The Daily Stat: Your Sense of Moral Purity May Block You from Making Professional Connections

 

Are you having trouble viewing this email? If so, click here to see it in a web browser.

May 13, 2014 Your Sense of Moral Purity May Block You from Making Professional Connections Research participants who imagined themselves pursuing professional connections at a party felt dirtier afterward, on average, than those who had imagined themselves merely meeting a lot of people at the party and having a good time (2.13 versus 1.43 on a five-point dirty-feelings scale), say Tiziana Casciaro of the University of Toronto, Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School, and Maryam Kouchaki of Harvard University. Moreover, people in the former group were later more likely to take a favorable view of cleaning products such as soap, toothpaste, and window cleaner. This and other experiments suggest that networking in pursuit of professional goals can harm a person's sense of personal moral purity, the authors write in a working paper. SOURCE: The Contaminating Effects of Building Instrumental Ties: How Networking Can Make Us Feel Dirty

PREVIOUS STATS Road Metaphors Are Powerful in Encouraging Goal-Directed Action When the Board Agrees with the CEO's Politics, Oversight Suffers This Just In: Sunspots and Planets Shown to Predict Stock Market Yes, You Can Have a Million-Dollar Business with No Employees Electronic Tolls Do a Lot More Than Speed You on Your Way Decriminalizing Marijuana in UK Led to More Illness from Hard Drugs

BEST SELLERS HBR's 10 Must Reads: The Essentials | HBR's 10 Must Reads Boxed Set | HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations | HBR Guide to Better Business Writing | HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done

FEATURED PRODUCT Playing to Win Strategy Toolkit HBS Press Toolkit From inspiration to execution to a successful outcome, the Playing to Win Strategy Toolkit delivers everything you need to win. The best-selling book by A.G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble and Roger Martin of the Rotman School of Management revealed a tested approach to strategy based on making the right choices to stay ahead of the competition that has been embraced by business leaders worldwide. Now, the Playing to Win Strategy Toolkit offers this proven framework with step-by-step support to develop and implement successful strategy at any organization. With expert advice, customizable support, and guidance throughout the entire process, this comprehensive tool will help you lead your team through a successful strategy initiative. Buy Now

FEATURED PRODUCT Lessons from Top-Tier Companies: Apple, Google, Starbucks, and Zappos HBR Collection Does your organization manage complexity by making things more complicated? If so, you are not alone. According to The Boston Consulting Group's fascinating Complexity Index, business complexity has increased sixfold during the past sixty years. Clearly it's time for leaders to stop trying to manage complexity with their traditional tools and instead better leverage employees' intelligence. This book shows you how and explains the implications for designing and leading organizations. The way to manage complexity, the authors argue, is neither with the hard solutions of another era nor with the soft solutions that often follow in their wake. Based on social sciences (notably economics, game theory, and organizational sociology) and The Boston Consulting Group's work with more than five hundred companies in more than forty countries and in various industries, authors Yves Morieux and Peter Tollman recommend six simple rules to manage complexity without getting complicated. Morieux and Tollman give managers a much-needed tool to reinvigorate people in the face of seemingly endless complexity. Buy Now

ADVERTISEMENT

HBR.ORG | THE MAGAZINE | BLOGS | BOOKS | CASES | STORE | SUBSCRIBE TO HBR UNSUBSCRIBE | NEWSLETTERS PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT Copyright © 2014 Harvard Business School Publishing, an affiliate of Harvard Business School. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing 60 Harvard Way Boston, MA 02163 CUSTOMER SERVICE: 800-545-7685 (US/Canada) 1-617-783-7600 (outside the U.S. and Canada)