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While speculating about the future of AI is irresistible, the more practical question is how we can use it right now. Conversations about this are taking place in classrooms, newsrooms, and workplaces around the world. As business strategists, the authors wanted to see what generative AI could add to their work. They explored this question […]
Negativity attracts attention and is often equated with intelligence, so it’s no surprise that leaders often feel they need to focus on what might go wrong. That kind of defensive posture can be helpful, in that it allows leaders and organizations to detect problems and threats, but it can also narrow your focus, and in […]
Four specific areas that most leaders care about have genuinely become more difficult in the past few years: hyping up their teams, getting to the truth, focusing on strategy, and staying sane themselves. But understanding how and why each of these leadership loads has become more difficult to carry can set you on the path […]
Performance reviews are an important tool to help managers and organizations motivate and engage their workforce. Narrative-based feedback provides employees with more personalized analysis and can shed light on individual paths for improvement, while numerical feedback offers clear benchmarks for employees to track and meet specific targets. In a new study, researchers examined whether one […]
Executives are often confounded by culture, because much of it is anchored in unspoken behaviors, mindsets, and social patterns. Many leaders either let it go unmanaged or relegate it to HR, where it becomes a secondary concern for the business. This is a mistake, because properly managed, culture can help them achieve change and build […]
Generation Z refers to people born between 1996 and 2010. They’re the second-youngest generation, between millennials and Generation Alpha. Gen Z identity has been shaped by the digital age, climate anxiety, a shifting financial landscape, and COVID-19. They’re known as ‘digital natives’—the first generation to grow up with the internet.
Complicated times demand great leaders. Here’s an overview of traits and practices required to succeed as a leader today and a look at the factory model that can help aspiring managers ascend. From our engagements and discussions with CEOs and leaders across the globe, we see that the biggest obstacle to creating resilient and high-performing […]
You wrote a business plan to launch your company. To say goodbye to it, you need an exit plan to get the maximum possible return and to limit any future exposure to what happens to the company after your departure. But years of experience teach you that nothing in business is predictable — and that’s […]
One capability often sets leading companies apart from the rest. Here’s how to build yours. The term “capability” gets thrown around quite a bit and means different things to different people. Often it refers to individual capabilities—the skills of individual employees and the company’s efforts to build those skills through learning and development. But the […]
A set of indicators could provide advance notice of impending periods of business model change in sectors and industries. Our index, which can be applied to any sector, brings together six leading indicators of BMR that we list here along with a rationale for how they might increase pressure for the reinvention of businesses. Performance: Faced […]
The top job can be hard. But as the former Novartis CEO explains, leaders can take pleasure in competing—while honing the personal qualities needed to succeed in the role and rally an organization.
The CEO of Dell Technologies weighs in on what’s next for AI, how companies can successfully transform in the face of constant disruption, and how his leadership style has changed over 40 years.
Investors have poured billions into AI-related companies, but adoption is moving slowly across American firms. According to the Census Bureau, just 5% of American businesses have used AI to produce goods and services over the last two weeks, highlighting that market enthusiasm is not yet matching the real economy. Despite this slow progress, AI has the […]
A management style refers to a leader’s distinctive approach to overseeing and guiding a team toward organizational goals. When a leader utilizes the right management style for their team or organization, it can greatly impact productivity, performance and workplace morale. Effectively motivating a team is at the core of successful management and being a good […]
Research has long shown the importance of self-care — yet many leaders still struggle to put self-care into practice in their own work lives. Before a leader can sustainably practice self-care, several important mindset shifts are necessary to ensure leaders set themselves up for success. This five-part checklist can help leaders make self-care a reality, […]
To control the anxiety produced by moments of intense pressure, first step back and analyze the stakes. The secret is to understand that how you perceive the stakes in any given situation can be controlled. “When you get into peak pressure moments, all you can think about is how important [the stakes are], what you […]
Which technology trends matter most for companies in 2024? New analysis by the McKinsey Technology Council highlights the adoption, development, and industry effects of advanced technologies. Despite challenging overall market conditions in 2023, continuing investments in frontier technologies promise substantial future growth in enterprise adoption. Generative AI (gen AI) has been a standout trend since 2022, […]
As a manager, onboarding a new hire isn’t just about providing manuals and login information, it’s about setting the employee up to operate autonomously in their role and feel comfortable within the organization. To do this, leaders need to emphasize the importance of developing strategic relationships with colleagues across the company who can share critical […]
When our society talks about leaders, we focus on formal roles, such as the CEO. This view undervalues the role of informal leaders—team members who influence outcomes by the tone they set, how they conduct themselves, and how they interact with their peers. Their job title doesn’t include the word “manager,” but they play an […]
When considering internal data or the results of a study, often business leaders either take the evidence presented as gospel or dismiss it altogether. Both approaches are misguided. What leaders need to do instead is conduct rigorous discussions that assess any findings and whether they apply to the situation in question. Such conversations should explore […]
Despite working hard and meeting our goals, sometimes it’s not clear why we aren’t getting ahead at work. In the absence of strong feedback, we may begin to feel underappreciated or undervalued. While leaders and managers can help boost employee morale by bridging communication gaps around performance, it can be frustrating to wait for that […]
In a work world that values ownership and personal initiative, many assume that asking for direction or seeking clarification will make them look incapable, or worse, will prove to others — and themselves — that they have no idea what they’re doing. Asking for help without appearing weak requires a delicate balance of convening vulnerability and strength. […]
There is very little overlap between the management areas leaders think they need to improve and the weaknesses identified by those they lead. Reconciling these differences will improve leaders and their organizations.
Building a strong, flexible “digital core” that integrates cloud, data, and AI technologies to serve as an interconnected foundation for your company is the key to future growth. It is your means of supporting the current business drive toward efficiency and effectiveness, while remaining flexible enough to respond to the new needs of the organization […]
Ed’s books on Leadership, Life and Business will elevate your knowledge and give you the confidence to apply it to your personal and professional life.