Topics Leadership

Featured Leadership Articles

A Platform Greater Than Facebook

Paul Michelman

Upheavals in technology and politics are a wake-up call: It’s time to reconsider our priorities.

AI and the ‘Augmentation’ Fallacy

Philipp Gerbert

The fundamental disruption introduced by AlphaZero’s hyperlearning in the chess world can teach business executives about AI.

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If You Cut Employees Some Slack, Will They Innovate?

Yasser Rahrovani et al.

Giving people extra time and resources can boost innovation — but only if you match your “slack strategy” to employee type.

Upgrading Workforce Skill Sets

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The Time for Retraining Is Now

April 6, 2018 | R. Edward Freeman and James R. Freeland

None of us know how our technological future will unfold. But whether there will be a net increase or decrease in jobs overall, it’s clear that these will be different jobs, requiring different skill sets. We need to act now to enable current employers and employees to gain the skills they are going to need in the brave world of AI technology.

Check Your Assumptions

What CEOs Get Wrong About Vision and How to Get It Right

Dan Ciampa

A vision commonly held throughout the organization must begin with the leader’s image of a credible, optimal future state.

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How to Test Your Assumptions

Jon Fjeld

Testing your assumptions in a logical order gives you the chance to make course corrections early.

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Why Best Practices Often Fall Short

Jérôme Barthélemy

For many leaders, the allure of best practices is strong and their expectations for results are unrealistic.

Managing Employee Performance

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Is HR Missing the Point on Performance Feedback?

Sergey Gorbatov and Angela Lane

HR’s move away from traditional performance reviews is a mistake that will backfire.

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The New Digital Mandate: Cultivate Dissatisfaction

George Westerman

People who are satisfied with the current way of doing business are not likely to transform it.

The Missing Piece in Employee Development

Nik Kinley and Shlomo Ben-Hur

Companies want managers to help employees develop and improve — but many managers don’t know how.

Multitasking Is a Myth

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The Impossibility of Focusing on Two Things at Once

April 9, 2018 | Morela Hernandez

Neurological science has demonstrated that brains are not hardwired to focus simultaneously on day-to-day activities and long-term objectives. In the workplace, that presents a challenge: How can employees maximize individual performance while enhancing organizational success? Research into employee behavior underscores the need for organizations to help employees familiarize themselves with perspectives not readily available in their current roles.

Diversity in the Workplace

Use Digital Platforms to Cultivate Diversity

Gerald C. Kane

Leaders can foster stronger collaboration by using digital platforms to increase employee diversity.

The Unique Challenges of Cross-Boundary Collaboration

Amy Edmondson, interviewed by Frieda Klotz

Leading teams with complicated hierarchies of power demands both curiosity and humility.

The Trouble With Homogeneous Teams

Evan Apfelbaum, interviewed by Martha E. Mangelsdorf

Research finds that teams lacking diversity may be more susceptible to making flawed decisions.

“[D]igital platforms can cultivate a diversity of opinion only if an organization actually employs diverse people to connect with.” — Gerald C. Kane

Use Digital Platforms to Cultivate Diversity

March 06, 2018 | Gerald C. Kane

“Rather than wait to see the answer about whether more jobs will be lost or be gained, we need to act now to enable current employers and employees to gain the skills they are going to need in the brave new world of AI technology.” — R. Edward Freeman and James R. Freeland