Picture this: You’re a mountain biker riding your favorite trail when suddenly a black bear bursts from the trees and starts chasing you.  Instead of stopping to think, your motivation to move kicks in big time! Muscles tense, heart thunders,

I was finishing my PhD at Stanford—three kids, big dreams, too little sleep—and on the job market. As I was looking into the top management consulting firms, I discovered a jarring truth: they called people who brought in the business

Picture a CEO bragging about not taking a day off in seven years—like he’d earned a medal in the War on Downtime. Then came the “mystery illness,” the endless fatigue that no amount of caffeine could fix, and a board

When notorious bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he deadpanned: “Because that’s where the money is.”  Decades later, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, when asked where money for his ambitious projects would come from, replied with serene confidence:

Open the news, and it’s like stepping into a boxing ring for a fight you didn’t sign up for. Conflict dominates headlines, social media feels like a cage match, and even business language sounds combative—companies “battle” for market share or

Picture this: You’re on the ancient battlefield, surrounded by chaos. Arrows flying, horses panicking, warriors shouting. And right when you’re supposed to charge forward, you…freeze.  That’s where the prince warrior Arjuna finds himself in the Bhagavad Gita—a 2,000+ year old

How can we help each other succeed? It’s a deceptively simple question—and one of the most powerful tools you have as a CEO. Imagine introducing a practice where you and your senior leaders each identify one specific, observable behavior to

Crises are inevitable in business. Painful as they are, they can also bring out the best in business leaders. The great ones turn the pressure into proof points, revealing their true character, how they lead their teams through challenges, and

When Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft, he didn’t start by revamping strategy or restructuring teams. He started with something more personal—and unexpected: a deep dive into emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Nadella knew that to transform the company, he first

At the recent funeral of a soldier named Moshe Noll, the eulogy described his lifetime of extreme learning struggles, and his adamant refusal to be unhappy about it.  He couldn’t read or write when he arrived at religious school as

I’ve led many successful leadership retreats with high-performing, high-achieving executive teams. You know, the usual format–inspirational openings, sticky-note brainstorms, lively strategy sessions, etc. Productive? Yes. Energizing? Sort of. Fully human? Not quite. So I made a commitment: to inject real,

In business, leaders love to say, “I just went with my gut.” Sounds bold. Maverick-y. Like something Steve Jobs-y.  Here’s the thing: that “gut” feeling could be your intuition. It could also be a reactive instinct kicking into overdrive…or fear

When Matt O’Hayer founded Vital Farms in 2007, he wasn’t trying to disrupt the egg industry. He was trying to build something meaningful—a company grounded in conscious capitalism that valued every stakeholder, from hens to humans. As founder and early

Some leaders answer emails during meetings, solve other people’s problems before their own, and when someone asks, “How’s the strategy coming along?” respond with a blank stare and fresh forehead sweat.  It’s like sprinting on a treadmill that keeps speeding

Remember the last time you really savored something? Maybe it was a velvety glass of Pinot, a hug from your little one, or a quiet sunset where time stood still. You paused. You noticed. You let it land. You didn’t

Great leaders glean new skills from everywhere, including wisdom traditions that have been around for eons, because they work. For example, there’s a beautiful and ancient Sanskrit prayer that goes: Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu May all beings be happy and

Standing in line to board a recent Southwest flight, I struck up a chat with the guy ahead of me—a military veteran turned corporate road warrior, traveling 40 weeks a year. “You must fly a lot!” I joked.  His resigned

It’s challenging to be a leader in a time when contradictions are the norm. These days, leaders are bombarded with a culture that’s at odds with itself; the loudest voices shouting the most extreme ideas are aggressively competing with those