Know What's Happening in Leadership
Know What's Happening in Leadership
Behavioral systems, not talent, drive team success
Research shows that high‑performing teams stumble when they lack a defined behavioural system that governs how members interact. Studies from the University of New Hampshire and Google’s Project Aristotle found that interaction norms outweigh individual intelligence in delivering results. Companies such as Netflix illustrate the impact by codifying explicit cultural rules that guide collaboration.
Modern workplaces are saturated with meetings, emails, and instant messages, leaving little room for deep thought. Microsoft research shows employees spend about 60% of their day on communication, while a Dropbox survey found only 8% regularly generate new ideas. This constant execution mode keeps teams in a reactive “beta” brain state, suppressing the “alpha” state linked to creative breakthroughs. Giving employees protected time to think is emerging as a strategic priority for innovation.
Nike announced continued IT efficiency measures, cutting additional technology roles after a $230 million severance bill tied to recent supply‑chain and tech layoffs. The company dismissed its chief technology officer in January and placed the new chief operating officer in charge...
Here’s my response to a question I got about managing extra leadership responsibilities on this week’s episode of Ask Jeb. If your compensation plan is for an individual performer but your daily tasks are for a director, you are being torn...
The article argues that repeatedly extending a "last chance" to chronically underperforming employees rarely yields improvement. Effective leaders should frame any final opportunity as a single, time‑bound test with clearly defined milestones rather than a vague, all‑or‑nothing gamble. Involving the...
Ulta Beauty has elevated Kristin Wolf to Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, tasking her with leading corporate strategy, new growth initiatives, and AI integration. Wolf moves from her SVP role in Enterprise Strategy and New Growth, where she helped shape...
The article outlines four common leadership traps—friction, relational, moral drift, and ego—that silently undermine organizational health. Each trap is described with behaviors that create inefficiency, erode trust, compromise ethics, or stifle collaboration. Simple action steps, such as “to‑stop” meetings and...
DraftKings unveiled a prediction‑market platform as part of a new “super app” that blends sports betting, casino games and binary‑style contracts. The move follows its October acquisition of Railbird Technologies and comes as the CFTC pushes to treat such markets...
The Fort Institute commemorates its six‑year milestone this April, emphasizing the continent‑wide leadership gap that hampers Africa’s development. The organization outlines its core tenets—service, integrity, excellence, and responsibility—as a response to systemic governance challenges. It unveils CIRCLES, a new BOLT...
President Donald Trump told the nation the United States will pull its forces out of the Iran war within two to three weeks, a dramatic shift in American foreign‑policy leadership. The announcement comes as oil prices remain elevated at $80‑$100...
Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s board has launched a surprise proxy fight that removes incumbent CEO Luigi Lovaglio and installs a new slate of directors aligned with construction magnate Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone. The move triggers scrutiny from the European Central...
Communicators can now scale qualitative analysis thanks to AI, which processes large volumes of employee and customer comments, transcripts, and open‑ended survey responses. Integral CEO Ethan McCarty described the shift from cherry‑picked anecdotes to systematic insight, turning raw text into...
Ardonagh’s newly launched pan‑European MGA, Orvia Underwriting, announced six senior appointments, including Paul Nolan as Chief Underwriting Officer, Werner Richter as Managing Director for Germany, Ivan Mullen as Chief Technology Officer, Caolán O’Callaghan as Chief Actuary, Sharna Bullen as Director...
The Spot Athletics has expanded from a 2,000‑square‑foot starter gym to two 20,000‑square‑foot private training facilities by embedding a 4 am founder mindset, radical hospitality, and a "Our House" culture. The Midwest‑based operation treats every client as an athlete, delivering pro‑level...
Recent research shows that organizations with a strong truth‑telling culture can boost financial performance by more than 20%, while 76% of workers say honesty influences their employer choice. Yet only 19% of employees trust that leaders are being truthful, reflecting...
In this episode, a16z partner David Haper talks with Owen Jennings, Block’s executive officer, about the company’s bold decision to cut roughly 40% of its workforce and reorganize around AI‑driven small squads. Jennings explains how breakthroughs in large‑language‑model coding tools...
