Fisher’s insights remind leaders that communication is less about perfect words and more about intentional presence. By regulating their own emotions, acknowledging others, and framing conversations clearly, leaders can turn moments of tension into opportunities for deeper understanding and stronger relationships.

• Winning the argument often means losing the relationship

  Fisher argues that approaching conversations with the goal of “winning” creates resentment and damages trust. Effective communicators treat conflict like a knot to untangle rather than a contest to conquer, focusing instead on restoring flow in the relationship.

• Connection requires both understanding and acknowledgement

  Fisher describes connection as a kind of “two-factor authentication.” People need to feel both understood and acknowledged before real communication can happen. Simply asking one more thoughtful question or validating another person’s experience can transform a conversation.

• Great communicators control themselves before trying to control others

  When conversations become heated, self-regulation becomes essential. Pauses, silence, and thoughtful framing slow the conversation down and create space for clarity. Leaders who manage their own tone and pace signal confidence and stability to everyone involved.

1. Shift your goal from winning to understanding

   The next time conflict arises, resist the urge to prove your point. Instead, focus on untangling the issue and preserving the relationship.

2. Acknowledge before you respond

   When someone shares an experience or concern, pause to validate what they said before adding your own perspective. That small act can dramatically increase connection.

3. Frame important conversations clearly

   Before beginning a difficult discussion, explain what you want to talk about, what outcome you hope to reach, and invite the other person’s participation. Clear framing reduces anxiety and keeps the conversation productive.

By Rodger Dean Duncan

Téa Angelos is a visionary on a mission.

Educated in both business and the law, she has multiple options for her own career. Sign up with a big corporation and get lost in the crowd? Nope. Her quest is to help people one at a time.

So, what is she doing and how is she doing it?

She’s founder and CEO of Smart Women Society (SWS). It’s one of the largest and fastest-growing online platforms helping a thriving community of more than 400,000 women get smarter about their money, careers, wellbeing, and relationships.

This isn’t some dare-to-be-fabulous scheme fueled by rah rah cheerleading. SWS features online courses and other solid resources to help women (and men) navigate life successfully.

Angelos recently released her book Smart Moves: Simple Ways to Take Control of Your Life. It’s earning accolades around the world for its practical, no-nonsense approach to common challenges.

For example, if you’re in a job interview, what questions should you be prepared to ask?

“At the end of a job interview, the interviewer will often invite you to ask questions,” Angelos says. “You should use this opportunity strategically to show that you’re genuinely interested in the role and the company, as well as to determine if the job aligns with your goals and values.”

She says questions you might consider are What does a typical day in this role look like? What are some of the growth opportunities in this role? and What is your favorite thing about working here?

These questions will help you understand more about the company, the role and its responsibilities, as well as any points that were not already discussed in the interview. Prepare a few questions before your interview and ask the most relevant ones based on your discussion with the interviewer.

Another important job-related interview is the one you have when leaving a position.

Aside from “don’t burn any bridges,” what advice does Angelos have for how to resign from a job before leaving for a new one?

“Whether you love or hate your existing role or manager, resigning from your job can feel daunting,” she says. “I know it is easier said than done, but try not let your emotions get the better of you. Resigning on good terms will give you confidence during the transition that you have made the right decision and are closing the chapter on that previous role.”

She recommends scheduling a meeting (preferably in person) to share the news with with your manager. “If you experience any pushback, stay calm, polite and keep it as brief as possible,” she advises. “Submit a formal resignation letter, which includes key details like your last day of work. Before finishing off at the company, assist with handing over your work and projects to your team or the next person taking your job.”

What about that bridge-burning thing? “As tempting as it may be to bad mouth your employer, stay professional and end things on good terms,” Angelos says. “You never know when you will cross paths with or need to reconnect with colleagues and mentors again. People move around in their careers, so staying connected may lead to your next big role or help you find employees when you become a manager yourself. Get people’s personal email addresses and connect with them on LinkedIn to stay in touch.”

As eager to please as good employees tend to be, there are some occasions when it’s simply smart to say no to a workplace request. Angelos offers tips on how to do it without coming across as impolite, insubordinate, uncooperative, or otherwise unprofessional.

“Learning when to say no is one of the most important skills to acquire in the workplace,” she says. “Not only does it protect you from being overworked and taken advantage of, but it also helps protect the passion and drive you have for your job. Too often, eager employees are cursed with saying yes to everything, leading them to be exhausted, frustrated and resenting the job which they once loved.”

She suggests a number of situations where you should consider saying no

• When the task interferes with your actual responsibilities

• The deadline is unrealistic

• You’re on leave

• You’re being taken unfair advantage of

• You are not qualified (or the best qualified) to complete the task

• You’re asked to do something unethical or unsafe

“Getting comfortable with saying no to your boss, colleague or client takes practice,” she says. “Be polite and don’t over-explain yourself. A simple ‘I don’t have capacity at the moment’ or ‘I’m on leave that day, so won’t be able to assist’ is sufficient. You are setting a boundary to protect your time and energy, so be confident and stay firm if there’s any pushback. Having a strong understanding of why you are saying no to the request will allow you to do so with conviction.”

Some conversations at work (and elsewhere, of course) can be uncomfortable and even risky. Angelos offers tips for handling them well.

“There will be many times throughout your career when you’ll need to have those scary conversations,” she says. “Whether you’re asking for a pay rise, raising a complaint, or advocating for a change, these conversations all require planning, execution and accountability. Prepare and practice what you want to say beforehand and be clear on the result or outcome that you’re seeking. Find the right time to have the conversation and be open to discussion with the other party. Always focus on coming to a solution and be sure to follow up and check in once the conversation is over.”

Most everyone makes occasional mistakes at work. An important thing is how one bounces back from a mistake.

“Making a mistake at work can take a toll on your self-confidence and have you questioning your ability in your job,” Angelos says. “Recovering from a mistake can take time, but being able to bounce back will boost your confidence and allow you to grow both personally and professionally. You will make plenty of mistakes over your career, no matter what rank or stage you are at, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with the mistake cycle and embrace the situation as a learning opportunity instead of a set-back.”

Here are the steps she suggests:

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In this conversation, Ram Charan brings a sobering and practical perspective on the evolving global landscape. Drawing from decades of advising top CEOs and boards, he outlines how large-scale economic strategies are reshaping industries and exposing vulnerabilities that many leaders have underestimated. More importantly, he shifts the focus from awareness to action—highlighting what leaders must do now to prepare for what lies ahead.

At its core, this is not just a conversation about global competition. It is a conversation about leadership in a world of increasing complexity. The leaders who succeed will be those who stay externally aware, think systemically, and continuously adapt their organizations to realities that are changing faster than ever before.

• Leaders Must Think Externally, Not Just Internally

  Awareness of global trends, policies, and shifts is now essential for effective leadership.

• Coordination Beats Fragmentation

  Success increasingly depends on aligned, cross-functional and cross-organizational efforts.

• Continuous Learning Is a Leadership Requirement

  Leaders must actively update their knowledge and skills to remain relevant.

1. Build Cross-Functional Alignment

   Ensure key areas like operations, finance, and strategy are working together toward shared goals.

2. Commit to Continuous Learning

   Develop a habit of learning new skills and staying informed beyond your immediate role.

3. Ask Better Strategic Questions

   Focus on what could disrupt your business, not just what is currently working.

By Rodger Dean Duncan

Look around you. You’re surrounded by creative people. Or at the very least, you’re surrounded by the work of creative people.

