Leadership & Organisations | INSEAD Knowledge

Leadership & Organisations

OpenAI's Crisis Is Yet Another Wake-Up Call

T. Evgeniou, Y. Lechell, L. Van der Heyden

Effective governance can save AI doomers, accelerationists, altruists and techno-capitalists from themselves.

worker in a suit sitting next to a robot

Entrepreneurship

AI Is Coming for All Our Jobs... Or Is It?

Rachel Eva Lim

How leaders, employees and organisations can better prepare themselves for the impact of AI.

Leadership & Organisations

How Networks Actually Harm Organisations

Jason P. Davis

Digital technologies create digital relationships that limit companies ability to innovate and change.

Leadership & Organisations

Ten Ways Boards Need to Transform

Annet Aris

How governance must pivot in the face of accelerating change.

Leadership & Organisations

INSEAD Insights: November 2023 Research Picks

Lily Fang

Recent findings on human morality, publishing cycles, manufacturing in low-income markets, virtual assessments in acute care services and sarcasm.

Leadership & Organisations

Escape the Grip of Greed and Envy

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Six steps to overcome the twin terrors of greed and envy and embrace being “good enough”.

A woman and a man discussing in the office

Leadership & Organisations

The Pitfalls of Giving Feedback Across Genders

Erin Meyer

To best navigate gender divides, pay attention to perceived power imbalances.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Handle Dominant Leaders

Graham Ward

Is your boss acting like a guru? Take charge by asserting yourself and setting clear boundaries.

Leadership & Organisations

Why You’re Missing Out on the Best Ideas

S.Park, H. Piezunka, L. Dahlander

Businesses and leaders influence the kinds of ideas they receive without even realising it.

Strategy

How Does Self-Serving Attribution Affect Strategic Decisions?

Ji-Yub (Jay) Kim

How a firm evaluates its past alliance performance can influence its choice between future alliances and acquisitions.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Handle Foolish People

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Exploring the roots of stupidity and strategies to combat the ignorance of others.

Leadership & Organisations

Making Stress Work for Organisations

F. J. Nitsch, L. V. Wassenhove

Moderate stress boosts performance. But can companies determine “optimal" stress levels for their employees?

2 people of different cultures talking via Zoom

Leadership & Organisations

Giving Feedback Across Cultures

Erin Meyer

A direct approach that’s welcomed at home can be easily misinterpreted as aggressive elsewhere.

Leadership & Organisations

How Leadership Shapes Sustainability Governance

Ron Soonieus

Amid regulatory and societal pressures to meet sustainability standards, strong personal leadership in the boardroom is needed to ensure competitive advantage and corporate longevity.

five chairs in a row with one chair askew

Career

Are Multiple Job Interview Rounds Really Necessary?

Chengyi Lin

How companies can simplify the process without compromising their evaluation of candidates.

Strategy

A Simple Corporate Strategy for a Better Political Game

Xiaowei Rose Luo

Even within the same government, different branches may have divergent goals. Here’s how firms can play this to their advantage.

Leadership & Organisations

Strategies for Building and Boosting Psychological Safety

M. Mortensen, M. Guadalupe, N. Furr, H. Bresman

INSEAD research highlights practical approaches to integrate psychological safety into team dynamics.

collage of tiny person walking a tightrope held between two hands

Leadership & Organisations

Solving the Problem of Remote Work

Mark Mortensen

A framework to help leaders approach the topic more holistically and effectively.

Strategy

A First Step Towards Resilient Organisations

Ekin Ilseven

Cultivating resilience in the face of organisational crises hinges on the foundation of a clear strategy, heightened awareness and robust reserves.

Marketing

INSEAD Insights: September 2023 Research Picks

Lily Fang

Recent findings on online marketplace dynamics, new market creation, trust in AI, diversity in corporate boards and consumer choices.

Family Business

The Power of Distinct Owners as Value Catalysts

M. Massa, L. Van der Heyden, K. Taraporevala

Uncovering the unique elements owners need to achieve business success and resilience.

Managing the Black Box Crucial to Megaproject Success

Strategy

Inside the Black Box Crucial to Megaproject Success

S. Shekshnia, V. Vyas

Despite their importance to the global economy, most megaprojects fail to be delivered on budget or schedule. Here’s how managers could improve on that dismal record.

Leadership & Organisations

Letting Go of the Urge to Rescue

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Exploring the motivations behind our need to help others and embracing a balanced approach to offering assistance.

Leadership & Organisations

Stop Going It Alone

Michael Jarrett

Negotiating radical organisational change needs to be a collective effort.

Career

A Holistic Approach to Navigating the New Workplace

Mark Mortensen

How to foster a thriving and sustainable workplace culture to contend with the realities of the new office.

Leadership & Organisations

Governance in the Age of Technological Innovation

Geraldine Ee

With new technologies redefining the global business ecosystem, how can boards navigate these changes and reinvent their business models?

Entrepreneurship

What All Tech Start-Ups Need to Succeed

T. Evgeniou, L. Van der Heyden, Y. Lechelle

Governance exists to help tech entrepreneurs prevent value destruction from day one.

Career

Retirement and Beyond: The Last Days of Executives

Jose-Luis Alvarez

How to plan for the end of the professional life and a smooth transition to retirement.

Leadership & Organisations

How Women Leaders Benefit From Using Humour

Ella Miron-Spektor

New research suggests that being funny helps leaders gain influence, and that women benefit more than men from using humour in public speaking.

Career

Breaking the Cycle of Self-Sabotage

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

A roadmap for identifying and overcoming the self-defeating habits that hold you back.

Strategy

Intellectual Honesty Is Critical for Innovation

Nathan Furr

Here’s how to balance psychological safety and intellectual honesty for better team performance.

Leadership & Organisations

How Corporate Thought Leadership Drives Business Success

Pawel Korzynski

What makes an organisation an opinion leader and how it affects business revenue.

Two flocks of birds in two different directions

Leadership & Organisations

Joint Strategic Decisions: Do We All Need to Agree?

H. Piezunka, O. Schilke

How organisations’ decision-making rules affect the way individual managers vote.

Leadership & Organisations

Why the World Needs Ambidextrous Leaders

Charles Galunic

What the launch of ChatGPT can teach executives about leading in disruptive times.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Rapidly Test New Organisation Designs

Phanish Puranam

Instead of blindly adopting industry best practice, companies can use gamified randomised control trials to pilot new organisation designs.

Leadership & Organisations

It Doesn't Have to Be Lonely at the Top

Narayan Pant

Tips for leaders to gain valuable, actionable and informed feedback from their peers.

Strategy

Demystifying China’s Internet Giants

Guoli Chen

A behind-the-scenes look at what makes or breaks China’s Big Tech flagbearers and their foreign exploits.

Entrepreneurship

China’s Internet Giants: The Nuts and Bolts of Going Global

G. Chen, J. Li

The lowdown on how ByteDance, Shein and Xiaomi succeeded outside of China while WeChat failed.

Leadership & Organisations

ChatGPT and the Future of Business Education

P. Puranam, P. Dutt, P. Wibbens, A. Ovchinnikov, V. Sevcenko, T. Evgeniou, P. Parker

How ChatGPT can help – and hinder – research and learning at business schools.

Magical story by Getty/Vitalii Bashkatov

Leadership & Organisations

How Storytelling Makes You a Better Leader

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Purposeful storytelling isn’t show business, it’s good business.

Entrepreneurship

Solving Grand Societal Challenges Through Creative Organisation Design

A. Szerb, I. Kivleniece, V. A. Aggarwal

Combining for-profit entrepreneurship with a non-profit social mission through novel organisation design can achieve scale and impact.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Hierarchies in Organisations Aren’t All Bad

P. Puranam, Ö. Koçak, D. A. Levinthal

Hierarchical structures can be useful even for teams that need to be agile.

Leadership & Organisations

Leading Change in Turbulence: Case of Discovery Inc.

J. Petriglieri, G. Petriglieri, M. Soldi

In this video, Marinella Soldi shares ways to navigate the turbulent waters of digital transformation and why it is important to tackle both the strategic and cultural facets of change.

Leadership & Organisations

When Two Isn’t Always Better Than One

M. Bikard, K. Vakili, F. Teodoridis

Receiving outsized credit can encourage individuals to work together even when it results in lower-quality output.

Responsibility

In Times of Chaos, Know Yourself

Marc Le Menestrel

Self-aware leaders see the beauty in chaos and look within to find meaningful solutions.

Operations

Twitter's Remarkable Mission in a Divided World

T. Evgeniou, L. Van der Heyden

Good governance is key to ensure that exceptional people, organisations and countries realise their full potential.

Leadership & Organisations

Our Best of 2022: Making Sense of an Uncertain World

INSEAD Knowledge

This year’s trending articles offer insights ranging from how to work and manage better to what the economy might hold in 2023.

Herd of sheep by MriyaWildlife/Getty Images

Leadership & Organisations

How to Break Free From Herd Mentality

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Nurturing independent thought can help us overcome dangerous sheeple behaviour and groupthink.

Strategy

Managing in an Unimaginable World

José Santos

Business leaders can leverage serendipity to help their companies deal with far-reaching market shocks.

Business card exchange. Photo by Getty/PeopleImages

Career

Collaborations That Are Bad for Business but Benefit Employees

H. Piezunka, T. Grohsjean

Sharing a partner with competing companies hinders the success of firms but helps employees’ careers.

Leadership & Organisations

Live Abroad to Excel in the Language of Leadership

INSEAD Knowledge

Leaders with broad multicultural experiences are better communicators and lead more effectively, particularly in multinational teams.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Change Someone’s Mind

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Powerful storytelling can awaken curiosity and challenge people to shift their outlook.

