to these amazing vets about professional reinvention, and I’m so honored to have the chance to do it.

#leadership
#business
#veterans
#management

Schedule time for your mind to relax so you can see the big picture:

A planned walk after lunch
A half-hour of reading before bed
An extra long shower to let your mind wander

When we have time to let our brain reflect, we nurture the creative space we need to come up with our next breakthrough.

#personaldevelopment
#goals
#careers
#bestadvice
#dorieclark

Celebrating being named for the second time to the Thinkers50 top list of business thinkers in the world! On hand to join me for a toast was my great pal Scott J. Miller, who was visiting NYC!

#business
#leadership
#strategy
#management

When someone asks a question designed to make you look dumb, making up an answer only helps them.

In 1967, Twiggy was 17 and the most famous model in the world.
Woody Allen, older and playing the intellectual, asked her on live TV, "Who's your favorite philosopher?"

I taught communication at Duke and Columbia, and her response is worth watching.
She didn't scramble. She just asked it back: "I haven't got one. Who's yours?"

That's the return serve.
Gotcha questions are rarely sincere, so hand it back and let them fumble the answer they never actually had.

Share this with someone who always gets the gotcha question.

My new article for CNBC is about identifying what we are truly interested in learning and why dedicating 20% of your time to those interests really does help you win in the long game:

https://lnkd.in/ddQY27XW

#motivation
#careers
#whatinspiresme
#goals

So excited to share my new headshot from Kimberly Butler, an amazing photographer who has shot celebrities including Taylor Swift, Ethan Hawke, Serena Williams, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Yo-Yo Ma!

When I mentioned to Kim that a lot of folks I know are thinking about new headshots (because most of us probably didn't get any done during 2020!), she made an incredible offer - if you contact her through her website (https://lnkd.in/eiN8aKv) and mention that you're a friend of mine, she'll do a headshot for you (in person in NYC or virtual) for $750, which is literally thousands less than her celebrity work.

If you've been thinking about updating your headshot, this may be the perfect opportunity!

#photographer #marketing #branding

What’s the biggest gap between where you are now and where you want to be?

One of the most common questions I receive is, “What’s the number one tip for professional reinvention?”

The answer often lies in identifying and addressing the delta—the gap between where you are now and where you aspire to be.

So let's crack the case:

Identify the Delta:
Understand the gap between your current brand perception and your target professional identity. This could be a skills gap, knowledge gap, or even a perceived credibility gap.

Anticipate the Critique:
Think about the biggest critique someone might have about your background or qualifications. What might make them skeptical about your transition?

Actively Address the Critique:
Develop a strategy to counter this perception by sharing relevant insights, stories, and content that showcase your knowledge and expertise in the new area. Consistently provide evidence that you belong in your new role.

I wrote in Reinventing You about a poet transitioning into management consulting—a seemingly vast delta.

Her task was to show that she understood business deeply, which she did by deliberately studying and sharing insights about her new industry.

Reinvention isn’t just about adopting a new skill set; it’s about guiding others to recognize you in your new capacity.

It’s about helping people believe in your new path as much as you do.

And that only happens when you address the distance with intentional, strategic steps.

We often look for obvious signals of high performance, like who's working the longest hours or delivering the fastest results.

But those signals can be misleading.

In my experience, the strongest performers are playing a different game. They make decisions based on where they want to be years from now, not what gets attention this week.

They choose the work that builds real skill, invest in relationships early, and trust that the payoff will come later. At first, it may not stand out. They might even look like they're 'lagging' because they're not optimizing for short term wins.

But over time, everything they’ve built begins to compound.

If you’re thinking about your own growth, it’s worth asking:
What am I doing today that will matter five years from now?

➡️ Follow Dorie Clark for more

Tom Holland is two inches shorter than his fiancée Zendaya.

It comes up a lot. And it came up again on The Graham Norton Show, where he was asked about a stunt the height difference wrecked.

Spider-Man swings them onto a bridge. Tom's feet hit the ground first.
So Zendaya lands, and then he lands, his feet swinging out from underneath him. And she catches him.