Consider that smart watch on your wrist. What about your TV remote that responds to your voice commands? And the home where you live? It’s the product of architects, designers, and even artists.

The food you eat reached your table because of someone’s creativity (think agricultural scientists, farmers, truck drivers.)

In fact, every single convenience—and necessity—that you may take for granted comes to you by way of someone else’s creativity.

But guess what? You are creative, too. And likely more so than you imagine.

Dr. Seuss had some wise advice on the subject: “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.”

Someone else who offers some relevant insight is Dr. Steven Kowalski. He’s a leading voice in the global movement for conscious creativity and a seasoned coach and consultant in organizational development. His book is CREATIVE TOGETHER: Sparking Innovation in the New World of Work.

Rodger Dean Duncan: You say that some people have CDD—Creative Disruption Disorder. Tell us what you mean by that.

Steven Kowalski: Actually, most all of us have some form of CDD. It comes from believing an old story about what creativity is, how it works, and who we each are as creators. If we’re walking around with that old story, we most likely believe that creativity is an ability, and some people are just more creative than others. Or we confuse creativity with a special talent, like in the arts. We stop paying attention to the many ways our creativity might show up on any given day. The truth is that creativity is a potential, not an ability. That means it’s there when we need it. Every one of us can access this potential when the circumstances call for it. Walking around with CDD, and believing the old story disables and diminishes access to our creative potential. Embracing the new story frees us to reclaim our creative potential and use it more consciously in our work and lives.

Duncan: In today’s economic climate, many people in traditional jobs are giving entrepreneurship a close look. How can they activate creativity within themselves to improve their chances for success in their fresh career paths?

Kowalski: The key in today’s new world of work is to get creative together.

Maybe you’re working to develop a new product or technology or to improve a manufacturing process. Maybe you’re cutting waste, looking to connect differently with customers, or coming up with ways to mitigate risks. Whatever your goal, in the new world of work, we have to bust the myth that we can create alone. And often, entrepreneurs who start with a strong vision of their “own” can struggle to scale and sustain their vision as it meets with constraints and obstacles out in the world. They can also struggle to inspire and motivate others—especially if there’s no room for others’ creativity to help shape and iterate the entrepreneur’s original vision.

In our hyperconnected, interdependent, and complex world of work, I advocate for shifting to a kind of entrepreneuring that’s founded on co-creation—where we’re generating new value together in ways we couldn’t on our own.

Duncan: What role does clarity of purpose play in people’s ability to unleash their creativity?

Kowalski: Purpose, as it turns out, is the most powerful force that gives rise to conditions that call for creativity. It’s the reason why your creativity might show up at any given moment. The same reason why the status quo doesn’t serve your goals and aspirations any longer. And clarity of purpose is essential to ignite creative potential—especially when that purpose is developed together with others and experienced as “shared.” That means the purpose is crafted together, versus handed down like a mandate.

Purpose generates gravitational pull. It activates creativity. But remember: poorly defined or “weak” purposes generate weak conditions—not “less” creative potential. Strong purposes that are shared and meaningful drive us to overcome the many challenges and obstacles we will likely encounter on a creative venture.

Duncan: The so-called imposter syndrome seems to affect a lot of people’s self-confidence. What’s your advice on dealing with self-doubt?

Kowalski: Self-doubt is a natural component of any creative effort when we are changing and challenging the status quo and venturing into the unknown on a journey of discovery. The problem arises when we let self-doubt stop us in our quest. What would happen if we recognized it as a likely test along the way—instead of something to be ashamed of? Then, we could greet our self-doubt with curiosity and even humor rather than with dread. The key is to distinguish when self-doubt is an appropriate response to what’s emerging, like when our next step is unclear, and we are wondering if we need to adjust our approach or change our plan. That’s completely different than when self-doubt is coming from what I call our “inner critic.” That’s the voice of judgment in our head that criticizes and stifles creativity, learning, and exploration. If we recognize our inner critic is stirring up self-doubt, we must adopt a zero-tolerance approach and psyche out the critic.

Duncan: How can members of a team collaborate in ways that take greatest advantage of each other’s creativity?

Kowalski: I like to focus on two critical practices for teams working on projects, initiatives, and ventures that require creativity and innovation: co-creating and sharing leadership.

First, in co-creation, teams jointly produce a tangible product or solution that adds new value—something they could not generate alone. An example from the life sciences industry might be what we call an “integrated healthcare solution.” That’s a constellation of products and services that are integrated to serve a patient’s need more effectively. Co-creation on efforts like these requires individuals on teams to work differently, like iterating and experimenting in shorter cycles and learning when to lean in and advocate for your perspective, and when to let go and support someone else’s perspective.

Second, to share leadership, we have to unbuckle ourselves from the idea that some people have power over others. That means letting go of the power of position and any hint of “command and control.” Instead, we stand together so that anyone can step forward into leadership as the circumstances shift and evolve.

Duncan: What can leaders do to help establish a workplace culture that both encourages and cultivates creativity?

Kowalski: That’s a big question. Mostly because the components of culture operate below the visible surface—things like shared norms, values, and practices that take time to change and evolve.

To evolve culture in ways that foster creativity and innovation, I focus on three arenas—(1) working with leadership and the “shadow” leaders and managers cast on the organization; (2) building skills and capabilities that turn creativity into innovative results; and (3) developing a pipeline of innovation projects/initiatives where people can create tangible, new value.

With respect to the first, the leader’s role, a couple of key watchouts are important. First, be sure that your own “tolerance for ambiguity” is not shutting down exploration and discovery too early in the process. Second, make space for others’ ideas. Your “power of position” can easily lead people to adopt your ideas without questioning, challenging, or disagreeing. And finally, consciously choose when to give answers, and when to ask questions that open up space for others.

Duncan: You say people can claim their “Creative License” by practicing five actions that amplify their potential. What are those actions?

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In this conversation, Bill Stainton challenges conventional thinking by reframing innovation as a mindset rather than a moment. Drawing from his experience producing a long-running television show that required continuous creativity, he reveals how innovation can be practiced consistently, not occasionally. Through powerful stories and practical strategies, he shows how leaders can unlock the ideas already within their teams—often from voices that are overlooked.

At its core, innovation is about solving problems in better ways and creating value from ideas. The leaders who succeed are not those waiting for the next big breakthrough, but those who build environments where ideas can emerge, be tested, and evolve. Innovation is not a private club. It is a skill anyone can develop—and a responsibility every leader must embrace.

• Innovation Is a Mindset, Not a Moonshot

  Breakthrough results come from consistent thinking patterns, not rare flashes of brilliance.

• Great Ideas Often Come from Unexpected Voices

  Valuable insights are frequently overlooked because of hierarchy, personality, or assumptions.

• Better Questions Lead to Better Innovation

  Shifting the question can unlock entirely new possibilities and solutions.

1. Make Innovation a Daily Habit

   Look for small opportunities to improve processes rather than waiting for major change initiatives.

2. Invite Every Voice into the Conversation

   Actively create space for quieter or less senior team members to contribute ideas.

3. Reinforce a Culture of Safe Experimentation

   Recognize effort and learning, not just successful outcomes.

By Rodger Dean Duncan

If you were to write the job description for “leader,” one of the bullet points would likely be something related to “engagement.” The leader’s responsibility is not to create followers. It’s to create more leaders. This cascading effect is what gets things done. It requires appealing to people’s heads, hearts, and hopes.

