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03.27.25
Leading Thoughts for March 27, 2025
IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: Bob Rosen on uncertainty: “Uncertainty can become our undoing if we are not open to what’s around the corner, whether new ideas and experiences or the latest resentments or disappointments. During a state of uncertainty, we must learn to be comfortable with being vulnerable. Although the idea may seem counterintuitive, vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable says you are willing to take risks, be an imperfect person, and accept reality, whatever it may be.” Source: Detach: Ditch Your Baggage to Live a More Fulfilling Life Josh Linkner on walking and creativity: “Researchers isolated walking from all other factors to determine the impact of strolling on creativity. The results: creative output increased by an average of 60 percent when the person was walking compared to sitting. Not .6 percent, not 6 percent, but 60 percent.” Source: Big Little Breakthroughs: How Small, Everyday Innovations Drive Oversized Results Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index.   Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 04:26 PM
03.21.25
Red Flags at Work: Recognizing Problems and Delivering the Bad News
IN MY early managerial days, I would often ask my bosses and peers how they learned the skill of delivering bad news. Almost always, their answer was: “You will learn it over time,” “There is no compression algorithm for experience,” or some variation of needing to put in the time. Granted, experience is one of the best teachers, but I have discovered there are tactics that can be learned so you don’t have to navigate without help. Spotting Problems at Work Detection is about how to spot problematic situations that might require you to intervene and deliver bad news. This might include an employee who is not pulling their weight, runaway projects, and so on. As a manager, you are responsible for making sure you are getting the most out of your team and for delivering a positive return on investment for your company. You are, by default, supporting all the decisions your team is making, and if you keep backing bad decisions, you will be the one held responsible. So, how do you decide when it’s time to take notice? Employees and their personal work-related issues are the bane of every manager’s existence. There are two broad categories of people-related issues in which a manager needs to intervene: individual performance issues and personnel conflicts. They can cause a lot of damage if left unchecked. I suggest you create tenets that employees can use to resolve conflicts on their own versus solving it for them. Project management, encompassing issues that crop up during planning and issues that show up during execution, is another area that may require your overview and handling. The key to spotting problems is to ask the team to break the project down into milestones, and ensure that the distance between each milestone is less than one month. If they are unable to scope the milestone down, then start cutting scope until you get a milestone that is reasonably timed. If your team is absolutely unable to figure this out after a lot of hand-holding, you probably have the wrong people on your team. Preparing to Deliver the News The focus of preparation is on tailoring the tone and temperature of your bad news to match the situation. For example, your response to an employee slipping on their commitments for the first time must be softer than it is for the third time. Pressure, conflict, or disagreement situations all require a different tone of voice compared to peaceful situations. There might be times when you want to get your frustration across with immediacy and clearly to the other person (or group), but other times, you might not want to go there just yet. In my career, I have always taken the approach of raising the temperature slowly, and I wholeheartedly recommend that approach as you prepare to deliver bad news. Most people are not good at handling disagreements or conflict situations, especially if they end up on the losing side. The stronger and longer the disagreement, the deeper the resentment by the people who are in it, even if the outcome is a compromise that benefits both parties. They will remember the pain and the emotional toll of the conflict rather than the relief of the outcome. They will personalize the conflict. They will remember names and times. Raising the temperature slowly doesn’t get people’s dander up, and hence they are more open to sharing what they are actually feeling. They will be more open to compromises and less inclined to hate you if they end up losing their argument. Raising the Temperature Slowly Raising the temperature slowly means starting off by presenting an alternative hypothesis (after fully understanding the option on the table), instead of downright dismissing the one presented by the other person (or team) and taking care not to elicit a strong emotional reaction. For example, when I disagree with a design decision my team is making, this is what my low-temperature pushback will sound like: I am not sure this is the right way to go about it. I have seen evidence from [insert relevant career anecdote] that this won’t work. Have we considered solving this by doing [insert your option]? The emphasized words are what make this work. You are starting the conversation by not outright shooting down the other person’s idea. This gentle pushback will invite a healthy, thoughtful, and objective debate, as opposed to an unhealthy emotional response. In general, stay away from absolutist statements. Those will almost always elicit a strong emotional response instead of a robust discussion and debate. Start with low-temperature pushback and see if you can get your team to see your side of the equation. If it doesn’t work, you may need to increase the temperature. Here is an example of high-temperature pushback for the same situation I previously discussed: This is a bad idea, and I disagree with this decision. I have seen evidence from [insert relevant career anecdote] that this won’t work. It will affect our company by [some catastrophic outcome]. We should do [insert your option] instead. Be aware that just saying the words “I disagree” will elicit a strong emotional reaction from the other person, but such high-temperature messages will get your point across. Note, too, that there is a fine line between a high-temperature message and rudeness. Don’t cross it. The bottom line: If you want to build trust with your team and create an environment of two-way communication, you have to know how to detect problems and address them using the most suitable communication possible.  Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:21 AM
