All Features
Mark Graban
I can’t count how many times during the past 20 years I’ve heard executives complain that their people aren’t enthusiastically participating in their lean program. Leaders lament that while the company has spent a small fortune to put everybody through continuous improvement training, hardly…
Michael Platt, Elizabeth Z. Johnson
Most leaders would attest that true collaboration—the pooling of knowledge, perspectives, and brainpower of talented people—is a desired yet often elusive outcome. To change that, and boost the likelihood of generating breakthrough results, draw on parallels with improvisational jazz during your…
Mike Figliuolo
Do you find yourself muttering, “I hate my job” every day when you wake up? Have you been saying that for more than a month straight? Are people starting to avoid you because you’re a downer to be around?
Then it’s probably time to shut your mouth and quit your job.
Yep. Time for another…
Kobi Leins, ISO
Untitled Document
In everyday life, the most common conversation about artificial intelligence (AI) goes along the lines of, “I used ChatGPT, and it did x.” Corporate leaders, governments, and international organizations, however, are having a very different conversation. Theirs is about how the…
Andrey Koptelov
In this age of rapid technological innovation, the introduction of sophisticated technologies in various industries has raised complex ethical dilemmas. As businesses strive to achieve financial goals and keep stakeholders happy, they also have to mitigate the adverse effects of technology…
Jones Loflin
During my 29 years of working with leaders and managers, I’ve rarely heard any of them say, “I’m so excited about doing the performance reviews for my team.” They see it as another “elephant” in their schedule.
But performance reviews are important. Some of the benefits include:
I also believe…
Mike Figliuolo
Life goals. Bucket lists. “One day I’ll ....”
We all have dreams and goals. The biggest difference between people who achieve them and those who don’t is the act of actually doing. Do you have goals and things you want to achieve? Professional aspirations? Personal bucket list items?
Let me ask…
William A. Levinson
Starbucks’ implementation of artificial intelligence coffee makers1 offers a simple and ideal case study that can illustrate the synergy between efficiency, wages, profits, and inflation. Even if we don’t know the actual cost figures, we can use some hypothetical numbers to demonstrate how higher…
Gleb Tsipursky
With 74% of U.S. companies transitioning to a permanent hybrid work model, leaders are turning their attention to measuring the success of that model. That’s because there’s a single traditional office-centric model of 9–5, Monday through Friday, in the office, but many ways to do hybrid work.…
Polina Marinova Pompliano
Mental toughness is a quality that sets extraordinary individuals apart from the rest, enabling them to endure discomfort and uncertainty for extended periods. But what exactly is mental toughness? Can it be achieved without undergoing severe stress and trauma? Why do some people seem to possess it…
Audrey Kim
Before he became an expert on corporate leadership, Charles O’Reilly spent five years in the U.S. Army. There he witnessed the stark divide between good and bad leaders and realized how much influence they had on the people who worked for them.
Now a professor of organizational behavior at…
Bruce Hamilton
Peter Drucker, celebrated by BusinessWeek magazine in 2005 as “the man who invented management,” is credited with a concept that has created confusion for me throughout my work life: the distinction between knowledge work and manual work.
In his 1959 book The Landmarks of Tomorrow (latest edition…
Adam Zewe
Imagine purchasing a robot to perform household tasks. This robot was built and trained in a factory on a certain set of tasks and has never seen the items in your home. When you ask it to pick up a mug from your kitchen table, it might not recognize your mug (perhaps because this mug is painted…
Lindsey Walker
In the quickly changing industrial landscape, firms continue to place a high premium on safety. Innovative approaches to improving industrial safety have been made possible by technological advancements. One particularly revolutionary option is computerized maintenance management system (CMMS)…
Witold Henisz
It is a phenomenon known as the “war on woke”: the political backlash against investments in companies with a corporate purpose beyond profit maximization. Some U.S. lawmakers have argued that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing undermines financial returns. However, a new paper…
Chanakya Gupta
The food and beverage industry is currently growing at 8.7% and is projected to be worth $8.9 trillion by 2026, according to Research and Markets’ 2022 report on the global food and beverage market. This growth presents opportunities and challenges for manufacturers, many of which must modernize…
Mike Figliuolo
We make leadership way too difficult. We write entire books on it. We teach it in universities and MBA programs. We dedicate entire fields of study to it. We create massive corporate programs to foster it. Here’s the thing: It’s really not that hard.
Sure, we teach leadership at thoughtLEADERS,…
Paul Bramson
Effective communication is the cornerstone of every healthy relationship, both personal and professional. This isn’t new information, of course, but the reality is most of us aren’t very good communicators. Even if you have strong skills and may even be told this by others, you can always improve…
Etienne Nichols
On Feb. 23, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its proposed rule for the new Quality Management System Regulation (QMSR). The proposed QMSR will be the result of aligning the current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) requirements of the FDA’s Quality System Regulation (QSR…
Max Farrell
While recent economic reports on inflation have signaled positive signs for the future, frontline industry turnover rates remain high. With further supply chain disruptions looming, retaining top talent has never been more important for employers. These pressing challenges and continual raw-…
Michael Jarrett
History is filled with tales of courageous and decisive heroes. Individuals like Julius Caesar and Winston Churchill, for example, have led from the front to guide people through adversity and achieve ultimate success. This myth building is especially prominent in business, with stories of…
Ian Wright
It’s been a long and arduous road, but you’re almost ready for that first production run. You made it through supplier selection, your designs and production processes have been finalized, preproduction is finished, and now there’s just one more hurdle to clear: first article inspection (FAI).…
Gleb Tsipursky
Hybrid employees don’t hate the office; they hate commuting to it, surveys show, since for many workers commuting takes more than an hour per day and costs thousands of dollars per year. Peer-reviewed studies find clear associations between longer commute times and lower job satisfaction, increased…
Stephanie Ojeda
Mistakes around standard operating procedure (SOP) management are widespread and costly, especially given the pace of change in manufacturing today.
Consider, for example, an electronics manufacturer that introduces a new product model with updated features and components. This new model requires…
Fred Sievert
Ask any executive what he or she considers the most important skills for team members who aspire to leadership roles, and you will get answers ranging from clear communication to collaboration to adaptability.
During my career, especially as the president of New York Life Insurance, I found that…
