{"title":"YOU ARE THE LEADER YOU ARE SEEKING","authors":"Brian Solis","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20888","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20888","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author, Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow, discusses the concept of a mindshift, which he says “refers to a transformative change in thinking and approach, particularly in response to the 21st Century’s fast-evolving business landscape and the need for continuous innovation.” He contends that “team members who lead change have and will continue to come from all levels of organizations, often far beyond the C-Suite.” He further notes that “effective change agents collectively describe themselves as problem-solvers and critical thinkers. But they also differ in some traits. For example, some strongly identify as extroverts, others quiet introverts.” In learning how to earn and exert influence within their organizations, he found that change agents “formed strategic alliances, focusing on managing their teams well and building relationships with key decision-makers, eventually including those at the executive level, even those in the C-suite.” He also relates the importance of self-awareness and empathy, citing research carried out by organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich, and behavioral statistician Joseph Folkman. And the author makes the provocative contention that “it may sound cliché, but the essential difference between those who change the world and those who get stuck is that the changemakers take the first step and then the next and continue to forge ahead.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"46-51"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581951","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":"LEADERS GETTING DIFFERENT: IT’S TIME TO UNLEASH AGENCY FOR INDIVIDUAL, TEAM, AND ORGANIZATIONAL BETTERMENT","authors":"Frederick A. Miller, Judith H. Katz","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20881","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20881","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The authors [Miller- CEO of The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc.; and Katz (co-creator with Miller of many key concepts in Organization Development)] examine and explain “individual and team agency.” Their definition: “Ensuring all people, of all roles, levels, tenure, and identities have the power, influence, and voice to make choices and decisions related to their jobs and the betterment of their organization.” In discussing the role of senior leaders within this context, they quote Christopher Del Vecchio, President and Chief Executive Officer/CEO of MVP Health Care; Rich Dewey, CEO of New York Independent Systems Operator (NYISO); Hal Yoh, CEO of Day and Zimmermann (D&Z); and Dr. Wendi Williams, Provost and Senior Vice President, Fielding Graduate University. In creating a culture of agency, the authors recount four key actions/steps for leaders; in their words: identify the need for greater agency; test organizational readiness for change; Create a FROM→TO Culture Vision; and Identify the New Narrative and Mindsets to Support the TO State. They provide seven “Senior Leader Self-Assessment Questions.” The final question is “To what extent do you, as a leader, foster an environment of interaction safety, individually and as a leadership team, in which people feel the freedom to speak up and raise tough issues?”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"20-27"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581939","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":"NAVIGATORS IN BOUNDARY-SPANNING ROLES: LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS FROM 12 INTERVIEWS","authors":"Juergen Scherer","doi":"10.1002/ltl.20874","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20874","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The author, who has had an extensive career as a worldwide business executive and educator, discusses navigation, which in this leadership/organizational context means, in his words, the longing for finding bearings, for seeking sense and direction, and for steering toward safe harbors. The organizational actors in his survey come from Research & Development, Marketing & Sales, and Purchasing & Supply Management. A table provides additional information about the executives, including their organization, industry, and project. A second table provides vignettes from the interviews. He further describes, in his words Sensing—charting the course; Securing—enabling the journey; and Shifting—crossing the finish line. He writes that “matching the triangulated navigation process of sensing, securing and shifting, this skillset can be described by the triadic concept of <i>head, heart</i> and <i>hands</i>.” For instance, within the latter, “navigators personally stay on board, leading by example and with confidence, not taking their hands off until the task is accomplished in full.” He concludes that “considering the increasing volatility and uncertainty of the operating business context as well as the complexity and ambiguity of the respective tasks in boundary-spanning roles, it is high time for business organizations to enable, promote, and reward navigation.”</p>","PeriodicalId":100872,"journal":{"name":"Leader to Leader","volume":"2025 116","pages":"80-86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143581938","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":"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}