Viewed in The Wall Street Journal No doubt, you have seen at least one of these cases of late, and likely many more: A top Fortune 1000 chief executive officer seemingly has it all on the ball. Publicly acclaimed He or she is leading their company in strategic and creative ways, beating expectations, growing market… More
Read more...Going deeper: Why the future of leadership is beneath the surface

Viewed in Spencer Stuart What are your “beneath the surface” leadership traits? It may not be a question you are asked routinely, if ever. But there are such traits, and Chicago-based management consulting and executive search firm Spencer Stuart addresses them in this intriguing new report. Working harder and faster It turns out your beneath… More
Read more...Hybrid offices give you flexibility, but they take away this workplace essential

Viewed in Fast Company While the pandemic lifts in most countries around the world and employees begin their return to work, or soon will, there appears to be a nearly universally-held view that what lies ahead for employees is a work life that takes on some of its pre-pandemic characteristics but is ultimately never quite… More
Read more...How to Restart Your Networking

Viewed in Korn Ferry As the global pandemic (hopefully) wanes and employees return to their offices, this study by executive recruitment and consulting behemoth Korn Ferry observes that, in a recent poll, 35 percent of employees identified the opportunity to network as the function they most look forward as they return to in-office work. As… More
Read more...Five Rules for Fixing AI in Business

Viewed in BCG The promise and potential of artificial intelligence (AI) has been all the rage the past few years. One can be forgiven for concluding from this coverage that it has proven broadly helpful to those organizations utilizing it. One out of 10 companies enjoys significant benefits from AI But actually, as management consulting giant… More
Read more...The Real Reason We Dread Our Inboxes

Viewed in The Wall Street Journal At first, as the Internet and email communication were broadly implemented in the 1990s, we properly saw it as an extraordinary contribution to information sharing and efficiency. Email revolution The ability to craft an email and have one’s written message developed and transmitted immediately to the recipient was indeed… More
Read more...When Performance Declines: The Case for Acting Fast on CEO Intervention

Viewed in Spencer Stuart Global executive search firm Spencer Stuart’s expertise in executive and board searches is pretty much beyond reproach. Since its 1956 founding, it has grown to 57 offices in 30 countries and handled executive and board searches for some of global business’s most iconic brands (and even the U.S. government). Now in… More
Read more...10 Lessons Learned After $5B of M&A

Viewed in Tomasz Tunguz Venture capitalist Tomasz Tunguz has sold about $5 billion of startups over the past few years. In this article, he details ten lessons he has learned about mergers and acquisitions along the way, and it is an instructive read for those looking to sell startups and those looking to acquire them…. More
Read more...How Emotionally Intelligent People Use the 4-Second Rule to Become Exceptionally Persuasive

Viewed in Inc. We have all likely heard about the so-called awkward pause—that moment of silence that, no matter the substance, can tarnish a conversation. But how long exactly does the silence need to endure before becoming quantifiably awkward? Awkward pause We live an era where just about everything is assessed and measured, and so… More
Read more...How B2B Companies Can Break Through the Thought Leadership Glut in 2022

Viewed in Edelman In recent decades and especially in the past few years, companies across industries, and especially those engaged in business-to-business sales of products or services, have come to discover and greatly value thought leadership as a central part of their marketing and brand strategies. Leaders share their expertise It makes sense. Would you… More
Read more...Returnship Programs: The Under-Tapped Silver Bullet in an Organization’s Talent Arsenal

Viewed in Zinnov Beginning in the late 20th century and accelerating in the 21st century, the number of workers who step away from work life for a notable period of time has accelerated. The reasons for breaks in career continuity vary. Family demands, especially the demands of pregnancy and children or illness in an employee’s… More
Read more...The Working Future: More Human, Not Less

Viewed in Bain & Company In 2022, you would be hard-pressed to find any major business book, study, or article whose thesis is that the future of the workforce is likely going to fairly indistinguishable from how it existed in the recent past. Experts can get it wrong There has emerged a nearly monolithic thesis… More
Read more...The Power of a Challenger Mindset

Viewed in Russell Reynolds Russell Reynolds Associates, one of the world’s top five executive search firms, expanded its mission to include management consulting, and that expansion is reflected in a growing number of impressive and constructive reports, surveys, and articles that the firm now routinely releases. Challengers explore unconventional ways One of the more recent… More
Read more...How to Become a Better Listener

Viewed in Harvard Business Review In the ongoing study and teaching of business management, so-called “soft skills” are receiving growing focus in recent years as companies seek to emphasize their importance and make up for the fact that they have been historically underestimated in both academic and organizational settings. Speak, present and listen Communications is… More
Read more...The Boss Factor: Making the World a Better Place through Workplace Relationships

Viewed in McKinsey & Company As a growing number of companies reflect on their obligations to society’s betterment beyond their traditional focus on providing desirable products and services at a profit, they need not look far from home. “Because of the connection between happiness at work and overall life satisfaction, improving employee happiness could make… More
Read more...4 Red Flags That Actually Prove You’re Smarter Than You Think, Backed by Science

Viewed in Inc. Perhaps you are one of those executives, managers, or employees who is aware you have one or more of the following four work traits perceived to be (at best) unconventional and (at worst) dysfunctional: Procrastination, indecisiveness, an preference for self-isolation, or a preference for starting your work day late and working into… More
Read more...Seven Ways to Ease Your Fears About Commuting Again

Viewed in Bloomberg BusinessWeek The 2020-21 global pandemic has inflicted almost unfathomable direct and indirect costs on the global economy that extend into trillions of dollars. And, on an individual basis, it has cost millions of jobs globally and inflicted less easily measured costs, such as increasing anxiety and depression diagnoses globally and escalating emotional strains… More
Read more...Is Your Company Gaining Ground in Data?

Viewed in BCG How important does management consulting giant BCG believe data will prove to today’s companies? Data is “akin to oxygen in most industries, and companies know they need to build core capabilities in order to capitalize on it,” the firm writes in this November 17 report. With a corporate asset and function that… More
Read more...Inclusive cultures have healthier and happier workers

Viewed in BCG Boston Consulting Group (BCG), currently the world’s second largest management consulting firm, takes a close look at the ongoing challenge of inclusiveness in work environments in this survey and accompanying article, and it includes some good news: In an age where a sense of inclusiveness is important among employees, the firm’s October… More
Read more...A playbook for newly minted private equity portfolio-company CEOs

Viewed in McKinsey & Company The role of a chief executive officer in the 21st century is a challenging one. Looking for something even more challenging? That likely would be serving as a CEO for a private equity-owned portfolio company. More private equity-owned companies With private equity’s growing prevalence in corporate ownership, it is a… More
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