Everyone’s talking about collaboration in the workplace. Rightly so! Collaboration is a powerful approach that transforms traditional hierarchical structures with disconnected silos into cohesive, interconnected networks where teams find synergy and work toward shared organizational goals. The presence of healthy collaboration between departments not only bolsters organizational success but also helps employees gain information,… The post Cross-Department Collaboration: Building an I...| Crosworks
Recent developments show a growing number of organizations recognizing the value of offering career coaching programs to their employees. Investments aimed at boosting professional development and helping employees identify and chart their career path pay dividends through attracting more skilled workers, retaining top talent, and enhancing brand image. The benefits for organizations? Customized and… The post The ROI of Career Coaching for Teams: Better Retention, Engagement, and Interna...| Crosworks
Many organizations today face a critical challenge: identifying individuals who can adapt, lead effectively, and drive sustained performance. While we agree that technical expertise is crucial, research shows that the most successful leaders and high-performing professionals demonstratea fundamental trait: Self-awareness. As a matter of fact, Claire Hughes Johnson, former Chief Operating Officer of Stripe, said… The post Self-Awareness: The Ultimate Workplace Competitive Advantage appeared ...| Crosworks
Employees are undeniably an organization’s most significant investment and its greatest source of value. In a business environment, where companies are required to keep pace with myriad trends and tackle challenging market shifts, an organization’s talent system must focus on both productivity and value generation. In simpler terms, it’s all about an organization’s ability to… The post Investing in Your Talent: The Ultimate Business Advantage appeared first on Crosworks.| Crosworks
In an environment marked by perpetual uncertainty and constant disruption, business leaders are facing unprecedented challenges brought about by VUCA - a managerial acronym that stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.| Crosworks
Appreciating Regional Roots: Georgia Pick & Bow celebrates the culture of Appalachia, teaching students the history behind the music. Photo credit: Georgia Pick & Bow The Georgia Pick & Bow Traditional Music Program does more than just teach music to mountain children. Note by twangy note, the Dahlonega program celebrates the culture of Appalachia, a region long stigmatized in the...| Georgia Trend Magazine
This fall, the College of William and Mary is offering an interdisciplinary artificial intelligence minor designed to give students technical expertise while addressing the ethical and social concerns of this evolving technology. This new minor is part of the College’s School of Computing, Data Sciences and Physics, which launched in July under the leadership of […]| Flat Hat News
Agency's newly-adopted spending plan to bolster the Commonwealth’s creative and cultural sector The post Mass Cultural Council Commits $26.2M to Grants in FY26 appeared first on Mass Cultural Council.| Mass Cultural Council
We are grateful to these 50 cultural organizations committed to a more accessible cultural sector The post Card to Culture Shout Out – Aug appeared first on Mass Cultural Council.| Mass Cultural Council
Applications to this pilot program close August 26, 2025 at 5pm| Mass Cultural Council
For a long time, I've been asserting that most* B2B revenue-side executives can't hear anything we say unless it includes a currency symbol. Sentences lacking a $ or € or £ are inaudible. That includes explanations about how we build things: roadmaps full of boxes and project names; agile methodologies; analytics that show| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
A new chapter is unfolding for the U.S. Women’s National Team, and it’s captured stunningly in Parkside’s Fresh Faces set! Featuring 19 rising stars who| Girls Soccer Network
John Doerr highlights common pitfalls when creating OKRs that he learned from Intel CEO Andy Grove under what he calls "Dr Grove's OKR hygiene".| Leading Sapiens
A monthly round-up of grants, technical assistance resources, and opportunities for creative and cultural organizations The post Opportunities & Resources for Orgs – Aug 25 appeared first on Mass Cultural Council.| Mass Cultural Council
A case study providing guidance for cultural organizations and municipalities considering adaptive reuse of space within their communities The post Adapting Public Buildings for Creative Uses – The 204 appeared first on Mass Cultural Council.| Mass Cultural Council
I’m sometimes pulled into difficult discussions with CEOs, where I’m trying to describe systematic product-side failures that directly conflict with how the CEO sees the world. Even after dozens of similar discussions, I have only moderate success. But it seems worth framing this leadership-level challenge from both sides.| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
Can balancing advocacy with inquiry be implemented at an organizational level? Turns out, you can. Roger Martin is one of the world's foremost experts on strategy and a former dean of the Rotman School of Management. He shares an example at P&G where giving equal importance to inquiry in| Leading Sapiens
If you're the ambitious type, you've probably had your fair share of leadership books and management training. More than likely you've come across two stalwarts of the leadership literature and their models : emotional intelligence and authentic leadership. A key thrust of these models, including many others, is that there are| Leading Sapiens