Leadership & Organisations

The Really Simple Steps to Creating an Innovation Engine

Lee Seok Hwai

All companies need to do is give employees permission to generate ideas and nudge them in the right direction – then get out of the way, said Ben Bensaou in a Thinkers50 webinar.

Responsibility

GHG Emissions Reduction: Scientific Rigour and Stakeholder Engagement

A. Atasu, A. Cselotei

How a step-by-step approach to sustainability helped INSEAD ensure meaningful results.

Leadership & Organisations

Navigating the New World of Work

Rachel Eva Lim

Firms need to focus on building an inclusive environment and a culture of trust to overcome the challenges of remote or hybrid work.

Career

The Power of Networking in the New Economy

F. Godart, A. Mears

In today’s gig economy, fleeting ties can be valuable to the career of the gig worker.

Leadership & Organisations

Embracing Diversity With a Growth Mindset

K. Kuwabara, J. Cao

Getting along with others is about more than just having things in common.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Communication Breaks Down

P. Puranam, Ö. Koçak

As workplaces become more diverse and work becomes more distributed, it is more important than ever to converge on a common code for effective communication.

Leadership & Organisations

Why The World is Attracted to Neo-Authoritarian Leaders

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Leaders like Donald Trump do not rise in a vacuum. But what draws people to authoritarian rulers?

Leadership & Organisations

How to Show Compassion Without Compromising on Performance

M. Mortensen, H. K. Gardner

Many leaders think they have to choose between delivering results and supporting employees’ needs. They don’t – but doing both sustainably requires careful navigation.

Leadership & Organisations

Could Living Near the Office Make You a Better CEO?

M. Bennedsen, M. D. Amore, B. Larsen

Besides enjoying a shorter commute, living close to the office may allow CEOs to boost ties with employees and the firm’s bottom line.

Leadership & Organisations

What Religion Teaches Us About Great Leadership

Elizabeth Florent Treacy

What can guiding figures and best practices in Judaism, Islam and Catholicism tell us about leadership?

Leadership & Organisations

The Special Bond Behind Every Brilliant Idea

M. Lazar, E. Miron-Spektor, J. Mueller

The way we view ourselves shapes the way we develop and connect with our own ideas.

Leadership & Organisations

Paradox Mindset: The Source of Remarkable Creativity in Teams

E. Miron-Spektor, K. Emich, L. Argote, W. Smith

Teams are more successful if they embrace internal differences and explore conflicting ideas instead of glossing over them.

Leadership & Organisations

The X Factor in Crafting New CXO Roles Successfully

J. L. Alvarez, S. Svejenova

CXO roles have proliferated in recent decades, making it difficult for some title holders to find their footing in an ever-changing C-suite landscape.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Leaders Won’t Stop Waging Wars

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

War brings out the worst in people and destroys the very foundations of humanity.

Leadership & Organisations

Finding Meaning in Life

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Create a compelling self-narrative based on the five pillars that influence the way we experience meaning.

Leadership & Organisations

Organising in the Metaverse: Five FAQs for Managers

V. F. He, P. Puranam

An explainer on how social interaction in all its forms might take place in the virtual universe.

Leadership & Organisations

What the World Can Learn From Nordic Boards

S. Shekshnia, S. B. Jensen, L. Engstam

Proactive, engaged and democratic, corporate boards in Nordic countries are well-placed to deal with today’s increasingly complex operating environments.

Leadership & Organisations

Has Hybridity Killed Teamwork?

C. N. Hadley, M. Mortensen

The time has come to check whether the benefits of teamwork still outweigh the costs.

Leadership & Organisations

What It Means to Lead in a Multipolar World

H. Falcão, M. Le Menestrel

By overcoming our fears and creating a brave space for dialogue, we can relate and lead better in the new multipolar world.

Leadership & Organisations

Psychological Safety Unlocks the Potential of Diverse Teams

H. Bresman, A. C. Edmondson

The dissimilar backgrounds of diverse team members often result in clashes unless care is taken to create a psychologically safe environment.

Leadership & Organisations

Taming Your Inner Critic

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Eight concrete ways to lead a more contented life.

Career

How Family-Work Conflict Keeps Us Glued to Our Mobile Phones

C. Trombini, M. Magni, M. Ahuja

Torn between family obligations and work, many people can’t resist working on their phones after hours, creating a downward spiral for their well-being and home life.

Leadership & Organisations

Creating People-Centric International Organisations With AI

R. McLachlin, K. Tatarinov, T. Ambos, P. Puranam

The United Nations is both a fascinating playground for artificial intelligence applications and a showcase of AI implementation problems and solutions.

Strategy

ENGIE: Powering the Energy Transition With Data

P. Boza, T. Evgeniou, M. Sarkar

What does it take for a utility company to develop a data- and AI-driven software business?

Family Business

When Two Leaders Collide, the Result Can Be Less Fraud

Y. Guo, X. R. Luo, D. Li

When the head of a family firm ranks lower in the family hierarchy than another leader at that firm, the misalignment can help prevent fraud in the emerging market context.

Leadership & Organisations

Rethinking the Role of Leaders in the Creative Process

S. Harrison, E. Rouse

A strong vision and a more disciplined approach can actually equal more creative results.

Leadership & Organisations

In Praise of Dictators: A Satire

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Liberal democracies are on the decline.

Entrepreneurship

The Start-Up Blind Spot That Trips New Ventures

Phanish Puranam

Having a great business plan is not enough. Start-ups also need good organisation design.

Leadership & Organisations

How Conversations About Work Affect Closeness

Spencer Harrison

'The 36 Questions That Lead to Love’ can teach us something about fostering connectedness and trust in the organisation.

Leadership & Organisations

Into the Mind of White-Collar Criminals

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

What society and business schools can do to stop corporate crimes.

Leadership & Organisations

Gratitude Is More Powerful Than You Think

C. Trombini, P. M. Tang, R. Ilies

Regular appreciation and thanks from service users can make a huge difference in the lives of burnt out essential workers.

Senior Leaders Are the Catalyst for Innovation

Leadership & Organisations

Senior Leaders As Chief Reframing Officers

Ben M. Bensaou

The important role of leaders in giving their employees the space and permission to get creative.

Leadership & Organisations

Making Sure That Everyone Knows Their Place

A. Yap, N. Madan, P. Puranam

Why formal structures and greater diversity create status disagreements and how to fix the issue.

Responsibility

Lessons in Sustainable Change Management: #deCOALonize Kenya

W. Mungai, L. White, Z. Kinias

The campaign to prevent the construction of a coal power plant on an idyllic island in the Indian Ocean.

Leadership & Organisations

Should Employees Be Allowed to Choose What They Want to Do?

P. Puranam, M. Raveendran

The degree of specialisation is the deciding factor.

Responsibility

Six Global Trends in Business and Society

I. Mihov, K. Le Goulven, M. Stabile

A stark look at the risks business education must address in 2022.

Leadership & Organisations

Meditating Away a Guilty Conscience

A. C. Hafenbrack, M. LaPalme, I. Solal

Mindfulness meditation can make one feel less bad about moral violations as well as lessen the desire to make amends.

Leadership & Organisations

Carpe Diem: Don’t Postpone Your Dreams

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Far from a hedonistic cry, carpe diem instructs us to live a life of meaning.

Leadership & Organisations

AI: A World of New Opportunity and Risk

T. Evgeniou, K. Firth-Butterfield, A. Sarkar, C. Zimmerman

A new toolkit for C-suite execs on how to responsibly adopt artificial intelligence.

Leadership & Organisations

Middle Managers: The Forgotten Heroes of Innovation

Ben M. Bensaou

The importance of building a support network to implement promising ideas.

Leadership & Organisations

How Nasdaq’s Board Diversity Rule Creates Potential for Real Change

F. Henderson, Z. Kinias, C. Zeisberger

The new rules requiring qualitative and quantitative disclosure about board diversity will better inform investors and (hopefully) spur further progress.

Leadership & Organisations

Seven Ways to Put Procrastination Behind You

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Don’t chalk it up to a lack of motivation.

Leadership & Organisations

The Pursuit of Purpose May Be Harming Your Organisation

Winnie Jiang

People who see their work as a calling tend to be regarded as better employees, with unintended consequences for co-workers as well as their organisation.

Leadership & Organisations

Post-Pandemic, Firms Need Chief Social Connectivity Officers

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

In this new hybrid working environment, people shouldn’t go to the office to stare at their computer, but to connect.

Leadership & Organisations

Innovation Is Everyone’s Business

Ben M. Bensaou

Offering employees the tools and motivation to create ideas is the key to an innovative organisation.

Leadership & Organisations

Aligning Individual and Organisational Values

M. Guadalupe, Z. Kinias, F. Schloderer

How employees’ personal values fit within their organisation.

Leadership & Organisations

Covid Has Accentuated Our Every Vice

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Of all seven deadly sins, leaders need to guard against pride.

Leadership & Organisations

The Politics of Influence in Top Management Team Meetings

M. Jarrett, F. Liu, S. Maitlis

Interactions between the chief executive and other members of the top management team appear to follow distinct scripts. Managers who take note can boost their standing or stay out of harm’s way.

Leadership & Organisations

Is Stargazing Your Preferred Management Style?

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

For too many leaders, astrology acts as a crutch that gives them a false sense of control in an uncertain world.

Leadership & Organisations

Three Steps to Optimising Your Firm’s Hybrid Work Strategy

Mark Mortensen

You need a strong process to reconcile the needs and wants of your various stakeholders.

