(Podcast) Upgrade 613: I Know I Picked Too Many iPods
Apple announced that longtime CEO Tim Cook will step down after a 12‑year tenure, naming hardware veteran John Ternus as his successor. The transition raises questions about Apple’s strategic direction under Ternus, especially given his track record with iPhone and Mac product lines. Podcast host Six Colors also examines the influence of chief silicon officer Johny Srouji on future hardware innovation. Finally, the episode teases a forthcoming biography of Cook that focuses on leadership rather than culinary metaphors.
Lululemon Just Committed Brand Harakiri.
Lululemon announced Nike veteran Heidi O’Neill as its incoming CEO, prompting a 12% share drop that erased about $2 billion in market value. O’Neill’s tenure at Nike coincided with the brand’s aggressive wholesale retreat, loss of shelf space to Hoka and...
Infinimmune Appoints Anthony Slavin, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Portfolio Strategy
Infinimmune announced the appointment of Anthony Slavin, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Portfolio Strategy. Slavin will steer the company’s portfolio development, guiding the selection of new antibody programs and advancing its existing pipeline. He arrives with a proven track record...
My Employee Is Abrasive — Can I Ask Others to Be Patient While I Coach Her?
A university theater manager is grappling with Jane, a high‑performing staff member whose abrasive, dismissive tone is alienating students and colleagues. Despite several coaching sessions, her behavior persists, raising concerns about student retention and team morale. The manager wonders whether...
Judy Gets Her Freakonomics On
Freakonomics recently interviewed Epic Systems CEO Judy Faulkner, during which she highlighted Epic’s claim of offering more APIs than any other EHR vendor. Faulkner explained that data access requires permission from the individual health organization, positioning Epic as a neutral...
Sometimes Your Job Is to Get in the Way
Slack’s engineering leadership halted all production releases after a high‑profile outage, forcing the company to confront systemic reliability gaps. A rapid, cross‑functional war room was convened, leading to a three‑month overhaul of the development pipeline and new testing practices. The...
Weekly Briefing: BlackRock’s Agentic AI Push, an Elite Law Firm’s AI Hallucinations, the $636 Billion AI Bet, and Why Empathetic...
The briefing highlights four AI‑driven shifts reshaping the C‑suite. BlackRock is rolling out Rock AI, a no‑code platform that lets thousands of employees create autonomous agents to execute investment work. A top law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, filed AI‑generated hallucinations in court, exposing...
OM in the News: The AI Splurge and Big Tech’s Workforce
Tech giants are slashing staff to fund AI ambitions, announcing 45,800 layoffs in March 2026—the steepest month in two years. Microsoft trimmed its workforce by 7%, Block by 40%, and Meta eliminated 8,000 positions. The cuts fund accelerated investment in...
Early and Late-Stage Hypergrowth.
Companies in early-stage hypergrowth concentrate on fixing a single, pressing problem after achieving product‑market fit, while late-stage hypergrowth forces them to juggle compliance, stability, and support for a broader customer base. The author explains that expanding an existing leader’s scope...
Why Your Worst Performers Sound the Most Confident (The Dunning–Kruger Trap)
The post warns managers that overconfident, low‑skill employees can masquerade as future leaders, while truly skilled workers often stay silent. It explains the Dunning‑Kruger effect—low ability leads to overestimation, high ability to underestimation—and visualizes the confidence‑competence curve. The author offers...
Strategic Stuckness
Strategic stuckness occurs when firms recognize poor results but fail to change course, often because they view their organization as a complex adaptive system (CAS) with unpredictable cause‑and‑effect loops. Managers trained as technocrats seek certainty, yet the CAS environment rarely...
Teach Your Agents to Manage Up
The post shows how to train AI agents—like the OpenClaw/Hermes “Claw”—to manage up by treating them as outcome‑focused employees rather than generic tools. The author shares a six‑step prompt that forces the agent to repeat back the task, outline steps,...
When You Change Your Mind, Let Everyone Know Why
Leaders often avoid publicly admitting a change of mind, fearing it signals weakness. New research shows that the most effective executives openly announce pivots, linking them to fresh evidence or better reasoning. By making the shift visible, they model humility...
Words Are Money
The article frames communication as a financial investment, urging leaders to treat words like currency. It outlines four principles—Invest, Diversify, Value, and Compound—each offering concrete tactics such as defining intent, using a 60/25/15 mix of encouragement, inquiry, and correction, cutting...
Respect Confidentiality: The Leadership Habit That Builds Trust
Respecting confidentiality is presented as a foundational leadership habit that builds trust and psychological safety within teams. The article outlines four practical steps—pause, redirect, explain boundaries, and model discretion—to help leaders handle sensitive information without breaching privacy. By consistently applying...
How Team Familiarity Can Speed Decision Making During a Crisis
A new study led by Wharton postdoctoral fellow Alexandra Bray shows that team familiarity dramatically speeds decision making, especially in low‑uncertainty crises. In routine settings, teams that have worked together make choices about six minutes faster than ad‑hoc groups. When...