Vanessa Hale has been appointed the first chief executive of Real Estate:UK (RE:UK), the new industry body formed by merging the British Property Federation, Investment Property Forum and Association of Real Estate Funds. Hale joins RE:UK in July from her...
Lime Rock Partners, a private‑equity firm specializing in oil and gas assets, announced a formal succession plan as its co‑founders step back after nearly three decades. Jeffrey Schofield has been appointed president and will assume day‑to‑day management responsibilities. The transition...
The data center and cloud sectors are undergoing a wave of senior‑level appointments as operators scale to meet surging hyperscale, AI and sustainability demands. Stream Data Centers promoted Michael Lahoud to CEO, while Prime Data hired power veteran John Bates...
The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that 70 % of people hesitate to trust anyone whose values, facts, problem‑solving style or culture differ from their own. The article offers six practical habits—ethical compass, selective confrontation, respectful disagreement, confidentiality, transparent view changes,...
Martin Sion, former ArianeGroup chief, became Alstom CEO on April 1, succeeding Henri Poupart‑Lafarge after a decade. He inherits a company with €18 billion (≈$19.6 billion) revenue, a record €94.5 billion (≈$103 billion) order backlog, but persistent delivery delays and negative free cash flow of...
Apple marked its 50th anniversary by publishing 50 of Steve Jobs’ most influential quotes, tracing his guidance from the garage‑born Apple I to today’s $3.72 trillion empire. The collection highlights themes of focus, simplicity, hiring for ideas, and relentless perseverance that...
A June 2023 ResumeBuilder.com survey of 1,344 managers found 74% consider Gen Z employees more difficult to work with than older colleagues, with 49% reporting frequent challenges. Managers blame perceived gaps in technology proficiency (39%), effort (37%) and motivation (37%). The...
Victorian Plumbing announced that group managing director Stephnie Judge has succeeded founder Mark Radcliffe as chief executive and joined the board. Radcliffe will remain involved as a non‑executive founder director and major shareholder. The company also unveiled a four‑year value‑creation...
In this episode, Jens Levin, founder and CEO of Cito, shares the 22‑year journey of building a SaaS platform that powers the in‑store experience for non‑food retailers across Europe and beyond. After a decade of experimentation, Cito pivoted in 2015...
Tech leads often feel swamped by competing priorities, from feature estimates to bug triage and cross‑functional requests. The article outlines a practical framework: log every request, triage daily by importance, delegability, and alignment with six‑month goals, and protect dedicated coding...
Nancy Roos has been appointed to the Executive Board of General Reinsurance AG, effective April 1, 2026, while retaining her role as CFO. She succeeds retiring board member Mike O’Dea and brings more than two decades of experience at Gen Re, including...
The creative director has become the engine of profit for luxury houses, a role exemplified by Tom Ford’s 1994 turnaround of Gucci from a $22 million loss to $3 billion in revenue. Recent industry data from Bernstein treats runway debuts like earnings...
Nokia announced three senior appointments for its Middle East and Africa (MEA) operations, naming Mikko Lavanti as President, Roque Lozano Barbero as Senior Vice President of Network Infrastructure, and Danial Mausoof as Senior Vice President of Mobile Infrastructure. The new...
The article outlines a framework for constructing bias‑proof decision systems that can sustain consistent, high‑stakes choices. It emphasizes a layered architecture that starts with clean, validated data and proceeds through objective scoring, transparent criteria, and continuous feedback loops. The author...
Marcie Frost, who rose from teenage mother and typist to CEO of CalPERS, is featured in the 2026 Women in Private Equity series. Her story underscores how non‑traditional career paths can lead to leadership in the world’s largest public pension...
In this episode, COO Josh Breyer of Connecticut Wealth Management and Managing Director Aldo Tarantini of Family Management Corp discuss how operational strategy, technology, and a client‑first culture drive growth in independent wealth‑management firms. They share the firms’ histories—Family Management’s...
In this episode, Chief Product Officer Pippa Topp of giffgaff explains emotional intelligence (EI) as the ability to recognize and regulate one’s own feelings and understand others’ responses, especially within product teams. She highlights common EI pitfalls like defensiveness in...
