#leadership

#leadership

Now he breaks the fourth wall and, with something like incredulity, says what's the point of asking him to identify his own weaknesses when all he'll give is a politician's answer. Reminded he's no longer a politician, Blair replies as honestly as at any point in the encounter: You're always a politician. It is one of the more satisfying exchanges in Michael Waldman's series, which, depending on your view, is either a futile exercise in confirming one's existing prejudices about Blair, or more than three hours of great telly.

And if the Heat are smart, finding a way to keep Powell in the building past this season would be more advantageous than anything else. He's the main reason why Miami is still even in the race in the Eastern Conference. He's been their best player, top scorer, top offensive player, and most consistent producer, and he's a role player.

In a candid discussion regarding the mechanics of President Donald Trump's hold on power, longtime Yale leadership scholar (and regular Fortune contributor) Jeffrey Sonnenfeld warned the president's chaotic style is often mistaken for incompetence when it is actually a calculated strategy. Speaking on the Raging Moderates podcast with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov, Sonnenfeld laid out the thesis of his new book, Trump's Ten Commandments, while explaining Trump is "dumb as a fox," and business leaders underestimate him at their peril.

Since being named a Rising Star, my role as vice president at Systato has continued to expand alongside the company's growth. Over the past year, we've nearly doubled our company roster and tripled the size of our technology and software development organization. My focus, alongside growing a world-class group of technical real estate specialists, has increasingly centered on building scalable platforms, leading cross-functional teams, and helping organizations translate automation and data into real operational and financial outcomes.

The previous Thursday, Andy Farrell had gone public in questioning their "fight" and "intent" in their opening game of the Six Nations.

It takes a familiar idea and forces you to apply it to real decisions about time, risk and what you choose to pursue. Running a company means your audience is always watching. A rehearsal has one specific purpose: It gives you the freedom to screw up when nobody's watching. Even if you happen to be a Broadway actor, an opera singer at the Met or a Grammy-winning artist with a whole support team around you, a mistake made during rehearsal is hidden from the public.

Big ideas do not always arrive with attention or applause. Often, they are shaped quietly through experience, discipline, and persistence. That is how Thirukumaran Sivasubramaniam approaches his career. As Co-Founder and COO of Fintex Inc. in Toronto, he is known for turning complex ideas into working systems. His leadership style is practical, steady, and grounded in lived experience. It is a style shaped long before his professional career began.

OpenAI has disbanded a team that focused on - as the company itself described - ensuring that its AI systems are "safe, trustworthy, and consistently aligned with human values." At the same time, the team's former leader has been given a new role as the company's "chief futurist." OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch that the team's members have now been assigned to other roles. The news was first reported by Platformer.

I'm really excited to show you guys the journey for me to get to an engineering org that's over 100 people. I'm going to be, of course, talking about the ups and downs, and also about some lessons that I learned along the way. I'm Thiago Ghisi. I'm an engineering director at Nubank. Before Nubank, I worked at Apple and American Express, and then even Thoughtworks.

Shilpan Amin sits at the operational core of General Motors. As the global chief procurement and supply chain officer, his remit cuts across engineering, manufacturing, finance, and the company's vast supplier network. At GM's scale, procurement is not simply about buying parts. It determines how capital is deployed, how risk is priced and absorbed, how quickly vehicles move from design to launch, and how the company navigates geopolitical shocks while protecting long-term margins.

Benjamin Nasberg is a Canadian entrepreneur and the CEO of Carbone Restaurant Group. He is known for building scalable hospitality businesses while staying closely connected to the people and communities behind them. His career reflects a steady focus on growth, culture, and practical leadership. Nasberg began working in restaurants at the age of 16. Those early roles gave him a ground-level understanding of operations, teamwork, and customer experience.

Leadership is often thought of as managing teams, strategies or organizations. But the truth is, leadership starts with managing yourself. A leader who lacks discipline in their personal life, whether in health, time or energy, will struggle to lead others with clarity and consistency. Without personal self-management, even the best leadership strategies fall apart. This is why self-discipline is often called the hidden foundation of leadership success.

What Harry Kane has produced here in the past year or two is absolutely top-class. And what I like best about him is that in the beginning, he was a goal scorer who played in his box, who waited for the ball to arrive. But today he's long since become a playmaker, he's a finisher, and above all, he's a player with a personality who inspires others on the pitch, who sets the tone, and that's exactly what we were looking for,

1. Create predictability anchors, not just flexibility. When the world feels chaotic, people scan their environments for stability and safety cues. Identify one or two things that will not change this week-meeting cadence, response-time expectations, or decision processes-and name them explicitly. Predictability doesn't mean being rigid; it means offering a reliable foundation so teams can focus on problem-solving and collaboration. This steadiness becomes a form of trust, helping people stay engaged, resilient, and able to perform at their best.

Chesky no longer bothers with pesky emails; they were a huge annoyance, and he rarely touches them anymore. Instead, Chesky communicates while he's on the clock and prefers to call and text, the WSJ reported. And that's not the only office tradition he's done away with. For Chesky, 9 a.m. meetings are a thing of the past. As someone who hits productivity strides in the wee hours of the morning, Chesky pushes early meetings back to 10 a.m.-and no earlier.

Companies often hire new leaders to spark transformation, yet without structural support, even the boldest individuals tend to revert to established norms.

I'll never forget the moment that changed how I think about leadership. It happened during my tenure as president of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, when I learned that one of our longtime supporters, a commercial real estate developer named Irwin, was nearing the end of his life and despairing that his contributions no longer mattered. We brought him to campus to show him otherwise.

If a doctor ran the front desk, took vitals, performed X-rays, handled referrals, dealt with insurance, and did the paperwork, they'd only have time to see a few patients each day. They wouldn't have time to advance their craft, and they certainly wouldn't do their best work. Instead, a doctor's office organizes work so the doctor can focus on patient care. Delegating tasks doesn't mean the doctor avoids other responsibilities. It means the organization depends on the doctor to apply their expertise where it matters most.

Too many founders get stuck in reactive mode, buried in meetings and fire drills. But if you're always reacting, you're not really leading. You must move from reactive operator to strategic leader, which requires a mindset shift. Understand that you're not the firefighter - you're the architect. Ask yourself: If you disappeared for two weeks, what would break? That's where your real work begins.

In this issue of the HBR Executive Agenda, editor at large Adi Ignatius talks to Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati about how leaders can act with clarity amid rising social tension and rapid technological change.

Olimpiu Pop: Hello everybody. I'm Olimpiu Pop, an InfoQ editor, and I have in front of me Erica Pisani, one of the track hosts of QCon London 2025, and a very important track in my opinion. One that is important in general, but even more important these days. And the name of the track was performance and sustainability, which seems to be two opposing words. So, Erica, please introduce yourself.

Leicester City are exploring a move for Newcastle United defender Jamaal Lascelles, as the Foxes look to inject leadership and defensive solidity into a season that has not gone according to plan, as reported by BBC. With the club struggling to find consistency in the Championship, caretaker manager Andy King is understood to be pushing for reinforcements who can provide both immediate impact and dressing-room authority.