Leadership & Organisations

When Authenticity Means Conflict: Towards a Truly Inclusive Organisation

Natalia Karelaia

Rightfully celebrated, authenticity in the workplace may have some limitations.

Leadership & Organisations

What Distinguishes the Super Rich From the Rest of Us

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Peeking into the inner theatre of the seriously wealthy.

Leadership & Organisations

Cancelled by Association: How Stigma Spreads in Different Cultures

Tianyu He

The tendency to stigmatise others for misdeeds committed by family members appears to extend to even acquaintances and is stronger in close-knit cultures.

the essence of agility and resilience.jpg

Leadership & Organisations

The Essence of Agility and Resilience After Covid

P. Zemsky, S. Hasija

Navigating unprecedented levels of uncertainty takes a careful combination of technology and talent.

Leadership & Organisations

How “Mind-Body Dissonance” Leads to Creative Thinking

Li Huang

Hacking human evolution to unlock innovative potential in our brains.

Leadership & Organisations

How the Afterglow of Victory Boosts Future Performance

Miguel Sousa Lobo

When we perform well together, we feel less tense with each other, and when we feel less tense with each other, we perform better.

Leadership & Organisations

Six Steps to Overcome Shame

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

As old as time and very much universal, feelings of shame can lead to self-destructive behaviour in even the best of leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

Three Dimensions of Leadership Agility

Renita Kalhorn

There is one certainty in a VUCA world: The solution that works today may not work tomorrow.

Leadership & Organisations

Marked for Disruption, Deep in Denial: Law Firms at a Crossroads

A. Fruehmann, R. Lehman

The greatest threat to the survival of law firms isn’t technological, but psychological.

Leadership & Organisations

Mixing Business and Pleasure for Competitive Advantage

E. Miron-Spektor, M. Lazar

A recent study shows how entrepreneurial team formation can be improved by combining two established strategies.

complex psychology of covid compliance.jpg

Leadership & Organisations

The Complex Psychology of Covid-19 Compliance

Wilson Cyrus Lai

Three main psychological factors helped determine whether people responded to first-wave Covid restrictions with deference or defiance.

Leadership & Organisations

Two CEOs, No Drama: Ground Rules for Co-Leadership

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

The co-CEO model can actually work. Here’s how.

Strategy

The Relationships That Create Successful Acquisitions

Laurence Capron

A study of start-up acquisitions shows important patterns on both sides lead to a successful integration.

Leadership & Organisations

Your Leadership Toolbox: A Coaching Approach

Iffet Türken

How you can use tips from coaches to adapt to a world in flux.

Leadership & Organisations

Without Psychological Safety, Hybrid Work Won’t Work

M. Mortensen, A. C. Edmondson

People managers have their work cut out for them.

Leadership & Organisations

Our Addiction to Charismatic Leaders Needs to Stop

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

The antidote to narcissistic leaders who coast on their charisma is a paradigm shift in education.

Leadership & Organisations

Make the Internet Moderate Again

Nadav Klein

Extremist opinion looms larger when the moderate majority stays silent online. But there’s a simple and cost-free way to balance out the discourse.

Leadership & Organisations

Four Steps to Securing Your Leadership Mandate

Michele L. Gorgodian

Stop hiding your leadership light under a bushel. Achieving the legitimacy you deserve in your organisation entails a sequential process.

Leadership & Organisations

The Competencies and Constraints That Determine Leadership Success

Pawel Korzynski

A novel management theory looks past individual leaders to constraints that might limit their effectiveness.

Leadership & Organisations

Four Ways Today’s Teams Are Making Us Lonely

M. Mortensen, C. Hadley

They say it’s lonely at the top. But in the workplace, even team members are feeling lonely.

Leadership & Organisations

A Seven-Step Choreography for Thriving Teams

V. Dominé, F. Coluccia

Changes at team level will never take hold unless individuals’ objectives and behaviours are synchronised with those of the group.

Leadership & Organisations

Keeping Meaning Alive as Your Workload Surges

Winnie Jiang

These days, we’re all expected to do more. But that doesn’t mean the psychological fulfilment we get from our work has to suffer.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Some Employees Improve Their Creativity and Others Don’t

Ella Miron-Spektor

How our beliefs about creativity explain our ability to improve and sustain it over time.

Leadership & Organisations

Can Managers Who Wear Many Hats Be Trusted?

Henrich Greve

The more diverse your goals are, the greater the temptation to muddy the waters on performance.

Leadership & Organisations

Bluebeard Revisited: Knowledge Is Power

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Long seen as a cautionary tale about women’s curiosity, it should be reinterpreted as the story of a woman’s emancipation.

Leadership & Organisations

From Fear to Enlightenment: Building Resilience During Covid Year One

Lionel Frankfort

The four tools and strategies top leaders used most to convert stress and anxiety into positive energy.

Operations

Putting People at the Centre of Operations

Guillaume Roels

The field of operations management has deep roots in developing effective processes for people. How can we encourage further growth in this area?

Leadership & Organisations

The Darker Side of Organisational Life

Cultural change is not for the faint-hearted or the politically correct.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Tame a Belligerent Colleague

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Antagonistic behaviour is usually rooted in low self-esteem.

Leadership & Organisations

Strategy and Leadership Lessons From the ‘Notorious RBG’

C. Lin, F. A. Henderson, Z. Kinias

As the business world increasingly strives to be a catalyst for social justice and societal progress, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s work provides many valuable lessons for leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

Cooking Up a Creative Community

Li Huang & Spencer Harrison

A recipe based on INSEAD research.

Leadership & Organisations

The Next Decade Will Be a Leadership Game Changer

Stanislav Shekshnia

Success begins with a clear-eyed understanding of the trends that will define the years to come.

Leadership & Organisations

The Group Dynamics That Define Well-Functioning Boards

Vincent H. Dominé

There is an intangible aspect to successful boards that cannot be captured by curating the right CVs.

Career

Social Media Helps Global “Dream Teams” Come Together

P. Korzynski and G. Mazurek

Academic international collaboration is now evolving beyond conferences or formal networks as constantly improving social media connects more researchers.

Leadership & Organisations

Prospects and Pitfalls for the Post-Pandemic Organisation

Phanish Puranam

Big changes are coming for organisations and organisation designs. Whether they will be for good or ill depends on how leaders confront three key possibilities uncovered by the pandemic.

Leadership & Organisations

What It Means to Embark on a Journey of Change

Isabelle Laporte

Many executives have a nagging sense that something is amiss in their lives. But not all of them find the courage – or the tools – to tackle what needs fixing.

Leadership & Organisations

What’s Style Got to Do With Strategy?

Frédéric Godart

Careful calibration of aesthetics and style can elevate companies and individuals above the competition.

Leadership & Organisations

What Ails Corporate Executive Committees?

Jose-Luis Alvarez

Fragmentation among top leadership teams is widespread. CEOs should pay heed – and sharpen their most important strategy execution tool.

Leadership & Organisations

How the Discomfort of Paradox Can Unlock Creativity

Rachael Noyes

The transformative power of holding the tension of opposites and learning to live with contradiction.

Leadership & Organisations

Teams in Evolution – and Revolution – After the Pandemic

H. Bresman, M. Mortensen

How sensemaking can help you cope with unplanned, constant changes in your team.

Leadership & Organisations

What Servant Leadership Is Not

There’s no magic formula for servant leadership, but there are a few common misconceptions about what it means to put your team’s needs first.

Leadership & Organisations

Our Best of 2020: Leadership Between Two Worlds

INSEAD Knowledge

This year's top articles take stock of the Covid-19 crisis, its future impact and the way forward.

Leadership & Organisations

How Technology Threatens Mental Health – Especially if You’re Inauthentic

P. Korzynski, C. Rook, E. Florent Treacy, M. F. R. Kets de Vries

When the personality you show the world doesn’t match your true self, it can sap the energy you would otherwise need to deal with technostress.

Leadership & Organisations

Workplace Mental Health Is a Business Asset. Treat It That Way

Enoch Li

The most successful initiatives deliver employee well-being programmes as a strategic “product”, with four fundamental planning considerations.

Leadership & Organisations

Goals Just Before Halftime Mean More – in Football and Business

Henrich Greve

Examining why 45th-minute goals have outsized importance reveals how timing can affect the outcome of virtually all sorts of competitions.

Leadership & Organisations

“Too Elevated”: Raf Simons’s Troubled Stint at Calvin Klein

Frédéric Godart

A short-lived partnership between the sprawling American brand and the celebrated Belgian designer highlights the importance of fit in all its forms.

Leadership & Organisations

Calmer Waters: President Biden’s Prospective Foreign Policy

The new president’s foreign policy will differ from Trump’s in style, language and tone more than in substance.

Leadership & Organisations

Organisational Data: The Silver Lining in the Covid-19 Cloud

Phanish Puranam & Julien Clément

The shift to virtual working has produced a data boom that could revolutionise organisations – if they know what to do with it.

Leadership & Organisations

How Ready Are You for the Work-from-Anywhere Era?

Benjamin Kessler

Advice from academics and practitioners who are well-versed in the remote working paradigm.

Leadership & Organisations

The Great Covid-Driven Teamwork Divide

M. Lee, K. Veltman

For most teams, the pandemic either brought colleagues closer or drove them increasingly apart. There are three key reasons why.

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Leadership & Organisations

How to Build a C-Suite in Less Than Two Years

B Aubrey, J Davis, T Mannarelli

Indonesian state-owned giant Pertamina had a problem: Its top leaders were all retiring at once. The solution? A new kind of leadership accelerator.