Sarah Wisdom, a four‑time alumna and former superintendent of the New Bloomfield School District, will become president of William Woods University in Missouri this summer. Her two‑decade K‑12 leadership gives her deep insight into the regional student pipeline and operational...
HDFC Bank’s part‑time chairman Atanu Chakraborty resigned abruptly, citing vague “values and ethics” misalignment, sparking immediate governance concerns. Within a day, the Reserve Bank of India installed veteran Keki Mistry as interim non‑executive chairman and affirmed the bank’s financial soundness....
The article explains why some leaders are both liked and respected while others generate tension and disengagement. It argues that true leadership effectiveness comes from blending warmth with clear standards, not from charisma or intimidation. Leaders who combine emotional self‑control...
Chiron Group SE announced Roman Gaida as its new chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2026, with the added responsibility of leading global sales. Gaida brings extensive experience from roles at Wieland, OC Oerlikon Balzers, Mitsubishi Electric and most recently as chief sales officer at...
Sheryl Sandberg announced that 25‑year‑old former Meta product manager Bridget Griswold will lead Lean In as its new CEO, steering the nonprofit toward closing the AI gender gap. A Lean In survey of 1,000 U.S. adults found 33% of men...
Gebr. Heinemann promoted its Asia‑Pacific CFO, Rajshree Dugar, to CEO effective 1 September, replacing Johannes Sammann who moves to a global people‑and‑culture role. The change comes amid a restructuring prompted by a sustained drop in Chinese traveler spending, which has reshaped the...
We overestimate breakthrough moments and underestimate accumulation. Large outcomes are rarely the result of a single decisive act, they are the residue of repeated, small, directional actions. The discipline is not ambition; it’s consistency at a granular level. Strategy fails...
The Toronto Maple Leafs terminated general manager Brad Treliving on Monday, citing a disappointing 2025‑26 campaign that saw the club tumble from Atlantic Division leaders to the brink of playoff elimination. Owner Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) has launched...
First Technology Federal Credit Union announced the hiring of Steven Wright as its inaugural chief legal officer. Wright joins from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where he was general counsel and chief ethics officer, bringing extensive regulatory and law‑firm...
Leadership strategist Preetie Boler warns that many managers confuse good intentions with effective outcomes, creating a hidden "invisible gap" between what they aim to do and how employees experience it. The gap manifests when defensive tones undermine feedback, a lack...
In episode 4 of the m25 Global Producers Series, Prodigious Bangkok Managing Director Jeffrey Chow outlines his non‑linear journey from motion‑control cameraman to chief growth officer and now producer leader. He argues that modern producers must translate ambition into executable, scalable...
Jack Dorsey argues that AI enables companies to eliminate layers of middle management as they only exist to pass information back and forth upper levels to frontline workers. Basically AI has access to all of the data and communications at the...
Goldilocks has hired former Colenso BBDO Managing Partner Lucy Cole as its General Manager, marking the first senior appointment for the agency model built to serve Westpac New Zealand. Cole brings over a decade of senior agency experience, including leadership roles at...
Perenti Limited announced Dr. Vanessa Torres as its next managing director and chief executive officer, succeeding Mark Norwell. Torres arrives from South32, where she most recently served as chief operating officer, and brings over 25 years of global resources experience,...
Your team will never have the full context that you have as the founder. And that’s not a knock on them, it’s just the reality of leadership. Your job is to trust your instincts and lead them in the direction...
Jimini Health announced a $17 million seed round to accelerate its AI‑driven mental‑health chatbot, Sage. Backed by investors such as M13 and Town Hall Ventures, the funding will help the startup embed clinician‑supervised AI into large behavioral‑health systems, signaling a new...
Renewed economy begs renewed focus: @Sequoia Capital Names Former Leader Leone as Chairman. Sequoia Capital on Tuesday named Doug Leone, an investor who has been at the firm since 1988, as chairman. After stepping back from making new investments in...
Is 'resistance to change' just an excuse for poor preparation? When training is irrelevant and communication is generic, people struggle. Blaming them isn't the solution. #ChangeManagement #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture https://t.co/NNPCnBf93n