The Gender Pay Gap: Why C-Suite Accountability Matters More than Ever
The gender pay gap in the UK remains entrenched, with male graduates out‑earning female peers within five years of graduation. Mandatory reporting for firms with over 250 employees has increased transparency but has not closed the gap because it is...
The Multifamily Operations Daily Huddle: Why Gratitude Strengthens Leadership
A single handwritten note to a maintenance supervisor sparked a noticeable shift in energy and performance, illustrating how gratitude can act as a low‑cost retention tool in multifamily operations. The article argues that specific, sincere recognition drives loyalty that outweighs...
How to One-on-One
Effective one‑on‑one meetings are essential for remote and distributed teams, yet most fall into three failure modes: turning the slot into a status update, sugar‑coating feedback, or repeatedly canceling. The article outlines five categories that belong in a 1:1—career growth,...
Are You Solving the Noisiest Problems Instead of the Right Ones?
The article warns that leaders often chase the loudest, most urgent issues instead of the problems that drive long‑term growth. It argues that this default triage mindset stems from a brain wired for crisis response, causing strategic challenges to be...
The Guggenheim’s New Boss
Melissa Chiu, former director of Washington’s Hirshhorn Museum, has been appointed director of New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Her hire follows the elevation of Mariët Westermann to CEO of the Guggenheim Foundation, which oversees sites in New York, Venice, Bilbao and the upcoming...
Deloitte Private Report Highlights Family Business Growth Despite Economic Uncertainty
Deloitte Private’s new Family Business Insights Series, based on a survey of 1,587 firms in 36 countries, shows family‑owned companies are set to expand markedly despite economic headwinds. By 2030, family businesses with at least $100 million in revenue are projected...
Interdisciplinary Understanding of Leadership Paradox
The article frames the modern "Leadership Paradox" as the tension between control and surrender in an era of human‑machine synergy. It argues that effective leaders must act as both influencers and collaborators, blending technical logic with human inspiration. Across disciplines—from...
Ashleigh Sears to Lead Lockton Alternative Risk Solutions Practice
Lockton has named Ashleigh Sears to head its alternative risk solutions practice, which includes captive consulting, structured risk solutions, and fronting arrangements. Sears joins from Everest, where she served as head of alternative risk, and brings prior senior experience at...
The Cobra Effect: Why Managing by Metrics Backfires
The article warns that over‑reliance on single metrics creates perverse incentives that distort behavior. It cites activists chasing protest numbers, governments fixated on GDP, and CEOs chasing shareholder value as examples of metric‑driven misalignment. These proxies often ignore broader outcomes...
How to Understand What Energizes and Drains Your Team
The Team Heartbeat Canvas is a visual exercise that maps each employee’s emotional highs and lows over time, revealing where experiences converge or diverge. Leaders use the overlaid “EKG” to identify patterns that energize or drain the team, facilitating honest...
Altitude
Rahim Hirji’s newsletter promotes his upcoming book *SuperSkills: The Seven Human Skills for the Age of AI*, releasing July 3 2026, and introduces the concept of “altitude” – the mental height at which leaders operate. He illustrates altitude with everyday kitchen anecdotes,...
The Multifamily Operations Daily Huddle: The Value of Perspective
The article argues that multifamily leaders must regularly step back from day‑to‑day property issues to view their portfolio from a bird’s‑eye perspective. By treating the portfolio as a single system, executives can differentiate between isolated incidents and systemic patterns. The...
🧠#205: Reflection Prompt
The post shares a Tim Ferriss quote about busywork being lazy thinking, then poses a weekly executive‑coaching prompt: “What is the one terrifying decision you are avoiding today that would change your business for the good?” It encourages leaders to...
CEO Interview with Xianxin Guo of Lumai
Lumai, an Oxford University spin‑out, is commercialising optical computing technology to accelerate AI inference in data centres. CEO Xianxin Guo says the hybrid optical‑electronic processor replaces power‑hungry electronic tensor operations with light‑based computation, delivering dramatically higher performance‑per‑watt. The company targets...
Fair Judgment Under Pressure
Developing sound judgment under pressure requires deliberate, multidimensional reasoning. The article outlines a simple five‑step structure—calm, define, assess high‑risk facts, choose, and adjust—to avoid impulsive, high‑regret choices. It emphasizes pausing, filtering noise, obtaining external perspectives, and preferring reversible decisions. These...
Good Leaders Refuse to Take ‘Yes’ for an Answer
The post warns that teams often default to a quick “Yes” to avoid conflict, which can mask genuine disagreement and lead to flawed decisions. Good leaders counter this by interrogating affirmative responses, asking for rationale, risks, and specifics rather than...
MTN Names Lwazi Bam as Group Chief Risk Officer
MTN Group appointed Lwazi Bam as Group Chief Risk Officer effective June 1, 2026. Bam, former Deloitte Africa CEO, will join the executive committee to oversee enterprise‑wide risk and compliance. The move supports MTN’s Ambition 2030 strategy targeting data growth and...
