#leadership

#leadership

On December 25, 1914, British and German soldiers stopped fighting and met in the middle of "no man's land" to socialize, exchange gifts, and play soccer. In what has become known as theChristmas Truce of World War I, the men, for a moment, returned to being normal people. Perhaps the holiday made them nostalgic for their families and the joy of the season. From inside the cold, wet, snow-filled trenches, one side started singing Christmas carols, and then the other side joined in.

Gerstner ran IBM from 1993 to 2002, arriving at a time when the company was under severe pressure, and its future was in doubt. IBM was losing money, the tech industry was shifting rapidly, and there was widespread expectation that the company would be broken up. Instead, Gerstner chose to keep IBM together. He pushed the company to organize around customer needs rather than internal divisions, helping reposition IBM as a provider of integrated technology and services for large enterprises. That decision became central to IBM's recovery and renewed relevance.

"They will see me chirp in on some random thread in some random channel," Grimm said. "People will be like, 'How the hell did you see this?'"

Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were great both great inventors of their time. Tesla was brilliant. He even felt sorry for how long it took Edison to come up with his inventions. But Tesla was eventually forced out of his company and he died penniless. Edison on the other hand racked up commercial success. He managed to motivate employees, woo investors, and win consumers. His inventions broke through to the mass market.

One day, I decided I needed to call everybody. It was during COVID. Maybe it was just because I was sitting at home going, "I wonder what they're up to, what they're thinking, what they're worried about." It turned into this really interesting collection of perspectives because we have employees in 27 countries. You get a view of how they're seeing the economy, their work - what's working for them, what's not working.

He has served as acting public defender since December 2024. "Damon has served the county Office of the Public Defender for nearly three decades, and his longstanding commitment to public service clearly demonstrates that he is exceptionally well-suited for this role," said Board President Otto Lee. "We are proud to see a leader with such deep institutional knowledge and community partnership rise to lead the Public Defender's Office."

Every leader must recognize that we lead people, not job titles. The people who make up our organizations carry responsibilities far beyond their job descriptions, such as caring for children, managing health needs, supporting aging parents, handling school schedules and navigating everyday challenges. When CEOs understand that we are leading human beings, flexibility becomes one of the most powerful tools we have.

As executives rise to higher levels of leadership, they often report increased feelings of loneliness. One Harvard Business Review survey found that 55% of CEOs acknowledge experiencing moderate but significant bouts of loneliness, while 25% report frequent feelings of loneliness. As your expertise becomes more specialized, it can be harder to find other leaders who understand the unique challenges of the corporate environment, with whom you can connect, learn from, and grow alongside.

Leadership today demands more than vision and decisiveness. It requires staying emotionally steady, mentally flexible, and grounded-often while navigating constant pressure and competing demands. Yet many leaders operate in a near-constant state of stress without realizing how much it influences their reactions, decisions, and overall health. Burnout, irritability, poor sleep, and decision fatigue are often chalked up to time management or mindset issues.

Visa group president Oliver Jenkyn told Business Insider he thinks about his schedule like a Mason jar filled with big rocks, small pebbles, and sand. In his analogy, the big rocks represent the complex problems that Visa needs to solve, such as rolling out anew global program. The pebbles are the less complicated tasks, he said, such as pricing approvals. The sand is the "small stuff," like replying to emails, Jenkyn said.

Every leader leaves their mark on the hearts and minds of a workforce. This can go one of two ways: leaders can leave behind a legacy of inspiration, or infuriation. Based on thousands of perspectives collected from around the globe, Adam created a systemic formula for choosing and earning the lasting impact you want to have on others. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Adam Galinsky, in the Next Big Idea app or view on Amazon.

The topic of mental health is a crucial one, as security team burnout is a top challenge for many organizations. Those in the industry know stressors can be abundant when working security roles, and without proper mental health practices in place, many professionals can burn out. And when one team member burns out, it's possible that more will follow. "We're pretty much [on] 24/7, being security professionals," says Rodriguez.

The appointment comes at a time when web browsers are seeing a revitalization of sorts as AI changes how people use the internet. After more than a decade of dominating the market, incumbents like Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple's Safari are facing a fresh challenge from companies like Perplexity, Arc, OpenAI, and Opera, which are focused on baking in AI models and agents into their browsers to bring AI to users at the first point of contact with the internet: the web browser.

"When you grow up in a small town, you learn early that people are watching," he once said. "It teaches you to carry yourself the right way."

You've just been promoted to a new leadership position. But instead of being granted the necessary space to think strategically, you're being pulled back into the weeds and constantly getting entangled in tactical reviews and overly frequent check-ins. Unless something changes, not only could you squander the chance to be a strategic value creator, but you'll lose your team's confidence as they restlessly wait for your vision and direction.

Most of us are addicted to motion. We fill every moment because slowing down forces us to face what is really happening inside. Sitting still, truly being with yourself, can feel unbearable at first. It is uncomfortable, but it is also where truth lives. If you can sit quietly, even for a few minutes, you will start to hear what is real instead of what you are performing. That is the beginning of clarity.

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I'm Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.

We have family meetings every Sunday,

What can a pair of pants tell you about leadership? Much more than you think. How do you feel when you pull a pair of non-stretch jeans straight from the dryer? They're stiff. Way too tight. The waistband digs into your belly. Now picture trying to work an eight-hour day in them. That discomfort-and sense of restriction-is exactly what it feels like to work for a micromanager.

When Jennifer Goldsack woke up after emergency surgery last Christmas, she was waiting to hear she had a stress ulcer. Maybe appendicitis. But not this. The surgeon had news that made no sense to her, as a 42-year-old CEO and former athlete: late-stage cancer. Goldsack had always prided herself on being able to get anything done - Olympic training schedules, corporate roadmaps, back-to-back meetings. Cancer forced her into a new, uncertain kind of leadership: one built on vulnerability, delegation, and uncertainty.

Public displays of fitness by American politicians are nothing new. Presidents George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Ulysses S. Grant, among others, were all depicted riding warhorses as symbols of "leadership and executive ability."[3] America's twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt, was renowned for his love of fisticuffs. He often asked professional boxers to strike him in the jaw, and then he would hit them back.[4]

At a Conservative donors event last week, Kemi Badenoch was asked for a selfie by the former Spice Girl Geri Horner. The Tory leader was, her allies say, a little bemused by the approach. But they were clear about what it meant: cut-through. Badenoch's leadership got off to a poor start. Still reeling from the Tories' worst general election defeat, she took over a diminished and disheartened party, which was languishing in the polls

McLaren Racing's championship resurgence offers a clear view into how leaders can rebuild a stalled organization. In this issue of the HBR Executive Agenda, editor at large Adi Ignatius writes about his recent interview with McLaren CEO Zak Brown, reflecting on the talent decisions and data-driven discipline that helped bring McLaren into the future.