If you know me, you know that I love digital gadgets. But, sometimes, it’s the simplest tool that makes the biggest impact: the humble pencil and paper. As a leadership development coach and advisor, I know that this old-school analog approach creates deeper, more meaningful results when leaders work to define themselves.

AI is here to stay. Large language models are just the beginning. The more significant issue is how we, as humans, use this new tool. Many will use it as a soulless crutch to crank out emails and automate redundant tasks, as illustrated in Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI, in a recent McKinsey Quarterly, but the real winners will be the ones that use human thought passion, and emotions in conjunction with AI tools such as large language models to greatly enhance their creativity and their productivity.

One of the core principles I emphasize to the people I work with is the foundation of my leadership development platform: Health. This includes your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. As a leader, it's essential to prioritize these for effective, impactful leadership.

The old recipes for making a firm a talent factory have eroded. Executive development programs provided formal training specific to organizational levels, and employees were expected to remain with their organizations for long careers. Today, tenures are getting shorter, there are fewer layers and leaders are being thrust into situations for which many feel unprepared. Might a peer network help address the gaps?

In a world driven by AI and technological advancements, it is fascinating to observe that one of the most significant events of the year revolves around a purely human aspect: the firing of a CEO. This event serves as a reminder that in an era where algorithms and automation dominate, leadership discussions and strategy; ultimately, a company’s performance remains fundamentally grounded in human qualities.

Rita and Ron discuss Discovery Driven Leadership and big trends that are impacting leaders and business.

You have the potential to wield power when you have control over a scarce and valuable resource. You know you have power when, as Stanford’s Jeffrey Pfeffer says, you have “the ability to get things done your way in contested situations.” While some people shrink back from using power, it isn’t a choice if you want to bring your team successfully through a challenging situation.

An essential aspect of leadership is focus. The digital world (and the demons within) wants your attention. At Sony we had a simple process for dealing with the demons.

My daughter's company has a special project running right now that requires her and several other employees to work seven days a week as they assist another group within the company. She is in her early 20s and obviously at the beginning of her career in the corporate world, so we’ve had a few conversations about the implications of working seven days a week and how she feels as an employee that’s given little or no choice in the matter.

No prospective CEO should accept the job if the predecessor takes the "Executive Chairman" title. Executive Chairman means the X-CEO will remain in charge and in control of any day-to-day decisions they wish to control. Leaders need the opportunity to lead, and having the "X-CEO" leaning over their shoulder is an impossible situation.

So, why is it so hard to stop a project that has not and will not deliver on its goal? In my experience, there are three factors: fear of failure and the results of that failure by managers and leaders, organizational momentum or culture, and lack of processes that produce transparency. According to published research, these three factors contribute to between 70 – 90% of new products failing. But, the problem is not the failure rate; the problem is how long it can take to kill a bad idea.

A year ago, we all saw the end of the pandemic just a few months off. Yet, here we are twelve months later, and it is clear we are in this for the long haul. So, I have three simple thoughts that will guide me this year. I guess you can call them my leadership resolutions:

Executives without experience in bringing new ventures to life — whether as entrepreneurs, business leaders, those with transformation responsibilities or other change agents — often think that planning a new venture is like planning for an existing business. It isn’t.

A Guide to Business In the Post Pandemic World.” Built to shed light on the unknown and help businesses navigate murky waters, Into the Blue offers a deep-dive into how business, industry, and the way we go about our day-to-day lives will change in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.