What you should do with people in the wrong roles depends. If they don’t have the motivation, fit or strengths required for your organization, fire them. If they do, split their role, or move them over, up or down as appropriate, re-focusing them. And if they’re...

There are things people were in the habit of doing before the pandemic that they’re not doing now. Like a computer shut down prompts us to rethink previously open applications, the pandemic disrupted the inertia behind our habits, heightened our sensibilities, and...

F.C. Barcelona just elected Joan Laporta as its new president – largely because of his success in the role from 2003 to 2010. But he will fail if he tries to do the same thing again. His only path to success is to reinvent himself as he re-invents Barcelona. As Tariq...

In normal times, leaders can choose between three strategic postures: shape, adapt, or reserve the right to play. However, for the vast majority of organizations, the only viable posture coming out of the pandemic is the third, reserving the right to play, keeping...

COVID-19 reset everyone’s progress up Maslow’s hierarchy of physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization needs. As you helped your employees re-boot through the first wave of the pandemic, you needed to meet them where they were and move back...

It’s surprising and stunning that JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have got this so wrong. As CNBC reported, both banks’ employees are learning about Coronavirus cases in their buildings from press reports and not from their leaders. Their policies are “to inform...

It's one thing to break the single season passing NFL passing record after it stood for 27 years. It’s a whole other thing to lead through a pandemic. Or is it? Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux’s leaders Brandon Landry and Scott Taylor have reapplied Drew Brees’s leadership...

Andy Grove defined a point of inflection as “an event that changes the way we think and act.” Given COVID-19’s impact, the only question is whether you’re going to lead with systemic changes in your organization, market, or industry, or follow others. As McKinsey laid...

Covid-19 will have both temporary and enduring effects. It is both a crisis to be managed and a cause to hit a restart button to get yourself and your organization ready for the new normal. How you onboard into a new organization in the new normal is one particularly...

Even when COVID-19’s impact is diminished and the government gives you the green light, you still have to choose if, how, and when to reboot your business. The smart way is to reboot only the parts that can be successful. Then deliberately move through virtual steps...

If things are going generally well and people are heading in the right direction, deploy judo leadership, tactically redirecting their momentum. But if people are complacent or in a crisis, counter their mood, changing their state of mind and emotions and urging them...

Keeping your team connected while socially distant is going to require virtual meetings. The better you can make those virtual meetings work, the more connected you’ll keep your team. With the spread of COVID-19, keeping the appropriate social distance makes all the...

The evening of 16 October, 2019, Boris Johnson did what the UK Parliament had legally mandated he do. He sent the EU a letter requesting a Brexit delay. This was, of course, just one step in the UK Brexit story. At the same time, it’s a classic lesson in the bare...

This past week, 181 Business Roundtable CEOs signed a new statement on the purpose of a corporation. The most important change is to take into account all stakeholders including customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and shareholders. Theoretically, this...

When experienced leaders look back on their careers, almost inevitably their number one regret is not moving fast enough on people. For most that means not getting poor performers out of bad roles fast enough. For the most effective leaders, that also means not...

Wells Fargo’s new CEO must fix the problem, fix perceptions and point the way forward to a brighter future in that order as part of his executive onboarding. Unfortunately this will be extremely hard as Timothy Sloan is a 29-year Wells Fargo insider with a board...

What do these have in common? 1.   “Communication. Respect. Integrity. Excellence.” 2.   “Social responsibility. Sustainability. A spirit of partnership. ‘Pro Ehrenamt’ volunteering initiative.” They are each a nice set of corporate values that were set in stone and...