Before the idea was announced, one of my coworkers, a PR guy, shared the idea-my idea-with the CEO and CMO. While he didn't exactly say he'd done the work himself, how he talked about it made it seem like it was all his.
Messaging alone does not sustain a brand. It is sustained by belief and reinforced through behavior. When employees do not understand or believe in the organization's purpose and standards, customers eventually experience that inconsistency. This is where many branding efforts break down. Leaders focus externally while internal alignment remains underdeveloped.
The leader who hasn't examined their own fears, assumptions, and blind spots will inevitably project those shadows onto their teams. Inner work enables outer connection. This ancient wisdom has never been more urgent. Here's an irony worth sitting with: the more AI dominates our workplaces, the more desperately we crave authentic human connection.
Character-driven leaders who display four cardinal virtues - integrity, compassion, the ability to forgive and forget, and accountability - consistently deliver return on assets up to five times larger than the ROAs produced by their counterparts with a self-focused leadership style, who never or rarely exhibit those four traits.
Superpowers are effortless. My analogy for this is if Superman could fly. He could see through walls. But that wasn't some sort of arduous thing for him to do. It's just something he could do. The other side of this is identifying your kryptonite - in the series, a mineral fatal to Superman. It's not like something you can work on. The only strategy for Superman around kryptonite was to avoid it.
We used to be strong and a pacesetter. We haven't been for the last few years. His assessment was clear: Target has lost its way and, to some extent, its identity. The retailer affectionately nicknamed 'Tarzhay' for its cheap-chic merchandise had earlier on Tuesday reported a fourth quarter in a row of declining comparable sales.
When you're junior, you've got senior people watching everything you do. As you get more senior and you get promoted, pretty soon the bosses are no longer watching you. The only people watching you are your subordinates. This lack of upward oversight creates a pileup of people who find themselves suddenly failing after a track record of astounding success.
When the guru told you to do something, no matter what you thought about it, you did it, because that command was "sacred." Arguing with the guru, it was said, was a fool's response, like kicking gold. Because she was believed to be so evolved, no one dared challenge her authority. And she often expressed anger if they did. This caused many of her followers to cower in her presence.
AI was everywhere, but I wasn't focused on product launches. I was looking at how companies think about data itself: how it's shared, governed and ultimately turned into decisions. And across conversations with executives and sessions on security and compliance, a pattern emerged: the technical limitations that once justified locking data down have largely been solved. What remains difficult is human. Alignment, trust and confidence inside organizations are now the true barriers.
After more than two decades as a psychosexual therapist, I have learned to listen carefully for what people are not saying. When vulnerability is close to the surface, uncertainty shows up quickly. Am I doing this right? Do I belong here? What am I allowed to ask for, and what will it cost me if I do? At its core, psychosexual therapy is not really about sex.
A team finishes a client pitch, and the room stays tense while the outcome is still unclear. A manager places a small coin on the table, and eyes shift toward it at once. The weight feels deliberate, and the message lands without a long speech or awkward applause. Many firms rely on email praise that vanishes under new messages before the week is even over. A physical token stays visible on desks, shelves, and lanyards during packed schedules and shifting priorities.
Let's stop pretending. Your Daily Scrum is a status report. Your Sprint Planning confirms decisions that a circle of people made last week without you. Your Retrospective surfaces the same three issues it surfaced six months ago, and nothing has changed. Your Sprint Review is a demo followed by polite applause, before everyone happily leaves to do something meaningful. You know this. Everyone knows this. And yet tomorrow morning, you'll do it all again.
My daughter, Ivy, recently joined a swim club. As a former competitive swimmer, it's been a delight to witness. Every time I take her to practice, I feel a wave of nostalgia that reminds me of all the many years I spent in the pool and all the many teammates I collected along the way. It excites me to think that she, too, will have her own experiences and life lessons, just as swimming taught me.
MIAMI GARDENS - I hope Dolphins owner Stephen Ross asked new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan one question during his interview: "What did you think of this franchise's 2023 season?" Sullivan, whose hiring isn't yet official, needs to have said, "It was a huge disappointment, and a borderline failure." If Ross heard anything else he should have kicked Sullivan out of his office and informed him that such a participation-trophy mentality isn't welcome to the new-era Miami Dolphins.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast. We've all heard this misattributed Peter Drucker quote and instinctively understand the disproportionate influence culture can have on an organization's business. However, if you asked five people to define organizational culture, you'd likely get 55 different answers. Chief among them would be something along the lines of "organizational culture is how we do things around here," the behaviors and norms that make up how a company engages in the collective production of work.
Torpenhow Hill, a place in England, is famously a quadruple tautology: "Tor," "pen," and "how," all mean "hill" in different languages, so "Torpenhow Hill" essentially translates to "Hill-hill-hill Hill." Each new group of settlers felt compelled to rename the place in their own tongue, and each of them drew inspiration from it looking like a hump. Cultures that passed through the region added their own word for "hill": tor from Old English, pen from the Celtic, how from Norse, and finally hill from modern English.
The Atlantic is dedicated to bringing clarity and original thinking to the most important issues of our time. We aim to help our readers better understand the world and its possibilities as they navigate the complexities of daily life. Our mission and values guide our culture and the work that we do across the organization. The Atlantic seeks in its ranks a spirit of generosity-a natural disposition in each colleague toward service and selfless conduct.
Employee engagement principles are recognized as one of the most potent factors influencing everyone's performance in the workplace. When employees feel appreciated, engaged, and connected, they contribute more than just their skills. They also bring enthusiasm, creativity, and dedication to support the organization's sustained growth. Building a successful workplace means creating a culture where employees feel committed to the organization's goals. In this article, we'll examine seven key employee engagement principles that can revolutionize your company by motivating your team.
Currently there are 12 people from the Rowing Ireland high performance team seeking help from a clinical psychologist; three of them are working with a psychiatrist and are on medication to improve their condition. Not many athletes are brave enough to speak up as everyone is afraid for their seats. How many more mental illnesses do we need in the high performance system for someone to look at this programme properly?