What he does next is worth stealing, for anyone who gets teased about the same thing over and over.

He doesn't change the subject, even though he's been asked about it a hundred times.

Most of us handle the thing we get teased about by bristling a little, or by rushing past it.
Both of which show it's a sore spot.

Instead, Tom tells the story in full, glorious detail.

Then he flips it with one line: "It's so nice to be caught for a change."

Two steps:
Own the story first, in vivid detail, so there's nothing left for anyone to go back to.
Then add one line that reframes the thing as something you like about your life.

Say you're the oldest person on your team, and someone asks if this is how you did it back in the fax machine days:
"Yeah, thank goodness someone here has actually done this before."

Someone making fun of you only has power if you're hiding from it.

Scarlett Johansson has a trick for answering rude questions - and we can all learn from it.

Instead of getting visibly angry or submitting to a question she didn't want to answer when a reporter asked something inappropriate, she used a technique I teach called the Mirror Technique.

I spent 10+ years teaching executive education at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, and the moment you answer an inappropriate question, even to refuse, you've accepted it was theirs to ask.

Instead, reflect it back to them like a mirror, and the person asking is suddenly the one who has to explain themselves.

Watch how she handles this exchange and follow Dorie Clark for more.

"Tell me about yourself" is the question that opens almost every job interview, and most people answer by walking through their resume.

Accurate, but completely forgettable.

The answer that makes interviewers lean in is what I call the headline strategy: one sentence that says who you are and the problem you solve.
"I'm the person companies bring in when a product launches behind and they need it back on track."

That one line becomes the lens they use to hear everything else.
Follow it with one proof point: "At my last company, I took over a launch three months late and shipped it in six weeks."

Share this with a friend who's job hunting now.

"Why should we hire you?" sounds like an invitation to talk about yourself.
It's not, and most people fall for it.

The typical answer is a list of vague qualities: hardworking, passionate, fast learner. Since every other candidate says the same things, none of it lands.

The answer that works is what I call mirror the top three: name the things you've heard the interviewer say the role needs, and give one proof point for each.

"You mentioned the biggest challenge is X. I handled that at my last company."

Hand them their own priorities back with proof, and that's exactly what you sound like.

Share this with someone who has an interview coming up.

Robert Downey Jr. was mid-interview when a reporter started asking about his history with addiction.
Instead of getting angry, he gave the interviewer one quiet chance to change course: "I'm sorry, what are we doing here?"

When the interviewer kept going, he said, "Bye," and walked out.

This is what I call the one-line exit.

The moment you give a reason for not answering, you've opened a negotiation. But there's nothing to argue with when you simply name what's happening and redirect.

When someone crosses your line, you don't owe them an explanation.
Follow Dorie Clark for more on becoming a better communicator and leader

Someone tells you to smile more.

Maybe it happens at work. Maybe at a family dinner.

It's a small comment, but it puts you on the spot and it's hard to answer well.

Some people clap back, because it is a prying and presumptuous thing to say.

But that escalates the conversation in a way you might not want.

Other people fold. They say “Oh, sorry." And they smile.

Which feels weird, because then you're basically smiling on command. 
That's a lot of power to hand someone else.

There's a third option. Ask them, calm and curious:
"Why do you say that?"

It helps to ask, because "you should smile more" can mean a lot of different things.

If they say you seem sad, or angry, or like you're not having a good time, they might be sincere and just approaching it badly.

So you have a choice. You can treat it as a real conversation.

Or you can say:
"I'm actually not, but I appreciate you asking. You should smile more doesn't always come across right, because it can imply we need to perform a certain way. I know that's not what you meant."

But if their answer is some version of "your face would be prettier," feel free to be a little mean right back.

You have my permission.

You can also just say:
"That's so interesting. If you spoke less, you'd be much nicer."

When Serena Williams decided to stage a comeback at age 44, after four years away, she didn't build a case for why she was allowed to do it.
She just asked: "Well, why not?"

I wrote Reinventing You about stepping into bigger roles, and what stops most people isn't talent.
It's assuming they need to earn their place before they try.

Serena's take: "I don't have anything to prove. I don't have anything to lose, and everything here is just to gain."

