Keeping Remote Teams Engaged

THE WINTER months are the perfect time for a little binge-reading. While I can’t promise that any of the titles suggested are cozy reads, they will get you fired up. Personally, I would start with Productive Failure and Mindshift. Like The Illusion of Innovation by Elliott Parker, they will get you thinking in new ways and set you up for the others. Use this list to create your own winter reading plan. Here are ten suggestions to begin the new year intentionally. On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century by Tony Blair - (September 2024) The leadership manual Tony Blair wishes he had when he became prime minister, with personal insights and global examples that s…

TONY BLAIR wrote a book about leadership in government. However, his practical ideas on leading in the 21st century apply across the board. Leadership, both good and bad, leaves clues for us to study how other leaders have handled problems and challenges common in all leadership situations. On Leadership does just that. It is the unwise leader who thinks they know everything. Learning from others’ mistakes and successes is the best way to guard against leadership hubris. Below are a selection of Blair’s thoughts on leadership. Leaders have the courage not to go with the flow. They speak up when others stay silent. They act when others hesitate. They take the risk, not…

ORGANIZATIONAL teams determine overall performance, shape culture, drive growth, and deliver results — or not. Today’s teams face a new reality. Never before have they encountered the changes and challenges brought on them by remote, hybrid, and in-person work environments. Add in the emergence of AI and countless other workforce and societal trends, and it’s apparent that yesterday’s approaches no longer apply to today’s realities. This time of disruption demands that organizational leaders take an honest look at their teams and how they function and then apply accurate data to inform new ideas, explore strategies, and pursue professional development to position themsel…

ORGANIZATIONAL teams determine overall performance, shape culture, drive growth, and deliver results — or not. Today’s teams face a new reality. Never before have they encountered the changes and challenges brought on them by remote, hybrid, and in-person work environments. Add in the emergence of AI and countless other workforce and societal trends, and it’s apparent that yesterday’s approaches no longer apply to today’s realities. This time of disruption demands that organizational leaders take an honest look at their teams and how they function and then apply accurate data to inform new ideas, explore strategies, and pursue professional development to position themsel…

HOW do successful people think? The key to doing well is thinking well. It’s a way of being in the world. Becoming great means making the hard choices necessary to get you there. Performance coach Doug Hirschhorn advances eight principles in 8 Ways to Great that direct the decisions of top performers. Principle #1: Find Your “Why?” How questions bring up negative thoughts and inadequacies. “The reason most people go through life with big dreams but fail to achieve them is because they ask themselves ‘how’ before they know their ‘why.’” The why question energizes and motivates, “Knowing your ‘why’ is what’s going to get you to figure out how.” Ask yourself, “Why have I…

EMPOWERMENT has turned into a buzzword that’s lost its meaning. We all know what being powerful—or, euphemistically, influential—looks like. But to be empowering—how clear is that? Worse than unclear, empowering is widely misunderstood. For forceful leaders, it’s seen as giving power away; giving power to your staff means giving up your power. It’s easy for forceful leaders to feel that granting power to others takes away from their own power or that they are somehow rendered “passive,” as one forceful leader put it. Power is simply a means to the end of getting things done. It shouldn’t matter whether it’s your power or “Other” power. You can grind grain into flour by …

HISTORICALLY, women have faced significant hurdles in employment negotiations. Here’s what we know about these barriers, plus strategies leaders can use to improve fairness in the workplace. The Barriers that Women Face In 2006, Carnegie Mellon University professor Linda Babcock and her colleagues published research showing that women tend to initiate negotiations, particularly salary negotiations, significantly less often than men do. The findings appeared to at least partially explain the enduring pay gap between men and women, which has remained frustratingly stable from 2002 to 2023. In a 2007 study, Harvard Kennedy School professor Hannah Riley Bowles, Babcock, a…

A team approach to problem-solving, informed by the process of design thinking, can be optimally effective in triggering inspiration, leading to fresh ideas that are highly responsive to stakeholders. Indeed, collaboration can be a force multiplier in an effort to reach an intended objective. However, what seems to be missing is how team members can perform successfully and work as a collaborative entity for the good of the project. Collaborative design thinking suggests a customized framework for team members and stakeholders to work together so that the process is unique and relevant for a particular challenge and the individuals involved. A project leader can adjust t…

