Meetings are supposed to be where work happens. Decisions get made. Priorities get set. Alignment either clicks into place or quietly unravels. And...
Designing Meetings That Actually Get Work Done
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The Magic of Imperfection: Why Three-Quarters Baked Work Unlocks Innovation
Perfectionism has a good reputation in the workplace. It signals high standards, discipline, and care. But in practice, it often does the opposite...
Giving Feedback to Your Manager With Clarity and Confidence
Giving feedback to your manager can feel awkward. Power dynamics are real, and when trust is still building, it is easy to second-guess yourself or stay quiet. But healthy working relationships require open dialogue in both directions. Upward feedback is not disrespectful. It is often necessary.
In this installment of the Transform Your Workplace video series, we focus on how to give your manager feedback in a calm, clear, and collaborative way. The microlearning video embedded below walks through a simple approach to help you prepare and speak up effectively.
Why People-First Leadership Still Works in Brick-and-Mortar Retail
When Brianne Mees started Tender Loving Empire in 2007, she spent most days behind a small retail counter, learning in real time what it meant to...
The Quiet Work of Human-Centered Leadership
Nae Hakala works as an HR business partner here at Xenium and consults with organizations navigating complex people challenges. Over the course of...
How to Prepare for Difficult Conversations Using the PACE Framework
Let’s be real. Difficult conversations are part of leadership. Whether you’re advocating for your team, negotiating a role or pay change, or giving...
How to Build a Future-Ready Organization
Jacob Morgan hadn’t planned to write a new book. Instead, he’d planned an update of his 2017 book, The Employee Experience Advantage. When Wiley...
How to Build a Human-Centric Culture in High-Performance Workplaces
Kate McKinnon has spent her career inside organizations where culture doesn’t get the luxury of being theoretical. These are environments where...
The Case for Curiosity: Why Wonder Might Be the Most Undervalued Skill in the Modern Workplace
There’s a quiet truth about adulthood that rarely gets said out loud. Most of us stopped being curious a long time ago. We traded why for...
Return-to-Office Can’t Fix Broken Work
For the past few years, leaders across industries have clung to a deceptively simple idea: if people just come back to the office, innovation,...
Catching People Doing Things Right: The Leadership Legacy of Ken Blanchard
When I sat down with Martha Lawrence on the day she launched Catch People Doing Things Right: How Ken Blanchard Changed the Way the World Leads, it...
When Caregiving Comes to Work: What Leaders Need to Know About Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and the People They Impact
For most of us, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia exist at a distance until the day they don’t. A parent repeats the same question three times...
Why HR Leaders Are Burning Out—and How to Stop Absorbing the Shock
Human Resources has shifted from an administrative oversight role to a strategic partner, and now, amidst economic and workforce shifts, HR leaders...
Leaders Who Ignore Their Inner World Eventually Hit a Wall. Here Is How to Change Course.
Most leaders burn out not due to lack of skill or ambition, but because they stop listening to themselves. They trade intuition for output,...
Designing in Layers: How an Architect-CEO Builds Creative, High-Growth Organizations
The Art and Architecture of Leadership When Larry Armstrong talks about leadership, he doesn’t reach for a spreadsheet or an org chart. Instead, he...