A monthly round-up of grants, technical assistance resources, and opportunities for creative and cultural organizations| Mass Cultural Council
Being part of a sports organization or club can be a very fun experience. Many people love joining with other people who are like-minded in pursuing interests and activities. These can be great places to make friends and achieve similar goals together. The post Raise Funds With An Online Store! appeared first on Sticker Genius.| Sticker Genius
[Megan Hirst is ICC victims’ representative in the Bangladesh/Myanmar and Afghanistan situations. Marie O’Leary is acting Principal Counsel for the ICC Office of Public Counsel for the …| Opinio Juris
People around the world often name the U.S. as their top ally. China is also a common response, while Europeans commonly name the EU or other regional powers.| Pew Research Center
At a recent Product Weekend gathering of CPOs, we talked about product leadership values and what lifts our hearts. That turned into a conversation about what we fight for: broad principles and concrete actions that earn us our place as product leaders. Here was my take: * We fight for the| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
We are grateful to these 52 cultural organizations committed to a more accessible cultural sector| Mass Cultural Council
Organizations are made up of people, so conflict within them is hardly unusual – it can even be a necessary part of meaningful collaboration. But in a highly polarized, digital, and volatile era, where the line between “the world” and “the organization” may be thinning, do we need new ways to define and approach organizational … Read more ISPSO 2025: Navigating Conflict in Contemporary Organizations| matt finch / mechanical dolphin
A monthly round-up of grants, technical assistance resources, and opportunities for creative and cultural organizations| Mass Cultural Council
In most of my CPO coaching engagements, we eventually come around to the problem of “politics,” usually framed as frustration with C-level peers doing unexpected or unreasonable or department-centric things. My default response is that we call it “politics” when we’re not good at it, or when it’s| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
(this builds on my June difficult discussions [https://www.mironov.com/difficult/] post) As good product folks, we know that customers must recognize a problem before they consider buying our solution. Companies that don’t have supply chain issues (or think they don’t) are not in the market for| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
Every week, I talk with CEOs who tell me they want to speed up innovation. In fact, they want to schedule it. Recently a product leader shared with me an OKR to ship one major innovation each quarter, measured as “users will give each innovative feature a top rating.” This| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
For 16+ years, we master the rules of school. Study hard, get good grades, follow the formula and ultimately merit wins. Then we enter the workforce and discover none of it works quite like we thought. This becomes painfully obvious as you rise higher in the org. But even seasoned| Leading Sapiens
Founded in 1898 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Arthur J. Riggs (1855-1936) and Benjamin Franklin Howard (1860-1918), the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World (I.B.P.O.E.W) is an Afric…| Social Welfare History Project
As the world watches the war in Ukraine unfold, a quieter, more insidious tragedy is happening in the shadows—the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. These are not just stories of displacement or destruction. These are stories of children—many orphaned, disabled, or separated from family—being systematically taken by Russian forces, stripped of their identities, and rewritten […] The post Ukraine’s Stolen Children: A War Crime Against the Most Vulnerable appeared first on The Arch...| The Archibald Project
Right now, the people of Haiti are living through an unimaginable nightmare. Gang violence has overtaken communities, schools have shut down, families are on the run, and hunger is ravaging the country. At the center of this crisis are Haiti’s children—innocent, vulnerable, and enduring the unimaginable. This is not just a crisis.This is a catastrophe. […] The post Haiti is Suffering – It’s Children are Paying the Price appeared first on The Archibald Project.| The Archibald Project
Discover how coaches add immense value in organizational settings by boosting productivity and engagement.| Certified Life Coach Institute
The structural frame is one of Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal’s four frames model of leadership and organizations. In this piece I delve deeper into the structural frame of leadership — what it entails, its assumptions, dimensions, examples, tensions, and what makes leaders effective in the structural aspect. These insights| Leading Sapiens
Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal’s four frames model of organizations and leadership is a versatile tool for managers. This article delves into the human resource frame of their 4-frame model — its assumptions, dimensions, examples, tensions, and what makes leaders effective in the human resource aspect. These insights come from| Leading Sapiens
Organizational life can be a confusing muddle, especially if you are trying to get better at playing the game. Take the leadership genre for example. You might come across books that cover any of the following: power, building better teams, culture, emotional intelligence, war and strategy, psychology, authentic leadership, biographies| Leading Sapiens
