#leadership-learning-curve
#leadership-learning-curve

20 hours ago

Goodbye, middle managers. Hello, 'player-coaches' and 'org leads.'

Meta and Block are redefining managerial roles to embrace AI, with Meta introducing 'org leads' and Block using 'player-coaches'.

fromHyperallergic

Nine Lessons on My Path From Engagement to Leadership

Curiosity is foundational in the arts, as demonstrated by the Menil Collection's exhibition, which transformed a gallery into an education room through public programs.

Arts

The Leadership Skill That's Quietly Fading in the Age of AI

AI-driven efficiency risks diminishing deep thinking, leading to a loss of original understanding and nuanced insight among leaders.

McKinsey's new AI leadership playbook: flatten teams and move faster

AI can streamline organizational structures by flattening management layers and enhancing decision-making capabilities.

Philosophy

The Leadership Skill That's Quietly Fading in the Age of AI

AI-driven efficiency risks diminishing deep thinking, leading to a loss of original understanding and nuanced insight among leaders.

McKinsey's new AI leadership playbook: flatten teams and move faster

AI can streamline organizational structures by flattening management layers and enhancing decision-making capabilities.

9 things people who command respect at work do that have nothing to do with their title or seniority - Silicon Canals

Respect at work is earned through listening and accountability, not through titles or positions.

Fundraising

How giving starts progress and leadership scales it

Volatility and accountability are transforming philanthropy, requiring leadership to drive impactful change.

Clear Job Responsibilities Helps You Grow Faster - Here's How

Deliberate governance design is essential as companies grow to avoid confusion and inefficiency.

Remote teams

fromInfoQ

How to Handle Trusts and Psychological Safety When Scaling Organizations

Trust must be built team by team; it cannot be replicated as organizations scale.

Startup companies

Leaders share 18 common innovation mistakes

Innovation requires dedicated focus and understanding beyond just new tools or technology.

Relationships

The busiest leaders share this surprising weakness

Constant busyness at work deteriorates personal relationships and collaboration, ultimately undermining high performance.

#leadership

Psychology

Yes, it's possible to lead without dominating. Here's how

Bootstrapping

Your Management Strategy Is Doomed to Fail If You Don't Do This

Marketing

Most Leaders Focus on Goals. They're Missing the Big Picture

How Senior Leaders Make Fewer, Better Decisions

Senior leaders must make high-impact decisions with less visibility by treating decision-making as a discipline and designing supportive systems.

I Stopped Fixing Problems and Built a Team That Solves Them Using a Three-Question Rule

Shifting from solving to questioning fosters team ownership and accelerates growth.

11 ways to make leadership skills contagious

Effective leaders exhibit curiosity, self-awareness, and investment in team growth, fostering an environment that encourages interpersonal risk-taking and meaningful contributions.

Yes, it's possible to lead without dominating. Here's how

Modern leadership requires balancing authority with openness, fostering shared ownership while delivering results, and avoiding the pitfalls of dominance.

Your Management Strategy Is Doomed to Fail If You Don't Do This

Effective management focuses on execution through a straightforward approach: face reality, investigate issues, fix them systematically, and own the outcomes.

Marketing

Most Leaders Focus on Goals. They're Missing the Big Picture

Leaders must understand the broader context surrounding their plans to ensure successful outcomes.

How Senior Leaders Make Fewer, Better Decisions

Senior leaders must make high-impact decisions with less visibility by treating decision-making as a discipline and designing supportive systems.

I Stopped Fixing Problems and Built a Team That Solves Them Using a Three-Question Rule

Shifting from solving to questioning fosters team ownership and accelerates growth.

11 ways to make leadership skills contagious

Effective leaders exhibit curiosity, self-awareness, and investment in team growth, fostering an environment that encourages interpersonal risk-taking and meaningful contributions.

more#leadership

#organizational-culture

Why Leaders Often Discover Organizational Problems Too Late

Hidden problems in teams often remain unreported due to a culture that discourages early issue escalation, leading to delayed responses and increased costs.

Why Great Employees Still Fail Inside the Wrong Strategy

Culture drives behavior under pressure, influencing differentiation through shared conviction and adaptive thinking.

Why Leaders Often Discover Organizational Problems Too Late

Hidden problems in teams often remain unreported due to a culture that discourages early issue escalation, leading to delayed responses and increased costs.

more#organizational-culture

Why Great Employees Still Fail Inside the Wrong Strategy

Culture drives behavior under pressure, influencing differentiation through shared conviction and adaptive thinking.

Start Strong But Never Finish? 4 Causes and 4 Solutions

Starting strong and quitting is common due to tedium, poor planning, and discouragement; recognizing patterns and seeking support can help overcome this.