While it’s true that self-starting achievers typically don’t need a lot of strokes, giving too little feedback is a common trust buster.

I once heard a so-called leader say “My people should just be grateful to have jobs. If they do something wrong, I’ll let ‘em know. Otherwise, they should just press on. There’s too much work to do to take time with a bunch of back-slapping.”

In that same conversation, this guy wondered aloud why his people didn’t seem very engaged in the work.

It’s been said that feedback is the breakfast of champions. Unfortunately, a lot of the feedback offered in the workplace is a meal worth missing.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re talking with Phil about his job performance and you deliver a speech that goes something like this: “Okay, Phil. As you know, we’re raising the bar around here. We need to get more out of you this coming year. It seems like you’re not really stretching, and you need to stretch. You’re definitely in the ‘Needs Improvement’ category, and we need you to step up to the ‘Meets Expectations’ slot. So get out there and show us what you can do.”

That little speech may sound like something from a Saturday Night Live skit, but it’s virtually verbatim from the kind of drivel that some people try to pass off as helpful feedback.

If you’re the Phil in that scenario, you’ll likely go home and tell your wife: “I don’t know what those people expect of me. I’m already working my tail off and all they tell me is that I need to ‘stretch.’ What’s that’s supposed to mean?”

Frustrating? Yes. Does feedback need to be an unpleasant, even harmful experience? Absolutely not.

Tamra Chandler offers some great tips on how to help people grow and develop through insightful observation and coaching. She’s author of Feedback: Why We Fear It, How to Fix It.

Rodger Dean Duncan: What is it about “feedback” that seems to make many people break out in a cold sweat?

Tamra Chandler: Most of us have been conditioned—through bad experiences that start in our youth and continue throughout our lives—to expect feedback to hurt. This conditioning creates connections in our brains that trigger our “fight or flight” reactions when presented with feedback.

When we look closely at what really frightens us about feedback, it boils down to this: identity and connection. At the heart of our fear is our identity, and how that identity is shaped and reinforced by our connections to and affiliations with the rest of the world. Humans are social beings; we instinctively want to be included and valued. The need to stay connected with and accepted by our communities drives our actions without our intellectual complicity. In the end, this desire for belonging gets seriously in the way of giving and receiving feedback.

Duncan: When people are struggling with “ghosts of feedback past,” how can a leader help them shift to a more pro-feedback perspective?

Chandler: We need to wipe the slate clean and start anew. Our first step is to redefine feedback to support our true intent and desired outcomes. We propose this new definition—

Feedback (NOUN): Clear and specific information that’s sought or extended for the sole intention of helping individuals or groups improve, grow, or advance.

Pay particular attention to “with the sole intention of helping.” Too often in our interactions, the feedback we receive is simply not helpful. If it isn’t intended to help individuals or teams thrive and grow, then why offer it or seek it?

It’s equally important to tune into what’s not in our definition: feedback is not intended as evaluation, blame, or judgment. We see feedback as insight that helps us look forward, to a better version of ourselves, our organization, or our team. Raking our past performance over the coals and attaching an evaluative label to it will not create a better you, me, or us.

Duncan: Everyone seems to favor employee engagement. What role does feedback play in engagement?

Chandler: Feedback gets to the heart of two things employees need to thrive: vitality and learning.

At its simplest level, vitality comes from a strong sense that what we do makes a difference. Learning means we’re building our skills and capabilities while simultaneously boosting our confidence in our potential growth.

It’s not hard to understand the connection between vitality, learning and feedback. Significant drivers of vitality include relationships, connections, recognition, and clarity—all outcomes of healthy, ongoing feedback conversations. Learning is the result of insights we gain that help us improve, expand, and advance –outcomes of trusted and specific feedback relevant to our growth.

So, if you’re looking to drive stronger performance from—and better experiences for—your people, fuel their sense of vitality and learning through inspiring and insightful feedback.

Duncan: Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has done years of research on mindset, which she describes as a self-perception of self-theory. How does mindset affect people’s resistance to—or effective use of—feedback?

Chandler: Mindset is a key factor in influencing our potential to grow and improve. Dweck coined the terms “fixed mindset” and “growth mindset”. People with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence and talent are fixed, that talent alone creates success. People with a growth mindset believe their talents and abilities can develop with hard work—they believe growth and improvement can happen.

When managers and organizational cultures adopt a growth mindset, people are more willing to ask questions, venture ideas, embrace challenges and focus on progress over perfection. To use feedback effectively as a catalyst to change, shift, grow and improve, both extenders and receivers of feedback need to operate from a growth mindset.

Duncan: Every great feedback experience, you say, is anchored in fairness, focus, and frequency. Please elaborate.

Read more

By Rodger Dean Duncan

As multiple studies continue to show, employee “engagement” is still a challenge in organizations across all industries. Silo mentality impedes collaboration and innovation. Blame and finger-pointing dilute accountability. A dangerously high number of people simply “check out” on the job. They may show up for work, but their hearts are not really invested.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that fragile trust is a primary cause of this disengagement—and fragile trust can be fixed. Moreover, it’s possible to make high trust the key ingredient in any relationship or organizational culture.

That’s the thesis of The 10 Laws of Trust: Building the Bonds That Make a Business Great.

Author Joel Peterson, former chairman of JetBlue and a Stanford University business professor, brought decades of experience to the subject of culture-building. He worked firsthand with more than 2,300 businesses, hundreds of partners, and thousands of leaders.

Trust, Joel said, develops one conversation, one assignment, one deal at a time. Sadly, Joel passed away in November 2025. This conversation reflects the legacy of wisdom he left.

Rodger Dean Duncan: You say you lack the paranoia gene—that you’re naturally inclined to trust other people. How does extending trust to others influence them to behave in trustworthy ways?

Joel Peterson: When people trust me, I don’t want to let them down. That is the secret to the power of trust. Being trusted often fuels exceptional performance. Most people respond to being trusted by being trustworthy—a reflection of a built-in sense of reciprocity.

Duncan: Character, competence, and authority, you say, are the three conditions of trust. Tell us about the competence part. What specific behaviors help people “get better” at trust?

Peterson: We trust those who deliver on promises. If competence is lacking, people are simply incapable of delivering, no matter their good intentions. For example, while most mothers have the character to be trustworthy, most don’t have the training to be trustworthy pilots. Therefore we know not to trust (most of) them to fly a plane.

Duncan: What do you tell people who are reluctant to extend trust because they’ve been betrayed by someone they trusted? How can they get comfortable in trusting someone else?

Peterson: First, heal the betrayal right away. If it’s not something that can be healed, move on and don’t look back. Recriminations will diminish both parties, as will wallowing in the betrayal.

When building a high-trust relationship, grant trust incrementally. Start with small and simple assignments. If performed well and on time, grant more trust, give more complex assignments. Built gradually, evaluated and repaired in the moment, trust can be a reliable and powerful currency.

Duncan: It’s been said that organizations get the kind of culture they tolerate. What does that suggest about behaviors that either build or erode trust?

Peterson: If you fail to address breaches of trust, or permit behaviors that erode trust, you’ll naturally develop a low trust organization. It always starts with the “tone at the top,” with the leadership team. Their trustworthiness will radiate to the broader organization. Feedback loops can be a positive or negative—in either case self-reinforcing to build a high-trust culture, or devolving into the politics, recriminations and conflicts that ensure a low-trust culture.

