{"title":"USING TRUST AND BOUNDARIES IN LEADERSHIP TO ALLOW DIVERSITY TO BLOOM","authors":"Sonja Betschart","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20880","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20880","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author, who describes herself as Co-Founder and Co-Pilot of WeRobotics, “a global social impact organization that works to amplify the power of local expertise to multiply sustainable solutions for development, humanitarian aid, and climate,” which operates primarily in the Global South. She further states that “we co-create and co-facilitate the Flying Labs Network, a model for how a decentralized and bottom-up approach to localization can unleash the abundance of solutions that we need to confront the mounting challenges that face us all.” She says that, in terms of the “gifts of diversity,” the “common thread running through the 30+ years of my career has been my deep belief in the power of local. This means that the ones closest to the problem and/or customer are the ones who hold the key to the most fitting and effective solutions.” And in cultivating trust, and notes that “with the freedom to speak up and to try new things comes creativity and collaboration, and the diversity of ideas, backgrounds, and experiences comes alive in surprising and beautiful ways.” The author and her colleagues have learned that diversity is “essential for our success, the key factor behind creativity, innovation, and real change.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"33-38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP: NEURODIVERSITY IN LEADERSHIP TEAMS","authors":"Ludmila Praslova","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20873","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author, a Professor of Graduate Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Vanguard University of Southern California, discusses the concept of neurodiversity within leadership, and how gradually the approach of leaders continues to change from one that has been predominately commanding to more empathetic and reflective. “Homogenous leadership teams,” she writes, “also lack the diversity of talent to meet the full range of leadership challenges and adequately fill the many types of new, emerging leadership roles – from Chief Wellbeing Officers to Chief Artificial Intelligence/AI Ethicists and Chief Data Officers.” She explains that “neurodiversity reflects the diversity in human neurobiological development, which may influence cognitive styles, emotional and sensory processing, mind-body connection, learning, specific talents and abilities, and more.” She further notes that “neurodiversity is a characteristic of humanity in the same way as biodiversity is a characteristic of nature.” Regarding teamwork, she notes that “diverse leadership teams that include the unique ability patterns of neurodivergent people will be critical to driving innovation and tackling complex challenges.” And: “Promoting a Culture of Holistic Inclusion is a cultural shift essential to creating neuroinclusive leadership pipelines.” Among the strategies are, in her words, normalizing human differences and removing narrow demands on personal characteristics.</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"39-45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"CORRECTION TO “CONTINUAL LEARNING—THE KEY TO COMPETITIVE SUCCESS”","authors":"","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20884","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20884","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pietersen, W. (2025), CONTINUAL LEARNING—THE KEY TO COMPETITIVE SUCCESS. <i>Leader to Leader</i>, 2025: 64–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20866</p><p>In paragraph 1, page 69, the text “An example comes from my work with the Girl Scouts of the USA in the early 2000s.” was incorrect. This should have read “An example comes from my work with Girl Scouts of the USA in the early 2000s.”</p><p>In the author bio on page 70, the text “Willie Pietersen has practiced and studied leadership as a Chief Executive Officer/CEO of multibillion-dollar businesses, as a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, and as a consultant to some of the world's biggest and best-known organizations, from Ericsson and Johnson & Johnson to ExxonMobil and the Girl Scouts of America.” was incorrect. This should have read “Willie Pietersen has practiced and studied leadership as a Chief Executive Officer/CEO of multibillion-dollar businesses, as a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, and as a consultant to some of the world's biggest and best-known organizations, from Ericsson and Johnson & Johnson to ExxonMobil and Girl Scouts of the USA.”</p><p>We apologize for the errors.</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ltl.20884","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"LEADERS: LEARN FROM AI TO OVERCOME YOUR LOCAL MAXIMUM","authors":"Judah Taub","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20875","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20875","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author is founder and managing partner of Hetz Ventures, one of Israel’s leading early-stage venture capital firms; and has previously served in elite commando and intelligence military units. He discusses the concept of a “local maximum,” which he describes as “a point on a field that is not the highest or the best, but it is a point from which we can only go down in order to continue further.” He outlines “three techniques and approaches used by AI – and which can be used by all of us to overcome local maximums.” Within point one, “agility can be both a function of an organization’s mindset and DNA, and the hard quantifiable metrics such as the level of CapEx (capital expenditures) versus OpEx (operating expenses).” Within point two, “we will always be limited by time. However, learning to utilize time as a variable, trading it sometimes as a buyer and sometimes as a seller, increases our potential outcome to reach a higher maximum.” And he concludes that, “as artificial intelligence continues to improve, we may find that the lessons it teaches us are more impactful than the tasks it performs.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"60-65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY OVER A LIFETIME: HOW LEARNING MOMENTS CAN BE TRANSFORMATIVE","authors":"Garry Ridge","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20883","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20883","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author, Chairman Emeritus of WD-40 Company, reflects on his long career at the company, which started in sales and ended recently as CEO and Chairman. He notes an important question that he says is rarely asked: “How did you <i>become</i> the person who was equipped to do that?” He further notes that “If I can do it, a kid from the Sydney suburb of Five Dock, who left formal education at 16 because he’d rather learn first-hand how to sell stuff, I have to believe that anyone can do it.” Plain-spoken wisdom is dispensed throughout, including that “once you achieve a senior-most leadership role, however, you quickly realize that having your hands in all the functions of the enterprise is an inefficient use of your time and viewpoint from the more elevated position.” After becoming CEO, he read a transformative, life-changing quote from the Dalai Lama: “Our purpose in life is to make people happy. If you can’t make them happy, at least don’t hurt them.” He realized that he “wanted to create a workplace culture where people went to work every day happy in the knowledge that they would be doing meaningful work in the company of colleagues they liked, trusted, and respected.