Leadership & Organisations

Leadership in Wicked Times

N. Karalaia, L. Van der Heyden

We face extraordinary problems calling for new leadership approaches.

Leadership & Organisations

The Music Industry’s Best-Kept Secret? A Gender Creativity Gap

Female solo artists are more likely to put out more creative songs than their male counterparts. The key question is why. Gender inequality and representation in the industry may hold the answer.

Leadership & Organisations

Recognising the Red Flags of Workplace Mental Health

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Organisations have a responsibility towards their staff.

Leadership & Organisations

How Netflix Finds Innovation on the Edge of Chaos

Benjamin Kessler

How did a DVD-by-mail company transform itself into a leading global entertainment brand? By rejecting mediocrity, embracing negative feedback and turning hierarchy on its head.

Leadership & Organisations

A Checklist for Boards in the New Normal

S. Shekshnia, V. Zagieva, M. Nazarova

Covid-19 has spurred corporate boards to improvise new practices while keeping those that have served them well. Here’s a run-down.

Leadership & Organisations

Better Networking Begins With Your Beliefs

Ko Kuwabara

It doesn’t take very much to bridge the “knowing-doing” gap in networking – even during a pandemic.

Leadership & Organisations

What to Do When Stress Puts You in “Survival Mode”

Do you believe that constant stress is unavoidable? Good for performance? Actually, neither is true.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Listen and Ask Questions for Effective Teamwork

Good ideas and solutions often arise when we ask open-ended questions.

Leadership & Organisations

Deconstructing Learning, Reconstructing Education

Ilian Mihov

Covid-19 will change higher education for good – and, ultimately, for the better.

Leadership & Organisations

Pandemic or No, It’s Business as Usual for Boards

S. Shekshnia, V. Zagieva, M. Nazarova

For now, corporate boards prefer to keep the status quo – and the long view – in the face of Covid-19 upheaval.

Leadership & Organisations

How I Taught the ‘Team from Hell’ to Trust Each Other

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Virtual team coaching can help turn around dysfunctional teams.

Leadership & Organisations

Power, Politics and Crisis Response on the Board

It’s not the individual directors – it’s the competing coalitions they form that determine what boards will do.

Leadership & Organisations

Why the World Needs Self-Reflective Leaders

Isabelle Laporte

The coronavirus crisis facilitates the rise of autocratic and narcissistic leaders just when we least need them.

Leadership & Organisations

How Boards Are Coping With Covid-19

Enrico Diecidue & Timothy Rowley

A new survey provides a snapshot of corporate boards’ resilience to challenges and risks posed by the pandemic.

Leadership & Organisations

Three CEO Strategies to Guide Companies Through Crises

S. Shekshnia, M. Nazarova

We distil top executives’ experience for the ideas that work.

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Leadership & Organisations

The Advantages of Being (Seen as) Authentic

Feeling authentic, acting authentically and coming across as authentic are very different things, but are equally important.

Operations

When Several Queues Are Better Than One

G. Roels, H. Song & M. Armony

One reliable method of queueing is less effective in knowledge industries. Here’s why.

Leadership & Organisations

Networking in the New Reality

Lee Seok Hwai

Curiosity and reciprocity, plus some ingenuity, will help you build relationships in the age of Zoom.

Leadership & Organisations

The Two Faces of Leadership

Benjamin Kessler

It’s not only what leaders do in the spotlight that counts. Great leaders also know how to manage the organisational machinery behind the scenes.

Leadership & Organisations

How Resilient Leaders Think

Rachael Noyes

Can you encounter adverse circumstances and emerge stronger from them?

Leadership & Organisations

Battling ‘Covid-19 Brain’

H. Plassmann, B. Kessler

Here’s the science on how stressful events like Covid-19 take a toll on the best of us.

Leadership & Organisations

In the Current Crisis, Less Hierarchical Companies Show Special Resilience

Lional Frankfort & Noah Askin

How can more traditional organisations leverage the cultural and behavioural aspects of self-management imposed by the Covid-19 crisis?

Leadership & Organisations

How Leaders Can Cultivate Patience in an Impatient World

Nine ways to develop this important “muscle” and reap its mental health benefits.

Strategy

Creating, Fast and Slow

Michaël Bikard

Instead of bickering about the superiority of specialists or generalists, why not recognise that creative strategies involve trade-offs?

Leadership & Organisations

Covid-Era CEOs Are ‘Keen, Tough or Edgy’

S. Shekshnia, M. Nazarova

Not all CEOs are created equal, but everyone can come out of this crisis stronger.

Leadership & Organisations

The Nuts and Bolts of Working for an All-Remote Company

Benjamin Kessler

Conventional companies new to remote working can learn from the successful start-up GitLab, which has never had an office since its inception in 2014.

Leadership & Organisations

The Six Biggest Post-Lockdown Challenges for Organisations

Lee Seok Hwai

Businesses and other institutions will be judged on how well they adapt to the post-Covid reality.

Leadership & Organisations

Seven Ways Leaders Can Prepare for Post-Pandemic Times

Avoid knee-jerk reactions when creating a plan for the future.

Leadership & Organisations

You May Be More Original Than You Think

Ella Miron-Spektor

The assumption that others are similar to us could undermine idea generation.

Leadership & Organisations

Three Teamwork Trends That May Not Survive This Crisis

Mike Lee & Koen Veltman

Before COVID-19, workplace teams as we know them were changing. Will their evolution continue, or will we go backwards?

Strategy

Growing Resilience in Uncertain Times

Nathan Furr

Managing the current crisis is an inside job.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Spot When an Employee Is Secretly Struggling

T. Hellwig, C. Rook

An “emotional triaging” technique can help managers identify early warning signs of COVID-19 burn-out and take appropriate actions.

Leadership & Organisations

Why the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ Looks Much Like the First

Benjamin Kessler

The tyranny of automation is less scary than the automation of tyranny.

Leadership & Organisations

What COVID-19 Data Can – and Can’t – Tell Us About Leadership

Hellmut Schütte

Some governments, especially those led by women, have dealt with the pandemic better than others.

Leadership & Organisations

The Psychic Burden of Working During Lockdown

W. W. Koo, X. Li

Left literally to their own devices, home-bound employees reduce their community participation and experience higher emotional costs.

Economics & Finance

Social Norms for the Era of Social Distancing

Rachael Noyes

What we do determines the trajectory of the pandemic.

Leadership & Organisations

Is Your Crisis Response Defensive or Proactive?

Rachael Noyes

Encouraging dynamic capabilities in your organisation or team can help your business find its feet, even in perilous times.

Leadership & Organisations

Overwhelmed? Adopt a Paradox Mindset

Ella Miron-Spektor & Wendy Smith

When resources are scarce, what is the best way to thrive?

Leadership & Organisations

Jacinda Ardern and Andrew Cuomo Are Crisis Comms Champions

Leaders should test their crisis messaging against three checklists.

Leadership & Organisations

What Lies Ahead for the Class of 2020?

W. Jiang, J. Singh

The COVID-19 pandemic is a unique opportunity for us to redefine what we mean by a successful leader, a fulfilling career and a meaningful life.

Leadership & Organisations

What Will Life Be Like After the Pandemic?

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Having exposed society’s dysfunction, the COVID-19 crisis invites us to rethink our future.

Leadership & Organisations

How Discomfort Makes Us More Creative

Benjamin Kessler

Minor disruptions to the status quo, against a background of psychological safety, may be the best formula for creative cultures.

Leadership & Organisations

How True Leaders Communicate in a Crisis

Rachael Noyes

Reflect while taking action.

Leadership & Organisations

Seven Questions for Corporate Boards Navigating COVID-19

Stanislav Shekshnia

A guide to steering companies effectively through the crisis and beyond.

Leadership & Organisations

The Role of the Board in Times of Distress

J. Winter, E. van de Loo

If companies are to survive the coronavirus, corporate boards need to exercise collaborative, proactive leadership.

Leadership & Organisations

What Newly Remote Teams Need, Right Now

P. Puranam, M. Minervini

Our survey reveals that in the transition to remote working, the technology is fine but the organisation needs help.

Leadership & Organisations

Coping With Life in Lockdown

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

What if we used the COVID-19 crisis to reconnect with others and ourselves?

Leadership & Organisations

The Three Main Challenges of Remote Working

Mark Mortensen

Even for long-established teams, moving from physical to virtual is a game-changer.

Strategy

TMT: The Unit for Success

How the right mix of experience and innovation generates a great start-up top management team.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Leaders Should Embrace Their Dark Side

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Not acknowledging your shadow is a barrier to being an authentic leader.

Leadership & Organisations

Coronavirus Has Taken Remote Work Mainstream. Now What?

P. Puranam, M. Minervini

How organisations survive the COVID-19 stress test will reveal how ready they are for the future of work.

Leadership & Organisations

Your History With Money Affects How You Negotiate

The mindset fostered by financial scarcity hinders the pursuit of win-win outcomes.

Leadership & Organisations

When in Doubt, Leaders Should Ask Questions

Natalia Karelaia

Inquisitive leaders receive something even better than a good answer: a bump in credibility.

Leadership & Organisations

The Powerful Leadership of African Women

Lucy Quist

Six women leading the way and inspiring others to realise their potential.

Leadership & Organisations

Putting More Women at the Helm of Corporate Boards

Stanislav Shekshnia, Veronika Zagieva & Victoria Zimina

Women make great board chairs. If only there were more of them.

Leadership & Organisations

Pulling the Curtain Back on the Workplace Bully

Bullies are not as powerful as they make themselves out to be.

Leadership & Organisations

Challenging Assumptions About Flexible Work

Zoe Kinias & Felicia A. Henderson

How a CEO built better work-life balance in the gruelling property industry.