THE challenges organizations face today are becoming increasingly complex, interconnected, and unpredictable. Yet, as we examine these challenges more closely, a striking realization emerges: most are rooted in connection issues. Network science heralded as the science of the 21st century, provides a groundbreaking framework for understanding connections. It uncovers profound insights into the structural and functional challenges organizations encounter, offering a transformative lens for leadership in this era of complexity. To thrive, leaders must embrace a new paradigm that prioritizes the power of connections. Let’s explore two critical domains where connections ar…

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in April 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month. The Psychology of Leadership: Timeless principles to perfect your leadership of individuals, teams… and yourself! by Sébastien Page The Psychology of Leadership offers a fresh take on leadership through the lens of groundbreaking research in positive, sports, and personality psychology. Leaders will develop what feels like mind-reading abilities for interpreting workplace personalities, hidden motivations, and group dynamics. They will learn how to inspire their organization to move mountains, improv…

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in February 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month. Rethinking Work: Seismic Changes in the Where, When, and Why by Rishad Tobaccowala We have a choice. We can either be reactive and struggle to adjust to transformational events on the fly, or we can be proactive and control the narrative—reinventing work to align with the evolving environment. Futurist Rishad Tobaccowala has had a highly successful career because he has anticipated and capitalized on emerging trends. In Rethinking Work, Rishad outlines the reasons why being proactive in this era o…

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in January 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month. Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior by Sandra Matz There are more pieces of digital data than there are stars in the universe. This data helps us monitor our planet, decipher our genetic code, and take a deep dive into our psychology. As algorithms become increasingly adept at accessing the human mind, they also become more and more powerful at controlling it, enticing us to buy a certain product or vote for a certain political candidate. Some of us say t…

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in March 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month. You're the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need) by Sabina Nawaz as our job expands, the added pressure to perform corrupts our actions, and our increased power will blind us to the impact of those actions. Even the most well-intentioned manager can quickly become the boss nobody wants to work for. You’re the Boss is your executive coach in book form. It offers a fresh, evidence-based framework for managing pressure and power with grace and intelligence. Nawaz’s potent, proven str…

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in May 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month. Another Way: Building Companies That Last…and Last…and Last by Dave Whorton with Bo Burlingham Dave Whorton went on a journey to find a better way to build companies, a way focused on long-term stability and steady growth, funded through profitability; a way in which leaders were committed to a purpose beyond personal wealth generation, to putting their people first, and to setting up their companies to endure. He calls these companies "Evergreen." Another Way combines Whorton's inspiring story with hi…

There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart’s controls. —Aeschylus MANY people view fear as a negative, crippling emotion. However, it can act as a potent stimulus that enhances performance if we take the time to understand – and modulate – its power. The Sweet Spot of Fear Table tennis Olympian Amy Wang has had plenty of practice performing in the face of fear. She’s won the US National Table Tennis Championships in age categories of nine, ten, eleven, and thirteen before winning multiple open women’s national titles. Wang does, indeed, get scared when playing before a large crowd or on a big international stage. “But I need some kin…

WHEN the path ahead is clear, leadership feels easier. You can plan, predict, and rally your team around certainty. But real leadership shows up when the road disappears. In uncertain times, leadership doesn’t collapse from lack of effort. It collapses because leaders mistake activity for clarity. In doing so, they lose momentum when it matters most. When the next move isn’t obvious, when conditions change faster than plans can adapt, leaders make their mark — not by guessing, not by waiting, but by having clear priorities, guiding principles, and a shared purpose strong enough to move through uncertainty. Forward leading involves the kind of thinking that turns obstac…

Here is a selection of Posts from April 2025 that you will want to check out: The Opportunity Behind Every Closed Door via @TheDaily_Coach How Embracing A Low Point In Life Can Help You Grow Stronger by @LaRaeQuy A Few Short Stories by @morganhousel 3 Reasons To Challenge Outdated Assumptions by @JosephLalonde The 3 Daily Habits That Separate Champions from Everyone Else by @BrianKDodd The Top 3 Mistakes Leaders Make During Bad Days by @WScottCochrane There may be a book inside you. Should it stay there? by @wallybock Which Kind of Leader Are You? Reactors, Adapters, or Disruptors by @gavin_adams Canadian Nationalism No Longer an Oxymoron by @jamesstrock Canada is demo…