What to do after a life-defining mistake

The only thing worse than making a mistake is keeping it bottled up inside. Learning from the mistakes of others could help you embark on the healing journey of sharing and working through a mistake of your own, with someone you trust.

Books

Healthcare

Dignity as a competitive business model

Healthcare affordability is forcing families to delay care, highlighting the need for dignity-centered care models that prioritize patient respect and community health.

Parenting

6 Types of Leadership and Parenting Styles: What's Yours?

Leadership styles in work and parenting vary, with a balanced approach being the most effective for clear expectations and support.

Marketing tech

fromMarTech

As AI does more of the work, are we building the right leaders? | MarTech

AI is transforming marketing analysis but may obscure foundational issues that affect decision-making.

#emotional-intelligence

fromSilicon Canals

Psychology suggests people who stay calm during conflict aren't less emotional - they learned early that the person who controls the temperature of the room controls the outcome, and they stopped reacting and started choosing - Silicon Canals

Controlling emotional responses during conflict can significantly influence the outcome of the situation.

Psychology

Leaders Should Stop Suppressing and Start Signaling Emotions

fromSilicon Canals

Psychology suggests people who stay calm during conflict aren't less emotional - they learned early that the person who controls the temperature of the room controls the outcome, and they stopped reacting and started choosing - Silicon Canals

Controlling emotional responses during conflict can significantly influence the outcome of the situation.

more#emotional-intelligence

Leaders Should Stop Suppressing and Start Signaling Emotions

Emotional intelligence is a critical skill for leaders, requiring real-time emotional regulation rather than suppression.

Growth hacking

The 3-Step Talent Audit That Keeps Your Leadership Team Aligned and Performing

Treat talent as capital to enhance team performance and strategic alignment.

Marketing

Liking corporate BS may be a sign you're bad at decision-making, Cornell expert finds | Fortune

Corporate jargon can mislead and impair decision-making, as shown by research on receptivity to corporate bulls-t.

fromBusiness Matters

From Tactical Units to Boardrooms: Frank Elsner's Evolving Career

I've always been interested in structure and teamwork. Growing up, I was very active in sport. I wrestled competitively and was ranked in the province. That taught me discipline and the importance of working together towards a common goal.

Canada news

When Executive Presence Backfires

Executive presence is essential for senior leaders, characterized by confidence and decisiveness, influencing career advancement and performance evaluations.

How to Draw the Line Between AI Insights and Human Decisions

High-performance teams leverage clear ownership and decision velocity to enhance AI-informed decision-making in competitive environments.

Many productivity programs solve the wrong problem. This is what leaders should do instead

Organizations face work design problems rather than productivity issues, leading to temporary solutions that fail to address underlying conflicts in problem-solving approaches.

Business

Boards Need to Rethink How They Advise CEOs

Boards need to adapt discussions despite having experienced members, as CEOs struggle to prioritize amid disruption.

Berlin

The humiliation cycle: How leaders accidentally weaponize their competition against them

Stack ranking undermines performance by fostering a political system rather than a meritocracy, leading to humiliation and conflict among employees.

Leading While Autistic

Autistic leaders thrive in organizations that embrace diverse talent, challenging stereotypes about autism and leadership.

Remote teams

Many Employees Are Complaining That Work Has Been 'Stripped of Fun' - Here's Why

Employee morale is declining as companies cut perks and increase workloads with AI.

I was laid off twice from the same company. The second time was a gut punch but taught me not to take cuts personally.

When the CEO held a virtual town hall in 2020 and said there needed to be layoffs, I knew I would be one of the first to go because I served zero purpose at that point.

Marketing

fromInfoQ

Hidden Decisions You Don't Know You're Making

Decision-making is a fundamental aspect of work and life, influencing culture, relationships, and future choices.

Growth hacking

This Is the Type of Leadership You Can't Afford to Ignore

Evidence-based leadership transforms entrepreneurial vision into measurable strategies for sustainable innovation and sound capital allocation.

Women in technology

fromBig Think

2 weeks ago

A bravery deficit is holding back today's leaders

Reshma Saujani transitioned from corporate law to activism, founding Girls Who Code and advocating for social justice and better child care policies.

#workplace-burnout

Burnout Looks Different Across the Org Chart. Watch for These Signs.

Workplace burnout is a complex issue that requires more than just simple solutions like fewer hours or better boundaries.

The leadership skill we're losing: knowing when to slow down

Unexamined speed in modern work culture prioritizes motion over progress, causing burnout and lower long-term growth, while deliberate pace and patience enable sustainable success.

