Control was the dominant management paradigm in early twentieth century industrial factories. A century later, in many modern workplaces it continues to be dominant and mostly goes unquestioned. Often we don’t even realize that this is the case. But in knowledge work, context is a far more effective and| Leading Sapiens
There are scores of tomes written on “authentic” leadership, but all too often in practice they come across as farce. People simply don’t trust managers — perhaps the reason why authentic leadership is a cottage industry of its own. A primary reason for this mistrust is the disconnect between the| Leading Sapiens
In his classic The Adult Learner, Malcolm Knowles makes the distinction between creative leaders and controlling ones. By understanding teams and organizations as systems, and their energy as a parameter, one approach tries to control energy while the other works on releasing energy in the system. Leadership as controlling vs| Leading Sapiens
Leaders have to master the basics of the human OS. We examine these core attributes that underlie all frameworks of human peak performance.| Leading Sapiens
Leadership like any skill is something we can learn. Paradoxically though, it cannot necessarily be taught. Coaching can help navigate this conundrum.| Leading Sapiens
The ladder of inference is a powerful tool to make better decisions by uncovering hidden mental models and understanding how we reach conclusions.| Leading Sapiens
We don’t usually think of courage in the context of careers and organizations. But this is a mistake. Courage is more fundamental than we think, and equally relevant. The key is to understand the specific type of courage required, and how it applies to an ordinary work life. Ordinary| Leading Sapiens
Managing effectively using data is all the rage today. But most of it is shallow "hard data". The real challenge is to get so called “soft data”. How do you get the real pulse of your teams, or your customer’s true opinion? There’s a simple method that can| Leading Sapiens
Most leaders and organizations ignore the basics of the human OS. Their assumptions are from the domain of machines and material, not the human domain.| Leading Sapiens
Small wins and small bets can be an effective strategy instead of going for the big win. But there are several nuances that are misunderstood.| Leading Sapiens
Context is a powerful tool in leadership but goes underutilized and misunderstood - a deep dive into why mastering context is essential to effective leadership.| Leading Sapiens
Framing is a key skill to create psychological safety and improve performance. But most leaders are unaware or don't know how to get better at it.| Leading Sapiens
What makes someone "leadership material"? This often depends on who's making the call and what their Implicit Leadership Theory is - we all have one.| Leading Sapiens
Leadership development is usually about positive abilities. Negative Capability is often forgotten but equally critical. What is it and what prevents it?| Leading Sapiens
Ever wonder why that particular initiative of yours never got traction? Organizational politics kills more initiatives than people realize, and happens both at leadership and individual contributor levels. Understanding some of the dynamics can help to better navigate the terrain. Three organizational layers and their experiences * The individual contributor: You| Leading Sapiens
Leadership reflection is a critical mechanism to accelerate self-development of effective leaders.But it gets ignored due to stereotypes.| Leading Sapiens
Why do we need props like vision, mission statement, and goals? Our orientation towards the past and future radically influences present actions.| Leading Sapiens
Setting high standards is well understood. But a critical step often gets left out. Bezos captured this key idea in his 2017 shareholder letter.| Leading Sapiens
How do you view your role of leader or manager? Is it as a chess master or a gardener? The lure of control Often unknowingly, leaders and managers suffer from the myopia of control. The underlying ethos is of knowing everything, solving problems directly and having everything under control. It's| Leading Sapiens
Our actions, and by extension performance, stem from thinking that is based on a set of hidden mental models. How do you uncover these mental models and change them? One way is to understand and practice the concepts of single-loop and double-loop learning. Professional sports teams use postgame films and| Leading Sapiens
Most common discourse on mental models takes an additive approach. But this tends to be half-baked, often useless in practice. There is equal value, even more so, in a subtractive approach to mental models. The key is in understanding the difference between hard and soft mental models. How is the| Leading Sapiens
Jeff Bezos is one of the clearest thinkers in modern business. This article captures all his mental models and thinking frameworks in one place.| Leading Sapiens
In their book, Business Experimentation, Rob James and Jules Goddard highlight two approaches to strategy that are diametrically opposite to each other. The lone big bet is still the norm First is the traditional big bet approach characterized by centralized once a year planning, while the second is a culture| Leading Sapiens
Naïveté is considered a liability. But is it really? We've been oversold on the merits of sophistication and cleverness, meanwhile missing out on the benefits of a considered approach to naiveness.| Leading Sapiens
Often in coaching engagements, clients are asked to "try on" a new behavior just as they would try on new clothes at the store so they get a "feel" for it. The pushback often comes in the form of "but I don't know how to do that". We've all been| Leading Sapiens
Leaders are often cautioned to watch their actions and behavior because it sets an example and gets replicated through the organization. Which begs the question: why do people copy leaders? The common explanations tend to be psychological. But it goes beyond simple carrot and stick notions from behaviorism. There's a| Leading Sapiens
Understanding the different types of goals can dramatically increase how effective we are at goal setting. It's more than the generic SMART goals framework.| Leading Sapiens
Johari Window is a 2x2 matrix that captures how we communicate based on self-knowledge and how others see us. It’s a disclosure-feedback model of awareness based on principles of feedback and learning. It can be used for increasing levels of openness, self-awareness, and self-understanding. This makes the Johari Window a particularly relevant tool for leaders and managers.| Leading Sapiens
A deep dive into Amazon's leadership principles, complete with videos and reading recommendations.| Leading Sapiens
Just as the Toyota Production System revolutionized manufacturing, Amazon revolutionized the world of e-commerce. But unlike Toyota's system, Amazon's system has not been as widely studied. However, there are plenty of clues that can be found between Bezos' shareholder letters, and their leadership principles. Ram Charan and Julia Yang's The| Leading Sapiens
Why do people leave managers, not jobs? Herzberg’s theory of hygiene factors vs motivators, satisfiers vs dissatisfiers, might explain why.| Leading Sapiens
Everyone recognizes the importance of creative breakthroughs, but it continues to be a misunderstood phenomenon. Our need for creativity and insight also means a profusion of perpetrators promising easy solutions, and plenty of misconceptions. How do we increase the likelihood of insights? What can we do, or stop doing, to| Leading Sapiens