Leadership & Organisations

Fighting the Loneliness Epidemic

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

How individuals and firms can take action when loneliness becomes a preoccupying concern.

Leadership & Organisations

The COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of the traditional physically co-located office, forcing many Asian companies to work remotely. However, a small but growing number of tech companies are intendedly going “all-remote”. They may well be harbingers of the future of work.

Leadership & Organisations

What Elite Museums Can Teach Us About Running a Creative Business

Frederic Godart

Balancing between the creative imperative and the bottom line is an art perfected by top museums like MoMA.

Leadership & Organisations

Is Your Innovation Process a Corporate Illusion?

V. Vyas, D. Nannicini

The six common blind spots that severely constrain the performance of innovation labs.

Leadership & Organisations

Start-ups: The Founding Team Is a Real Magic Bullet

M. Lazar, E. Miron-Spektor

Studies show that the entrepreneurial team may impact a start-up’s long-term success more than its product.

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Leadership & Organisations

Is Paranoia Widespread in Your Firm? You’re Not Alone

Trust remains a rare commodity in the workplace. Here’s what management can do about it.

Leadership & Organisations

You May Be a Workplace Hero Without Realising It

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, but they have one thing in common: They don’t see themselves as heroes.

Leadership & Organisations

How Leadership Can Emerge From the Trauma of History

E. van de Loo, L. Tcholakian, R. Lehman

Victims of intergenerational adversity can channel the darkness of the past into five uniquely positive values.

Leadership & Organisations

Five Qualities for Leading Business in the 21st Centur)y

Lucy Quist

In an age of uncertainty, people need inspiration.

Leadership & Organisations

The Kinds of Collaboration That Lead to Successful Innovation

Benjamin Kessler

Learning to innovate requires diligence, patience and (most of all) direct access to skilful role models.

Leadership & Organisations

Our Best of 2019: A Closer Look at Leadership

INSEAD Knowledge Editorial Staff

This year's top articles foreshadow the coming decade's leadership challenges.

Leadership & Organisations

How Managers Self-Sabotage When Giving Negative Feedback

M. Schaerer, R. Swaab

Communication gaps between managers and their employees widen when delivering criticism.

Leadership & Organisations

Want More Creative Breakthroughs? Slow Down

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Constant busyness is what stands between you and more eureka moments.

Leadership & Organisations

A Corporate Governance Paradigm Shift

Directors need to prepare for board renewal and transformation on many levels.

Leadership & Organisations

How a Few Minutes of Meditation Makes You a Nicer Co-Worker

A. Hafenbrack, L. Cameron, G. Spreitzer, C. Zhang, L. Noval, S. Shaffakat

Become more helpful and generous after just eight minutes of mindfulness practice.

Leadership & Organisations

When an 80-Hour Workweek Helps

High potentials need to work a lot and in a way that is visible to the firm.

Leadership & Organisations

Enlightened by Randomness

Phanish Puranam & Prothit Sen

To train AI properly, organisations may have to take a drastic step: start making decisions with no rhyme or reason.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Cultivate Cross-Silo Leadership

How HR managers can look for, develop and reinforce certain behaviours to break down barriers within their organisations.

Leadership & Organisations

If You’re Feeling Drained, Here’s Why

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Pay attention to your personal “energy barometer” as it reflects your inner happiness.

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Leadership & Organisations

Enabling Productive Thinking to Develop Gender Balance

Zoe Kinias

Subtle mental shifts can increase people’s responsiveness to the gender gap, and their commitment to doing something about it.

Responsibility

A New Framework for Corporate Activism

Knowing when – and how – to appropriately speak out on political issues is becoming a core skill for business leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

Embracing the Paradoxes of Leadership

Ella Miron-Spektor

Why we need to move from an “either/or” to a “both/and” view of priorities.

Leadership & Organisations

Three Keys to Creating Prosperity in Africa

Lucy Quist

While each country must find its own path, every leader working on the continent must commit to improving its brand equity.

Leadership & Organisations

Is Greed Destroying Your Soul?

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Greed is less about accumulating wealth than filling an inner void.

Leadership & Organisations

When Is Cool Office Design More Than Window Dressing?

Phanish Puranam & Agustin Chevez

New trends in workplace design may turn out to be as game-changing as the ongoing technological revolution.

Leadership & Organisations

Whatever It Is, I’m Against It

For real societal change, we should build bridges, not burn them.

Leadership & Organisations

The Powerful Drivers and Blockers of Leadership

Exploring the hidden forces that motivate and hinder you can make you a better leader.

Leadership & Organisations

Creative Concepts Have Networks, Too

Data from 12 years of high-end fashion reveal clues about the building blocks of successful styles.

Leadership & Organisations

Coming Out at Work

Elizabeth Florent Treacy

Practitioner research sheds light on how LGBTQ equality in the workplace benefits everyone, and how best to promote it.

Leadership & Organisations

When Reorganisation Misses the Social Connection

Susan Lynch & Marie Louise Mors

The way we work together is about more than our org chart.

Leadership & Organisations

The Icarus Syndrome: Execs Who Fly Too Close to the Sun

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Leaders always need to keep hubris in check.

Leadership & Organisations

AI = Artificial Imagination?

Theodoros Evgeniou

The “deepfakes” trend proves machine learning and AI have mastered the art of illusion. Are they ready to help your business innovate?

Leadership & Organisations

Women Chairs: The Time Is Now

With more women as board chairs, business can better serve society.

Leadership & Organisations

Will You End Up as Digital Roadkill?

Caroline Rook & Manfred F. R. Kets-de-Vries

Most of us are so digitally connected that we have become utterly disconnected.

Leadership & Organisations

Team Development in the Era of Slack

Teamwork is happening virtually more and more. Team building should be virtual as well.

Leadership & Organisations

Three Objectives for Moving Forward With AI

Jason P. Davis

Taking ownership of AI is about more than technological competencies – it’s an overarching organisational challenge.

Leadership & Organisations

Building Gender Balance Against the Odds

B Kessler, C Cortland, Z Kinias

To enable women’s advancement where it’s needed most, individual, interpersonal and institutional changes are required.

Leadership & Organisations

Why AI’s Video Game Supremacy Matters for Managers

Benjamin Kessler

Today Starcraft II and Dota 2; tomorrow, the business world?

Leadership & Organisations

How Firms Can Avoid the Mediocrity Trap

Due to envy or insecurity, B-players may fail to hire the best people.

Leadership & Organisations

What Makes for Inclusive Working Cultures?

B. Kessler, C. Cortland, Z. Kinias, E. Sherman

Interventions designed to increase women’s cultural fit can also create a better working environment for everyone.

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Leadership & Organisations

The Pivotal Management Challenge of the AI Era

Managers and leaders have nothing to fear from AI – except missing out.

Leadership & Organisations

How Shifts in Geopolitical Power Will Affect Corporate Governance

Sonia Tatar

Corporations will have to re-evaluate their values and norms to maintain their longevity and success in the new world order.

Leadership & Organisations

How Firms Can Nurture Internal Thought Leaders

V. Vyas, D. Nannicini

Far from a luxury, thought leadership is about capturing the future.

Leadership & Organisations

The Cure for the Loneliness of Command

CEOs are quickly derailed without a sense of community.

Leadership & Organisations

Freeing Women – and Men – From Gender Stereotypes

B. Kessler, C. Cortland & Z. Kinias

Research from INSEAD’s 2nd annual Women at Work conference offers practical solutions for establishing gender-balanced workplace norms.

Economics & Finance

How PE and VC Are Closing the Gender Gap in Emerging Markets

Claudia Zeisberger & Heather M. Kipnis

If including women in senior private equity and venture capital leadership teams improves returns, why is the gender gap still so pervasive?

Leadership & Organisations

When Talking the Talk Is Enough to Change Culture

Phanish Puranam & Özgecan Koçak

Careful cultural interventions can impart beliefs about collaboration that become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Leadership & Organisations

Promoting Gender Balance Is Everyone's Business

Z. Kinias, J. Petriglieri

Progressive companies are moving from awareness to action, and systemic challenges must be overcome.

Leadership & Organisations

How Authenticity Shapes Your Playlist

Noah Askin & Joeri Mol

In the digital era, the way we assess authenticity in music has changed.

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Leadership & Organisations

How to Turn Stress Into Success Once You Reach the Top

Roger Jones

What dozens of experienced CEOs wish someone had told them before they assumed the hot seat.

Leadership & Organisations

Leadership Lessons From an Olympic Judo Medallist

L. Felipe Monteiro

Bronze-winning Flávio Canto has created a network of dojos that is transforming lives in some of Brazil’s roughest neighbourhoods.

Leadership & Organisations

Lousy Jobs, Lovely Jobs – and the Sagging Middle

Benjamin Kessler

Job-market polarisation is impeding class mobility. What does this mean for the future of management?

Leadership & Organisations

How Regret Can Be Your Friend

When managed properly, regret is a great decision-making tool.

Leadership & Organisations

For the Truth About How Bosses Behave, Ask Their Assistants

Erik van de Loo & Kees Cools

The eyes and ears of corporate culture, executive assistants have a front-row seat to the integrity dilemmas faced by top management.

Entrepreneurship

The Multinational Fuelled by Thousands of Entrepreneurs

Felipe Monteiro

Haier’s business model has created a worldwide entrepreneurship movement.

Career

The World’s Most Talent Competitive Countries, 2019

Felipe Monteiro & Bruno Lanvin

Entrepreneurial talent is a critical component of both competitiveness and innovation.

