Over the course of my military career, I learned early on that uncertainty was part of the fundamentals of strategic planning. The prominent military theorist Carl von Clausewitz described it this way: “No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy.” Conditions shifted. Sometimes the ground literally shook beneath our feet. But what stands … Read more
Before the pandemic and all of its 2nd and 3rd-order effects, most of us lived inside a predictable rhythm. Commutes. Office chatter. Calendars packed with meetings that required us to be physically present. We may not have loved all of it, but we understood the tempo. Work had a structure we could point to. Then the … Read more
The Question Leaders Keep Asking: “Why does this feel so much harder to navigate than disagreements used to?” I hear this all the time. It’s not that we suddenly discovered disagreement—we’ve disagreed, sometimes fiercely, through every chapter of our national story. But something has changed. The disagreements feel sharper. The emotional temperature is higher. And … Read more
Why Trust Has Become Today’s Leadership Imperative The Trust Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About Something fundamental has shifted in how people relate to authority, to information, and to each other. Trust—the foundation of every high-performing team I’ve ever led or studied—has become fragile. And in many organizations, it’s broken entirely. This didn’t happen overnight. … Read more
Polarization and the New Leadership Reality Over the past several years, I’ve repeatedly heard a similar question from leaders across industries: “Why does everything feel harder than it used to?” It feels that way, not because people are less capable or because markets are tougher. It‘s because the social environment around us has fundamentally shifted. Polarization has … Read more
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” — Rick Warren Most leadership failures don’t stem from a lack of skill or intelligence. They stem from the ego. When leaders make it about “I and Me” instead of “We and Us,” teams disengage. Strategic plans become mandates instead of … Read more