As tech product managers, we’re often pitching the need for larger development teams. There’s an implied revenue obligation, though, that we should understand. Here are some back-of-the-envelope numbers — in three steps — for a likely discussion with your CFO or General Manager. [1] R&D as a Portion of| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
In leadership and life, ambitions often outpace our ability to consistently execute on them. A hidden hurdle that trips up many is their level of “frustration tolerance.” This is particularly true in large organizations that are literally designed to frustrate ambitions and agendas. In this piece, I unpack the critical| Leading Sapiens
Murray Robinson & Donna Spencer let me join their No Nonsense Leadership podcast for an extended discussion of corporate organizations, politics, how executives think/behave, servant leadership, and making change by *showing* rather than telling. Part of this was finding the gray space between extremes: e.g. not all companies have| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
I’ve written a lot about how we (as product folks) love to talk about how our teams build things: releases and sprints and backlog ranking models and product operating systems. (Oh, my!) But many of our colleagues and audiences are deeply uninterested in what happens in the kitchen. Another| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
Confidence is overrated. A more effective, scientifically-grounded approach to improve performance is self-efficacy. We often hear about the importance of confidence. "Believe in yourself," the advice goes. Although intuitive, it's not as helpful. What exactly is confidence? Is it innate? Or can you work at it? Self-efficacy is a more| Leading Sapiens
Why do some people thrive in complexity while others buckle under pressure? A key factor is the level of cognitive flexibility. In this piece, I examine what cognitive flexibility means, why it’s critical to leadership, and strategies for building it. A World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report ranked| Leading Sapiens
Is leadership about substance or perception? The truth is, it's both. You must not only be effective; you must also appear effective. Impression management — first introduced by Erving Goffman — has been widely studied and researched. And it's especially relevant to leadership. In this piece, I dig into Goffman’s framework| Leading Sapiens
Henry Mintzberg was one of the first to identify a comprehensive set of managerial roles that captured the reality of managerial work. Later, he updated this original list into an overall management model. In this piece, I examine the importance of Mintzberg’s managerial roles and management model, and how| Leading Sapiens
This is part II of a series on loosely coupled systems. Building on Karl Weick's notion of loose coupling introduced previously, I examine how leadership in these organizations differs from traditional command and control structures. Chinese appliance manufacturer Haier pioneered a radical organizational model called RenDanHeYi, which loosely translates to| Leading Sapiens
Most product companies have a few things in their roadmaps that are specifically for single customers – I call these sales one-offs. But it’s easy for B2B/enterprise companies to fall into a sales-led development model where the majority of work is for individual customers – starving the core product of| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
I’ve noticed a frequent executive-level misalignment of expectations across a range of software/tech companies, particularly in B2B/Enterprise companies and where Sales/Marketing is geographically far away from Engineering/Product Management. Let’s call it the software development deli counter problem [https://twitter.com/share?url=https://www.| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
Training in biases is standard fare these days. However, I see managers regularly fall for one particular bias: the fundamental attribution error. Unlike other biases, FAE directly affects several aspects of leadership. In this piece, I dive into what fundamental attribution error is, how it trips up leaders, and ways| Leading Sapiens
There’s a pattern I sometimes see at software companies, particularly those targeting enterprises or on the long march moving their installed base from on-premise to SaaS. The go-to-market materials present a glowing picture of well-planned products, but underneath there’s a jumble of mismatched pieces and arcane product history| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
The term “psychological safety” is often misleading. When managers hear safety, many dismiss it as a soft style that implies complacency. Meanwhile, psychology implies too much mumbo jumbo. High-profile figures like Elon Musk advocating for a “hardcore” style perpetuate this misconception. But this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship| Leading Sapiens
Traditional management emphasizes strict control, clear hierarchies, and uniform processes. This approach, rooted in industrial-era thinking, promises efficiency and predictability. However, loose-coupling is a compelling alternative to traditional tightly-coupled approaches. In this piece, I revisit Karl Weick’s notion of loose-coupling in organizations and its impact on control and flexibility.| Leading Sapiens
In conventional leadership, competence is about maintaining composure, projecting strength, and exuding confidence. However, truly effective leaders do something more surprising: self-disclosure. They share their fallibility as well as strengths. Self-disclosure is a misunderstood skill of effective leadership. How much is too much? And how can you ensure that opening| Leading Sapiens