Leadership & Organisations

Have We Reached the Limit of Individualism?

From fake self-esteem to narcissistic leadership, we all bear the high costs of living in an “I” world.

Leadership & Organisations

How Organisations Can Cultivate Innovation Catalysts

The most innovative leaders possess special skills that cannot be entirely taught. But they can be learnt.

Leadership & Organisations

How Leaders Can Maximise Their Impact

Henrik Bresman & Deborah Ancona

Effective leaders need to know whether their ‘people hat’ or ‘P&L hat’ fits most comfortably.

Leadership & Organisations

The Countries Getting the Highest Return on Education

The key to fostering a more educated populace is not financial – it’s cultural.

Leadership & Organisations

Our Best of 2018: New Approaches to Diversity

Our top content from the past year illustrates how global uncertainty is affecting business.

Leadership & Organisations

Algorithms to Decode an Organisation’s Culture (At Last)

Benjamin Kessler

Text analysis based on machine learning is beginning to reveal previously inaccessible truths about organisational culture.

Leadership & Organisations

Trust: The Corporate Wellness Initiative of the Future

Manfred Kets de Vries & Katharina Balazs

What if wellness was built directly into corporate DNA instead of being sold to us?

Responsibility

Finding Good News for Business and Human Rights After Khashoggi

N. Craig Smith & Markus Scholz

Companies must respond to Jamal Khashoggi’s murder by standing up for human rights.

Leadership & Organisations

The Five Key Capabilities of Effective Leadership

Deborah Ancona & Henrik Bresman

Don’t try to find them all in one single hero.

Leadership & Organisations

(Re)-Designing Organisations in the Age of Algorithms

Strategy execution still requires organisation design and development skills. But here’s what it may look like in a world of big data and AI.

Leadership & Organisations

Is Your Organisation a Cult?

Beware of the cultish techniques that have crossed into the workplace.

Leadership & Organisations

Building Gender Balance Through Behavioural Design

Z. Kinias, C. Cortland

What can organisations do when changing mindsets isn’t enough?

Leadership & Organisations

Crafting Your Own Leadership Signature

Henrik Bresman & Deborah Ancona

How well can you adapt in an exponentially changing world?

Leadership & Organisations

How the Board Can Make the Most of Blockchain

The boardroom will never be the same after the rise of blockchain, nor should it.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Agile May Be Fragile

Phanish Puranam & Julien Clement

The hype around Agile organisations needs some debunking, so that Agile’s actual value can be salvaged.

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Leadership & Organisations

The Human Factor in Digital Transformation Projects

How the people working in government manage tech-driven innovation.

Leadership & Organisations

The Fine Line Between Stubbornness and Stupidity

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

One pathway to greatness is the ability to change one’s mind when proven wrong.

Leadership & Organisations

Three Conditions for a Successful Life

“The only success that is valid is the success that comes at the end.” – Jean-Claude Biver

Leadership & Organisations

Is It Time to Retire the Org Chart?

The boxes-and-arrows approach to organisation design may have outlived its use.

Leadership & Organisations

The Three Principles of Wise Power

Marc Le Menestrel

If you know how to harness the power of your mind, heart and soul, you will be wiser in the face of surprises and disruption.

Leadership & Organisations

Lessons in Women’s Empowerment from India’s Female Village Leaders

The relationships and factors that influence the performance of elected representatives.

Leadership & Organisations

How These Leading CEOs Are Tackling Gender Inequality

Persistently setting new norms helps organisations battle stubborn gender imbalances.

Strategy

Why Successful Companies Usually Fail

Y. Doz, K. Wilson

The dynamics of corporate collapse are caused by three phenomena.

Leadership & Organisations

Agile Boards of Directors: A Fad or the Future?

Veronika Zagieva & Stanislav Shekshnia

Some Agile principles can be counterproductive in the boardroom, while others can help.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Coach a CEO

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Successful coaching involves working with – not against – an individual’s resistance.

Leadership & Organisations

Aim for Transformation, Not Change

V. Vyas, D. Nannicini

Transformation creates attractive futures, while change mends the past.

Career

The 10-Point Stress Audit

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

What excessive stress looks like and what you can do about it.

Leadership & Organisations

Six Reasons CEOs Fail

Transformational leaders are the exception, not the rule.

Leadership & Organisations

Using Play to Address Uncertainties at Work

Enoch Li & Paul Harvey

Pop-up holding environments can help people and teams become more resilient, adaptable and cooperative.

Leadership & Organisations

Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Motivation

A. C. Hafenbrack, K. D. Vohs

Acceptance of the present moment can impact the will to work hard and get things done.

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Leadership & Organisations

The Cultural Attributes of the Most Innovative Companies

Quy Huy & Zhixing Xiao

The case of China’s Longfor Properties proves that “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is not a recipe for innovation.

Leadership & Organisations

How Your Network Can Help and Hurt You

Your performance is dependent on the type of network you have.

Leadership & Organisations

The Pursuit of Money: A Cautionary Tale

Distorted beliefs about money often have their roots in childhood.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Power Seekers Give Advice

Li Huang

How giving advice makes some feel powerful and why it can be dangerous.

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Leadership & Organisations

The Key to Cultivating Agility in Decision Making

Marc Le Menestrel

Decision-making excellence requires self-awareness and the ability to choose how to think in different situations.

Leadership & Organisations

Visibly Upset at Work? Blame It on Your Passion

Elizabeth Baily Wolf

Attributing your emotional outbursts to passion will make you seem more competent than if you just apologise or say nothing.

Responsibility

Balancing Profit and Social Welfare: Ten Ways to Do It

N. Craig Smith & Leena Lankoski

On the continuum between profit and social welfare, where should your firm sit?

Leadership & Organisations

How Brazil Is Cleaning Up

Leadership lessons from the centre of Operation Car Wash.

Leadership & Organisations

Once You Have It All, What’s Next?

Where to look for answers to the existential questions many of us grapple with.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Firms Should Conduct Randomized Controlled Trials

Field experiments help companies to make better decisions, while findings aid academic work.

Leadership & Organisations

The Best CEOs Are Ready for Crises

S. Shekshnia, K. Kravchenko, E. Williams

Leading CEOs know that a crisis could strike at any time. They’re prepared and cool in the face of adversity.

Leadership & Organisations

Are You on a Collision Course with a Workplace Rival?

H. Piezunka, W. Lee, R. Haynes, M. Bothner

Data from Formula 1 crashes explain how high-stakes collisions with rivals happen.

Leadership & Organisations

What Can Be Done About Bullies at Work?

Stamping out bullying is an uphill battle for everyone involved.

Leadership & Organisations

Social Support Sets Women Up for Success at Work

Zoe Kinias & Clarissa Cortland

Organisations are investing heavily to level the playing field for professional women, but they often lack a systematic approach.

Leadership & Organisations

CEOs Should Be Chief Enablement Officers

S. Shekshnia, K. Kravchenko, E. Williams

Leadership is about energising people rather than issuing orders.

How Cultural Brokerage Boosts the Creative Performance of Diverse Teams.jpg

Leadership & Organisations

Cultural Brokers Boost the Creative Performance of Diverse Teams

Sujin Jang

Multicultural individuals often play a key role in bridging cultural worlds.

Leadership & Organisations

Are You Addicted to Power?

The design of firms fosters power intoxication in their leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

Gender Balance: Moving From Awareness to Action

B Kessler, C Cortland, Z Kinias

A clear-eyed, nuanced organisational perspective can strengthen employee engagement and galvanise change.

Leadership & Organisations

Three Ways to Make Your Organisation Agile

Your competition is no longer who it used to be.

boosting resilience against gender bias.jpg

Leadership & Organisations

Three Ways to Build Resilience Against Gender Bias

B. Kessler, C. Cortland, Z. Kinias

Simple, low-cost psychological interventions can be part of an organisational toolkit for enabling gender balance.

Leadership & Organisations

Sustaining Digitisation Hinges on Culture

Charles Galunic

Digital transformation can be your Trojan horse for cultural change.

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Leadership & Organisations

The Four Types of Dysfunctional Executives and How to Handle Them

M. F. R. Kets de Vries, C. Rook

Basic understanding and empathy can go a long way in helping toxic leaders recover their best selves.

Leadership & Organisations

How Leading CEOs Nominate Their Top People

S. Shekshnia, K. Kravchenko, E. Williams

The best CEOs have a genuine interest in human beings and commit to developing them.

Leadership & Organisations

The Truth About Gender Stereotypes

B Kessler, C Cortland, Z Kinias

Unraveling popular notions about gender differences in organisations.

Leadership & Organisations

The Four Essential Roles of a CEO

S. Shekshnia, K. Kravchenko, E. Williams

Twenty global business leaders share the attributes that make them effective.

Leadership & Organisations

Beyond Coaching Psychobabble: Let the Buyer Beware

The advertising pitches of many coaches raise false expectations and seem designed to fool the gullible.

Leadership & Organisations

Tailored Approaches Needed for Gender Balance

Vinika D. Rao & V. Paddy Padmanabhan

Greater male involvement and tailored programmes are emerging as sources of hope in tackling gender inequality in Asia.

Leadership & Organisations

Promoting Gender Balance Wisely

B. Kessler, C. Cortland & Z. Kinias

Researchers are identifying powerful, yet sometimes nuanced interventions that can improve outcomes for women and the businesses and societies they serve.

Leadership & Organisations

The Slow and Steady Progress Towards Gender-Balanced Boards

Sadia Khan

In conservative societies, awareness and discussion of gender diversity issues pave the way for progress.

Leadership & Organisations

How Happy Talk Can Ruin M&As

Quy Huy

Excessive politeness and positivity can be just as damaging as open conflict.

