Despite the momentous rise in media attention given to care, resilience, and well-being since the pandemic began, many leaders struggle to implement self-care practices. We know — from research, experience, and anecdotal evidence — that we need to care for ourselves for optimal functioning and to become healthier and more efficient leaders, but putting this into practice is another story. Recently, I […]

Despite their best efforts, most companies continue to squander what may be their greatest asset in today’s knowledge economy: the wealth of expertise, ideas, and latent insights that lies scattered across or deeply embedded in their organizations. And that’s a shame, because capitalizing on those intellectual resources—using existing knowledge to improve performance or combining strands […]

In one of my recent LinkedIn discussions about business strategy, a commenter lamented: “Unfortunately, many of the strategic plans we see are no more than a mish-mash collage of ‘individual level’ rush-to-do’s, often missing out on an ‘organization-level’ cohesive and thought-through design intent.” My correspondent had tagged an important challenge for all companies: where does strategy making end […]

Conventional wisdom holds that leadership can be developed through extensive study and training. Many organizations invest a tremendous amount of time and money in programs that teach executives how to influence, inspire, and coach others; build trust; have crucial conversations; give feedback; change people’s behavior; and more. Many aspiring leaders comb through books, attend seminars, and seek […]

Imagine you’re playing a video game where you must overcome challenges and unlock rewards in order to move up to the next level. Climbing the corporate ladder at work is similar, but instead of battling dragons or building cities, you’re navigating office politics and aiming to deliver on goals. You’re also not going at it […]

Much has been written about common leadership styles and how to identify the right style for you, whether it’s transactional or transformational, bureaucratic or laissez-faire. But according to Daniel Goleman, a psychologist best known for his work on emotional intelligence, “Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances may call for different approaches.” Drawing […]

Venture investors are the hidden hand behind the most innovative companies surrounding us. According to research conducted by one of us (Ilya), venture capitalists were causally responsible for the launch of one-fifth of the 300 largest U.S. public companies in existence today. They have played an essential role in unlocking the power of the internet, the mobile […]

There’s no shortage of situations to overthink in today’s work world. Whether it’s fretting over the implications of a new market trend, agonizing about the tone of an email to a major client, or losing sleep over an employee’s reaction to feedback, the opportunities for leaders to get trapped in their own heads are endless. As […]

When we think about optimizing our work capacity to produce desired outcomes, it is not solely a question of available time, but available energy, that matters. You may find that when you finally have some time to focus on an important project or task, you are too spent or burned out to actually do it. Taking regular […]

Concerns about the quality of a promising new product kept under wraps. Obvious tension and discord between two team members overlooked. The disconnect between the team’s stated values and its actual behavior left unstated. Despite all the focus on fostering psychologically safe workplaces, teams remain rife with undiscussables: topics that are too obscured or feel too […]