Duncan: Empowering others is a good way to build trust. How can a leader practice “smart trust” when delegating responsibility?

Peterson: Leaders should be attuned to competence, character and authority as the factors that permit the development of trust. The pseudo-trust that omits any one of them is a recipe for betrayal and disappointment.

Not only is well-founded trust the most powerful currency of any leader, but it is also the most fragile. A high-trust brand will take years to develop, but it can be shattered in an instant.

Duncan: What behaviors do you see as some of the most important “deposits” a person can make in building trust accounts with others?

Peterson: Besides delivering on promises and being transparent, taking responsibility when something doesn’t go according to plan can be a powerful way to build trust. Reflecting credit and absorbing blame is a good way to build trust with team members. Not allowing oneself to be a victim is another.

Duncan: What behaviors do you see as some of the most common “withdrawals” from people’s trust accounts with others?

Peterson: Of course, there are the obvious ones like lying outright or failing repeatedly to deliver on expectations. However, what is more insidious (and common) are the withdrawals that accompany “spin” or a lack of transparency.

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Paula Rizzo brings a practical and deeply personal perspective to this challenge. Drawing from her experience in high-pressure television production—and a life-altering health crisis—she reveals how intentional list-making can transform not just productivity, but mindset. Her approach goes beyond task management to help leaders reduce stress, sharpen focus, and communicate with greater impact.

• Lists Are Not Just Tools—They Are Thinking Systems

  Effective lists go beyond tracking tasks; they clarify intentions, priorities, and alignment with what truly matters.

• Boundaries Are Built Through Awareness of Capacity

  Understanding your time and energy limits enables you to say no—or not now—with confidence and professionalism.

• Simplicity Beats Perfection in Productivity Systems

  The best system is the one you consistently use, not the one that looks the most polished or sophisticated.

1. Define Tomorrow Before It Begins

   Create your list the night before to establish focus and eliminate decision friction at the start of the day.

2. Create “Default Decision” Lists

   Predefine options (such as meeting locations or routine choices) to reduce decision fatigue throughout the day.

3. Externalize Mental Load Regularly

   Use lists as a tool for clearing your mind, especially during periods of stress or emotional overwhelm.

Drawing from his experiences at innovative organizations and through his work with teams, Swire explains how cultures built purely around comfort often lead to stagnation. Real growth, he argues, happens when leaders create environments where people feel psychologically safe and encouraged to stretch beyond their comfort zones. The result is a culture where vulnerability, curiosity, and thoughtful risk-taking become catalysts for connection, innovation, and purpose.

• Safety and Risk Work Best Together
  Safety provides stability, but danger—thoughtful risk—creates motion and progress. The most innovative environments exist in the space between the two.

• Too Much Safety Leads to Stagnation
  Organizations that avoid discomfort often suppress dissent and creativity. People may appear agreeable in meetings while withholding their best ideas.

• Innovation Requires the Possibility of Failure
  New ideas emerge only when people are willing to challenge assumptions, ask difficult questions, and risk being wrong.

1. Identify One Area Where You’re Playing It Too Safe
   Ask yourself where fear of failure or judgment might be limiting your leadership or creativity.st the urge to deflect blame. Instead, model accountability and honesty.

2. Practice Structured Vulnerability
   Share a lesson from a recent mistake with your team and focus on what you learned from it.

3. Normalize Learning from Failure
   Encourage post-mortem discussions that focus on insights rather than blame.

By Rodger Dean Duncan

Early in my career I was a journalist covering business and politics. It was quickly obvious to me that people who could talk well had a clear advantage. Good thinking was of course important, but it wasn’t enough. They also needed to express their views in cogent, compelling language. And they needed to come across as genuine (today it’s call “authentic”), not playing a role.

I later wrote speeches for presidential cabinet officers and U.S Senators. Again, facility with language was of paramount importance. And just being able to read a speech was not enough. Some of their most critical communication was unscripted.

Then I ran global communication for one of America’s iconic brands, Campbell Soup Company. Again, the theme was consistent. The most effective leaders were the ones who paid the price to be good talkers. I don’t mean they were orators. Some of the best of them were not particularly eloquent. They were simply “real.” They punctuated their messages with relevant stories and believable data. They knew how to connect with people. They were credible because of their behavior, not their titles.

That invaluable prowess is the subject of Jack Modzelewski’s book Talk Is Chief: Leadership, Communication & Credibility in a High-Stakes World.

Jack has more than 35 years of experience with corporate and brand communications for clients in a wide spectrum of companies. After filling senior positions at public relations giant FleishmanHillard, he founded his own firm, JackKnifePR.

Jack’s views on communication should be studied by anyone who seeks to improve personal and organizational performance.

Rodger Dean Duncan: There’s no doubt that communication skills can help a leader produce good results. But some people seem to think that simply means being glib and fast with words. What do you regard as the critical ingredients in such skills?

Jack Modzelewski: Leaders who consistently lead their organizations to high levels of performance often share best communication practices and traits. They speak authentically and conversationally, even when scripted. They don’t try to earn style points sounding like someone they are not. They repeat important points to make sure they are understood by the widest possible audience. They project confidence and humility. They tell inspiring stories and give real workplace examples to connect with people at all levels of the organization.

Walmart founder Sam Walton lived by these communication practices. Howard Schultz at Starbucks and Doug Parker at American Airlines do it today.

Leaders must be prepared to explain why both good and bad things happen to their organizations. Some call that transparency. But it’s sharing lessons from both winning and sometimes losing. Telling people why one strategy worked well while another didn’t. More importantly, what comes next. Alan Mulally was very good in that regard while leading Ford.

Leaders need to compel the organization to both remember and visualize what its highest goals are. For organizations with huge ambitions (so common these days), the leader needs to create a picture of what the end goal is—a visualization that people can relate to in their daily service. The picture can be of happy customers, industry or societal acclaim, or some other worthy goal.

Duncan: What role do a leader’s communication behaviors play in the development of the organization’s culture?

Modzelewski: Culture drives behavior and performance. Leaders define and reinforce cultural imperatives with both their words and actions.

At FleishmanHillard we had a clear cultural philosophy. Everyone in the firm—leaders in particular—were expected to live the philosophy. Those values included respecting every person in the organization; putting current customers first; maintaining an entrepreneurial, never-complacent attitude; and working as teams in common cause across all our regions. If we as leaders were not living those values and serving as daily examples of what we expected, the organization would be confused and diminished. We also made our cultural values a big part of employee surveys and feedback on leadership performance.

A big challenge for leaders today is making their cultural values relevant to thousands of employees, whether in one country or internationally. A good example of best practice is Laurence Fink, chairman and CEO of the multinational investment firm BlackRock. He expects the same cultural values in every place where his firm does business. To do that well, good leaders know they should be highly visible. They visit offices, operations, and customers. They talk to people working in their stores, factories, labs, and call centers. By circulating through the organization, leaders gain valuable insights and stories to use later in their daily communications.

Duncan: You say the leader must be the “chief credibility officer.” What does that “look like” from the perspective of others in the organization?

Modzelewski: Credibility starts at the top. A leader’s narrative needs to be consistent inside and outside the organization. You can’t tell shareholders everything is rosy when employees may know otherwise. You are expected to be a corporate cheerleader at company townhall meetings, but facts and straight talk trump hyperbole in maintaining credibility with external stakeholders. Credibility comes down to trusting what leaders say and the roadmaps they present to reach organizational goals or resolve major challenges.

