Power and influence

Powerful leaders exude confidence and control. You can convey these same qualities-by strategically directing your body language.

When high-tech businesses lose a valued inventor, they often gain access to her new employer's intellectual capital. To take full advantage of the networking...

Leadership transitions go awry with alarming frequency, often the result of an emotionally charged power struggle between the CEO and his would-be heir. Four practices, however, can help successors defuse the crisis—and make it to the top.

The founder of Wikipedia analyzes why wikis are becoming popular tools for sharing knowledge in the workplace. He encourages managers to provide institutional...

Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, explains how to inspire, motivate, and empower people at all levels to act with accountability.

by Lauren Keller Johnson

No matter how good their risk management systems are, companies can't plan for everything. Some risks are outside people's realm of experience or so remote...

Different personalities require different approaches.

Most managerial work happens through talk--discussions, meetings, presentations, negotiations. And it is through talk that managers evaluate others and...

This one little word can dramatically shift the tone of a conversation.

In a famous experiment, researchers ran a lottery with a twist. Half the participants were randomly assigned a lottery number. The remaining half were given a blank piece of paper and a pen and asked to write down any number they would like as their lottery number. Just before drawing the winning number, the researchers […]

Three steps to take if you're not getting what you need.

It’s unfortunate — but true — that it’s easier to think shallowly about a big problem than deeply about small ones. In the last post, a business leader and an IT leader appealed to you for help in defining how to deliver a large initiative using a fast-cycle, iterative approach. To force deep thinking, it […]

Why cartoons are so memorable.

Lessons from The Wolf of Wall Street.

Shortly after the Americans and Brits landed in Normandy in World War II, they found themselves caught up in a region known as the Bocage. In the Bocage, there are many hedgerows set close together — stone and dirt ramparts topped with trees and hedges. Going over the hedgerows made the Allied tanks vulnerable, as […]

You don’t need to be a machine or a hero.

It’s time for producers of entertainment—movie studios, broadcast and cable TV networks, video game makers, publishers, music labels—to change the way they launch and market their products. In entertainment markets, a sizable portion of revenue is typically generated by a small number of blockbuster movies, best-selling books, and hit songs. But even talented, experienced executives […]

Researchers found that it supersedes charisma, influence, power, personality, attractiveness, and genius.

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