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03.05.26
Leading Thoughts for March 5, 2026
IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: Alan Stein on self-awareness: “It’s called “self” awareness, but the people you choose to surround yourself with play a part in that. A self-aware person is going to invite healthy criticism, and one way to do that is not to shy away from hearing the truth. It’s important to have supportive people who aren’t afraid to tell you things that you need to hear instead of the things that you want to hear.” Source: Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best Patty McCord on sharing information: “If your people aren’t informed by you, there’s a good chance they’ll be misinformed by others. If you don’t tell them about how the business is doing, what your strategy is, the challenges you’re facing, and what market analysts think of how you’re doing, then they’ll get the information elsewhere – either from colleagues, who will often be equally ill informed, or from the Web, which loves nothing so much as a rumor of doom or a juicy conspiracy theory.” Source: Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index.   Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:51 PM
03.03.26
Resolve Your Personal Dilemmas with Greater Confidence
WHILE we all seek expert advice to increase our chances of success, we also encounter situations in which no expert advice can uncover the right decision to make. For example, expert advice can’t tell someone how to decide between a position in the public sector or a private sector position that pays more but serves the public interest less. Such decisions represent dilemmas — situations that involve competing goals, aspirations, and demands. Moreover, dilemmas such as this career choice involve values and intrinsic motivations, which expert advice can’t address. An expert can’t tell you how to live out your values. Ultimately, only you can determine how to enact what you see as right, given your choices. Arriving at the right answer in such dilemmas involves introspection. It requires examining your values and relying on your sense of personal judgment — not only weighing information and drawing conclusions, but also evaluating the ethical aspects of a situation. A key means to enhance your personal judgment is to understand frames of reference, perspectives, and principles that can balance the competing — and potentially good — outcomes that compose a dilemma. Employing these six questions enables you to capture perspectives that can enhance your personal judgment when addressing dilemmas:
Let’s apply these questions to a specific dilemma: Imagine you are tasked with funding executive MBA programs for three employees in your firm. One employee, a rising star, has been accepted to an Ivy League program. Equipping this employee with a competitive MBA degree would assuredly be a financial benefit for your organization. Two other long-term, loyal employees who you want to retain have been accepted into a local executive MBA program. Funding their MBAs will reward them for their engagement and commitment. The cost of the Ivy League MBA program, however, translates to three executive MBA spots at the local institution, which is the amount your budget can cover. You face a dilemma: fund one high potential person and decline assistance to the two loyal, long-term employees, or reduce assistance to the rising star in order to fund all three. As you apply each of the questions above to your dilemma, you consider:
As you can see from this case, applying the questions intended to clarify your perspective leads you to conclude that privileging one individual with a degree at the expense of two other employees doesn’t uphold your organization’s values or the virtue of fairness. You resolve the dilemma by offering the employee accepted to the Ivy League program tuition assistance in the amount equivalent to full tuition at the local university, while also fully funding the two additional employees pursuing their MBAs locally. This solution allows you to recognize the high potential of the one employee seeking the Ivy League degree and reward the loyalty of the two longer-term employees accepted to the local program. It also respects their right to equal access to company resources. As this scenario illustrates, exploring a dilemma through six perspectives enables you to exercise refined personal judgment. (If you “pull back the curtain,” you’ll find that these six questions represent six types of philosophical ethical theories.) Today, we’re increasingly expected to navigate gray areas in which expert advice doesn’t necessarily pertain. Applying the approach outlined here to refine personal judgment calls will help you master this crucial skill for success in business — and more broadly in your life.  Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:47 PM
03.01.26
First Look: Leadership Books for March 2026
HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in March 2026 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.
Innovation doesn't just happen. You need to lead it. Discover the three critical roles leaders must play in driving—and scaling—innovation. Constant tech disruption. Unrelenting economic volatility. Radically shifting demographics and work norms. More than ever, we need to innovate amid these daunting global challenges. But do we have the leadership it takes to make this innovation happen successfully? Genius at Scale breaks new ground, showing how moving from generating new ideas to actually scaling them involves cocreation—collaborating, experimenting, and learning with others both inside and beyond the boundaries of the organization. This requires three distinct types of leadership: Leader as Architect, Leader as Bridger, and Leader as Catalyst.
