Communication
8 ways to become a more genuine and authentic person
Genuine people live true to themselves. Researchers Michael Kernis and Brian Goldman define authenticity as “The unimpeded operation of one’s true or core self...
Leadership
Strategy
Productively unproductive: The surprising benefits of sabbaticals
David Burkus shares the research on why sabbaticals are an option more people -- and companies -- should consider.
Careers
Unplug, and go lead instead
After logging on your email in the morning, do you ever find yourself falling into a rabbit hole of reactions and responses that rob...
Leadership
How to change your organization without losing your structure
One of the easiest ways to create chaos in your workplace is to announce a major change. Change is often necessary, but if it’s...
Communication
Why companies apologize (and how to be ready to do it)
Credit: Pixabay The last thing any company wants is to need to send an apology email. It undermines the company’s brand credibility, and it’s...
Leadership
Boardrooms to Broadway: Writing the organizational chart in pencil
Few elements in business are as ubiquitous as the organizational chart. While constructing rigid hierarchies of employees and outlining them in a fixed structure...
Management
“Becoming yourself” is crucial to being a leader
“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It’s precisely that simple, and it’s also that difficult.” ~ Warren Bennis Notably, “becoming” yourself isn’t...
Communication
Why mentally tough leaders need emotional intelligence
Most of the FBI agents I worked alongside would never utter the phrase emotional intelligence, much less attribute their success to it. While they...
Management
The supervisory squeeze
Being a front-line supervisor can be the most gratifying and exciting of roles that anyone will ever experience. It can also be the most...
Management
How can I overcome my tendency to micromanage?
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization composed of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship...
Inspiration
Start creating your legacy now by developing your people
Working for a global finance company this year, I have been asked to support a variety of leaders in shaping their leadership-development goals. These...
Management
How to reduce the sugar rush of organizational life
It’s a familiar lament at work: We can’t get anything done because we’re all so busy interacting. Open-office plans, project teams and the incessant...
Communication
3 ways to rebuild trust
Building trust is a foundational skill of successful leadership. Wherever you see lack of initiative, low morale, or no engagement, ask yourself if the...
Strategy
Leading on stage: Tales of customer-centric management
It was a small incident with a big implication! I was in the middle of checking out of the grocery store when the store...
Communication
Don’t just listen to, listen through
Each month, When Growth Stalls examines why businesses and brands struggle and how they can overcome their obstacles and resume growth. Steve McKee is...
Management
Conflict over strategy
Executives often have deep differences of opinion over the best strategy for the company. These conflicts cripple a business as multiple strategies are being...
Communication
The importance of building trust
“The glue that holds all relationships together — including the relationship between the leader and the led — is trust, and trust is based...
Leadership
The secret of organizations that last
What makes an organization sufficiently resilient to survive over a sustained period of time? In 1983, Royal Dutch/Shell Group studied 27 companies that had...
Management
This is why all your great employees leave
It’s time to face facts: As business leaders, we’re failing our employees. A 2015 LinkedIn survey revealed that the No. 1 reason employees leave...
Management
How do you include all employees in setting companywide goals?
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization composed of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship...
Management
What leadership shadow do you cast?
This post was excerpted from the Heidrick & Struggles report “The transformation mandate: Leadership imperatives for a hyperconnected world.” View the full report. This...
Management
What’s that sound? Is it talent heading out the door?
Quits are up among employees, and it's not a recession. That means that talent attraction and retention must be of primary importance for leaders and their businesses.
Leadership
How familiar are you with the concept of being a “net exporter of talent?”
SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 210,000 business leaders. We run the poll...
Management
The strength of situational leadership
Most org charts propagate the myth of the lone leader. They are typically drawn as a pyramid culminating in a singular person at the...
Inspiration
Ask yourself, “What do people need?”
I was born during the Summer of Love, in 1967, when the counter-culture phenomenon erupted into the public’s attention in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood,...
Inspiration
Be open to new ideas
We all want to be respected by others, but how often do we show respect to others, in particular those who report to us?
Management
The most important quality of a successful leader
I often talk to executives about what keeps them up at night. I hear tales of specific struggles, continuous challenges, and perplexing priorities. Time...
Communication
Negotiation 101 for senior leaders: How to structure an effective argument
The most effective negotiators know that the experience is like effective leadership: it’s about co-operation, not coercion.
Strategy
Accentuating the positive: A show of strength
Are today’s leaders introspective? Self-reflective? Perhaps. But do they regularly concern themselves with what qualities they might be lacking, or second-guess the positive traits...
Management
Make “in-the-moment” feedback part of your management routine
People dread performance appraisal time; rehashing a laundry list of missteps and shortcomings from the year is hardly a good time in anyone’s books....
Leadership
How deal desks are shaking up sales organizations
“If you want to have clean water, send it through a filter,” a sales executive said recently. He was discussing the new deal desk...
Communication
Put down the fire hose: Is your audience drowning in information?
When you step up to speak, you hope what you have to say makes an impact on your audience, right? That goal can sometimes...
Management
How can entrepreneurs best break up with a business partner?
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization composed of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship...
Careers
Why we still can’t get career development right
Aon’s most recent “Trends in Global Employee Engagement” reprises a familiar refrain: “Companies continue to struggle with providing growth opportunities for employees and other...
Management
Why emotional intelligence matters
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” ~Dale Carnegie Chip Kelly caught the NFL...
Management
How B2B sales leaders can reach Michelin star levels of customer experience
Have you ever been to a Michelin-starred restaurant? The Michelin Guide was created in 1900 to recognize world-renowned restaurants. Today, its highest-rated 3-star establishments...
Careers
Surprising ways to become a better leader
Have you ever been to a leadership training program and realized the concepts taught would be as much use to you at home as...
Careers
How to fall in love (with your work)
You can learn a lot about thriving in your job from a poet. I know that, as a savvy businessperson, that might seem incongruous....
Inspiration
Lead your peers
You can show someone a better way to do something, but they will not adopt your approach until they trust you.
Management
Put your health first to be a better leader
This post is adapted from “Are You Fully Charged?: The 3 Keys to Energizing Your Work and Life,” by Tom Rath (Silicon Guild, May...
Communication
How to effectively lead virtual teams
One of my clients once had a cardboard cutout of himself made to “sit” with his team. Why on Earth would he do this?...