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?
Leadership
Matthew Harrington
Lincoln’s Leadership: A Blueprint for Resilient ...

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.

Lincoln’s Leadership: A Blueprint for Resilient Leadership Beyond Election Day
People, Leadership
Matthew Harrington
Navigating Conflict in the Workplace: The ...

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.

Navigating Conflict in the Workplace: The Downstairs, Middle Room and Upstairs of Resolution
Culture, People
Matthew Harrington
Belief-Behavior Conversations In Action: How ...

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.

Belief-Behavior Conversations In Action: How Pixar Transformed Team Dynamics and Communication
People, Leadership, Culture
Matthew Harrington
Leadership Growth Lattice in Action: How ...

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.

Leadership Growth Lattice in Action: How LinkedIn Embraced Holistic Employee Development to Drive Retention and Innovation

People

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I'm not always the best at being assertive, here are 7 Steps I learned to become more assertive

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I'm not always the best at being assertive, here are 7 Steps I learned to become more assertive

I have to be honest, and you may not believe me, but this is one of the hardest skills I am in the works of learning.  Perhaps it's my 8-person family, puritan upbringing, and as a middle child I just went along with what the group wanted, but assertiveness has never been a strength of mine.  I believe in a give, give, give, ask method of forward movement (in marketing, sales, strategy, people, etc.), however sometimes I recognize the ask has to come a little bit sooner.   Assertiveness is not being tough or arrogant.  It’s actually a very humble and thoughtful dance.  It is recognizing that we have value and we sometimes need to put up boundaries for others to recognize our value.  

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Stop Talking about Generations and Start Talking About Better People-Skills!

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Stop Talking about Generations and Start Talking About Better People-Skills!

My punch line at the end of most of my talks is, “we don’t have a Millennial problem, or even a generation problem, we have a people to people problem.” As the generation guy, I’m saying we need to stop talking about generations and start talking about empowering our workers (Boomers, Xers, Yers, all) to better handle people!

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Millennials with Matt Episode 7: Being the Right Cultural Fit for Millennials

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Millennials with Matt Episode 7: Being the Right Cultural Fit for Millennials

The workplace is needing to reimagine their organizational culture as the Millennial generation come with different expectations, approaches and lifestyles then previous generations.  Learn from generations specialist Matt Harrington about 3 areas to focus on when looking for the right cultural fit for your Millennial workers.

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Millennials with Matt Episode 6: 9 Things That Drive Millennials Away from Organizations

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Millennials with Matt Episode 6: 9 Things That Drive Millennials Away from Organizations

Generations specialist Matt Harrington brings us another quick video on the 9 things that organizations do that drive Millennials to find other places to work. For more information on this and other generations content visit www.GrowingMillennialLeadership.com

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XPollination (Ep. 18) - Special Guest Dan Schawbel LIVE from the #VTSHRM15 Conference

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XPollination (Ep. 18) - Special Guest Dan Schawbel LIVE from the #VTSHRM15 Conference

XPollination was asked by the conference committee at #VTSHRM15 to do an exclusive interview with nationally-renowned Millennial speaker, Dan Schawbel. Dan Schawbel is the Founder of WorkplaceTrends.com, a research and advisory membership service for forward-thinking HR professionals, as well as the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm. Dan is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success (St. Martin’s Press) and the #1 international bestselling book, Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future

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XPollination (Ep. 17) - Millennial Women

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XPollination (Ep. 17) - Millennial Women

XPollination was live from the 15th Annual SHRM Vermont State Conference for this special edition of the podcast.  This year the conference is titled, HRevolution: Change Tomorrow Today.  What better way to talk about changing tomorrow today then to discuss the young, game-changing professionals themselves, the Millennials.  I’ll be presenting at this conference shortly after the podcast at 3pm, but I also noticed another group of individuals presenting on Millennials with a unique twist – and this obviously peaked my interest!  The two women I have joining me for XPollination are Jessica Sabick of Vermont Energy Investment Corp. and Lindsey Lathrop-Ryan of Change the Story VT, and both have just finished their presentation on Attracting and Retaining Millennial Women to Your Company. We'll take a deeper dive into their presentation and the topic of Millennial women.

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Millennials with Matt Episode 3: Growing Millennials' Careers With a Leadership Lattice

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Millennials with Matt Episode 3: Growing Millennials' Careers With a Leadership Lattice

A leadership lattice, unlike a leadership ladder, looks to expand a young professional's leadership capability by using a cross-section of many leadership opportunities both in and outside of work. Millennial expert Matt Harrington talks about how a good coach or manager is constantly building a leadership lattice with their Millennial workers to provide maximum retention and growth potential.

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Millennials with Matt Episode 1: What Makes a Generation a Generation

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Millennials with Matt Episode 1: What Makes a Generation a Generation

In this episode generations expert Matt Harrington takes a look at what makes a generation an actual generation.  When we talk generations in the workplace or in our personal life we often look at the age or the two points in time the group of people were born into.  Instead we should be looking at what took place during that generation, especially in their formative years, that now defines their outlook on the world and the way they think others should act.  There are also other tips and tactics in the episode discussed when talking about generations.  Enjoy!