Leadership, Culture, People
Matthew Harrington
The Shifting Dynamics of Work: Remote, Hybrid, ...

Remote and hybrid work models have reshaped the workplace, with high-performing leaders often excelling due to their autonomy, discipline, and results-oriented approach, while lower-performing employees may struggle without direct supervision. Research, such as the Stanford University study, highlights the benefits of hybrid work, particularly in enhancing productivity and retention, though challenges arise when remote work is poorly managed. The future of work requires organizations to balance flexibility and accountability, fostering environments that empower diverse employees and adapt to changing expectations.

The Shifting Dynamics of Work: Remote, Hybrid, and the Leadership Question
Leadership, Culture
Matthew Harrington
Strategic Planning Season: The Importance of ...

This post explores the critical role of strategic planning and visioning in helping organizations navigate uncertainty and long-term challenges. It emphasizes the importance of staying at a strategic level, resisting the pull toward immediate tactical fixes, and focusing on the pillars that drive success: leadership, innovation, operations, and customer focus. With actionable steps and insights, it provides a framework for crafting meaningful, future-oriented plans that transform strategic dreams into achievable realities.

Strategic Planning Season: The Importance of Vision in Uncertain Times
Leadership, Culture
Matthew Harrington
The Overlap of Conflict, Vulnerability, Trust, ...

True innovation exists at the intersection of trust, vulnerability, and constructive conflict. As leaders, our role is to create the conditions for innovation to thrive. That means checking our egos, fostering trust, and modeling vulnerability. It means leaning into conflict, embracing discomfort, and having the courage to confront the most brutal facts of our current reality.

The Overlap of Conflict, Vulnerability, Trust, and Innovation
Leadership, Culture
Matthew Harrington
Putting Values Into Action: The Cornerstone of ...

When teaching or coaching emerging leaders, one topic I push hard on is values. Values refer to the fundamental beliefs and guiding principles that define what an individual, organization, or community stands for. These principles act as a moral and operational compass, influencing behavior, decision-making, and culture.  They are part of the magic three: mission, vision and values.

Putting Values Into Action: The Cornerstone of Leadership
Leadership
Matthew Harrington
Election Reflection: When Does a Vision Become ...

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.

Election Reflection: When Does a Vision Become Lost—or Was It Never Realized in the First Place?

organizations

Isn’t This Just Business? Millennials’ Transactional Loyalty to Organizations and Why Organizations Hate It.

Isn’t This Just Business? Millennials’ Transactional Loyalty to Organizations and Why Organizations Hate It.

Organizations have been in an uproar about the hop-scotching that Millennials do in their career with very little regard for the company.  Why?  I’ve seen organizations let go of people left and right, level a whole department for a better stockholder return, move people into positions of little power to make them leave.  Unemployed workers talk about being angry, sad and confused about the lack of loyalty from the company for all the years the worker had put in. So, why are organizations and managers ‘hurt’ or blindsided when Millennial workers say, “we’re not sticking around for that, good bye.”  Isn’t it just the transactional relationship the employer/employee relationship has been built upon?

Creating a Company Structure That Supports the New Era of Millennial Retention

Creating a Company Structure That Supports the New Era of Millennial Retention

Are we suppose to change the retention-adverse Millennial worker and figure out ways to keep them in our organizations?  Or, should we acknowledge this paradigm shift in the ways new workers move around from company to company and figure out new ways to equip our organizations to handle the swinging door?