Reflecting on the recent election, the Harris campaign's lack of a clear and compelling vision became evident in contrast to Trump’s well-communicated stance, making it challenging for voters to see her future for America. Drawing from the change formula, a successful campaign requires acknowledging dissatisfaction, defining a visionary goal, and setting clear steps toward achieving it—elements that were more apparent in Obama’s 2008 campaign, where “hope and change” aligned with voters' aspirations and activated widespread engagement. Ultimately, the Harris campaign's struggles highlight the need for leaders to craft a vision that resonates powerfully and unites people around a shared purpose, as fear alone can often overshadow hope if it lacks sufficient clarity and preparation.
As Election Day 2024 nears, reflecting on Abraham Lincoln’s legacy offers valuable insights into adaptive leadership, resilience, and unity. Known for his humility, conviction, and strategic flexibility, Lincoln showed how true leaders use disruptions to inspire lasting change. This election, we can look to Lincoln’s example of courage and empathy, guiding us to face challenges boldly and strive for a united future.
Conflict at work is inevitable, but with the right tools, it can become an opportunity for growth. In this post we explore how leaders can guide teams through conflict by understanding how the brain processes emotions through the downstairs, middle room, and upstairs functions of the brain.
Belief-behavior conversations, as we discussed in our e-book: Revitalize and Retain Staff, aim to address the root causes behind actions, rather than merely correcting surface-level behavior. Pixar’s leadership used this approach to facilitate open, meaningful dialogues, helping the team uncover the underlying beliefs fueling their actions. Once these beliefs were identified, leaders guided team members toward reframing them, creating lasting behavioral change.
Discover how LinkedIn transformed employee growth and retention with the Leadership Growth Lattice, a modern alternative to traditional career ladders. By encouraging skill development, cross-functional teamwork, mentorship, volunteerism, and alignment with personal life goals, LinkedIn fostered a culture of continuous learning and flexibility. This holistic approach empowered employees, reduced turnover, and fueled innovation, positioning LinkedIn as a top employer in the competitive tech industry.
As we continue to journey through the Change Formula, we need to be able to craft a compelling Case for Change within the Change Formula, focusing on dissatisfaction (D). Through communication, leadership support, and a culture of improvement, we address why change is necessary and its implications. Articulating the Case effectively across platforms to build support and counter resistance is crucial.
Relationships matters when creating a vision for your organizations because you cannot create a vision without being innovative, creative and ready for change. Brene Brown once wrote about vulnerability saying, “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” Vulnerability is the ability to handle uncertainty, to take risks and most importantly embrace emotional exposure. This makes sense. Are you more likely to risk sounding “in left field” if you trust the team you’re with and can be vulnerable around them? Would you mention the “unmentionable” at a board retreat if you trusted that the board members have your best intentions at heart? How can we ask people to tell us their best, perhaps wackiest ideas if they can’t be vulnerable around us?
What are you really trying to accomplish with a strategic planning retreat? Couldn’t a Level 5 leader, to use a Good To Great reference, figure out the risk-taking decisions, gain knowledge of the future, organize efforts, and measure results? So, why then do we gather people together to work on the above definition? Here is why we actually bring teams, boards and diverse people together for a strategic retreat….
August is a time when a board or organization should start to look at their strategic plan and decide whether they need to update it or create a new one. One such organization did reach out, having not a lot of other options, and decided to work with me on their strategic plan. Here’s what we did in 30 days…