"Am I good enough?" puts the burden on you.
"Why not?" flips it.

Try Serena's question the next time you're holding yourself back.
Follow Dorie Clark for more on becoming a better leader

Something went wrong, and now you have to tell your boss.
Most people bury the news under backstory, which reads as spin and makes their boss brace for the worst.

I've consulted for a lot of Fortune 500 companies, and the fix is what I call the bad news headline.

Sentence one is the news itself: the launch is slipping two weeks.
Sentence two is the cause: the vendor missed their integration date.

Sentence three is your plan, and the decision you need from them.

Once your boss knows how bad it is, they can stop bracing and start solving it with you.

Save this for the next time something goes sideways at work.

It can be incredibly uncomfortable asking for a raise—even when it's deserved and especially when it's needed.

I taught communication at Duke, and here's the hard part.
Your employer doesn't care what you need. Maybe they should, but don't count on it.

So don't build your case on your rising bills.
Build it on what you're worth to them.

How much is your work saving or earning the company?
Sales up 20% since you took over, a supplier switch saving a million a year, hours a week off your boss's plate.

Then ask for pay that reflects it.

Follow Dorie Clark for more on building the career you want

"Good and true things are easy." That's what Taylor Swift said at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and it turns out to be a great way to shape your career.

Most of us ask the wrong questions when figuring out what to pursue.
What am I good at? What pays best?

Taylor's test is better: what's easy for you to work incredibly hard at?

In my book The Long Game, I call this optimizing for interesting, because interest is the only fuel that doesn't run out.

Think back to the one piece of work where the hours just disappeared.
That's your good and true.

Follow Dorie Clark for more on building the career you want

"Why did you leave your last job?" feels simple, but it's a trap: say too much and you sound bitter, say too little and the interviewer fills in the blank, usually not in your favor.

I taught communication at Duke and Columbia, and the strategy that works is neutral-then-forward: one calm sentence about why you left, then straight to what you're after now:
"The team was reorganized and my role was cut, which gave me the chance to go after the kind of work I want to be doing."

Stay calm, look forward, and you come across as someone worth hiring.

Follow Dorie Clark for more on building the career you want

Most of us tell stories in summary.
"I talked to this kid, he had a great accent, so I used it" is information, not a story.

I taught communication at Duke and Columbia, and Tom Hanks does something better.

Describing where Forrest Gump's voice came from, he doesn't explain it.
He performs it, becoming the eight-year-old from Mississippi: "My daddy makes grease."

That's a technique I call show, don't summarize.
The moment you speak the actual dialogue in the actual voices, the listener stops hearing about the scene and starts watching it.

Take one story you tell often and act it out instead.

Follow Dorie Clark for more on becoming a better storyteller

The late Gloria Steinem had a trick for pushing back on a loaded question without seeming defensive -and you can use it too, anytime somebody asks you a question that's designed to make you look bad.

The problem is that if you answer the question the way it was asked, you’ve agreed with their biased framing.

In 1972, a reporter on Meet the Press asked Gloria about the 'militant' movement she was part of.

I’m a former presidential campaign spokesperson, and Gloria's response is perfect. She uses what I call the 'Word Swap' Technique to make sure no one is putting words in her mouth.

Instead, she's precise with her language so she can get the point across.

Check out the video and follow Dorie Clark for more on becoming a better communicator.

Promotions aren't decided in the promotion meeting.

They're decided months earlier, in how your boss already sees you.

These three questions shift that perception:

1) "What's the biggest problem on your plate that I could take off of it?" Promotable people solve their boss's problems, not just their own task list.

2) "What would have to be true for you to see me as ready for the next level?" That turns a vague feeling into criteria you can actually meet.

3) "What's the skill you'd most like to see me develop next?"
Now your boss is actively picturing your growth, and people support what they help create.

Don't ask all three at once.
Weave them in over the next month or two and watch what changes.

Follow Dorie Clark for more on building the career you want.

When you speak after good news, an award or a promotion or a celebratory dinner, the default is to thank everyone with an endless list of names.

