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

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Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 04:48 PM
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