03.20.25
Leading Thoughts for March 20, 2025
IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: Writer and theologian C.S. Lewis on what why small choices matter: “Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.” Source: Mere Christianity George Mallory, a British mountaineer on the joy of climbing: “People ask me, ‘What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?’ and my answer must at once be, ‘It is of no use.’ There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron… If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.” Source: Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Mallory Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:23 AM
03.13.25
Leading Thoughts for March 13, 2025
IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: Chris Deaver and Ian Clawson on leading together: “The dark truth of success is that if we make it all about ourselves, our own egos, our individual performance, it eventually breaks down. It won’t have staying power. Most of us have experienced the reality of bosses or corporate cultures that go it alone, pushing agendas on us rather than building with us. Startups know this feeling. People running full speed toward their dreams know this feeling. But it’s fleeting. It doesn’t last if it’s not built with others, co-created.” Source: Brave Together: Lead by Design, Spark Creativity, and Shape the Future with the Power of Co-Creation Joel Kurtzman on leadership: “The leader is not separate from the group he or she leads. Rather, the leader is the organization’s glue—the force that binds it together, sets its direction, and makes certain that the group functions as one. Good leaders are not outsiders who cheer on a group. They are part of that group, integrated deeply into its fabric and emotional life. Connecting with the group you lead means demonstrating you are part of the group, understand its challenges, can do its jobs, and can stand the pressure and the heat.” Source: Common Purpose: How Great Leaders Get Organizations to Achieve the Extraordinary Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:21 PM
03.06.25
Leading Thoughts for March 6, 2025
IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: Andrew Kakabadse, Nada Kakabadse, and Linda Davies on leading to learn: “It is clear that successful leadership is never truly mastered as it is an organic service which must be ever refreshed and refined. The changing nature and demands of the follower and the changing nature and demands of the external environment mean that even once the leader has reached a point of maximum provision for their troops in their current state, they must put some serious planning into the next likely situation they will face. There is no rest. Learning to lead never stops and the truly successful, the truly great leader knows that they are leading to learn.” Source: Leading for Success: The Seven Sides to Great Leaders Greg Satell on identifying a keystone change: “To create real change, change that sticks and won’t be soon reversed, you need to identify a fundamental issue that encapsulates the value of the mission—a keystone change that is concrete and tangible, unites the efforts of multiple stakeholders, and paves the way for greater change. Revolutions don’t begin with a slogan—they begin with a cause. Source: Cascades: How to Create a Movement that Drives Transformational Change Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:36 AM
03.05.25
Collaborative Design Thinking in Action: How to Achieve Breakthrough Outcomes
A team approach to problem-solving, informed by the process of design thinking, can be optimally effective in triggering inspiration, leading to fresh ideas that are highly responsive to stakeholders. Indeed, collaboration can be a force multiplier in an effort to reach an intended objective. However, what seems to be missing is how team members can perform successfully and work as a collaborative entity for the good of the project. Collaborative design thinking suggests a customized framework for team members and stakeholders to work together so that the process is unique and relevant for a particular challenge and the individuals involved. A project leader can adjust the design thinking approach to the required matrix of specialties, personalities, tasks, and circumstances — and determine how and when collaboration occurs — to yield the best possible outcome. The following three summary examples include distinctive challenges. The process for arriving at an optimal solution, however, applies to many types of problems in many types of organizations. In each of these instances, the team was able to use an aspect of collaborative design thinking to ask the questions that needed to be asked and achieve breakthrough outcomes. Example 1: Empathy as a Means to Innovate in a Pharmaceutical Company Empathy — a key component of design thinking — helped this team develop a fresh mindset and a full appreciation for special needs, leading to a new way of thinking and, ultimately, to an innovative product. Developing meaningful empathy for stakeholders is a remarkable tool for problem definition and, ultimately, solutions. The better we can get to know the people who will be using the spaces, solutions, or, in this case, products that we design, the better problem solvers we can become. It’s a simple, commonsense idea that is surprisingly neglected. In this case, one team member assumed the role of stakeholder advocate, serving as a proxy for a typical product user. Armed with primary empathic data, she was then able to propose a wonderful, responsive, economical solution that the user could not have imagined. The project was denture adhesives for small sections, or “partials,” that replaced one or two missing teeth. The biggest problem for consumers was that their appliances didn’t fit properly, and would wobble and put stress on their teeth. Food particles would lodge beneath them, causing irritation. That was the initial problem definition from a consumer-need perspective, and also what the team was focused on solving from R & D and marketing standpoints. At a team meeting, one member held a jerry-rigged gardening glove — a simulation of what the consumers were going through. She said, “I’ve been listening to