I had the privilege of conducting a workshop on Total Leadership a few days ago at Teach For America’s headquarters in New York. When you exit the elevator on TFA’s main floor in this modest office building on an industrial Midtown street, you see a blue wall on which these words appear in white: Read More
A few days ago, while on a break from leading a workshop at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for members of its management team (including director and former astronaut Mike Coats), I had the special privilege of touring the cavernous Building 9, which houses a mock space station, space vehicles, and other amazing things. In addition Read More
President-Elect Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, recently said: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Emanuel–using a phrase of which Tom Friedman (no relation) is also fond (he heard it from economist Read More
One of the many reasons why President-Elect Obama inspires hope around the world is because of what he’s shown us so far of his abilities to be a profoundly effective leader of change. A few thoughts here on some of the critically important principles he demonstrated to awesome effect in his victorious campaign, as evidenced Read More
As a new political era dawns, what lessons about leadership can we grasp from Obama’s triumph? So much has been said already about the man who called his last book The Audacity of Hope. I’ll focus here on one factor that stands out, and it’s the thing about him that worked political magic–Obama’s authenticity, as Read More
I just returned from London, where I spoke to a gathering of European business leaders focused on creating healthier workplaces at the annual Enterprise for Health conference. I won’t tell you here how much fun it was, as the pre-dinner keynote speaker, to try to keep the attention of 125 ravenously hungry people while we Read More
On the plane back to Philadelphia, I reflected on the workshop I’d just conducted with a group of senior women leaders at Microsoft’s Redmond, WA headquarters. I’m struck by a word one of the participants called out in response to the question I’ve asked many corporate audiences recently: “What kind of leadership do we need Read More
In the wake of the financial sector’s fundamental restructuring, the labor market for everyone in this field (from new entrants to near retirees) is turning inside out and upside down, causing all kinds of unexpected, stomach-churning jolts to the lives of thousands. What, you might ask, are business school students thinking? Here’s a small sampling, Read More
One of the most compelling findings Jeff Greenhaus and I reported in our research (described in our book, Work and Family–Allies or Enemies?) on the lives and careers of over 800 business professionals was this: The more time that working mothers spent taking care of themselves, the better were the emotional and physical health of Read More
I spent a good chunk of my summer travelling the country, speaking about work and how to make it fit with the rest of life in ways that are good both for companies and the people employed by them. I talked to thousands of people. I listened closely to the pulse of American business. There’s Read More