Boeing is an example where the CEO has put the company’s reputation on the line by putting out an incomplete narrative about what caused its Boeing 737 Max issues. U.S. senators, during a recent hearing, accused him of everything from underreacting to early warning signs to misleading them. (Credibility gets trashed a lot in Washington.)

Duncan: In a situation like an employee strike (GM comes to mind), how can both the strikers and the company best tell their stories without appearing biased and self-serving?

Modzelewski: The short answer is: on television. Because that’s where strong spokespeople can use both facts and emotion to persuade the public why their positions are in the public’s best interest.

Take the recent 15-day strike by teachers in the Chicago Public Schools system. The soundbites led one to conclude that the teachers were underpaid and under resourced, and that the City of Chicago clearly could not afford the union’s demands. Both sides were very persuasive, especially in TV news coverage. Chicago’s mayor and her surrogates were convincing with taxpayers. The Chicago Teachers Union gained the sympathy of school parents and community leaders. But as a strike drags on, both sides’ arguments suffer when the public tunes out.

Strikes often devolve into finger pointing, each side blaming the other for unfairness, bargaining in bad faith, or breaking past promises. Leaders on both sides of labor disputes must keep calm and communicate clearly about keys to reaching a deal.

But the onus is generally on the employer to explain why it can’t afford all of a union’s demands. That’s a more complex story to tell when the employer is a General Motors earning billions of dollars a year while facing expensive challenges of competing in a fiercely competitive, low-margin industry.

Duncan: In crisis situations, some business executives come across as tone-deaf, resorting to sanitized, take-no-responsibility corporate speak that offends more than informs. Rather than trying to recover from such credibility-busting behavior, how can leaders be better prepared in the first place?

Modzelewski: Leaders come across badly when their organizations are not prepared to respond rapidly in those critical moments when a situation first goes public. If it’s a crisis of their own making, leaders must come across as genuinely contrite, accountable, and ready to do whatever it takes resolve the problem. And they can’t talk meekly as though they are testifying before Congress. They have to take control. That requires a lot of preparation before something explosive ever occurs.

Leaders can’t anticipate everything. That’s why they need to have people around them who are adept at forecasting future turbulence. That should include a communications team that can provide ongoing risk intelligence and, when necessary, crisis containment.

Leaders and their teams must stay aware of explosive situations elsewhere in other companies to which they are not immune. The best scenario is for an organization to anticipate high-probability risks and address problems before they become crises.

Duncan: In managing public relations, you recommend that leaders “prevent the preventable.” Give us a good example of that.

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Wales explains why trust is not simply a virtue—it’s infrastructure. From managing conflict in decentralized communities to navigating misinformation in a polarized digital world, he reveals how transparency, purpose, and assuming good faith can transform organizations. Whether you’re leading a company, a team, or a movement, Wales offers a practical blueprint for cultivating trust and creating systems that endure.

• Trust Is the Foundation of Sustainable Systems
  Organizations that endure are intentionally designed around trust. Wikipedia’s success came not from strict control but from building a culture that assumed good faith and encouraged responsible participation.

• Assuming Good Faith Unlocks Collaboration
  One of Wikipedia’s guiding principles is to “assume good faith.” Most people genuinely want to contribute something useful. Leaders who start from that assumption create environments where innovation and cooperation flourish.

• Transparency Builds Long-Term Credibility
  Trust grows when leaders acknowledge mistakes openly. Owning failures and communicating honestly—even when things go wrong—strengthens credibility rather than weakening it.

1. Be Transparent When You Miss the Mark
   The next time a project falters, resist the urge to deflect blame. Instead, model accountability and honesty.

2. Design Systems That Encourage Trust
   Look at your organization’s policies and processes. Do they assume people are trustworthy—or treat them as potential problems?

3. Clarify Your Organization’s Purpose
   Write a one-sentence description of your team’s core mission. If it’s not simple and memorable, refine it.

By Rodger Dean Duncan

As if we don’t have enough challenges affecting the workplace (scary economic conditions, assaults on freedom of speech, and the lingering effects of a global pandemic), one age-old problem lingers like an uninvited party guest: bullying.

For organizations, bullying can result in attrition of skilled employees. It leads to higher absenteeism, diminished productivity, damaged reputations, and a whole slew of performance problems. For individuals, bullying is associated with a number of stress-related health problems such as insomnia, anxiety, depression, and even cardiovascular illness.

But just as it’s possible to mitigate physical safety risks (handrails on stairs, fire extinguishers, skid resistant flooring), it’s possible to deal proactively with bullying.

That’s the view of Dr. Rob Fazio, a leadership psychologist who works with C-suite executives, medical professionals and athletes. His book is BullyProof: Using Subtle Strengths to Influence Alphas and Strengthen Society.

Rodger Dean Duncan: How do you define workplace bullying, and how prevalent is it?

Rob Fazio: Bullying is a combination of consistent behaviors by someone who has a negative impact.

An alpha is someone who takes the lead in a situation regardless of whether they are the identified leader or subject-matter expert. Being an alpha is neither good nor bad. A bully is someone who consistently attempts to get what they want regardless of the costs. I encourage people to focus less on the term “bully” and identify the behaviors that create the negative experience. The reason for this is that once we fall into calling someone a bully, we put ourselves in a position where we give them more power and take power away from ourselves.

Workplace bullying happens more than people realize. Every day, millions of people suffer from workplace bullying. According to the Workplace Bullying Institute’s U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey of Adult Americans, 30% of survey participants experienced bullying at work, 19% witnessed it, and 4% admitted to perpetrating it. That means 49% of US workers are affected by workplace bullying. If you apply those statistics to the country as a whole, that equates to 79.3 million people.

Duncan: How common is it for someone to be a bully and not even realize it? Why?

Fazio: It’s very common. We encourage people to look at themselves first. There are 27 “bullying behaviors” that we’ve identified that lead the experience of people feeling bullied or dominated. Many people engage in these behaviors without realizing it. The impact is often the same: people on the receiving end can feel powerless or defeated. An example of a common bullying behavior that’s usually not intentional but was impact is giving unsolicited advice and trying to change someone’s mind. The reason people don’t realize they are bullying is that they are just going with what they know, they believe they are being helpful and using their own strengths.

Duncan: What are the costs of workplace bullying—to the people who experience it and to their organizations?

Fazio: The physical, financial, and psychological costs of bullying are tremendous. There are well known negative impacts, such as increase in turnover, disengagement, anxiety, and illnesses as well as a decrease in productivity. People will stop focusing on work and focus more on the impact of being bullied. And worse, bullying infiltrates people’s home lives and mental health.

Duncan: What exactly do you mean by the term BullyProof?

Fazio: BullyProof is about helping those who feel powerless take ownership of the power they already have and preventing people in powerful positions from using abusive power. It’s a commitment and a journey that includes developing a mindset of strengthening yourself and others. There are 11 BullyProof strategies that range from understanding how we get triggered, to empowering and equipping ourselves, to understanding how to apply the neuroscience of influence.

Duncan: You coach people who experience bullying to exchange the “victim view” for the “ownership view.” Please explain how that works.

Fazio: I have always thought that people get pulled into a reactive state of mind and unintentionally give people permission to bully them. We have a culture in the US of not blaming “victims.” I want to encourage people to take ownership, build intentional alliances, and not feel like victims.