you talk about the consumers, and I’ve been thinking about their challenges. What you’re missing is that you’re not hearing them say, ‘It’s really hard to apply this!’” When they (accidentally) over-applied the adhesives, it was difficult to clean up; the adhesive was essentially a polymer mixed in oil, so consumers would end up with excess oil in their mouths. She also pointed out that the team was perhaps failing to address the right problem, which was over-applying the product. The adhesives are very viscous products that are squeezed out of a tube. They are much more difficult for this consumer group to squeeze than toothpaste—and she wanted the team to understand that. Back to the gardening glove. The member attached bits of hard plastic to the fingers on the glove to provide resistance, so it required more effort than usual when squeezing or doing any sort of motion — mimicking an arthritic hand and giving the R & D team an empathic sense of the experience of the typical consumer. While using the glove, it was very hard to properly apply the new products the team was trying to develop: they were all too thick. One solution was to rethink the original tube design and develop a novel application device. Similar to a pen clicking, a click would provide a metered dose, which was easier on the arthritic hand and did not require a squeezing force. With the glove on, it was much easier to click on the prototype device than it was to squeeze from a tube. Here, empathy provided the means to transcend a given problem, formulating questions that expand, illuminate, or otherwise open up the problem. Example 2: Improving Outpatient Services in a Health Care Clinic Recently, a team investigated how they might improve outpatient services for the family medicine clinic at a major urban hospital center. This is one of the busiest single-site clinics in the country, with over 80,000 patients per year. The team initiated a design workshop with the clinic’s providers to fully understand their challenges. One issue is the late patient who shows up 15 minutes after a scheduled appointment and the resulting stress on the provider, who still has to see that patient and then be late for other patients for the rest of the day. Business as usual — a slip of paper with the scheduled follow-up appointment and a phone call reminder to the patient — was clearly ineffective. The team thought about ways to assist patients to arrive on time for their appointments. They interviewed patients and providers, then prototyped and mocked up potential solutions. They used a storyboard technique to propose an app that would message patients at different times before their appointments, reminding them to show up on time. The team did not create anything brand new; there are existing platforms that accomplish the same thing. However, from the interviews with patients and from a review and analysis of precedents, they were able to ascertain that there are optimal times for reminder texts to be effective and to not be perceived as an annoyance. The team succeeded in proposing a solution that could be immediately implemented in the family medicine clinic, with a simple messaging app for the 90% of patients who had smartphones that could receive text messages. Example 3: Applying Collaborative Design Thinking to Find New Treatment Pathways for Disease Inspiration can come from just about anywhere — even from unrelated disciplines that enable us to examine problems from a fresh perspective. In this case, it was parents, not researchers, who recognized that cannabidiol (CBD) was effective in treating rare pediatric seizure disorders that were unresponsive to mainstream therapies. Investigators, regulators, and physicians took their cue from parents and brought Epidiolex to market. Reframing the question is another tactic in collaborative design thinking that facilitates new ways of examining a problem. Instead of asking, “Is there another, creative way of effectively destroying or removing cancer cells?” we might ask, “What if there is a different, perhaps better, means to achieve remission in a given case?” Articulating questions can be extremely valuable in determining whether or not they lead in a fruitful direction. Posing the right questions is a component in the design thinking loop that can be weighted heavily in the process to provoke a creative response. The innovative response to the “what if” question above involves a promising approach to transform the cancer cells rather than destroy them. Be mindful to pose questions that may be counterintuitive or completely off the wall to elicit the most potentially innovative responses. Obviously, specific and investigational treatment plans are far more complicated and individualized than suggested here, but the point is to demonstrate how bold new ideas can evolve from a different way of thinking. Closing the Gaps Not just for designers and architects, collaborative design thinking can be applied across many disciplines to solve real-world problems and reconcile dilemmas. Design thinking can infuse collaboration with a disciplined way of working; it can close many of the gaps in typically unfocused, occasional brainstorming sessions and attempts at collaboration that ultimately don’t work. While there is no magic formula, components of both collaboration and design thinking can be studied, systematically characterized, and rationally wedded to a process that yields effective and innovative solutions. Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:56 AM
03.01.25
First Look: Leadership Books for March 2025
HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in March 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.
as our job expands, the added pressure to perform corrupts our actions, and our increased power will blind us to the impact of those actions. Even the most well-intentioned manager can quickly become the boss nobody wants to work for. You’re the Boss is your executive coach in book form. It offers a fresh, evidence-based framework for managing pressure and power with grace and intelligence. Nawaz’s potent, proven strategies guide you to anticipate the unavoidable hazards of leadership without changing who you are, based on over two decades of coaching and in-depth research into the psychology of behavior and relationships. Discover a powerful way to manage yourself and others, navigate working relationships, and communicate effectively. Become the boss you want to be—and others need—while experiencing less stress and greater impact.
