With the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, followed by months of Black Lives Matter protests, through to the shooting of Jacob Blake on August 23, leaders in the United States and around the world have finally begun to recognize the racial inequities embedded deep in the systems in which we operate each […]

The Covid-19 pandemic is constantly evolving, with leaders facing unpredictability, imperfect information, multiple unknowns, and the need to identify responses quickly — all while recognizing the multi-dimensional (health-related, economic, social, political, cultural) nature of the crisis. Read this great HBR article to find out more

As the coronavirus crisis has deepened, European governments have established virus-control commands and economy-protection commands, but few—if any—have a similar structure in place for exit command. The same is true for business. Most have established war rooms with teams assigned to cope with issues related to the supply chain, workforce management, and finances. But there has […]

I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it very easy to be judgmental these days. Late last week, a coworker told me on Slack that she was going to be offline for a bit while she greeted her babysitter, who was showing up any minute. My immediate thought was, “That’s not social distancing.” For a […]

A friend who runs a restaurant group recently endured a month of empty tables due to a transportation strike, only to have his restaurants shut down to slow the spread of Covid-19. Of course, he’s not alone as businesses around the world face similar situations. Between disruption and the ongoing pandemic, we are all trying […]

Successful leaders who shift their attention to tackling big, societal problems can be overwhelmed by how little control they actually have. But, by using network-building and collaboration skills, they can navigate a path to successful innovation and transformational change.  Here are the stories of three such efforts and the six essential lessons for attracting support […]

What makes people feel included in organizations? Feel that they are treated fairly and respectfully, are valued and belong? Many things of course, including an organization’s mission, policies, and practices, as well as co-worker behaviors. But mostly it comes down to leaders. We find that what leaders say and do makes up to a 70% […]

As demand grows for new and emergent skills, including UX design, cybersecurity, and data science, workers around the world — and labor markets — are struggling to keep up.  According to a recent survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, nearly eight in 10 global CEOs say they’re concerned about the availability of people with the right skills. So far, organizations […]

It’s normal to occasionally experience anxiety, such as when we’re faced with a high-stakes meeting, a stressed-out boss, or a conflict with a colleague. But according to the National Institute of Mental Health, in any given year, 19% of U.S. adults are suffering from an anxiety disorder, and 31% will deal with a disorder at least […]

Breaking habits is hard. We all know this, whether we’ve failed our latest diet (again), or felt the pull to refresh our Instagram feed instead of making progress on a work project that is past due. This is largely because we are constantly barraged by stimuli engineered to make us crave and consume, stimuli that hijack the reward-based learning […]