With every event, we have a decision to make: Will we reject what has happened and resist it, or will we accept what has happened and do what we can to improve the situation? This decision, reject or accept, sets the cycle of victim or ownership in motion. If you choose to reject the event and resist what is happening, the victim cycle begins, where we focus on what others aren’t doing rather than what we can be doing to adapt or get ahead. We redirect and blame, talking about what is wrong rather than what can go right. We rationalize, explaining to ourselves and others why our victim mentality is the best response to the situation. We may even end up creating a victim alliance, where others join our pity party and enter into the victim cycle with us. Finally, we retract, where we disengage and “leave without leaving.” Eventually we may leave physically too, like the team members in our example.

However, if you accept the event instead of rejecting it, you enter the ownership cycle. Accepting an event doesn’t mean agreeing with it; it just means you’re ready to deal with it and move towards action rather than reaction. When you accept what has happened, your attitude becomes more positive, which provides more fuel for action. It also increases your ability to move forward and develop new skills to adjust and adapt. And this increased ability results in more action, where you continue to act intentionally and focus forward.

Even if you fall into the victim cycle, you don’t have to stay there. You can decide at any time to accept your situation, rather than reject it, and enter the ownership cycle.

Over time you can train yourself to accept situations more quickly and, therefore, take ownership of your power more often and become more action oriented even in times of crisis.

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Drawing on decades of coaching senior executives, Wilkins explores what she calls “blocked leadership”—the gap between the outcomes leaders desire and the results they actually experience. She argues that while many leaders try to fix problems by adjusting tactics or strategies, the real breakthrough often comes from examining the beliefs driving those actions. By cultivating curiosity, questioning assumptions, and reframing limiting narratives, leaders can unlock new levels of effectiveness, resilience, and influence.

• Limiting Narratives Shape Leadership Behavior
  Leaders frequently operate from internal stories—such as “I must be involved in everything” or “This must be done immediately.” These beliefs can lead to micromanagement, overwhelm, and ineffective decision-making.

• Curiosity Is the First Step to Unblocking
  The path to growth begins with curiosity. When leaders ask themselves, “What belief is driving this reaction?” they begin uncovering the assumptions influencing their actions. This framework helps leaders handle mistakes, tough conversations, and decisions more thoughtfully.

• Culture Reflects Collective Assumptions
  Organizational culture is ultimately a collection of shared beliefs. Leaders can shift culture by encouraging teams to question assumptions and openly examine the thinking behind decisions.

1. Challenge One Limiting Narrative
   Choose a belief that may be holding you back and experiment with reframing it into a more empowering perspective.

2. Apply Organizational Thinking to Yourself
   Just as you diagnose problems in your organization, conduct a “leadership audit” on your own mindset and behaviors.

3. Identify Your Current Leadership Gap
   Ask yourself honest questions about where you’re experiencing a disconnect between the results you want and the results you’re getting.

By Rodger Dean Duncan

At first blush, the notion of collaborating can have a warm and fuzzy air about it. You know, “We’re all in this together. Go, team!”

But despite the feel-good slogans, collaboration can be a minefield. People have different skills and talents. Different personalities. Different biases. Different goals. Different tendencies under pressure. They sometimes pull in different directions.

You know the cliché: different strokes for different folks.

So, many people could use help in using collaboration to produce good results while maintaining (and actually strengthening) relationships.

A good resource is Dr. Deb Mashek, a social psychologist who helps business leaders navigate the relationships that put timelines, bottom lines, and workplace morale at risk. She’s been an invited speaker on collaboration and viewpoint diversity at leading organizations including the United Nations and the American Psychological Association.

Her book is Collabor(h)ate: How to Build Incredible Collaborative Relationships at Work (even if you’d rather work alone).

Rodger Dean Duncan: There have been scores of books written on the subject of teamwork and collaboration. What do you regard as your most important contribution to the discussion?

Deb Mashek: There are a lot of wonderful resources out there on the topic of teamwork and collaboration. My unique contribution to the conversation stems from my background as a close relationships researcher and collaboration designer. I have spent more than two decades researching, teaching, and applying the science of relationships. In Collabor(h)ate, I introduce readers to insights culled from the research, showing how they can be applied to improve their workplace relationships.

Duncan: The idea of collaboration certainly sounds good to many people. When it works well, what are the key benefits?

Mashek: Great collaboration is a huge competitive advantage for organizations of all shapes and sizes and across sectors. This is true whether we’re talking about for-profit companies or non-profit organizations. When the collaborative ecosystem is healthy, individual contributors are happier and more engaged, teams are more creative and effective, and organizations are more efficient and robust. Everyone wins when the organs in the organization are working well together. While always desirable, this is especially important amid economic downturn where everyone is trying to do more with less.

Duncan: When collaboration fizzles, what are the costs to individuals, teams, and organizations?

Mashek: Collaboration headwind costs individuals, teams, and organizations.

For example, individuals in low-quality collaborative relationships report high anxiety, high depression, and low job satisfaction. They carry the stress of the lackluster collaboration home with them, contributing to high frustration and high burnout. Data from Simpli5 found that almost a third of their sample had considered leaving their job due to negative team experiences.

Of course, it’s hard for any team to hum along, much less generate deep value, when the people on that team are checked out, engaged in turfiness, or otherwise feeling miserable. As a result, a team’s productivity, innovation, and efficiency suffer when collaboration fizzles.

All of this costs organizations. Weak solutions and products emerge. Great people walk. Customers get caught in the crossfire. When collaborations fizzle, the organization takes a hit in terms of innovation, timelines, and ultimately the bottom line.

Duncan: What are some of the most common speed bumps or potholes on the road to effective collaboration?

Mashek: Common potholes include people not doing what they say they’re going to do, taking credit for others’ work, taking a “my way or the highway” approach to project development or implementation, and creating fires for others due to a lack of organization or preparedness.

Those are all examples of things individuals do that hurt collaboration. Team processes can also undermine effective collaboration. These include generating solutions before defining the problem, failing to be thoughtful or intentional about who should be in the room and why, and failing to design their time together in a way that actually advances the shared work rather than making everyone feel like they’re on a hamster wheel.

Pitfalls exist at the organizational level, too. For example, companies may proclaim collaboration as a core value, but then fail to invest the resources necessary to cultivate a collaborative culture.

Duncan: You cite research showing that while many colleges require students to participate in group projects, few of them offer training in collaboration and group dynamics. Why the gap? Why do school administrators seem to have such a blind spot?

Mashek: College students are assigned a lot of group work. Data I collected in partnership with College Pulse showed that more than a third of our respondents had been assigned three or more major group projects that semester.

We asked the students how much training, if any, their college had provided for ways to make team-based projects more effective, enjoyable, or productive. A whopping 65% of respondents said they had received no training. Another 22% said they had received “A few minutes” of training. My conversations with business school students and professors suggest the training deficit continues in graduate school.

Why is that? There are a couple drivers at play here.

First, there’s a myth out there that, as social creatures, we’re either good or bad at this relationship thing, so why bother trying to help people become better at it.

Second, professors themselves are unlikely to have ever received training in the critical skill of collaboration (and a lot of academic spaces incentivize lone wolf behavior). They may not know what to cover or how.

Third, because the word collaboration itself is often used as a catch-all for all forms of working together, it sits inside a conceptual black box that makes it difficult to figure out what exactly good collaboration looks like; and those who excel at it may not be able to identify the behaviors that make them successful.