It's boring, and the room tunes out.

I taught communication at Duke for more than a decade, and Emma Thompson's Oscar speech does the opposite.
She opens with a scene: standing at Jane Austen's grave, telling her the box office numbers.

That's the cold open technique.
You start with one small, vivid story from the path that got you here, and only then move to the thank-yous.

Now the room is actually listening when you get to them.

Follow Dorie Clark for more on becoming a better communicator

Career security is dead.
That may sound extreme, but the recent Tufts University lawsuit tells a larger story.

The university lost a $4 million case after trying to cut the pay of tenured faculty, despite tenure traditionally being viewed as one of the safest forms of employment.

If even an institution like Tufts (I used to teach there) is trying to roll back its promises, we all have to take this seriously.

Long-term job security is becoming harder and harder to count on, even in historically stable institutions.

That’s why it’s increasingly important to:
→ Keep your skills sharp
→ Keep your network warm
→ Build additional income streams before you need them

Increasingly, career security comes from adaptability, not permanence.
➡️ Follow Dorie Clark for more

Most people avoid talking about their work because it feels like bragging, and the people who could hire them never find out how good they are.

The question that changes this: is what I'm sharing useful to the person hearing it?

If you're sharing to look impressive, that's self-promotion, and no one enjoys it. If you're sharing because it genuinely helps the other person, it's a gift.

"I gave a talk to 500 people" is about you.
"I wrote an article on that. I'd be happy to send it over" is about them.

When the answer is clearly useful, the fear of bragging disappears.
Follow Dorie Clark for more on becoming a better networker

The advice to "perfect your elevator pitch" is incomplete.
That's why your networking events end in awkward silences.

Most networking experts say: Have one clear elevator pitch and be concise.
Make sure to stick to your main focus.

Here's the thing: That approach is actually making networking harder for you.

When you say "I'm in marketing," you've just created a conversation dead end.
The other person nods politely and you both stand there in awkward silence.

If you're already uncomfortable at networking events, this conventional advice makes it exponentially worse.

Christian Busch, who studies serendipity at USC, has a completely different approach: serendipity hooks.

Instead of giving people one thing to remember about you, give them five things to connect with. This isn't about being scattered—it's about being strategic.

Here's what this looks like in practice:

❌ Conventional: "I'm Joe and I'm in marketing."

✅ Serendipity hooks: "I'm Dorie and I split my time between Miami and New York. I write business and career books, and also do a lot of speaking - I just got back from a talk in Dubai. I also write musicals and I'm organizing a concert performance of my new spy musical."

Notice the difference in what you've just created?

The other person now has multiple pathways into a real conversation. Maybe they're fascinated by musicals, have connections in Dubai, want to write a book, or used to live in New York.

They can grab onto whatever resonates and suddenly you're both relaxed and actually talking.

People don't need to remember you for one perfect thing.
They need to find one thing that they can relate to.

Once they do, the conversation becomes effortless.

We've been approaching networking backwards. Instead of being memorable for one thing, be relatable in multiple ways.

💾 Save this post and send it to someone who dreads networking events
➡️ Follow Dorie Clark for more

Most people don’t struggle because they lack ambition.
They struggle because they don’t have systems that make progress sustainable.

It’s easy to think effectiveness comes from working harder or finding the perfect productivity hack. In reality, it comes from the small, consistent choices you make every day and whether they actually align with where you want to go.

That’s why I created my new LinkedIn Learning course: Personal Effectiveness Habits.

It’s designed to help you take a more strategic approach to your time, your decisions, and your long-term growth.
We focus on how to build habits and systems that compound over time, so you are not just busy, but actually moving forward.

Inside, we explore how to integrate long-term thinking into your daily routines, how to design repeatable systems that reduce friction, and how to use tools like AI to clarify priorities and streamline execution.

We also talk about the often-overlooked pieces, including emotional resilience, adaptability, and how to build relationships that support your work over the long term.

For a limited time, I’m opening access so you can explore the course.

If you’ve been feeling busy but not as effective as you’d like, this may be a useful next step.

Share this with someone who is serious about improving how they work, not just how much they work.