🎯 Today's Management Pulse
Six Flags Restores Park President Role to Boost Operational Flexibility
Six Flags is re‑introducing the park president position at ten flagship locations, reversing a 2025 decision made after its merger with Cedar Fair. Executives say the change creates a more strategic and flexible operating structure tailored to each park’s market. The move aims to improve guest experience and employee alignment across the chain.
🚀 Top Management Headlines
7 Destructive Things Leaders Say that Stifle Innovation, Trust, and Teamwork (and What to Say for More Innovation)
Episode 349: What if the everyday phrases you use as a leader are quietly stifling innovation on your team? If your team seems hesitant to share ideas or to take initiative, the issue might not be a lack of talent; it might be communication. This episode zeroes in on how common leadership language can unintentionally […] The post 7 Destructive Things Leaders Say that Stifle Innovation, Trust, and Teamwork (and what to say for more innovation) appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.
Let’s Grow Leaders
Sustainability Is Maturing
In 2002, 45% of the world’s top 250 companies reported on sustainability. Today, 96% do. Sustainability metrics that once differentiated companies have become the new baseline. This doesn’t mean sustainability has stalled. Rather, it has matured. As geopolitical and regulatory risks continue progressing, what it means to be a sustainable business is evolving. For leaders guiding their companies into the future, sustainability must be more than an aspiration or a value. It’s a practical tool for operating stronger, more resilient businesses. The leaders best positioned for success are the ones integrating sustainability as a core business function, operating at the intersection of regulation, risk, and performance. As a global leader of paper-based packaging solutions, my company has seen firsthand how embedding sustainability at the center of business decision-making can return powerful results, directly influencing operational continuity, pricing patterns, cost structures, and reliability, along with environmental benefits. For today’s leaders, the opportunity lies in turning sustainability into a strategic driver of long-term value. THE NEW DIRECTION OF DIFFERENTIATION For businesses today, the impacts of a warming climate, resource availability, and supply chain volatility have moved from future risks to everyday operating realities. In this shifting landscape, leaders who consider environmental and climate-related factors when making investment decisions can better prepare their companies for changes or economic shocks when they arise. Proactive environmental choices like sustainable sourcing practices and circular systems help businesses manage disruption, rather than react to it. Infrastructure is a great example of how sustainability can serve as a strategic lens through which key decisions are made. If we’re evaluating a potential plant upgrade at Smurfit Westrock, factors like energy efficiency, water usage, and climate resilience are as important to consider as logistics and labor costs. These criteria now influence projections and long-term competitive positioning. During a recent upgrade at our Tres Barras paper mill in Brazil, this approach resulted in a 20% increase in production, while reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions per tonne by 12%—demonstrating the far-reaching impact of sustainability-led investment. Evolving sustainability regulations are also a critical factor reshaping expectations around how companies should structure and manage their operations. Businesses are navigating a complex patchwork of regulatory environments across regions, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (a European Union regulation that requires companies to publicly report their environmental and social impact), the Extended Producer Responsibility (a policy that makes companies responsible for their products’ full lifecycle), and other emerging initiatives. This reality calls for a nimble, forward-looking approach—reimagining operations to stay ahead of uncertainty and capitalizing on emerging opportunities. TURN CUSTOMER PRIORITIES INTO A SUSTAINABLE ADVANTAGE A powerful sustainability strategy is turning the lens toward the customer. When companies focus on solving real customer challenges—whether minimizing complexity, improving efficiency, or reducing their footprint—sustainability moves beyond an internal initiative and becomes a source of tangible value. One example is Liberty Coca-Cola, which bottles and distributes Coke products in New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. The bottler has long pushed boundaries by investing in technology and innovative packaging alternatives that minimize plastic waste. As part of its ambitious goal to reduce plastic in its operations, the company became the first bottler worldwide to collaborate with us to replace plastic beverage rings with paperboard carriers. Liberty Coca-Cola