Management

This week’s tips are adapted from Phil Le-Brun and Jana Werner’s new book, The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation (HBR Press). An “Octopus Organization” is flexible, decentralized, and built for change. The journey to becoming one begins with identifying “antipatterns”: formulaic responses to complex challenges that can set […]

This week’s tips are adapted from Phil Le-Brun and Jana Werner’s new book, The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation (HBR Press). An “Octopus Organization” is flexible, decentralized, and built for change. The journey to becoming one begins with identifying “antipatterns”: formulaic responses to complex challenges that can set […]

This week’s tips are adapted from Phil Le-Brun and Jana Werner’s new book, The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation (HBR Press). An “Octopus Organization” is flexible, decentralized, and built for change. The journey to becoming one begins with identifying “antipatterns”: formulaic responses to complex challenges that can set […]

To successfully implement AI in your organization, you need more than technical specs—you need a behavioral strategy. Here’s how to align AI with how people actually think and work.   Design for real users, not ideal ones. Don’t just optimize for seamlessness. Sometimes a little friction leads to better outcomes, like making users slow down and […]

If you want to make smarter decisions about AI—what tools to adopt, which use cases to prioritize—it’s time to dig deeper than the hype. You need to develop a personal, practical point of view to make sense of AI’s dizzying and relentless momentum. Here’s how to build one.  Seek diverse voices. Don’t rely on a […]

When pitching investors for capital, your instinct may be to highlight only the upside. But research shows that—when done right—candidly sharing setbacks can increase funding speed, lower borrowing costs, and improve trust. Here’s how to use strategic vulnerability to your advantage.  Set expectations with realism. Investors don’t expect perfection. In fact, overly polished pitches may […]

If you’re constantly pushing forward but rarely pausing to acknowledge your successes, you’re not alone among leaders. But it might be costing you. Celebrating wins can protect against burnout, boost resilience, and reinforce the mindset that progress matters. Here’s how to start.  Make your progress visible to yourself. When everything feels urgent, it’s easy to […]

To mark the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., we’re sharing one of our favorite tips on gratitude today. Expressing gratitude to your employees can feel awkward or uncomfortable. But celebrating your team members, especially around important holidays, can be a powerful, generous, and motivating gesture. Try writing a card or email that goes beyond a […]

If your AI pilots aren’t turning into real business value, the problem likely isn’t the tech itself—it’s the operating model. The 5Rs Framework offers a structure to align teams, processes, and incentives so AI can move from experimentation to enterprise-wide impact. Here are the five areas to focus on.  Roles. Clarify who owns what. Define […]

When you suspect a job candidate is having AI feed them answers to your interview questions, it’s tempting to play detective—maybe their answers feel too polished, or there’s a slight delay before they respond. But calling someone out for using AI during an interview can come off as hostile, and it doesn’t reveal what matters […]

When personal and professional crises collide, your capacity and clarity can quickly erode. You can’t compartmentalize your way through it; instead, take these steps to stay steady, sustain progress, and lead well despite the competing pressures.  Start by naming what’s real. Avoid pretending everything is fine. Acknowledge what you’re feeling—fatigue, grief, stress—so you can respond […]

If you’re experimenting with gen AI across your company, be careful not to spread your efforts out too much. Shallow and broad AI deployments may produce short-term wins, but they rarely lead to lasting advantage. A smarter strategy is to go deep and narrow by using AI to strengthen one high-impact area that competitors can’t […]

As a leader, the decisions you make in high-stakes moments carry weight far beyond legal or operational impact—they shape trust, culture, and your credibility. When every option feels risky, here’s how to lead with clarity and care.  Map trade-offs instead of reacting on instinct. Big decisions—think restructuring, layoffs, and policy shifts—carry legal, reputational, and cultural […]

Your company strategy should inspire, energize, and align employees. But when strategy language is too vague (hello, “market leader” and “agility”), teams interpret it through personal or cultural filters. The result? Misalignment, drift, and wasted effort. To avoid this, you need to make strategy specific enough to guide action—without stifling creativity. Here’s how.   Illustrate what […]

You know that trust is essential to good leadership—but do you have a reliable way to measure it? Instead of relying on gut instinct or vague proxies like engagement scores, you need to start measuring, tracking, and managing trust in your organization the same way you do other key metrics like financial performance or customer […]

Periods of transformation often increase employee uncertainty—and attrition. A talent strategy can stabilize your workforce by signaling investment in their future and equipping them with the skills they need to thrive. Here are four pillars of a successful talent strategy in times of transformation. Leadership development. Retention starts with leaders. Employees look to them for […]

If you’re a woman stepping into senior leadership during midlife, menopause symptoms like hot flashes or brain fog can feel like professional roadblocks—but they don’t have to be. Here are some research-backed strategies to lead through menopause with strength and clarity. Advocate for your health. Don’t settle for vague answers or inadequate treatment. Take initiative: […]

Coaching your team doesn’t always have to happen in formal, dedicated sessions—it can simply be a way of leading. The best coaching often happens in short, consistent moments throughout the day. Here’s how to embed it in the flow of work. Use in-the-moment nudges. Spot teachable moments in casual settings: after a meeting, in a […]

Yesterday we went over four ways to address your team’s low morale. If your team is checked out or stuck in “job-hugging” mode—clinging to their jobs despite low engagement—it’s time to act. Here are four more strategies to help you reverse employee discontent. Support well-being. Make mental health resources easy to access and normalize their […]

Your team’s performance depends on how they feel at work—and right now, many employees feel burned out, disconnected, and underappreciated. If you want to reverse that trend, start by addressing the root causes.  Remove the biggest frustrations. Ask yourself what makes work harder than it should be. Whether it’s an unmanageable workload or inefficient processes, focus on removing friction […]