Leadership & Organisations

Do CEOs Deserve Their Pay?

The myths that drive the CEO pay bonanza.

Leadership & Organisations

Five Practices of the Most Change-Ready Leaders

S. Shekshnia, V. Zagieva, A. Ulanovsky

Highly successful CEOs in volatile environments delight in turning conventional leadership wisdom on its head.

Leadership & Organisations

Fighting Against Dictatorship

Dictatorial types gain and maintain power through a number of social processes and psychological dynamics.

Leadership & Organisations

The Leadership Benefits of Performance and Storytelling

Dramatic strategy moves audiences, empowers them to play a role and realigns them with a higher purpose.

Leadership & Organisations

Turbulent Times Call for Athletic Leaders

S. Shekshnia; V. Zagieva; A. Ulanovsky

CEOs who can turn turmoil into triumph have many personality traits in common with world-class athletes.

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Leadership & Organisations

Designing Results-Oriented Leadership Development Programmes

Camelia Ilie & Guillermo Cardoza

Two often-overlooked elements have a significant impact on both individual leaders and organisations.

Leadership & Organisations

Choose Your Leadership Style

Team leadership style doesn’t have to be a personality trait; it can be chosen.

Leadership & Organisations

The Structures That Can Support Your Digital Journey

Digitisation efforts gain real legitimacy only when they move to the business core.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Measure the Health of Your Community

Ten simple ways community managers can assess the ROI of their community.

Leadership & Organisations

Corporate Heaven: The ‘Authentizotic’ Organisation

How to create an organisation where people find meaning in, and are captivated by, their work.

Leadership & Organisations

What Really Matters for Your Business Is Forwardship

V. Vyas, D. Nannicini, D. Sherman

Leadership failures are often characterised by a lack of action or a knee-jerk reaction to disruptions.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Make Corporate Hierarchy More Likable

P. Puranam, E. Lee

People clearly prefer flatter organisations, with less power distance between the tip and the base of the pyramid.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Some Men Feel the Need to Win at All Costs

Stefan Thau

Male misbehaviour in negotiations is rooted in our evolutionary history.

Leadership & Organisations

Corporate Culture Is an Alarmingly Low Priority for Boards

Erik van de Loo & Jaap Winter

There appears to be a significant discrepancy between what board directors believe and what happens in practice.

Leadership & Organisations

The Role of Language in the Gender Gap

Our use of language reflects and influences perceptions of gender roles.

Leadership & Organisations

Leadership Is a Journey, Not a Destination

Every context requires different talents and skills, so leaders must stay deeply aware and learn to adjust themselves along the way.

Leadership & Organisations

One Question Leaders Should Ask Themselves

Creativity and innovation are unlocked by leaders who enable others.

Leadership & Organisations

The Three Altitudes of Leadership

Leaders must cultivate the seamless ability to mix forward-vision thinking, tactical execution and self-awareness – across the altitudes of leadership.

Leadership & Organisations

Eight Ways to Unlock the Power of Community

A common goal, shared experiences and a sense of camaraderie breaks down walls and fosters collaboration.

Leadership & Organisations

Overcoming Resistance to Digital Change

Leaders need to see the ways in which digital change is different.

Leadership & Organisations

How Great Leaders Make Work Meaningful

Mired in day-to-day tasks, people easily lose sight of their work’s higher purpose. That’s where great communicators come in.

Leadership & Organisations

Preparing Teams to Lead Innovative Change

A new model of organisational change for today’s fast-moving industries.

Leadership & Organisations

The Shape of Hierarchy and Why It Matters

Phanish Puranam & Eucman Lee

Today’s organisations are shaped more like Christmas trees than pyramids.

Leadership & Organisations

The Bad Influence of Aggressive Bosses

Identifying with an aggressor is a basic strategy for human survival. It’s time to call it out in the workplace.

Leadership & Organisations

Scanning and Responding to Digital Change

Digitisation requires organisations to keep a keen eye on the horizon and respond by bending their processes.

Leadership & Organisations

How Boards Will Look in Ten Years

Stanislav Shekshnia & Veronika Zagieva

More women and a wider array of professionals are likely to fill future boards, while technology will play a bigger role in their work.

Leadership & Organisations

Can We Fix Hierarchy?

P. Puranam, E. Lee

Societies need new organisational design paradigms, if we are to overcome the urgent challenges ahead.

Leadership & Organisations

The Four Horsemen of Negotiator Power

Michael Schaerer, Adam Galinsky, Joe Magee

To maximise their success at the bargaining table, negotiators should maximise their power.

Leadership & Organisations

The Practices of Boards Across the World

Stanislav Shekshnia & Veronika Zagieva

How culture impacts the role of a board chair.

Leadership & Organisations

How Automation Will Rescue Middle Management

We should view automation as an opportunity to liberate human managers.

Leadership & Organisations

Male Professors Can (and Should) Promote Gender Balance

Henning Piezunka

Male faculty can become powerful gender equality advocates in the classroom.

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Leadership & Organisations

There’s More Than One Way to Make the Most of an MBA

Success in an MBA programme may hinge on mastering a friendly sort of rivalry.

Leadership & Organisations

The 3 Es of Effective Board Leadership

Stanislav Shekshnia & Veronika Zagieva

A study of successful board chairs across countries shows how they engage, enable and encourage boards.

Leadership & Organisations

Today’s Leaders Require a New Sense of Self

What career transformation really means in a world with few if any guarantees.

Leadership & Organisations

When Extraversion Rhymes With Acquisition

Extravert CEOs have a big appetite for acquisitions, but does it benefit their firms?

Leadership & Organisations

Who You Need for Your Digital Journey

Many different skillsets will be necessary for your organisation’s digital journey.

Leadership & Organisations

Diffusing Unconscious Misbehaviour in the Workplace

When colleagues act out, the reason for their misbehaviour is not always obvious.

Leadership & Organisations

Overcoming the Misery of Megaproject Delivery

V. Vyas, D. Nannicini

The “people aspect” of projects is more important than ever before.

Leadership & Organisations

A 10-Point Framework for the Digital Journey

Digitisation is here to stay so organisations should consider treating it as a long-term investment.

Leadership & Organisations

The Virtues of Unintelligent Organisation Design

Julien Clément & Phanish Puranam

Any structure at all is better than none, as long as it leaves some room to explore.

Leadership & Organisations

Put Women in Charge of Uber

Putting women on boards and in executive positions could be the quick fix that sexist Silicon Valley needs.

Leadership & Organisations

Four Reasons Why Internal Negotiations Are Harder Than External Ones

Horacio Falcao & Alena Komaromi

Don’t assume colleagues will help you out just because you’re on the same team.

Leadership & Organisations

The Teachable Moments of Financial Crisis

Squint hard enough and you can find traces of long-ago crises in the way communities do business today.

Leadership & Organisations

The World’s Smartest Countries

The countries most likely to produce the next Google.

Leadership & Organisations

Creating a Culture of Reciprocity

Reciprocity rings can help bring hidden resources to the surface and encourage a culture of generosity.

Leadership & Organisations

Strategic Change Is All in the Timing

Quy Huy

Large organisations have many different heartbeats, and change managers need to listen to them all.

Leadership & Organisations

Organisation Design Based on Science, Not Superstition

New analytical tools that help us move beyond folk wisdom and placebo effects.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Wisdom Can’t Be Taught

In the pursuit of wisdom, executives may find themselves taking off their masks to become truly authentic and reflective leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

How Higher Education Institutions Should Internationalise

Schools that desire to be truly international should think like global companies.

Leadership & Organisations

When Losing Employees Boosts Innovation

Andrew Shipilov, Frédéric Godart, Julien Clément

The benefits of losing talent may often outweigh the costs.

Leadership & Organisations

How Drawings May Get to the Root of Your Silo Issues

Having trouble bringing your teams together to realise your strategy? Drawings may help.

Leadership & Organisations

Developing Leaders Through Adversity

Resilience is a hard-earned yet crucial trait for future leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Sharing Power Is Critical to Build Future Leaders

A personal sense of power stems from accumulating short episodes of power, not from a magic wand.

Leadership & Organisations

Higher Education Must Still Go Global

Students need global understanding, now more than ever.

Five Steps to Embedding Cutting-Edge Innovation

Leadership & Organisations

Five Steps to Embed Cutting-Edge Innovation

Loic Sadoulet & Jean-Marc Frangos

Distancing innovation teams from company headquarters can help incubate new ideas.

Leadership & Organisations

Tools for Leaders to Leverage Organisational Politics

Navigating four typical domains of organisational politics can help leaders overcome barriers to strategy execution.

Leadership & Organisations

Four Ways to Handle Multicultural Differences in a Team

Working across cultures can sometimes be frustrating, but the results are well worth the learning journey.

Leadership & Organisations

12 Questions to Determine Board Effectiveness

With boards facing increased regulatory and diversity pressures, the basics matter more than ever.

Leadership & Organisations

The World’s Most Powerful Languages

What leaders should know about English and other languages competing for global influence.

Leadership & Organisations

Organisational Politics Can Be an Asset to Strategy Execution

Identifying the types of political behaviour in your organisation is the first step to using it for positive change.

Leadership & Organisations

The Dark Side of Flattery

Flattery can trigger resentment and ironically damage the social capital of those who accept it.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Lead Like a Top Chef

World-class chefs confront many leadership challenges shared by corporate leaders and entrepreneurs.

Leadership & Organisations

Cross-Cultural Bonding Leads to Higher Creativity

William Maddux & Andrew Hafenbrack

A close friendship or romance with someone from another culture can enhance outside-the-box thinking.