Finally, as anyone who has spent any time teaching and creating curricula knows, it’s impossible to fit everything into a class, a course, or a major. Something has to give. Because, on the surface, collaboration feels like something that’s more “nice to have” than essential, and in combination with the drivers mentioned earlier, it gets sidelined. This is a huge disservice both to student learning and to their future employability and effectiveness.

Duncan: How can leaders create a work environment that’s most conducive to successful collaboration?

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Ashley Herd—author of The Manager Method: A Practical Framework to Lead, Support, and Get Results—draws on her experience as an employment attorney, HR leader, and leadership trainer. She provides a practical approach to modern management—one built around clarity, empathy, and action. From handling feedback and burnout to running effective meetings and using AI responsibly, this conversation offers leaders tools they can apply immediately.

• Most Managers Are Never Truly Trained

  Many organizations promote strong individual contributors into leadership roles but fail to provide practical management training. Managers often receive theoretical advice—“be strategic” or “drive results”—without clear guidance on what to say or do in real situations.

• The “Pause, Consider, Act” Framework
  Herd’s core leadership tool is simple but powerful: Pause before reacting, Consider the other person’s perspective, Act with clarity and intention.

  This framework helps leaders handle mistakes, tough conversations, and decisions more thoughtfully.

• Silence Is the Biggest Feedback Mistake

  Many managers avoid difficult conversations because they don’t want to upset employees or risk losing them. But withholding feedback hurts both the individual and the organization. Honest, timely conversations create clarity and growth.

1. Practice the Pause
   The next time you feel the urge to respond immediately—especially in a stressful moment—pause for a few seconds. Ask yourself: “What perspective might I be missing?”

2. Ask your team for input
   In your next meeting, ask: “What am I missing?” or “What could we be doing better?” Create space for candid feedback.

3. Use AI to Improve Your Leadership
   Ask an AI tool: “I’m a manager in [your role]. How could I use AI to become better at managing people?” Experiment with one idea you receive.

Lots of noise. Big splashes. A few congratulatory whoops and hollers from the executive team. But then the pain sets in. Sometimes a lot of pain.

I saw this at one point with a client organization that employed about 1,300 people in a highly specialized, technical industry. They called me in to work on “culture and performance issues.”

At dinner one evening, I asked one of the top executives a pointed question: “Last year, how many of your 1,300 employees received a ‘Needs Improvement’ performance appraisal rating?”

“Six,” he answered.

I assumed I had misheard him. “I’m sorry,” I said. “My question must not have been clear. Of all of your 1,300 employees, how many of them…”

He interrupted me. “Your question was painfully clear. Last year, only six of our 1,300 people received a ‘Needs Improvement’ rating.” He went on to describe his organization as similar to Garrison Keillor’s mythical Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

The reality was they were excellent at technology. But they were terrible at the straight talk necessary for high performance. They were launching initiatives, but they weren’t leading people.

The Mechanics of Friction

Every time an implementation fails to achieve its stated objectives on time and on budget, there are costs.

You charge ahead with a few supporters while skeptics build resistance behind your back. The problem usually isn’t the strategy. It’s the mechanics of influence.

In my experience advising Cabinet Officers and C-Suite leaders, I’ve found that most leaders rely heavily on “position power.” They assume that because they have the title, the team will follow.

But the reality is: You can rent people’s backs and hands, but you must earn their heads and hearts.

If you rely on your title to drive change, you are merely renting compliance. And as any landlord knows, tenants rarely care for the property as well as owners do.

To get your team to own the result, you have to shift your mechanics from forcing to facilitating.

A Framework for “Change-friendly” Leadership

Next Wednesday, March 25th, I am hosting a live training session where I will break down the specific behavioral mechanics of this shift.

Register for the Free Training

We will move beyond the theory and look at the “how-to,” including:

• The “Want To / Can Do” Model: A diagnostic tool to identify exactly why your team is resisting. (Hint: It is rarely just because they are “difficult.”)

• The Four Ts: The specific behaviors successful leaders use to build the psychological safety required for speed.

• The Resistance Roadmap: How to turn your most “cynical skeptics” into your strongest advocates.

If you are tired of the “belly flop” approach — lots of splashing but no forward momentum — I invite you to join us.

Register for the Free Training

By Rodger Dean Duncan

Is your work team suffering from overwhelm? It’s likely not because they don’t have enough time. There’s a good chance they’re drowning in unnecessary activities and inefficiencies that prevent them from focusing on the real work that drives real results.

According to studies by research firm IDC, inefficiency costs companies anywhere from 20% to 30% of their revenue each year. And a lot of those inefficiencies are hiding in plain sight.

Nick Sonnenberg has some tried-and-true ideas that can help. He’s founder and chief executive of Leverage, a leading operational efficiency consultancy that helps companies implement smart business practices. His book is Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work.

For robust efficiency, Sonnenberg advocates a framework he calls CPR—Communication, Planning, and Resources. He says the framework was born out of necessity.

“At one point when I was building my business, my co-founder left with two minutes notice and the business was in rapid decline,” he says. “We had massive inefficiencies that were holding us back, and I saw a path forward if I could just fix them. So that’s what I did, and I developed the building blocks of the CPR Framework in the process.”

Some of his clients saw the results and asked him to help with their businesses. What he soon noticed was that every company he worked with was struggling with the same issues he had faced. Those issues all fell into three buckets—Communication, Planning, and Resources: CPR.

“Every company needs to communicate internally with their team and externally with customers, partners, vendors, and more,” he says. “Every company needs to plan and manage all the work that needs to get done. And every company needs to keep track of all the resources and assets that keep the business running.”

Sonnenberg says there’s been a lot of testing and tinkering with the CPR Framework, and it’s now been successfully implemented in thousands of businesses.

He quotes work-life management expert David Allen as saying, “Your brain is for having ideas, not holding them.”

So how does that view apply to personal and organizational efficiency?

“If you’re constantly trying to remember past ideas or keep track of ‘mental notes,’ you’ll never be able to focus on what matters most,” Sonnenberg says. “So, you need to develop systems to not only hold those ideas, but to easily retrieve them in the future.”

On a personal level, he says, this might be accomplished with a to-do list, a spreadsheet, a calendar, etc. But on an organizational level, it gets a bit more complicated.

“A big part of the CPR Framework is aligning teams on when and how to use common tools in the workplace to solve this exact problem,” he says. “When teams get aligned on where certain information should live, everyone can adopt David Allen’s philosophy. But more importantly, everyone can easily find that information later, even if they didn’t initially store it themselves.”

When implementing new tools or processes, what questions should be asked by leaders and team members?

“Tool overwhelm is a huge problem, so it’s important to think carefully before adding a new tool to your tech stack,” Sonnenberg says. Adding something that isn’t necessary could cause more problems than you had to begin with.

Any time you’re implementing a new tool, he says, it’s a good idea to get clear on some basic questions, like: Why are we implementing this? How will it benefit our team? Which goals will it help us to achieve? What behaviors do we need to encourage to adopt it? This will then help clarify whether the tool is the right solution to your problem, and whether it’s going to be worth the time and effort to implement it and train your team.

What pro tips can Sonnenberg offer for improving the quality—and reducing the frequency—of meetings?

”There are many, he says, but the most impactful is to shift your thinking around when meetings need to occur and what they should be used for. “Meetings should be used for collaborative brainstorming and discussion,” he says. “Most other things can be handled asynchronously.”

One example is what he calls “report-outs.”

