153 articles in Leadership
Presents a practical framework for deciding which tasks to delegate, keep, or eliminate based on a matrix of skill level and strategic importance. Includes scripts for how to delegate effectively, set clear expectations, and build in accountability without micromanaging.
Google's Project Aristotle found psychological safety to be the single most important factor distinguishing high-performing teams from average ones, more important than team composition, structure, or resources. Psychological safety means team members feel safe to take interpersonal risks including admitting mistakes, asking questions, and offering dissenting opinions without fear of punishment or humiliation. The article provides six specific practices for building psychological safety including framing work as learning problems, acknowledging fallibility, and modeling curiosity.
Nussbaumer Knaflic presents guiding principles for transforming raw data into compelling visual narratives that drive action. The article covers eliminating chart clutter, directing attention through strategic design choices, and structuring data presentations around a central story arc rather than a data dump.
Amy Edmondson's work on psychological safety: the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. Google's Project Aristotle found it was the number one predictor of team effectiveness. Covers how to create psychological safety: frame work as learning problems, acknowledge your own fallibility, and model curiosity. Now central to team management education.
An introduction to applying systems thinking to organizational and social challenges. Covers mental models, system archetypes (fixes that fail, shifting the burden, tragedy of the commons, success to the successful), and leverage points where small changes produce big results. Based on Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline. Widely used in MBA organizational behavior courses.
Whelan and Fink compile evidence showing that sustainability practices drive financial outperformance through improved risk management, innovation, employee productivity, and brand reputation. The article quantifies the business benefits across multiple dimensions, making a data-driven case that sustainability is not philanthropy but a source of competitive advantage.
Zenger and Folkman's research on 3,500 managers challenges conventional wisdom about listening, showing that the best listeners are not passive sponges but active participants who ask questions and offer suggestions. The article identifies six levels of listening skill and demonstrates how great listening creates a safe environment for open discussion.
Hoffman and Yeh introduce blitzscaling as the strategy of prioritizing speed over efficiency in the face of uncertainty, deliberately accepting the chaos of hyper-growth to capture winner-take-all markets. The article examines when blitzscaling makes sense, the organizational challenges it creates, and how companies like LinkedIn and Airbnb applied it.
Duhigg chronicles Google's Project Aristotle, a multi-year research initiative to identify what makes teams effective. The surprising finding was that psychological safety, not talent composition or team structure, was the single most important factor, fundamentally shifting how organizations think about building high-performing teams.
Research showing that collaboration has ballooned 50% or more over the last two decades. The top 3-5% of contributors in most organizations account for 20-35% of value-added collaborations. Shows how to redistribute collaborative work, reward effective collaboration, and protect star contributors from burnout.
Carol Dweck clarifies what growth mindset actually means (and doesn't mean). It's not just being open-minded or flexible. People with a growth mindset believe abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Key insight: praise effort and strategy, not talent. Covers the 'false growth mindset' trap and how organizations can foster genuine growth mindset culture.
Meyer maps five key cultural dimensions that affect how people negotiate and communicate across borders, from confrontational versus avoidance-oriented styles to emotional versus restrained expression. The article provides practical tools for reading counterparts from different cultures and adapting communication strategies in global business settings.
Tabrizi's research reveals that 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional, failing on at least three of five critical criteria including meeting planned budgets and staying on schedule. The article identifies the governance structures, accountability mechanisms, and leadership behaviors that separate the successful 25% from the rest.
Kim Scott's framework for management communication built on two dimensions: Care Personally and Challenge Directly. Four quadrants: Radical Candor (care + challenge), Obnoxious Aggression (challenge without caring), Ruinous Empathy (caring without challenging), and Manipulative Insincerity (neither). The most popular management framework in Silicon Valley, now taught at Stanford GSB.
Insights from Google's approach to talent management and innovation. Covers hiring smart creatives, creating a culture of yes, running the company on data, and the 70/20/10 resource allocation model. Shows how Google balances structure with freedom to innovate. A key case study in organizational behavior and innovation management courses.
Kahneman and colleagues propose a 12-question checklist to counteract cognitive biases in strategic decisions. The article bridges behavioral economics and management practice, offering leaders a systematic way to improve judgment under uncertainty.
Captain Marquet transformed USS Santa Fe from the worst to the best-performing submarine by replacing the leader-follower model with leader-leader. Instead of giving orders, he pushed decision-making authority to the people with the information. Key mechanism: replace 'permission to' with 'I intend to' language. Widely used in agile and leadership training.
Duarte reveals that the most persuasive presentations follow a dramatic structure that alternates between what is and what could be, building tension toward a call to action. Drawing from analysis of iconic speeches, the article provides a repeatable framework for crafting presentations that move audiences to change.
BCG research showing that the most fundamental strategic choice is selecting the right approach to strategy itself. Introduces four strategy styles based on predictability and malleability: classical (plan ahead), adaptive (experiment), shaping (influence), and visionary (build it). Helps leaders match their strategic approach to their environment.
Rumelt exposes the hallmarks of bad strategy: fluff (gibberish masquerading as strategic concepts), failure to face the challenge, mistaking goals for strategy, and bad strategic objectives. Good strategy has a kernel: a diagnosis of the challenge, a guiding policy for dealing with it, and coherent actions designed to carry out the policy. Taught at UCLA Anderson and globally.