The PE Board Red Flag Missed in Interview One
The article warns that executives often overlook a critical red flag when joining private‑equity‑backed companies: board composition. It outlines five essential questions—covering investment thesis, board makeup, sponsor‑operating partner dynamics, team turnover, and compensation structure—that should be asked before signing. A...
The Multifamily Operations Daily Huddle: Why Leadership Is a Long Game
The article argues that multifamily leadership is a marathon, not a sprint, emphasizing that lasting impact comes from developing people rather than personal accolades. It highlights a regional director whose protégés now manage portfolios across three states, illustrating the power...
What You Can’t Count, You Have To See
The article warns that turning soft‑skill behaviors—curiosity, learning, caring, customer centricity, adaptability, accountability, discipline, purpose—into numeric scores collapses their essence. When leaders chase metrics, employees game the system, producing compliance theater rather than genuine change. Instead, the author argues these...
Uncertainty About Jet Fuel Dominates Airline Boardrooms
Airline executives convened at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Berlin to confront soaring jet‑fuel costs, which have breached $200 per barrel. The price surge follows the Israel‑U.S. conflict with Iran and Lebanon and the subsequent closure of the Strait...
Video: Managing at Scale (25 Minutes)
The 25‑minute video "Managing at Scale" features Molly outlining how leaders can thrive in large organizations. She emphasizes three core practices: sharing clear context, defining roles and expectations, and building systems that surface progress and problems. The ultimate aim is...
How To Stop Being Your Own Tragic Hero
The post warns founders against inflating successes and catastrophizing setbacks, urging a realistic view of their stakes. It outlines practical steps—finding joy in small wins, balancing humility with conviction, and prioritizing self‑care—to protect mental health. The author stresses that genuine...
Lead with Trust and Care in the Age of AI: Your Blueprint for Growth
Artificial intelligence is reshaping workplaces at unprecedented speed, creating a "trust gap" as employees grapple with role uncertainty and digital isolation. Leaders who focus solely on technology risk eroding confidence, while those who prioritize transparent communication and empathy can turn...
Apple Turnover
Tim Cook’s tenure at Apple saw market value surge from $300 billion to over $4 trillion, powered by hardware, services and a bold fintech push. In 2025 Apple is projected to sell 250 million iPhones, generating $350 billion in product revenue and $125 billion from...
Voice: Your Primary Instrument
The fourteenth lesson of The Persuasive Presenter course declares voice as the presenter’s primary instrument, outweighing slides, body language, and even word choice. It argues that vocal qualities shape emotion, emphasis, meaning, and authenticity, turning a tolerable talk into a...
NASA’s Red Wedding – Preview Or Paranoia?
NASA insiders are buzzing about a rumored agency-wide restructuring, nicknamed the “Red Wedding,” that could overhaul leadership across all centers. The speculation follows Administrator Jared Isaacman’s recent rollout of initiatives such as Project Athena, Core Competencies, Ignition, and NASA Force,...
“This Is a Generational Opportunity.”
Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier addressed a Heterodox Academy conference in Berkeley, warning that U.S. universities are increasingly subordinating scholarly standards to political agendas. He identified three faculty groups—a politicized minority, a majority seeking autonomy, and a dispersed, unorganized cohort—as the...
Fair Judgment
The article positions the "Fair Way" as an ethical operating system that demands global justice, transparency, and equitable distribution of digital benefits, rejecting shortcut‑driven algorithms. It pairs this with "Sound Judgment," defined as the human ability to filter data noise,...
Planning Isn’t Enough. Design the Business
Most executives rely on quarterly planning to set goals, but planning alone rarely translates into consistent execution. The article argues that sustainable growth requires a deliberate business design that embeds clear ownership, decision rights, operating rhythms, and systematic processes. Design...
“Push & Pull” In Talent Upskilling
The article reframes talent development as a dual "push‑pull" system powered by AI. "Push" now means automated, data‑driven learning nudges, compliance guardrails and performance benchmarks, while "pull" relies on purpose, mentoring and self‑managed teams to inspire intrinsic motivation. Leaders must...
You're Not Alone, Educator, and Neither Are Your Kids
The podcast episode spotlights two educators who refuse to settle for mediocrity. Principal Josh Tovar of Memorial Pathway Academy in Garland, Texas, relies on two daily rituals—DEAR reading and exit‑ticket displays—to build a consistent culture that lifts diverse learners and...
Why Your Best Decisions Might Be Your Worst
In a paid episode of The Best Leadership Newsletter Ever, Jeff Matlow explores a subtle decision‑making bias where leaders mistake relative comparisons for optimal choices. He illustrates how hiring the "best" candidate among a limited pool can still be a...
The Berkshire Beat: April 24, 2026
Greg Abel’s first 100 days as Berkshire Hathaway CEO have been marked by decisive portfolio reshuffling, including the liquidation of all stocks managed by Todd Combs and leaving Ted Weschler with roughly six percent of holdings. Abel is also tightening...