“Any time someone is giving an update or reporting on stats in a meeting, that can be done asynchronously through a message or video recording in advance of the meeting. Everyone can then review that information on their own time and you can either cut down the length of the meeting or have more time for meaningful discussion.”

Sonnenberg is a big fan of work management tools, with special affection for one called Asana.

“Honestly, I can’t imagine trying to run a business without a work management tool,” he says. “These tools are like to-do lists on steroids, and they’re used to organize all the work that needs to be done at a company.”

He says most work management tools have a similar format allowing the users to create “projects” and then fill them up with “tasks” that have assignees and due dates”. This means you can chart out all the work that needs to be done to complete an initiative, and each step is assigned to someone with a due date and the information they need to complete it,” he explains. “Work management tools ensure work is always being done in the right order, by the right person, on time, and without duplicating efforts. Plus, they make work more transparent as anyone can go into the tool and see what anyone else is working on or monitor the progress of projects.”

Before adding a task to their work plates, what questions should people ask themselves?

Sonnenberg says he finds a lot of people get into the mode of doing everything they’re assigned without ever questioning it—and that can lead to drowning in work unnecessarily.

So, he suggests three questions:

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Jeetu makes a compelling case that the real challenge isn’t just technological—it’s human. Organizations face a widening gap between the rapid acceleration of AI capabilities and their own ability to absorb and use them. Leaders who experiment early, rethink workflows, and build cultures of clarity and accountability will move ahead. Those who wait on the sidelines risk falling irreversibly behind in a world where trust, adaptability, and learning speed will matter more than ever.

• AI is a once-in-a-lifetime platform shift.

  Infrastructure, trust, and data constraints will shape how quickly AI transforms organizations—but the change is inevitable and profound.

• Adoption beats hesitation.

  Companies seeing real value are those experimenting early. Waiting for “the right time” to adopt AI is likely the wrong strategy.

• Clarity and intrinsic motivation drive performance.

  Most leadership failures stem from lack of clarity. High-performing teams need clear expectations, shared purpose, and internally motivated people.

1. Audit your AI usage.

   Identify one workflow this week where AI could augment your effectiveness—and start experimenting immediately.

2. Build your “question-asking” muscle.

   Practice asking better, more creative questions of AI and your team. Your ability to learn fast will matter more than what you already know.

3. Create clarity in your team.

   Make sure everyone knows the “true north,” their role, and what excellence looks like. Repeat it often.

By Rodger Dean Duncan

As any good CEO can tell you, successful leadership has many moving parts. Doug Conant, former president and CEO of Campbell’s Soup, put it succinctly: “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.”

Patrick Thean certainly embraces that principle. He’s a CEO coach and serial entrepreneur. His tools and methods have helped scores of organizations achieve sustainable top performance and have been adopted by educational programs such as Cornell University’s Family Business Initiative. Thean is the CEO and co-founder of Rhythm Systems, an organization that helps CEOs get their teams focused, aligned, and accountable.

His latest book is The Journey to CEO Success: 7 Practices for High Growth Leadership.

In brief, here are the seven practices:

1. Be curious (effective listening accelerates learning)

2. Level up (check for blind spots, be eager for feedback)

3. Establish your early warning systems (if you can’t see a problem, you can’t avoid it)

4. Achieve full alignment (silos are deadly)

5. Make culture your competitive advantage (establish the right environment for success)

6. Build a strong people ecosystem (continually grow and renew team skills)

7. Focus on serving your core customer (identify the primary user of your product or service)

Thean says cultivating a curiosity mindset begins with valuing questions over answers. “Leaders sometimes feel pressured to provide immediate answers, but if we’re genuinely curious, we’ll seek to learn from the experiences and insights of our teams,” he says. “The best ideas come when we open ourselves up to the perspectives of others.”

Feedback is another key ingredient, he says. He encourages leaders to embrace what he calls “spicy conversations”—those candid, sometimes challenging discussions that lead to growth. “Each piece of feedback offers a chance to adapt and improve, building trust within the team and encouraging openness,” he says.

So, what does performance-enhancing curiosity look like in terms of observable habits and behaviors?

Thean says high performers don’t stop at “Why isn’t this working?” They go deeper, asking things like, “What specific factors might be causing this issue? How can we measure those?” Next, they experiment constantly, but with focus. They don’t wait for perfect information. Instead, they run small tests, measure the results, and adjust quickly.

“Top performers also look for insights everywhere, not just in their field,” he says. “They read widely, pull ideas from other industries, and bring in fresh perspectives. This cross-disciplinary curiosity is often where innovation happens, as it allows them to connect dots others miss. Finally, they practice patience and persistence.”

Curiosity, he says, doesn’t always lead to instant answers. “Sometimes it takes weeks, months, or more to crack a tough problem. But high performers keep pushing, keep iterating. They don’t give up just because progress is slow.”

Thean advocates replacing fear with curiosity.

“Fear and curiosity are actually two sides of the same coin,” he says. “They’re both responses to the unknown. We can either let fear take over, which tends to shut us down, or we can lean into curiosity, which opens us up to possibility.”

He offers an example. “If a project isn’t going well, the fear-based response might be to cover up mistakes or blame others. But a curious response would be to ask, ‘What can we learn from this? What went wrong, and what could we do differently next time?’ That kind of thinking moves you forward. It’s constructive.”

Thean tells leaders to actively cultivate curiosity in their teams, because it changes the culture. “When people feel they have permission to explore without fear of punishment, they’re more engaged. They’re willing to take calculated risks, ask better questions, and push the boundaries a bit. Over time, that curiosity-driven culture leads to better performance and innovation.”

What roles do humility and self-awareness play in a person’s aspiration for or success in a leadership position?

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Whether you’re managing a team, running a business, or guiding others, Don’s insights on cultivating momentum, embracing feedback, and recognizing opportunities will challenge how you think about leadership and sustained success.

• Momentum is a Mindset, Not Just Motivation

  Momentum is the belief that you’re heading in the right direction, even when things aren’t perfect. Unlike motivation, which is fleeting, momentum is a process that fuels lasting performance. It’s about creating a shared belief that good things are ahead.

• The Spark Can Come from Anywhere

  Momentum can be ignited by anything—whether it’s a competitor’s mistake, a personal challenge, or an unexpected event. The key is to be open to those moments and recognize the potential before others do. Leaders need to cultivate a mindset that prepares the team for opportunities, no matter where they come from.

• Leaders Must Build a “What-If” Mindset

  Successful teams engage in “what-if” scenarios to prepare for any spark that could ignite momentum. Regularly brainstorming potential opportunities or disruptions allows teams to be proactive and ready to act quickly when the moment arrives.

1. Adopt a Growth Mindset for Your Team

   As a leader, encourage your team to embrace challenges and setbacks as opportunities for growth. Foster a belief that success is achievable, even in tough times, and that you’re headed in the right direction. This mindset will help everyone stay focused on the bigger picture.

2. Look for Sparks in Unlikely Places

   Don’t just wait for major events to spark momentum. Be proactive and look for small moments, challenges, or even failures that could drive change. Cultivate an environment where creativity and innovation thrive, allowing everyone to spot opportunities to turn the tide in your favor.

3. Embrace Feedback to Improve and Evolve

   Just like the Blue Angels, create a feedback loop where your team can critique performances without fear of judgment. Use feedback as a tool for growth, not as a source of criticism. This will help you refine strategies and keep momentum going, even when things slow down.