Leading Thoughts for October 1, 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:

I.

Brady, Kliman, and Smith on seeing the full story:

"We feel strongly that empathy and humility aren’t distractions from value creation; they’re the drivers of value creation. In fact, they’re essential if we want to lead difference-filled teams that solve problems creatively, build trust across difference, and adapt in real time to new challenges. These aren’t soft skills. They are strategic capabilities for a complex world. Empathy, the emotional engine behind perspective-taking, is where real understanding begins. Without empathy, it’s impossible to truly see another person’s point of view, because you wouldn’t care enough to try. Empathy and humility ground us in the understanding that we don’t possess all the answers and that other people’s experiences matter just as much as our own in terms of making sense of any situation."

Source: All the Difference. Six Leadership Actions to Bridge Perspectives, Strengthen Teams, and Create Value

II.

Jim Schleckser on peanut buttering:

"A lot of the mediocre and hardworking CEOs we have run into over the years are exceptionally good at what we call ‘peanut buttering.’ When it comes to allocating their time to the various tasks and stakeholders in their businesses—their boards, their supply chains, their investors, their communities, etc.—these CEOs do their best to spread their time as evenly as possible across all of them. The concern, of course, is to make sure everyone feels like they’re getting the CEO’s attention. In this effort, the CEO will work very hard, sometimes as much as eighty or more hours a week. The bad news is that this is the surest way possible to dilute the CEO’s impact on any one issue. Unfortunately, this concept of tending to every stakeholder is taught at many major business schools, which only perpetuates the error. This is done, in part, because CEOs aren’t certain what actions will drive the business forward; consequently, they work on all fronts, hoping one will yield results."

Source: Great CEOs Are Lazy

* * *

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 04:48 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Leading Thoughts

First Look: Leadership Books for October 2026

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in October 2026 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

The Mattering Effect: Creating a Life of Meaning and Worth by John R. Miles

If you’ve ever wondered, If I stopped performing, producing, fixing, achieving, proving, would I still matter? then this book is for you. As John R. Miles explores The Great Erasure happening in our lives―the sense of loneliness and disengagement despite outward success--he also provides a way for you to remember that you mattered before any professional or personal titles or achievements. Miles examines the cultural shift that has replaced human significance with human usefulness, resulting in exhaustion, self-erasure, and quiet despair. Where others have also diagnosed the symptoms, Miles identifies a deeper cause and offers a solution through M.A.T.T.E.R., a research-based framework grounded in six elements―meaning, autonomy, trust, time, energy, and reciprocity―that, when used together, can restore sustainable significance, dignity, and spiritual coherence.

Lead with Quiet Confidence: A Practical Guide to Success for Introverts by Jennifer Marcou

As an introvert, you can become an influential, confident, and authentic leader, without pretending to be extroverted, without performing, and without draining your energy. You don’t need to be the loudest voice in the room to be a powerful leader. Introverted professionals often bring deep thinking, strategic insight, and calm influence. Yet, our strengths can be overlooked in systems built around extroverted norms. Becoming a strong leader is not only about capability; it’s about how your capability is perceived. For introverts, this creates a unique challenge. We don’t lack for capability or value, but may feel insignificant because our significance is expressed in ways that often go unappreciated and underestimated in traditionally extroverted environments. In Lead with Quiet Confidence, you’ll discover research-aligned tools for introverted leadership, quiet influence, and authentic confidence-building:

In Person: How Working Together Fuels Creativity, Productivity, and Growth by Natalia Emanuel and Emma Harrington

For the first time in history, millions of workers can do their jobs from anywhere—and the result is the most contentious workplace debate in generations. Employees fight to protect their freedom. CEOs issue return-to-office mandates by gut instinct. Everyone argues, but no one has the data. Until now. Harvard-trained economists Natalia Emanuel and Emma Harrington are leading researchers on remote and in-person work. They've spent years tracking millions of work hours across industries, analyzing Fortune 500 firms, startups, tech companies, and call centers. Their findings? Remote work is good for crossing tasks off a to-do list, but can erode the quality of our work, stifle creativity, and hurt mental health. When we're together, our brain-to-brain synchrony increases 10x, accelerating creativity, mentorship, and innovation. That’s why Pixar animators, Nobel Prize winners, and Silicon Valley founders have come up with their best ideas face-to-face with one another.

Vibe: The Secrets of Strong Connections in a Lonely World by Adam Grant

When we vibe with other people, it fuels our happiness and success. Yet building meaningful ties is one of the most pressing problems of our time. As face-to-face interaction gives way to digital screens, communication gets outsourced to AI, and the world becomes more polarized, our loneliness crisis shows no signs of slowing. To reveal how we can forge faster, stronger, and longer bonds, Adam Grant offers groundbreaking studies, expert insights, and myth-busting stories. Filled with the eye-opening takeaways that have brought millions of readers to his books, Vibe teaches us that similarity is not necessary for solidarity, chemistry doesn’t always happen quickly, and closeness doesn’t always take time. Vibe will change how you interact with people. No matter how good you are at connecting, you can always get better—and help others get better too.

Reinvention at the Top: The Playbook for CEOs to Lead Under Pressure by Andrea Petrone

Most CEOs reach the top by mastering performance, yet few define who they are as leaders. In Reinvention at the Top, CEO Executive and Performance Coach Andrea Petrone addresses the silent identity gap that emerges at the highest levels―helping leaders stop performing the role and start leading as themselves. Andrea introduces the The Throughline Framework, a practical methodology for clarifying who you are, crafting a message that moves people, and leading with authentic presence. Drawing from over 20 years advising CEOs and Senior Leaders of Fortune 500s, mid-caps, and high-growth companies, this book provides actionable tools for navigating new roles, major transitions, and legacy-defining decisions with clarity and conviction.

Human Leadership: The Courage To Face Ourselves And Each Other by Kristen Hadeed

For more than a decade, Kristen Hadeed defined herself as a servant leader. As the founder and CEO of a company widely recognized for its compassionate culture, she made sure her people came first, always. But after years of pouring everything she had into her business and her leadership, Kristen came face-to-face with a hard truth: Behind closed doors, she felt trapped beneath the weight of carrying it all. She had built a career around putting others first and abandoned herself in the process. The work she once loved was now tangled up in a web of pressure and expectations. From the outside, she appeared to have it all together. But inside, she was falling apart. Human Leadership is Kristen’s raw, personal account of losing herself in service to others and the difficult work of finding her way back. It’s a story of burnout, ambition, resentment, grief, reinvention, profound self-examination, and the courage it takes to share what you discover with the people around you. By learning to face herself, tell the truth, and take ownership of her choices, Kristen became a more courageous, compassionate leader and built a life and business that would take care of her, too.

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”

* * *
Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.

 

Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:54 AM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Books