Life isn’t linear, and yet we constantly try to mold it around linear goals: four-year college degrees, ten-year career plans, thirty-year mortgages. What if instead we approached life as a giant playground for experimentation? Based on ancestral philosophy and the latest scientific research, Tiny Experiments provides a desperately needed reframing: Uncertainty can be a state of expanded possibility and a space for metamorphosis. Neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff reveals that all you need is an experimental mindset to turn challenges into self-discovery and doubt into opportunity. Readers will replace the old linear model of success with a circular model of growth in which goals are discovered, pursued, and adapted—not in a vacuum, but in conversation with the larger world.
Humans have always been good at inventing tools that change the way we live and work—though not always good at adapting to those changes. Will the power of AI create a new era of robotic, impersonal efficiency, or will it catalyze a renaissance, redefining leadership and the world of work? So far, that question has mostly prompted a wave of anxiety about the disappearance of jobs and the loss of humanness in our work lives. AI has the power to transform leadership for the better—the key is in how leaders use it. By delegating tasks to AI and using it to augment skills and behaviors, leaders have an opportunity to unlock a truly human experience of work while enhancing organizational performance. The AI-augmented leader moves beyond a focus on the technology itself to constantly probe how it can enhance and deepen the core qualities of human-centered leadership: awareness, wisdom, and compassion. In this way, AI can help leaders and organizations become more human.
No matter who you’re talking to, The Next Conversation gives you immediately actionable strategies and phrases that will forever change how you communicate. Jefferson Fisher, trial lawyer and one of the leading voices on real-world communication, offers a tried-and-true framework that will show you how to transform your life and your relationships by improving your next conversation. The Next Conversation will give you practical phrases that will lead to powerful results, from breaking down defensiveness in a hard talk with a family member to finding your own assertive voice at the boardroom conference table. Your every word matters, and by controlling how you communicate every day, you will create waves of positive impact that will resonate throughout your relationships to last a lifetime.
Conflict is getting the better of us. From our homes and community centers to C-Suites and Congress, disagreements are happening everywhere, with increasing frequency, and are being treated like zero-sum games that allow little margin for error and even less room for productive conversations. Conflict Resilience is not another book about conflict resolution, nor is it about problem solving. Conflict Resilience combines practical applications of advanced conflict management and study of the human brain to teach anyone how to turn conflict and negotiation into an act of union. This book provides the most cutting-edge and scientifically-grounded tools for driving agreement when possible and for empowering you to disagree better when the differences cut deep and the relationships matter most. This is a chance to bring people together, and an invitation to radically transform how we interact with our friends and families, our co-workers, our students, and our neighbors—anyone with whom we find ourselves in disagreement.
In our distracted, divisive world, the transformative power of true listening has never been more essential. Radical Listening is a revolutionary guide to mastering this vital skill from renowned experts Christian van Nieuwerburgh and Robert Biswas-Diener. Moving beyond simply hearing words, their groundbreaking framework teaches you to actively co-create meaning and connection. Though we spend nearly three hours a day on the receiving end of communication, listening is frequently neglected. We're bombarded by data, digital distractions, and a culture that celebrates talkers over listeners. Radical Listening provides the antidote, equipping you with six core competencies: Noticing, Quieting, Accepting, Acknowledging, Questioning, and Interjecting.
In The Super Upside Factor, Daniel Kang draws on his experience as a venture capitalist at Softbank Vision Fund and a Y Combinator-backed founder to adapt asymmetric principles for personal and professional life. He offers a clear framework for maximizing luck and generating outsized returns―what he calls Super Upsides. Through vivid, real-life experiments, Kang demonstrates how he put these principles into practice―from securing a book deal writing just 15 minutes a day; to recovering from a spiralling plane as a pilot; to raising millions by betting on pivotal career shift. Backed by decision science research and personal experimentations, the book strikes a balance between theory and practical advice, guiding readers to identify and optimize skewed life bets. Beyond the tactical elements, Kang explores the human side of applying these principles, including discussions on mental health, emotional struggles, and even tactically quitting.
   
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.” — Paul Graham, Y Combinator co-founder
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Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:56 PM
02.28.25
LeadershipNow 140: February 2025 Compilation
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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:07 AM
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BUILD YOUR KNOWLEDGE
 
How to Do Your Start-Up Right STRAIGHT TALK FOR START-UPS 
Grow Your Leadership Skills NEW AND UPCOMING LEADERSHIP BOOKS 
Leadership Minute BITE-SIZE CONCEPTS YOU CAN CHEW ON 
Classic Leadership Books BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU LEAD |
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You're the Boss
Tiny Experiments
More Human
The Next Conversation
Conflict Resilience
Radical Listening
The Super Upside Factor
Here is a selection of 