By Jos de Blok and Thijs de Blok and originally published on Teal Around the World Jos de BlokJos de Blok is the founder and CEO of Buurtzorg (neighborhood nursing), a Dutch organization with more than 15.000 employees, offering community based (home) care services to more than 80.000 patients a year. Founded in 2006 with one team of four nurses, Buurtzorg has transformed home-based health care and it has created an innovative method for nursing care at home. Thijs de Blok Director CEO of B...| Enlivening Edge
Effective leadership hinges on the ability to view organizational challenges from multiple perspectives. Gareth Morgan's eight metaphors of organization gives leaders a versatile set of lenses to examine challenges. In this piece, I introduce each of the organizational metaphors, their significance, and how to use them for strategic reflection. Why| Leading Sapiens
Humility and inquiry aren’t usually associated with effective leadership. The traditional view is “loud”: vision, setting goals, and driving the team towards success. However, this overlooks a crucial but “quieter” aspect: asking questions and listening. Humble Inquiry, developed by Edgar Schein, challenges the traditional view by emphasizing how humility| Leading Sapiens
Traditional authority—titles, commands, and rewards—has lost its edge in the modern workplace. What compels people is trust, respect, and admiration. This is the essence of referent power—a subtle but effective form of power that inspires loyalty and performance without coercion. It is effective but rare. In this| Leading Sapiens
A new organization emerges to help tackle some of the challenges the Fediverse faces, from advocacy and policy to training and tooling.| We Distribute
Understanding different types of power is crucial for effective leadership. Coercive power is a controversial yet sometimes necessary and effective tool. I delve into the nuances of coercive power, its applications, why leaders shouldn’t avoid it, and Elon Musk as an example of coercive leadership. What is Coercive Power| Leading Sapiens
Understanding and using power is key to effective leadership. The French-Raven model of power bases is a good primer on the different types of power. This post introduces this foundational framework of power and the 6 types: coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, referent, and information power. In 1959, social psychologists John| Leading Sapiens
Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal’s four frames model of organizations and leadership is a versatile tool for managers. In this article, I delve deeper into the political frame of their 4-frame model — its assumptions, dimensions, examples, tensions, and finally what makes leaders effective in the political aspect. These insights| Leading Sapiens
How can I be more trustworthy? How can I show up more authentically? Leaders at all levels grapple with this fundamental challenge of leadership. The answer lies in Aristotle's 2,000+ year old framework of ethos, logos, and pathos or what Harvard prof Frances Frei and Anne Morris call the| Leading Sapiens
What makes some folks and certain teams more powerful than others in organizations? What is the source of their power? In contrast, why do others despite having competence and positional authority are ineffective? This is one of a series on power in organizations. I focus on Gareth Morgan’s classic| Leading Sapiens
After years of struggle, I’m advising all of my clients and product leader coachees to stop using the term “MVP”. Not to stop doing validation, discovery, prototyping or experiments they may associate that that acronym, but to remove the label from all of their docs and presentations and talks.| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
Newton taught us that gravity’s not just a good idea, it’s the law. I’ve spent a lot of the last decade with one foot in the engineering organization and the other with marketing/sales. While the two sides of the business communicate poorly, I think there’s| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
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
The Carmel Symphony Orchestra (CSO) began as a small community orchestra in 1975. Viktors Ziedonis, a immigrant who previously conducted… Read More »Carmel Symphony Orchestra| Encyclopedia of Indianapolis
Contradictions are rampant in organizations. Understanding the different types can give leaders leverage and prevent frustrations.| Leading Sapiens
Learning as central to strategy is still not common. But it's a powerful anti-dote to uncertainty that can help leaders and organizations.| 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
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
On January 26, 2013, the North American Soccer League (NASL) announced the formation of Indianapolis’ professional soccer team known as… Read More »Indy Eleven| Encyclopedia of Indianapolis
Dscout, the leading experience research platform, announced the launch of AI Analysis, an innovative new feature designed to transform.| AiThority
Ruth Peters and Ken Shay conceived of the idea for the Diversity Center in 1993, a time when there were… Read More »Diversity Center| Encyclopedia of Indianapolis
By Sarah Shepherd. Fraternalism fulfilled a crucial role in society. It was a social club as well as an early form of social welfare through the principle of reciprocal aid.| Social Welfare History Project
Most advice on leadership communication focuses on getting better at advocacy – crafting the message, effective delivery, and so on. What leaders forget is to balance their advocacy with equal amounts of inquiry. How are the two different and why does it matter? I take a closer look at the critical| Leading Sapiens
