leadership qualities – The CEO Magazine

When expertise becomes a bottleneck and smart organizations fail to see clearly

https://youtu.be/u2mLknObNks Executive Summary Annie Lu, a Harvard University graduate of 2022 and co-founder of Laminar (formerly H2Ok Innovations), is building self-optimizing manufacturing systems by integrating sensors, AI, and real-time data into a full-stack platform. Founded in 2021 by her and her brother, David Lu (the company’s CTO), the company has raised $12.4M and is already deployed across global manufacturing […]

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The discipline of the Narrow Path when control breaks

Interviews, Uncategorized

There is a specific point in most high-level careers where the illusion of control is not gradually weakened, but abruptly removed. It rarely happens through a slow drift of underperformance. It happens in a moment—clean, final, and indifferent to your preparation. For Jessica Yarmey, that moment arrived on a Friday afternoon. The scene was a

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Jessica Wescott, CEO of Steller Service Brands

Interviews, Uncategorized

https://youtu.be/671exqSvSjI Executive Summary In my conversation with Jessica Wescott, three leadership traits stood out: intentionality, balance, and adaptability. Jessica understands that outcomes do not emerge suddenly—they unfold through a chain of cause and effect inside the organization. This insight led to what I call the Outcome Domino: Individual Attention → Leader Behaviors → Ripple Chains

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4C Leadership: Communication, Cooperation, Commitment, Change

Leadership

Dr. Alan R. Zimmerman, Leadership Consultant and author of the “Payoff Principle” In the old world of work, it was all about taking orders. People were expected to park their brains, shut their mouths and work their forty hours a week. In the new world of work, it’s all about engaging people. President John Quincy Adams

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Harnessing the Power of Cognitive Diversity on an Executive Team

Leadership, Management

Kim Christfort, National Managing Director, The Deloitte Greenhouse™ Experience team In a time of accelerating change, increasing disruption, and heightened uncertainty, success demands unprecedented levels of resilience and flexibility from executives. CEOs in particular must strike a dynamic balance between seemingly paradoxical priorities – embracing risk while mitigating it, exploring new, untested, business models while

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Leadership Lessons from John McCain

Leadership

Why do some people conquer the dragon, but others succumb to it? Why can some overcome adversity when it devastates others? I wanted to know the answer, so in 1995, I decided to study heroes, people who had overcome significant adversity and emerged healthy and hardy—people who had taken care of others while they coped

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How to Lead Middle-Aged Minnesotans with a Swedish Accent

Leadership

Chip R. Bell, Author, Kaleidoscope: Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles There was a Muppet character on Sesame Street who was an enthusiastic chef with such a strong Swedish accent you could not understand a single word he said. His sketch appeared like a Julia Childs style cooking show. My son was eight or nine at the time,

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6 Lessons for Becoming a Hall of Fame CEO

Leadership

Kevin & Jackie Freiberg, Authors, Bochy Ball: The Chemistry of Winning and Losing in Baseball, Business and Life Whether you’re a fan or not, there are countless lessons to borrow from baseball and apply in business. As book critic, Jim Pawlak observed, “Both employ ‘players’ with specialties. Both have All-Stars (aging, prime, budding,) “A” and

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Seven Key Insights for Ethically Running a Successful Business

Management

Bruce Hartman, Founder, Gideon Partners During my time as a Fortune 500 CFO and as a business advisor, I noticed that successful organizations have a culture that attracts high performing employees. Their culture matches their business goals and the business seems to grow effortlessly. These companies have a culture built around highly ethical behaviors and

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Leadership Lessons from the Coke Machine

Leadership

My local burger restaurant recently installed a state-of-the art Coke machine. A big screen displays about ten different options for ice, Coke, its various forms, lemonade, and Sprite. Customers can even opt to mix the different drinks in whatever formula they like. Leaders should offer several options for people to get what they want from

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