Leadership & Organisations

Lessons from the Return of the Ugly American

Donald Trump’s erosion of the American brand is a cautionary tale for all leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

The Emotional Sophistication Tomorrow’s Leaders Will Need

In an increasingly automated workplace, leaders should concentrate on uniquely human skillsets.

Leadership & Organisations

What Generations X, Y and Z Want From Leadership

Henrik Bresman & Vinika D. Rao

Managers should distribute leadership and make life more efficient for their employees.

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Leadership & Organisations

Mindfulness Meditation as an On-the-Spot Workplace Intervention

Andrew C. Hafenbrack

Give employees a little time and space to meditate and they’ll be better placed to overcome stress.

Leadership & Organisations

Rethinking Network Ties

Professional service executives who base their professional relationships on individual ties bring more value to the firm.

Leadership & Organisations

11 Leadership Guidelines for the Digital Age

Liri Andersson & Ludo Van der Heyden

The old ways of running a company won’t cut it in a digital world.

Leadership & Organisations

Networking for Team and/or Self

Frederic Godart

Teams and their leaders may have conflicting networking goals. That needn’t be a problem, but often is.

Leadership & Organisations

Malignant Manipulators: Ticking Time Bombs

Malignant narcissists not only believe they are always right, they vindictively go out on a limb to prove it.

Leadership & Organisations

What Generations X, Y and Z Want from Work Technology

Henrik Bresman & Vinika D. Rao

Future employees expect a seamless virtual office and new levels of flexibility.

Leadership & Organisations

Take the Lead Against Moral Hazard

Graham Ward

In times of uncertainty, leaders have an obligation to create workforces that shape societies, rather than reflect them.

Leadership & Organisations

Intelligent Boards Know Their Limits

Alan Zeller, Anil Gaba & Ludo Van der Heyden

Understanding mental biases and the extent of their own knowledge can help board directors make effective decisions.

Leadership & Organisations

Gender Bending Can Challenge Our Biases

Would you think differently about Donald Trump if he were a woman?

Leadership & Organisations

Why Every Workplace Needs a Fool

Office tricksters tell it like it is and contribute to creative growth.

Leadership & Organisations

The Future of the Corporate University

How firms can maximise the impact – and profitability – of in-house management training.

Leadership & Organisations

Making the Workplace Work for Gens X, Y and Z

Henrik Bresman & Vinika D. Rao

All three generations share an increasing enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, but differ globally in their fears about the future of work.

Leadership & Organisations

How True News Will Beat Fake News

Mark Hunter, Luk Van Wassenhove & Maria Besiou

A wave of community-based media is taking audience and influence from the mainstream.

Leadership & Organisations

When Price Precision Pays in Negotiations

Depending on who you are negotiating with, your offers should be more or less precise.

Leadership & Organisations

What Leaders Can Learn From the Rise of the Outsider

Graham Ward

Times of change and distrust create challenges and some valuable lessons for leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

To Accomplish Difficult Tasks, Combine Discipline With Cheating

Setting stretch goals that incorporate wiggle room is the best way to ensure actual results.

Leadership & Organisations

How Respect Can Set Inmates (and Employees) Free

Respect and a sense of encouragement transform workers’ identities.

Leadership & Organisations

Why the Whole Board Needs to be on Top of Risk Management

Delegating risk oversight to committees is not enough.

Leadership & Organisations

Leadership Lessons from the Paris Terror Attacks

Loic Sadoulet & Gerlinde Silvis

In times of crisis, be clear about where you want to go and flexible in how you get there.

Leadership & Organisations

Diffusing Workplace Anger

Graham Ward

Dealing with your own or other’s anger takes skill and care and it’s crucial for a healthy workplace.

Leadership & Organisations

How to Get Ahead When You Hate Networking

C. Galunic, B. Bensaou, C. Jonczyk Sédès

Networking is important for career growth but not everyone loves it.

Leadership & Organisations

Cyber Activists Are Gaining Influence Over Corporations

Social media is filling the gap of the free press in tightly-controlled countries, holding powerful corporations to account.

Leadership & Organisations

What Leaders Can Learn from Both Clinton and Trump

When connecting with an audience, Hillary Clinton leads with the head while Donald Trump comes from the heart: Both hold lessons for today leaders.

Charles Galunic Owning Your Corporate Culture

Leadership & Organisations

Wells Fargo Misread its Own Culture

Corporate leaders are responsible for both the company culture the firm proclaims and that which really exists.

Leadership & Organisations

Teamwork, the Everest Way

The first Singaporean women to reach the summit of Everest used a framework that defines effective teams.

Leadership & Organisations

Renegotiating Peace in Colombia

The government failed to understand how much distrust toward the FARC remains.

Charles galunic Spreading false ideas on social media

Leadership & Organisations

Wild Theories Beat Credibility on Social Media

C. Galunic, C. Kaligotla

The propensity of internet users to believe in false ideas has dangerous implications for social media.

Leadership & Organisations

Creative Types Need a Balance of Searching and Selling

Frederic Godart & David Dubois

Creative people can take your business to a whole new level, but don’t expect it to be an easy ride.

Leadership & Organisations

Self-Reflecting to Capitalise on Diversity

Instilling a grounded and positive sense of self in employees improves performance and ameliorates hidden bias.

Leadership & Organisations

The Value Lurking in Your “Leadership Unconscious”

Roger Lehman & Erik van de Loo

The crucial components to decision-making dilemmas may exist outside of your conscious awareness.

Leadership & Organisations

Overcoming Price Suspicion in Negotiations

Horacio Falcao & Alena Komaromi

Use opportunities to prove your fairness during negotiation.

Africa's tyrannical and transformational leaders

Leadership & Organisations

Lessons in Destructive Leadership from Africa

Africa is a cautionary example of the need for checks and balances against the abuse of power.

Leadership & Organisations

Board Political Leanings Determine CEO Pay

Directors with conservative proclivities are significantly more generous.

Leadership & Organisations

Workplace Excellence Can Be Contagious

Collective outcomes soar when top performers mingle with less adept colleagues.

Leadership & Organisations

Prepare Your Exit From the Start

Graham Ward

For many executives walking away can be the hardest part of the job.

Manfred Kets de Vries catalyst for radical change

Leadership & Organisations

The Epitaph Question

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Thinking about how you would like to be remembered can be a catalyst for radical change.

Graham Ward Responding to Collective Emotions

Leadership & Organisations

Reflective Leaders Needed for the Age of Rage

Graham Ward

When collective emotions gather steam, knee jerk reactions can make a bad situation worse.

Annet Aris Leaders Need to Look Outside for Better Perspective

Leadership & Organisations

Three Questions Humble Leaders Ask

To avoid falling victim to narcissistic tendencies, leaders need to look outside in more ways than one.

Leadership & Organisations

When It’s Okay to Mislead Your Employees

Sometimes, everyone having the wrong map is preferable to some having the right map.

Leadership & Organisations

Economic Downturns Undermine Workplace Helping

Employees’ views about success change with the economic outlook, unnecessarily tearing the social fabric of organisations during difficult times.

Leadership & Organisations

The Enigma of Trumpmania

The real mystery behind Donald Trump’s political success is not the man himself, but the zealous power of his supporting masses and the underlying social and psychological dynamics that drive his supporters.

Leadership & Organisations

Authentic Liaisons: Creating Bridges across Cultures

A genuine and sincere attitude can break down the most complex of cross-cultural barriers.

Leadership & Organisations

Why Empathy Makes for Stronger Organisations

Executives’ ability to see themselves from the outside and others from the inside, plays an important role in effective team formation

Leadership & Organisations

The Brexit Wake-Up Call: Time for Fair Process Leadership

With trust long gone, and fair play having given way to continued and self-interested negotiation, a sustainable future for Europe requires new leadership; collaborative, visionary, and inspiring.

Manfred Kets de Vries The benefits of thrill seekersto an organisation

Leadership & Organisations

Managing Thrill Seekers

Thrill- seeking employees' addiction to risk can create havoc in the workplace. Managed correctly, their fearlessness can be a great advantage to any organisation.

Leadership & Organisations

Three Lessons from Brexit for Business Leaders

The situation in Britain mirrors an even thornier leadership crisis affecting the business world.

Leadership & Organisations

Is The Time Ever Right to Flout Procedure?

Is company procedure cast in stone or is there leeway to take your own path in the spirit of a greater compliance?

Leadership & Organisations

Eco-therapy: The Walking and Talking Cure

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Urbanisation and today’s “digital” lifestyle promotes stress and a sense of alienation. Does nature hold the key to our inner peace and development?

Leadership & Organisations

“INVOLVE” – A Toolkit For Fair Process Communication

L. Van der Heyden, I. C. Woodward

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” - Ancient Chinese proverb

Leadership & Organisations

The Most Influential CEOs on Twitter

Digital leaders who get the most attention for themselves and their brands on social media are those who share their personal causes, express their hopes and ambitions and engage with their followers.

Leadership & Organisations

How Avoidance Destroys Strategic Initiatives

Roger Lehman & John Young

Avoidance is an extremely common response to strategic initiatives that makes executives put off critical issues. To overcome it, look out for some crucial signs.

Manfred Kets de Vries when teams are more for show than purpose

Leadership & Organisations

Leadership “Harem” Style

When there’s no specific goal or role for its members, and constructive discussion makes way for fawning power plays, executive teams become little more than harems for dysfunctional leaders.

Leadership & Organisations

Ambiguous Leadership Undermines Compliance

Forcing companies and people to juggle conflicting demands can encourage symbolic compliance.

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