What you measure shapes your culture as much as your results. Three exceptional leaders offer powerful principles for choosing metrics that drive real performance: Streamlined, from Brian Niccol at Starbucks: resist the temptation to measure everything, and instead identify the vital few numbers that truly drive performance. Future-oriented, from Jensen Huang at Nvidia: don’t let […]
Amazon’s betting big on physical retail with a massive new store format. But here’s the problem: They’re masters of technology and logistics—not culture. Retail is fundamentally a people business. While Amazon has struggled with frontline employee experience, Walmart and Costco have transformed theirs with dramatic results. Can cutting-edge technology win the customer experience battle without […]
Here’s a wake-up call as you lock in your 2026 strategy: 84% of leaders say long-term brand building is critical to business success, but only 36% believe their organizations are effective at it. That’s a huge gap! New research from Harvard Business Review Analytics reveals why most organizations fail at brand building and what the […]
Most leadership training focuses on what’s visible—strategy, performance, results. But truly transformative leadership starts from within. When leaders ground their actions in spiritual values like integrity, humility, and compassion, they don’t just become better people—they build stronger organizations. My new article, “Spiritual Leadership at Work: How Values-Driven Leaders Build Trust, Belonging, and Results,” explores how […]
Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index introduces “frontier firms” that seamlessly blend human judgment with AI capability, signaling a fundamental shift in how organizations operate. The report’s vision of dynamic “work charts” replacing static org charts offers genuine promise for more agile, responsive businesses. But beneath the excitement about AI agents and hybrid teams lies a […]
In today’s AI-driven workplace, many companies are making a critical mistake: automating people management without reimagining what only humans can do. I recently introduced a keynote on this very topic—why your people strategy, not your tech stack, will be your greatest differentiator in the future of work. In my latest article, I share three strategic […]
“Is having a sacred playbook an asset that companies should preserve at all costs, or does it become a liability holding companies back as the world around them changes? Is there a point at which a company’s size, growth, and industry-spanning tentacles make a unified culture of decision-making and inventing impossible?” These questions, posed in […]
The failure of most DEI efforts result from the approach most commonly employed by companies. Reliance on programs and targets—such as employee resource groups (ERGs) and hiring quotas—without addressing the fundamental values and culture of the organization, only leads to additional bureaucracy rather than a genuine sense of belonging. While dedicated programs and metrics are […]
Celebrating my 20th anniversary of being an independent practitioner! As I reflect on my journey, I’m convinced that “culture” is as important for solopreneurs, coaches, and freelancers as it is for companies of thousands. Check out my thoughts on brand-culture fusion and why it matters for people who are self-employed. Let me know what you […]
Your core values can’t simply be words on your website or on a poster in your office; they must be used. Learn how Amazon uses its core values in my new post on LinkedIn: Do You Use Your Core Values Or Just Talk About Them? related: Do Your Core Values Have Teeth? Fusion: How Integrating […]