John Gage was at Berkeley during the student protests in the sixties. He later went on to be vice-president of Sun Microcomputers. Interviewed in the documentary Berkeley in the Sixties (at 40 minutes), he talks about the effect of watching the response of the authorities: I’d never realized that …| Asterisk
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
Stock donation for charity is popular around the world because of its ease, functionality, and benefits. Learn more today.| Stock Donator
Paradoxes are built into the nature of management and leadership. Understanding them beforehand can be extremely useful in avoiding frustrations.| 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
Locus of control refers to how we view circumstances in terms of the amount of control we have over situations and the experiences that affect us. I look at locus of control specifically in the context of leadership and management: how locus of control impacts leadership performance, and how it| Leading Sapiens
6 min. Read. Effective communication is vital for building strong teams. It fosters collaboration, enhances productivity, and strengthens relationships among team members. This article explores critical communication strategies to help teams work cohesively and achieve tremendous success. Establish Clear Communication Channels Establishing clear communication channels allows team members to communicate with one another easily. It […]| Workplacely
In case you missed it, let’s dive into how you can kickstart 2024 as a Most Loved Workplace® by leveraging exciting new capabilities, education, and data insights to make this year your organization’s best yet. This approach is about feeling good and driving tangible business outcomes through talent strategies that focus on development, engagement, and […]| Workplacely
Conferences and meetings have evolved, and gone are the days where they have to happen in person, as we know. Of course, the best events do take place in person because people have the chance to meet others. However, doing a virtual conference is an excellent way to get any organization on the map. For […] The post Why a Virtual Conference Makes Sense & How to do It Right appeared first on Elsey Enterprises.| Elsey Enterprises
Trinh Nhoc is 90 years old. He rather sweetly describes himself (in French) as a “un bon cordonnier vietnamien” — a good shoemaker from Vietnam. In 1970, the coup happened in Cambodia. That first night, I remember Cambodian soldiers knocking on the door of my shop. They knocked for five minutes …| Asterisk
How did this company move into no-hierarchy, empowerment, freedom, and responsibility in areas like decision-making and salary?| Enlivening Edge
Christopher Lasch wrote a book called The revolt of the elites and the betrayal of democracy (1996). The first essay in the book — “The revolt of the elites”, describes the fall of the aristocratic elites, and the rise of a new meritocratic elite — “the best and brightest”. These new elites …| Asterisk
An essential role of CPOs and other product leaders that’s never listed in the job description is giving organizational 'air cover' to product managers to postpone almost all new requests — so that their teams can finish work already underway. Lately, I’m calling this permission to stay focused. Some| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
Expanding on a recent post (Revenue Goals are Not Company Strategies), I’ve been seeing lots of maker teams (product, engineering, design) struggling to form product strategies without a company strategy to hang them on. This is a recipe for failure: there are no generic product strategies or corporate strategies,| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
Mumbai fascinates me… I don’t know why… but there is something about the city that is so enticing… Even after living there for 20 plus years, I always find something new and…| Random Odds and Ends
Product and engineering leaders tend to be analytical, and we think of prioritization as an algorithmic problem. Unfortunately, other execs see a different kind of problem...| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
Most managers suck at giving effective, constructive feedback. Equally, most of us are bad at receiving and processing constructive feedback. This is a lost opportunity for everyone. Edgar Schein, professor emeritus at MIT, was one of the foremost experts in organizational behavior and interpersonal interactions. He articulated a set of| Leading Sapiens
How can you run more effective meetings? One way is to study folks who are masters at running effective meetings, and get paid for it — professional facilitators. Roger Schwarz is one of the world’s leading experts on facilitation. He has a set of what he calls ground rules for| Leading Sapiens
Ora Brown Stokes founded and was the driving force behind the Richmond Neighborhood Association (RNA), an organization which has received little attention despite its centrality to social welfare w…| Social Welfare History Project
Senior leadership did the analysis: The root of the problem at XYZ Corp was a lack of clearly defined value statements that underpin the company’s unique culture! Problems like this demand the corp…| The Solution Space
I’ve written a lot about the huge organizational and technical gulf between services companies and product companies. (See this and this and this and this.) At a recent workshop in Christchurch NZ, I spent several hours talking with CEOs about the challenges of changing a company from mostly services| Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
The proponents of DevOps (myself included) usually bring forward arguments that evolve around breaking silos: “You build it, you run it”. This, according to the philosophy, leads to deliverables th…| The Solution Space
A deep dive into Amazon's leadership principles, complete with videos and reading recommendations.| Leading Sapiens