A powerful collection of over 50 adaptable strategy frameworks to solve today's most complex business challenges. In Leading With Strategy veteran executive coach and strategy consultant for Fortune 500 firms Timothy Tiryaki delivers a transformative guide that clarifies the complex tradeoffs in today's AI-enabled business environment. Dr. Tiryaki explores the contemporary maze of undiscussed leadership dilemmas that have been surfaced by the latest generative AI technologies and provides unique perspectives on strategic thinking and leadership. At the core of Leading With Strategy are 50 practical visual frameworks. They're dynamic tools designed as adaptable tools for creatively tackling diverse challenges and obstacles. These frameworks go beyond staid, one-size-fits-all approaches to common business problems and help you master essential strategic thinking and execution skills.
“Almost Reckless is not just a book, it's a permission slip. It's about the courage it takes to step off the algorithm's path, the clarity that comes from defining your own principles, and the joy of building something that feels unmistakably yours” saysWill Guidara, bestselling author of Unreasonable Hospitality. Amy Smilovic's cult fashion brand, Tibi, was a thriving $70 million business when she realized she was working toward someone else's idea of success. So she threw out the rulebook of how things should be done and went with her gut instead. Today Tibi is more successful than ever, and all on Smilovic's groundbreaking entrepreneurial terms. In Almost Reckless, she invites you to get comfortable with embracing smart risks in pursuit of your own vision. Sharing her story and drawing on her years of helping others identify their values and principles, Smilovic teaches you to hone your gut, and your trust in it.
From a former President of Tesla comes The Algorithm—the first book written by any of Elon Musk’s direct reports—a transformative guide for leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators who want to emulate the paradigm-shattering approach Musk used to launch Tesla and SpaceX to meteoric success. Jon McNeill had already founded and sold six startups when Sheryl Sandberg introduced him to Elon Musk, who was looking for help at Tesla. McNeill was steeped in the lean principles that had made Toyota a global powerhouse—principles focused on achieving efficiency and optimization by incrementally improving existing systems and processes. What he learned from Elon at Tesla was its antithesis, an approach that required radical rethinking to explode the status quo, attack complexity, and set seemingly unrealistic goals. Elon called this five-step framework “The Algorithm.”
Most of us are just one event away from leaving our job. Conventional wisdom and lists of the “top reasons people quit their jobs” would have us believe that people quit when the toxic elements of their jobs grow too big or when they spot a better professional opportunity. But that’s only half the story. In reality, quitting is often triggered by a single event, inside or outside our jobs, that stops us in our tracks and causes us to rethink our relationship with work. These events are what organizational psychologist Anthony Klotz calls “jolts,” and they are the most underacknowledged realities in our work lives today. Jolts represent pivotal moments in our careers, and yet all too often, we respond to them in ways that harm our well-being and success. In Jolted, Klotz breaks down the different types of jolts we encounter and provides a road map to help us navigate them in ways that improve, rather than derail, our pursuit of the good life through our work.
Every day, powerful forces work to narrow your thinking and constrain your options. Institutional gatekeepers, social pressures, misleading narratives, and internal doubts create false either-or scenarios that trap you in cycles of mediocrity and compromise your authentic purpose. Rey Ramsey reveals how to recognize and overcome these thought tyrannies. Through compelling personal stories and proven frameworks, he shows how to harness essential virtues like humility, courage, and perseverance to expand your possibilities and make decisions aligned with your deepest values. This practical guide provides methods for critical thinking, moral compass navigation, and building resilience against manipulation tactics. Whether facing institutional resistance, conformity pressure, or limiting beliefs, you'll discover how boundary-crossing leaders break through barriers and create meaningful change.