estimated that the change is eliminating around 200,000 pounds of plastic annually while helping the company meet its large consumer base’s expectations. This kind of progress requires the right tools and insights. The ability to evaluate materials, measure environmental impact, and test alternatives can help customers meet both operational and sustainability goals. By investing in customer-focused capabilities like our data-driven Design2Market program and experience centers, where customers can explore packaging solutions and design tools first-hand, we’ve seen how advanced tools help companies develop solutions that deliver impact across the value chain. SUSTAINABILITY AS AN INNOVATION ENGINE Circularity can be a powerful catalyst for smarter design, inspiring innovation that reduces waste and lowers emissions, while positioning companies as industry leaders equipped for long-term performance. When regulatory changes in Mexico required Costco to replace the plastic “dog bone” handles on its bottle multipacks, we partnered with the company to develop a circular alternative. The new regulations pushed us to reimagine what we could achieve with paper. The resulting fiber-based handles not only enhanced sustainability, but also improved functionality and aesthetics. Since the solution’s launch, Costco has eliminated approximately 1 million pounds of plastic and counting, while improving customer experience. At the same time, the business impact has been powerful for us, growing our partnership as Costco locations across Asia and North America adopt the new packaging solutions. What began as a sustainability challenge became an opportunity to create new avenues of growth. As the sustainability landscape continues evolving, success is no longer about signaling intent. It’s about how leaders integrate sustainability into operations to strengthen resilience, growth, and trust with customers and partners. The leaders who align their strategies with sustainability’s evolution will shape the future of their industries, driving meaningful change for all. Ken Bowles is CFO of Smurfit Westrock.
Fast Company
How to Build a High-Performing Team During the AI Era
Technology is making it easier for everyone to move faster. The important question is who will move in the right direction? New technologies—including AI and automation—are quickly becoming indispensable teammates that can draft, summarize, analyze, and accelerate the work that keeps organizations moving. I see most individuals on my team using AI and automation to complete some tasks in a fraction of the time, allowing them more time to focus on relationship-building, innovation, and value creation. When the use of AI and automation becomes widespread, it will stop being a performance differentiator. Differentiation will come instead from the people that use them with judgment, clarity, and accountability, and that’s where leadership matters. As new technology spreads, human capabilities contribute to high performance In Deloitte’s new research on high-performing teams—based on an external survey of 1,394 US working professionals—respondents were asked to think about teams they have been a part of that consistently meet or exceed expectations over time. We found that surveyed high-performing teams are more likely to use AI in their day-to-day work (78% versus 54%) and more likely to report stronger outcomes including efficiency, problem-solving, and collaboration. Technical know-how certainly matters. But the research was also clear that high performance in the AI era is human-led and AI-powered. Members of surveyed high-performing teams are 2.3 times as likely to feel trusted by their team leader, 2.3 times as likely to feel respected and appreciated by peers, and nearly 1.5 times more likely to report feeling included. They also cited emotional and social intelligence as the top success factor for their team. While AI can generate options quickly, it can’t act on what matters most, set expectations for excellence with others, or own the consequences of outcomes. That’s human work, and it is leader work: staying close enough to provide direction and reinforce judgment, not just measure speed. Despite the importance of human capabilities in maximizing the benefits of AI, most organizations are investing almost exclusively in technology. According to Deloitte’s 2026 Tech Trends, roughly 93% of surveyed organizations’ AI-related budgets are being spent on technology, and only 7% on people. That imbalance may determine which organizations translate AI investment into sustained performance and which simply deploy more technology. It can also signal a broader pattern: investing in technology without investing in the leaders and teams that make them useful. What sets high-performing teams apart Deloitte’s research found teams that say they consistently achieve high performance tend to demonstrate capabilities such as)—curiosity, resilience, divergent thinking, and emotional and social intelligence. While these capabilities are not new, they take