Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Dr. Tracy Brower writes about joy, community and the future of work. Having a good friend is one of the best things you can do for ...

I’ve talked to a former chief of the F.B.I.’s Crisis Negotiation Unit about how to defuse tension during family holidays. Emergency-room doctors about how to avoid accidents. A neuroscientist who ...

Neither of my parents had corporate jobs. I didn't absorb the unwritten rules of the workplace at family dinners. But I did have a relentless curiosity about how influence actually works. That led me ...