Keeping Remote Teams Engaged

On her podcast A Bit Personal, Jodi Shelton asks NVIDIA founder and CEO who’s the smartest person you’ve ever met? Jensen Huang: “Who’s the smartest person I’ve ever met? “I can’t answer that question. And I know I know what people are thinking. The definition of smart is somebody who’s intelligent, solves problems, technical, but I find that’s a commodity. And we’re not, we’re about to prove that artificial intelligence is able to handle that part easiest, right? Yeah. And so, as it turns out, let me give you another example. “Everybody thought software programming was the ultimate smart profession. Look, what is the first thing that AI is solving? Software programmi…

THERE’S a phrase that seems to be everywhere in the business world right now, but it is likely missing from most companies’ crisis management plans: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Crack open any decent crisis planning playbook, and you’ll find detailed roadmaps for navigating natural disasters, system failures, and traditional cyberattacks. These risks are well understood, and crisis management planners have often seen how other organizations have handled these setbacks or even dealt with them themselves. Although AI now touches on great swaths of our professional and personal lives, it is still a very young technology. And while most people vaguely understand that AI in…

BEST practices are often viewed as the key to success in the business world. Certifications to prove practitioners are competent in accordance with a best practice make sense at the surface. However, they’ve become psychological cover that create mediocre results at best. It’s reassuring to be able to point at the protocol and say, “I followed the best practice. It’s not my fault.” Take project management, for example. Most project managers I’ve met (my younger self included) come from technical backgrounds who love best practices. I genuinely thought project management was about following the best practice and forcing people to follow my plan. Spoiler alert: That didn’t…

MOST business leaders assume that if they roll out the right strategy, success will follow. But the truth is, even the best strategy will fail without full buy-in from your team. Lack of buy-in is the silent killer of growth. It’s why so many marketing initiatives fall flat, why sales teams resist new processes, and why companies struggle to implement real change. If your employees aren’t aligned, your customers will feel it. And if your customers feel it, they won’t trust you. The Real Reason Strategies Fail The biggest mistake CEOs make is assuming that once they decide on a direction, their team will automatically follow. But people don’t resist change because they’…

IN MANY organizations, productivity is flat while stress and burnout are climbing. While many blame the unmanageable workload, the problem is really the overwhelming thoughtload. Thoughtload is the invisible tax on performance and productivity that comes from a treacherous triad of rising cognitive demands, escalating emotional burdens, and declining energy reserves. As thoughtload increases, it’s less likely that team members will be productive, creative, or collaborative. Managers need to support their teams in reducing each component of thoughtload, but first, they need to address their own chaotic experience. It’s impossible to manage the madness if you’re creating i…

THE causes of job strain, burnout, and poor mental health at work are well understood — and so are the solutions. Workload can be managed. Jobs can be designed with autonomy and voice. Leaders can be trained to create psychological safety. Systems can be built that reward recovery and fairness, not just output. Which means harm to our workers isn’t inevitable — it’s a design choice. Organizations that fail to design for good work will pay for it in absenteeism, turnover and disengagement. But the deeper cost is borne by the workers. People don’t thrive when they’re confused, unsupported, or underused. They thrive when they feel capable and valued. Research by organizati…