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"28-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"OUR FUTURE HINGES ON THE LEADERS WE FOLLOW","authors":"Sarah McArthur","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20889","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author, <i>Leader to Leader’s</i> editor-in-chief, reflects on the devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles, California area and broadens this into a discussion on what it means to be a leader and a follower in today’s digital age. She notes that there are many definitions of the word leader, and that at the “most basic level,” there is a definition from a 1996 essay by Peter Drucker, which includes these words: “The only definition of a <i>leader</i> is someone who has <i>followers</i>. Some people are thinkers. Some are prophets. Both roles are important and badly needed. But without followers, there can be no leaders.” Yet, she notes that in today’s social media-based culture, the word “followers” has taken on an additional meaning, with many millions of “followers” for athletes, actors, and other “influencers.” She further relates that “it is important to note that according to Drucker’s definition, these Instagram celebrities are in fact leaders in this relatively new era we call the Digital Age.” And that leaders’ “exceptional performance is rooted in their motivation to develop those around them and their focus is less about creating and enlisting more followers and more about creating more leaders for our organizations, our communities, and our countries of tomorrow.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"4-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143582052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"HOW TO BE A B-SUITE LEADER WITH C-SUITE IMPACT","authors":"Rebecca Houghton","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20879","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20879","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author, founder of BoldHR, outlines how middle managers can gain more influence and leverage within organizations. These managers “are essential for bridging strategy and execution, yet receive little of the attention or support they deserve.” She contends that “if we expect middle managers to adopt a more strategic mindset—thinking less like the middle managers of the past and more like C-suite leaders—it’s time for a radical rebrand.” She provides “steps we can take to instill a C-Suite mindset in all middle managers—based on data from more than 1,000 managers in Australia.” The steps, in the author’s words, are: Assess Leadership Maturity; Focus Less on How the Work Gets Done and More on What Work Gets Done; Confront the root cause of burnout and control the pace; Once you’ve “controlled the pace,” “use the space” to boost confidence. And she notes that her company’s research shows four competencies in particular are crucial to be developed in middle managers: the “ability to motivate and engage others, their capacity to cope, their skills in managing up, and their willingness to manage their reputation. With the exception of coping, these competencies are dominated by influencing - a habit that most middle managers engage with reluctantly.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"73-79"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"FROM FRONTLINES TO BOARDROOMS: LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION FROM UNDER THE MANGO TREE","authors":"Viva Ona Bartkus, Emily S. Block","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20876","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20876","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The authors (Bartkus, Professor Emerita at the University of Notre Dame; and Block, the George M. Cormie Chair of Management in the Alberta School of Business) write about the applicability of lessons learned in war zones and other extreme environments for today’s business challenges. Dr. Bartkus “founded the Business on the Frontlines Program seeking to harness the dynamism of business in rebuilding societies ravaged by conflict and deep poverty.” Case studies are provided, “from the dusty roads of Uganda to the high-stakes vaccine distribution efforts of J&J,” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors contend that they “uncover a universal truth about leadership: the most powerful innovations often emerge from the most challenging environments. Whether facing armed middlemen or vaccine skepticism, leaders who can adapt frontline strategies to their unique contexts gain a critical edge in our increasingly complex and interconnected world.” The lessons include, in their words, <i>Map the Entire Landscape and Follow the Money</i>, <i>Build Unconventional Partnerships</i>, <i>Fail fast and forward</i>, and <i>Get Your Boots Dirty</i>. They believe that “effective leaders in challenging environments must look beyond traditional partners and stakeholders. This often means overlooking salient differences and digging deeper to understand the motivations and needs of all parties, including potential adversaries.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"13-19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"PURPOSE DRIVEN LEADERSHIP: WORKING TOGETHER TO CREATE VALUE FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS","authors":"Patrick Finneran","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20878","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20878","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author, founder and CEO of Accelerated Performance Solutions, recounts lessons learned during a long military career to “senior leadership roles to McDonnell Aircraft and Boeing.” He relates how “getting out of the office and showing up on the production line to talk with our teams, often on the second and third shift, proved to be very beneficial. It is amazing what you can learn when people see that you care.” Formative experiences for the author included collaborating at Boeing with Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Ford Motor Company: “Alan knew that people wanted to be respected and appreciated. He didn’t just talk about building airplanes but the higher purpose of connecting our world. He shared this vision with all the stakeholders, ‘everyone included’.” In terms of how the various parts of an organization work together, he contends that “successful organizations thrive, in the long term by maintaining focus on their core purpose and having a compelling vision for the future. They create a nurturing culture driven by a few powerful values that foster unselfish, inclusive, team-oriented behavior. They have a well-defined mission that articulates not only what the organization does but who they serve. The vision, values and mission, when widely shared with all stakeholders, serve to align and empower all teammates.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"66-72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}