Think of your latest project… Chances are, it increasingly involves leaders from across your organization and across generations. If you are a member of an executive team or partner in a professional firm, work in a cross-functional team, lead Millennials, serve on a board, or participate in M&As and startups, you are among a group […]

For Chicagoans Only: A leadership reflection on a 30th anniversary of Chicago’s first and only African American mayor. Theme: A leader is only as strong as the followers who lead her or him. Yes … the success of a leader depends upon how well his or her followers lead her or him. Chicago, via the […]

Thriving in the marketplace today requires a diverse group of experts from across the organization to create and execute in harmony. Problem is, if a bunch of leaders attempt to work together, often you get the problem of too many chefs in the kitchen problem. The emerging question of leadership today is then, how do […]

Compromise is an agreement, a settlement of a dispute or differing opinions that is reached by opposing sides making concessions. After years of working with teams around leadership, creativity, and innovation one thing we notice is that when groups are attempting to make a breakthrough innovation, solve a longstanding problem, they often and sometimes unknowingly default to compromise.  […]

We recently worked with a group that was strategizing about how to roll out a new service. As typically was the case, the formal leader of the team had a strong point of view and was very convincing. Given his persuasiveness, experience and role, it was challenging for him to be open to points of view […]

Being a catalyst for collective intelligence is what leadership is about today. What’s emerging in the world of leadership?  A president of a global bank recently told me, “We are becoming more of a matrix organization where roles and responsibilities constantly change to the point when people ask me about their roles and responsibilities I […]