on greater importance in the age of AI. They help shape how teams navigate uncertainty, exercise judgment under pressure, and apply technology responsibly in real-world decisions. High-performing teams don’t emerge only because AI was deployed. They’re built through leadership choices, often small, repeatable ones, that build durable capability over time. Here are five moves leaders can implement now to help teams build a culture of high-performance while using AI. 1. Clearly define expectations Expect that work is verified, define in clear terms what “good” looks like, and set standards for, and role model, ethics and integrity. In many ways, this is no different than the expectations a leader sets for all work and how team members hold each other accountable. 2. Continue to invest in human capabilities AI will continue to evolve, and investment in technology will continue to rise, but the next competitive advantage isn’t expected to be defined by technology alone. It will likely be defined by who also builds teams that consistently demonstrate enduring human capabilities. 3. Embed curiosity into workflows Rotate a “second viewpoint” role in key meetings and reviews, or someone explicitly responsible for asking what’s missing, challenging assumptions, and surfacing trade-offs. Make that role responsible for challenging tool-driven conclusions, not just human ones. 4. Use strategic check-ins Our research shows leaders are more likely to perceive their team as high-performing than their team members. A consistent 10-minute check-in—what changed, what’s unclear, what decision is needed, what help is required—can help speed up decisions and impact. Consider using it to spot where technologies are creating bottlenecks, rework, or hidden risk. 5. Cultivate a culture of continuous learning Normalize peer demos, “show your work” walkthroughs, and quick prompt/output feedback. When learning flows laterally, skillsets expand—and AI adoption becomes more effective and consistent. Broaden apprenticeship from skills to craft—how the team thinks, decides, and delivers quality when technology accelerates the work. In our research, 63% of all respondents said enduring human capabilities will increase in importance in the AI era, yet only 33% of all respondents strongly agree their organization is developing technical and human capabilities equally. That gap should be a concern among leadership. As AI scales across the enterprise, executive responsibility scales with it. Leaders can treat AI as a technology initiative or as an opportunity to build enduring human capabilities to achieve and sustain high performance, whatever comes next.
Fast Company
Closing The Deal Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg
The real complexity of sales lies beneath the surface, when weak post-sale processes create financial risk—revenue leakage, audit exposure, inaccurate forecasts and strained cash flow—that eventually land on the CFO’s desk. Here’s how to avoid that fate. The post Closing The Deal Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg appeared first on CFO Leadership.
StrategicCFO360 (Chief Executive Group)
Customer-First Ethos Linked to Burnout at Service NSW
Excessive micromanagement and customer abuse are causing psychological harm. The post Customer-first ethos linked to burnout at Service NSW appeared first on Government News.
Government News (Australia)
💬 Top Management Social Posts
Thread by @Michaelwmchugh
Thinking Small Strategy built Walmart: ✈️ Go to the frontlines 🧠 Hire people smarter than you 🔁 Force constant change 🏪 Think one store, one customer Scale didn’t win—discipline did. Read more: https://michaelwmchugh.com/thinking-small-strategy-sam-walton/
Tweet by @Yvesmulkers
42% of AI initiatives fail. Not because the tech doesn't work. Because nobody built the bridge between a working model and a working business outcome. The viability gap is organizational, not technical. Five layers worth auditing before your board asks first. https://t.co/y89hUiqrly
Keith Rabois: Companies Hire Ammunition when They Really Need Barrels. "Most Founders Raise Money, and Then They Hire a Lot of People. And Then the CEO, Almost without Exception, Gets Frustrated… | Lenny Rachitsky | 29 Comments
Keith Rabois : Companies hire ammunition when they really need barrels. "Most founders raise money, and then they hire a lot of people. And then the CEO, almost without exception, gets frustrated because they've hired a lot of people, their burn rate has increased, and they don't feel like more is getting accomplished per unit of time. The fundamental driver of this is the number of people that can independently drive an initiative from inception to success is very limited within most companies. If you hire more people without expanding the number of what I call 'barrels,' that can drive ideas from inception to success, all you're doing is stacking people behind the same initiatives." The ratio of barrels to ammunition is what determines the number of important things a company can pursue simultaneously.
