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How to Be Awesome at Your Job · 2026-03-19 · 41 min · 8,114 words

1138: Breaking Free from the Invisible Norms that Limit Our Best Work with Nilofer Merchant

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One of the things that people often think is that if a management norm has been here for a long time, it must be working for a reason. And I'm basically saying, listen, just because it exists does not mean it's persuasive. Right? It's just persistent. That's Nilifer Merchant.

She's the founder of Intangible Labs and has spent over 25 years leading technology companies like Apple. Nilifer has been ranked among the top 50 influential management thinkers in the world and is the author of four books. Today? We're sharing her latest, our best work, how to break free from the 24 invisible norms that limit us. So you'll learn one, striking examples of how hidden norms limit us, two, why you owe it to yourself to play off as politics, and three, the mindset that creates more win-win solutions.

And if you want a quick summary write about the actionable takeaways that Nilifer shares, I recommend I'm Pete Makitis. This is how to be awesome at your job. And now, here's Nilifer. Nilifer, welcome.

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