When we think about a healthy company culture, we often return to one of psychology’s most useful ideas: Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. Most of us have seen Maslow’s pyramid. We can also use it as a practical leadership tool for understanding what helps...
Artificial intelligence is changing how quickly companies can create content, analyze customer behavior, personalize communication, and bring ideas to market. But AI has not changed the fundamental reason people become loyal to a brand. People do not fall in love with efficiency. They fall in love with...
Over the years, many CEOs have spent time with me because they wanted to become better writers. Yup, they wanted to communicate more clearly and reach more people. They already had valuable ideas, strong opinions, and years of experience. What they often lacked was the...
People follow leaders who help them become better. The leaders people remember are the ones who bring something out of them. They create trust, dignity, clarity, and meaning. They help people feel stronger, safer, more capable, and more connected to work. In organizations, this matters more than...
“And so, taking the long way home through the market, I slow my pace down. It doesn't come naturally. My legs are programmed to trot briskly and my arms to pump up and down like pistons, but I force myself to stroll past the stalls...
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, I have been thinking about what its history can teach us about leadership. America began with questions. Why must things remain the way they are? Could people govern themselves? Could a new kind of country be created? The founders did...
Somewhere along the way, kindness got a bad reputation in leadership. It became confused with weakness. With softness. By avoiding hard conversations. Letting people do whatever they want while everyone sits in a circle sharing feelings and pretending the quarterly numbers are just a social construct. That is not kindness. That...
Leadership is not built in the big moments people post about on LinkedIn. It is built in the quiet moments when pressure enters the room. The moment when people disagree with you. The moment when momentum is moving one way, but your principles tell you to stop. The moment...
Imagine a basketball team where nobody knows their position. The center brings the ball up the court because he happened to grab the rebound. The point guard is standing under the basket, trying to box out someone twice his size. The best shooter spends the entire game setting...
Here’s the problem: Most people don’t hear enough appreciation. Not because leaders don’t care. Most do. But work gets busy. Deadlines pile up. Meetings stack back-to-back. Feedback gets delayed. Everyone is moving fast, and appreciation quietly disappears into the noise. Meanwhile, your people keep doing good work and...