   
“I read books because, at their best, they make me better, more empathetic, more socially aware, more in tune to the stranger beside me. They help me imagine a better future, provide me with answers to my insatiable questions, take me to places I’ll never get to go. ” — Annie B. Jones
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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:46 PM
02.28.26
LeadershipNow 140: February 2026 Compilation
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Posted by Michael McKinney at 05:54 PM
02.27.26
4 Timeless Principles to Differentiate You From AI
IN The Next RenAIssance: AI and the Expansion of Human Potential, AI expert Zack Kass believes “properly harnessed, AI could democratize education, revolutionize healthcare, and accelerate innovation,” but “for Al to truly serve humanity, we will be forced to solve radical new ethical dilemmas, unprecedented economic disruptions, daunting technical challenges, environmental collapse, dehumanization, the loss of identity, and above all, terrifying uncertainty.” Yet because AI is not a tangible tech – something we can see – we are naturally suspicious. How does it work? Kass writes that AI systems must begin to “show their work” rather than just spitting out an answer if they are to be trusted. How did you get to the conclusion it came to? What information was considered? How valid is it? We need real-time transparency. “Real-time transparency gives users a window into what the system is prioritizing and why, helping build informed trust instead of blind faith.” What about the future of work? “Predicting Al’s impact on jobs has become high-stakes roulette, and the bets often say more about the gambler’s worldview than technology itself. Even among industry and economic experts, the topic is very much still up for debate.” Kass offers a set of four principles meant to guide how we live, work, and lead in the age of artificial intelligence. 1. Go Outside: The physical world matters more than anything else. It is life in four dimensions. Serendipity happens naturally. The physical world carries variety that no recommender system can deliver. Algorithms collapse toward similarity. Streets, markets, trails, and small talk offer variance and surprise. Serendipity does not follow a schedule. It happens when you are a little off route, a little curious, and fully present. It shakes loose stale assumptions. It builds resilience. You learn to adapt. Adaptability will keep you relevant. Anchors will keep you principled. If you confuse methods for values, you will collapse with them. But if you adapt while anchoring in your values, you will find the formula for resilience in any era. Go outside and be in the world you are trying to serve. Be in it. 2. Learn How to Learn: Study what you want. The process alone will teach you how to learn something else. Learning trumps what you already know. You will not be defined by what you know, or even by what you have already mastered. You will be defined by your ability to master something new, and your drive to keep doing so again and again. Knowledge expires. Tools expire. But learning endures. 3. Optimize for Human Qualities: Be Human. AI will make human qualities more valuable. Courage, compassion, hope, curiosity, humor, wisdom, and empathy are measures of human achievement. And soon these “soft skills” may in fact become our primary means of differentiation. In the age of AI, your humanity is the product. Your bedside manner matters. 4. Lead with Optimism: Lead with optimism. Fear constrains. Choose a can-do approach. Progress does not happen by default. People build toward the stories they believe. Narrative sets policy. Belief sets budgets. A leader’s horizon becomes a team’s boundary conditions. If we tell stories of decline, we will write rules that constrain. If we tell credible stories of a better future, we will invest, upskill, and move. Optimism is the way forward. Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:16 AM
02.26.26
Leading Thoughts for February 26, 2026
IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: Deborah Gruenfeld on showing respect: “We often fail to realize that the ability to show respect and even submission can also be a source of power. Deference is treating another person in ways that acknowledge that their expertise and experiences are at least as important as your own. It does not mean you have less power than the person you are deferring to. It means you do not intend to use the power you have against your relationship partner. Deference is disarming, it signals an absence of threat, and it creates a foundation of trust that allows a relationship to form.” Source: Acting with Power: Why We Are More Powerful Than We Believe Tony Dungy on putting others first: “Instead of asking, how can I lead my company, my team, or my family to a higher level of success? we should be asking ourselves, how do others around me flourish as a result of my leadership? Do they flourish at all? How does my leadership, my involvement in their lives—in whatever setting we’re in—have a positive and lasting influence on them?” Source: The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 01:39 PM
02.23.26
The Leaders We Want to Follow Lead with Radical Humanity