Here is a selection of Posts from December 2024 that you will want to check out: I Have A Few Questions by @morganhousel They’re relevant to everyone, and apply to lots of things Mitch McConnell & the Postwar World Order Are Sunsetting by @jamesstrock Entering its ninth decade, the postwar world order is decomposing before our eyes. A to Z on Why Your Strategy or Change Initiative Will Fail by @artpetty 2 Things To Write Before You Write Your Book by @WallyBock Great Advice How Trauma Really Can Help Us Grow Into Stronger People by @LaRaeQuy Interview: @jamesstrock interviews anthropologist and polymath Wade Davis author of Beneath the Surface of Things: New and Se…

Here is a selection of Posts from February 2025 that you will want to check out: Four Ideas to Improve Workplace Communication by @artpetty The Leadership Trap: Quick fixes by Marlene Chism @stopyourdrama Exemplar or Empire? 1 of 3 by @jamesstrock Washington and Adams Cast a Vision. 4 Leadership Lessons on Scarcity, Dominance, and Delay by @BrianKDodd CEO Coaching: Idiots at the Helm? by @toddordal 5 Ideas That Changed My Life by @SahilBloom 40 Thoughts On Turning 40 by @p_millerd Earn Your Influence by @nateschloesser How does this apply to your situation? 5 Character Qualities Leaders Must Have by @JosephLalonde Looking Under the Lamppost (On Problem-Solving) by @edb…

Here is a selection of Posts from January 2025 that you will want to check out: Nine rules turnaround leaders can live by that don't involve 'fixing the culture' by @artpetty 4 Ways To Constantly Adapt by @JosephLalonde 5 Things Leaders Need to Quit Doing by @Mark_Sanborn It Don’t Take Much To Show A Little Love by @JohnBaldoni Success Through Synergy by @KevinPaulScott Genuine synergy rests on four essential pillars Sputnik Moments, Moonshot Visions by @jamesstrock What should our moonshot be? Minimum Levels of Stress by @morganhousel Thinking of Managing? Six reasons why you might love this role by @artpetty The Hard Truth About Mismanagement by MarleneChism @stopyou…

Here is a selection of Posts from March 2025 that you will want to check out: Are you trapped in a singular story? by @workwithpassion - Alaina Love VIDEO from @artpetty: Leadership Caffeine — 60-second leadership tips: frame your day for success How Really Good People Can Be Really Ineffective by @stopyourdrama - Marlene Chism 11 Ways to Build Trust by @JonGordon11 Cultural Monoxide via @LeadershipMain VIDEO from @artpetty: Leadership Caffeine — 60-second tips: raise your questions-to-comments ratio 8 Reasons Some Leaders Disqualify Themselves and Fail to Finish Well by @BrianKDodd Write To Please Your Reader, Not Your Old English Teacher by @WallyBock How “Artifacts…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Eric Potterat on putting in the practice you need for success: “Effort is perhaps both the easiest and hardest aspect of mindset to practice. Easy because you know what needs to be done: more practicing, more studying, more exercising, more time. Hard because: more work. For some people (and many high performers) hard work is innate. They keep at it naturally; they don’t have to make themselves do it. But most of us are what I like to call “human”: we have a limit. When we reach that fork in our day when we could spend an hour…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. William Vanderbloemen on complaining: “Complaining gives us a lot of positive reinforcement. It makes us think we’re smarter than the powers that be, and it helps us bond with a group. Ask anyone who is friends with their very first coworkers from decades ago. Did breakfast sandwiches in the cafeteria and half-day summer Fridays bind them? Or was it a common enemy and a mutual sense of injustice that they could vent to another about? But complaining isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It has a negative impact on your brain and, n…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Rosabeth Moss Kanter on developing winning streaks: “Experiencing troubles is not all bad. Rather than interrupting the cycle of success, responding to adversity might accelerate it. New threats become less threatening when people have successfully solved previous problems. Potential leaders might become stronger when they have successfully resolved crises or weathered adversity. Troubles, in fact, might actually be good for winners.” Source: Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End II. Josh Linkner o…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Richard S. Tedlow on speaking truth to power: “The fantasy that if you get rid of the messenger, you can render the message untrue is a powerful one.” Source: Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face—and What to Do About It II. Todd Henry on the passion fallacy: “Instead of asking ‘What would bring me enjoyment?’ which is how many people think about following their passion, we should instead ask ‘What work am I willing to suffer for today?’ Great work requires suffering for something beyond yourself. It’…