Burnout Looks Different Across the Org Chart. Watch for These Signs.

Workplace burnout is a complex issue that requires more than just simple solutions like fewer hours or better boundaries.

The leadership skill we're losing: knowing when to slow down

Unexamined speed in modern work culture prioritizes motion over progress, causing burnout and lower long-term growth, while deliberate pace and patience enable sustainable success.

more#workplace-burnout

How (and why) to give your team time to think

Teams are optimized for activity over creativity, leading to a lack of innovative breakthroughs.

How to Treat Your Successes Like Renewable Resources

Success can create pressure and lead to misaligned goals for entrepreneurs, making them feel obligated rather than fulfilled.

Teaching Executives to Shed Trauma Responses

Stress and burnout are increasing in the workforce, exacerbated by past trauma affecting employee behavior and productivity.

#ai-adoption

AI success is a leadership test-and the 100 Best Companies lead the way | Fortune

Leadership is crucial for successful AI adoption; without trust and support, employees remain hesitant despite having access to technology.

fromMedium

Artificial intelligence

When Not to Use AI: Strategic Restraint as a Leadership Skill

Leaders must prioritize responsible AI adoption, focusing on strategic deployment rather than indiscriminate implementation to avoid pitfalls.

AI success is a leadership test-and the 100 Best Companies lead the way | Fortune

Leadership is crucial for successful AI adoption; without trust and support, employees remain hesitant despite having access to technology.

fromMedium

When Not to Use AI: Strategic Restraint as a Leadership Skill

Leaders must prioritize responsible AI adoption, focusing on strategic deployment rather than indiscriminate implementation to avoid pitfalls.

Psychology says people who command the most respect in a room aren't the loudest or most confident - they're the ones who can disagree without making others feel stupid for having believed something different - Silicon Canals

Respectful disagreement fosters genuine influence and encourages open dialogue.

#management

Philosophy

Our whole way of thinking about leadership is a century out of date

Careers

Former Amazon VP explains the best way to get a bad manager removed

Careers

When You're Worn Down-and Your Team Is Too

17 ideas on coaching new managers

Not every employee should move to management; coaching individual contributors is essential for their growth and success.

Business

The Value of Leadership Training

Coaching managers in structured communication and expectation-setting prevents problems, engages leaders, uncovers performance issues, and improves organizational performance and profitability.

Philosophy

Our whole way of thinking about leadership is a century out of date

Modern management practices rooted in outdated principles treat employees as costs rather than valuable contributors, hindering motivation and performance.

Former Amazon VP explains the best way to get a bad manager removed

Escalating complaints about a bad manager often backfires; a coordinated approach with documentation is more effective.

When You're Worn Down-and Your Team Is Too

Joy in management is about finding deep satisfaction and fostering meaningful connections, not just fleeting happiness.

17 ideas on coaching new managers

Not every employee should move to management; coaching individual contributors is essential for their growth and success.

Business

The Value of Leadership Training

My New Boss Has Some Unfortunate Corporate Mannerisms. I'm Having an Involuntary Reaction to It.

Corporate-speak can create barriers in communication, leading to feelings of condescension and stress in workplace relationships.

Remote teams

fromSlate Magazine

A New Executive Has Taken On a Common Office Problem. She's Made It So Much Worse.

Fridge management policies imposed by a new manager are causing stress and conflict among employees.

The biggest mistake CEOs make with AI has nothing to do with the technology | Fortune

Advanced generative AI tools will transform industries rather than destroy established software companies.

Business

How Leaders Can Build a High-Agency Culture

Larry Culp became GE's first outsider CEO in 2018, inheriting a crisis with plummeting stock and excessive debt.

Toxic Leaders Put Your Heart and Brain Health at Risk

Subtle workplace abuse significantly threatens heart and brain health, often overlooked compared to more obvious forms of mistreatment.

Agile

7 leadership moves that matter before you step in front of your team

Effective leadership communication requires intentional message planning before creating slides, focusing on what the audience should think, feel, and do.

3 signs your company is using AI incorrectly

Most organizations struggle with AI due to a lack of strategic thinking, not technology issues.

Miscellaneous

4 weeks ago

Want a Leadership Coach? Just Ask AI

AI disrupts leadership practices, and leaders can use AI itself as a coaching tool to navigate uncertainty, test ideas, and develop better decision-making skills.

fromJohnjwang

Artificial intelligence

Why are executives enamored with AI but ICs aren't?

Executives embrace AI for its non-deterministic nature, while individual contributors remain skeptical due to their focus on deterministic tasks.