WHEN Johann Wolfgang von Kempelen unveiled his chess-playing automaton in the courts of 18th-century Europe, audiences were spellbound. The “Mechanical Turk” was the first machine that appeared to think like a human. It beat anyone it played against, regardless of their playing abilities or social status. For decades, it toured the world as proof that human intelligence had finally been replicated by a machine. It took bribery to finally get von Kempelen to reveal the secret of his unbeatable machine. Hidden inside the cabinet, crouched among gears and pulleys, sat a human chess master. The intelligence had never been artificial. It had just been concealed. This may be an old and well-known story, but its lessons haven’t stuck. Today, we’re once again mesmerized by machines that appear to think, speak, decide, and even lead. From algorithmic hiring tools to AI-generated strategies — even to AI “CEOs” — leadership is being reframed as optimization, speed, and polish. While many see the danger of AI as machines becoming more human, the real danger is that human leaders are becoming more mechanical. In the age of AI, the leaders who matter most will be the ones who lead most like humans, precisely when too many leaders are acting as if they, too, are automated. Just like the automaton, perfection looks impressive from a distance until you can see, up close, that it’s hollow. The more polished leaders become, the more people worry about what they have to hide. This is why the future of leadership belongs to those who are prepared to be radically human. It belongs to those who hesitate, question, doubt, regret, and care. It’s these attributes that constitute the raw material of trust. For decades, we’ve tried to be predictable, efficient, emotionless, and certain. We’ve confused clarity with certainty and polish with credibility. Leaders are compelled to hide the very elements that make people want to follow them. Radical humanity asks for the opposite. It asks leaders to stay present rather than performative, curious rather than certain, courageous rather than compliant. It asks them to resist the illusion that confidence is the absence of doubt, or that authority comes from having all the answers. The Mechanical Turk fooled Europe because people believed intelligence could be detached from messy humanity. We want to believe the same thing today. But leadership isn’t perfection. Leadership is judgment, presence, and moral courage in an imperfect world populated by imperfect people living imperfect lives. That’s why the future of leadership will never belong to those who sound most like machines. The future belongs to those who are willing to sound unmistakably human. Here are five actions leaders must take if they want to remain credible and trusted in an AI-saturated world. 1. Show your workings, not just your answers. I learned at school that to get marks you had to show your workings. A confident answer without any context only breeds suspicion. As a leader, show how you think, where you hesitate, and the dilemmas you’re grappling with. Vulnerability increases credibility just as fake certainty destroys it. 2. Say “I don’t know” sooner than you feel comfortable. “But if I say I don’t know, won’t they wonder why I’m paid more than them?” was the reply to me when sharing this tip with a client. But showing uncertainty demonstrates value. By signalling honesty and inviting contribution, you create safety in a way that hiding doubt or giving a polished answer never could. 3. Stand still when pressure demands speed. AI optimizes for immediacy. But while everyone can think fast and AI faster, no one can reflect quickly. Leadership has always required discernment. Pausing to sense emotions, tensions, and ethical trade-offs is a human advantage, not a weakness. Married with tip 2, it’s a superpower. 4. Stand up for what’s right, not just what’s expedient. You will be remembered for what you tolerated way more than for what you did. Standing up for what’s right is what people will remember long after the results themselves have been forgotten. 5. Design culture through presence. Belonging is created in how leaders show up, listen, and respond under pressure. Culture isn’t designed, declared, or demanded. It’s experienced. Be in the moment wherever you are. The Mechanical Turk eventually lost its mystique. Born in the courts of Europe, it was finally laid to rest in its fairgrounds. The illusion collapsed as the truth became known. There’s no doubt that AI will continue to improve. Systems always become faster, smoother, and more convincing. But leadership was never meant to be mechanized. The uncertainties, emotions, and imperfections we are tempted to remove in the face of machine-like precision are precisely the qualities that allow trust, responsibility, and belonging to exist at all and the truth to emerge. The future of leadership isn’t artificial. It has to be alive.
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Posted by Michael McKinney at 01:12 PM
02.19.26
Leading Thoughts for February 19, 2026
IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: Nicole Vignola on self-talk: “If you tell yourself you’re having a bad day, your brain will find ways to reinforce that belief, and you’ll go about the rest of your day finding ways to prove that this day is bad. And so it is with negative self-beliefs. When you believe that you are not worthy, or not confident, or you have a negative belief about yourself, your body language follows that belief. Moreover, the brain perceives your behaviour as normal and stops paying conscious attention to it, and before you know it, you’ve snowballed to further reinforce this belief with everything you do.” Source: Rewire: Break the Cycle, Alter Your Thoughts and Create Lasting Change Leslie John on the power of opening up: “Something sensitive, we are not necessarily entering a zero-sum transaction. We are creating a possibility for mutual trust, better relationships, connection, growth, even safety. Ironically, what seems like a loss of control is often what unlocks the very things we want most. This is the mistake economists (and, frankly, a lot of us) often make: treating information as a commodity to be protected or extracted. Disclosure is an investment—it’s risk in the service of trust.” Source: Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:43 PM
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Genius at Scale
Leading with Strategy
Almost Reckless
The Algorithm
Jolted
The Tyranny of False Choices
Here is a selection of 