#leadership-development

Business intelligence

Why cutting leadership development now will cost you later

Organizations reducing leadership development during pressure risk operational failures as AI expands role complexity and decision demands on senior leaders.

Business

The 10 brutally honest questions all good leaders should ask themselves

fromBig Think

Business

The six elements of a successful leadership development system

Business intelligence

Why cutting leadership development now will cost you later

Organizations reducing leadership development during pressure risk operational failures as AI expands role complexity and decision demands on senior leaders.

Business

The 10 brutally honest questions all good leaders should ask themselves

fromBig Think

more#leadership-development

Business

The six elements of a successful leadership development system

From Contender to Champion

Champions manage pressure and maintain focus, allowing them to perform effectively under high-stakes situations.

Your Team Doesn't Need a 'Work Family' - It Needs This System That Holds Up When It Counts

Teams struggle with clarity, not effort; accountability erodes when support blurs lines between family and business.

Burnt-out managers are destroying teams. These 5 daily habits reverse it

Burnout among managers is prevalent, but resilience can be built through specific daily habits, including openly practicing self-care.

Toxic bosses don't just hurt people. They hurt the bottom line

Toxic bosses significantly harm organizational culture, employee well-being, and financial performance, making them a critical issue for leaders to address.

Always the Fixer, Never the Leader?

Dependability can hinder career advancement by making individuals indispensable but not seen as leaders.

Why Leaders Should Go Slower to Go Faster

Effective leadership combines AI's analytical speed with human reflection, judgment, and ethical consideration to navigate complexity and uncertainty.

fromSecuritymagazine

Succeeding A Legendary Leader

Succeeding a beloved leader in an organization presents unique challenges due to inherited reputations and expectations.

2 weeks ago

How leaders and managers can befriend their inner critic and get ahead at work

Befriending your inner critic can lead to better decision-making and improved leadership skills.

How to Stop Reacting and Start Leading

Too many founders get stuck in reactive mode, buried in meetings and fire drills. But if you're always reacting, you're not really leading. You must move from reactive operator to strategic leader, which requires a mindset shift. Understand that you're not the firefighter - you're the architect. Ask yourself: If you disappeared for two weeks, what would break? That's where your real work begins.

Startup companies

2 weeks ago

Why Leaders Who Prioritize Mental Resilience Win in the Long Run

Leadership credibility requires internal alignment between culture, systems, and external messaging, with emotional resilience serving as an operational advantage rather than optional workplace benefit.

What Rising Through the Ranks to CEO Taught Me About Leadership at Any Scale

I've spent my career straddling the structured discipline of Fortune 500 companies and the entrepreneurial scrappiness of startups. Each side has its strengths. Startups move fast, fueled by creativity and urgency. Corporations scale big, built on systems and predictability. But the future of leadership belongs to those who can bridge the two; leaders who think like founders and lead like CEOs.

Startup companies

Why hope is not a strategy, and what leaders should do instead

Hope functions as a measurable, trainable organizational asset that fosters agency, pathway thinking, goals, and cohesion to sustain performance and perseverance during uncertainty.

Leadership That Lasts: Why Discipline Beats Personality

The way we think about leadership is changing. For years, many people believed that a leader had to be a larger-than-life personality to succeed. This type of leadership focuses on being visible, getting attention, and constantly staying in the spotlight. But organizations that last are rarely built on individual rockstars. They are built on strong systems, clear accountability, and disciplined execution that does not depend on one person carrying the weight.

Business

5 Eye-Opening Lessons I've Learned From the Boardroom

Board members must watch decisions' long-term consequences, prioritizing organizational health over immediate control and resisting efficiency pressures that externalize costs.

Startup companies

Why the Real Test of Leadership Is What Happens Without You

A business is scalable only when it can run without its founder; succession requires systems and access, not personal trust or family ties.

fromLondon Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

The leadership skills AI can't replace

AI scales intelligence rapidly but lacks contextual wisdom, so leaders must preserve human judgement to ensure decisions promote human flourishing.

Leadership isn't a promotion. It's a practice (and most people still get it backwards). - London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Because leadership today is no longer something you get. It is something you do, repeatedly, consciously, and it is often uncomfortable. Too many people still confuse leadership with promotion. A bigger role. A larger team. A seat at the table. Yet the most consistent leadership failures I observe have little to do with competence, and everything to do with behaviour.

Business

To Execute a Unified Strategy, Leaders Need to Shadow Each Other

Companies using a one-company operating model are 2.3 times likelier to be top-quartile high-performing organizations and achieve global scale and integrated services.

New to the Executive Team? Start Here.

Executive team roles come with high expectations-and often minimal onboarding.

Business

fromForbes