Are you having a hard time making a big decision?

Maybe you're trying to work your way through a thorny business problem. Maybe you can't make up your mind about what to do with a promising employee. Maybe it's that you're caught between two choices in a personal or relationship matter. Good news: There's a simple question you can ask yourself (grounded in neuroscience) that can guide you through indecision, overcome analysis paralysis, and ultimately help you make better, bolder choices.

When tasked with implementing large-scale organizational change, leaders often give too much attention to the what of change — such as a new organization strategy, operating model or acquisition integration — not the how — the particular way they will approach such changes. Such inattention to the how comes with the major risk that old routines will be used to get to new places. Any unquestioned, “default” approach to change may lead to a lot of busy action, but not genuine system transformation. Through their practice and research, the authors have identified the optimal ways to conceive, design, and implement successful organizational change.

We are spending more time indoors and online. But recent studies suggest that nature can help our brains and bodies to stay healthy. I’ve been an avid hiker my whole life. From the time I first strapped on a backpack and headed into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, I was hooked on the experience, loving the way being in nature cleared my mind and helped me to feel more grounded and peaceful.

In a recent article, we explained that achieving sustainable, profitable growth requires companies to actively choose growth through a holistic approach comprising three elements: developing an aspirational mindset and culture, activating pathways, and executing with excellence. We then set out to bring those pathways to life through the ten rules of growth (see sidebar, “The ten rules of value-creating growth”), based on an in-depth study of the growth patterns and performance of the world’s largest public companies.

Are the training initiatives at your organization meeting stakeholder objectives? Improving employee performance? Showing measurable success rates, based on goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)? If not, there are five “usual suspect” areas where you can make improvements that will lead to better (measurable) outcomes.

Success is not about winning a competition. It’s about making a contribution.

That was the thesis of my first book, Give and Take, which came out 10 years ago today. It was about the surprising consequences of being a giver—rather than a taker or matcher. Takers are selfish: they aim to be better than others. Givers are generous: they strive to bring out the best in others. Matchers try to be fair: they trade favors evenly. But they often come across as transactional. You didn’t really care about me—you were just paying off a debt or racking up credit.

Ask many corporate workers what they think of human resources, and they’ll rattle off a litany of stereotypes: HR is incompetent, any brush with HR spells bad news, or that HR will always toe the company line. Above all else, people tend to believe that HR represents the employer and simply can’t be trusted to have their best interests at heart. Multiple studies have found that, on average, nearly half of employees don’t trust HR or feel comfortable confiding in their HR leaders.

When we got married, my husband had a “bachelor party” that consisted of five guys going out to dinner together. There was no heavy drinking or roasting the groom or naked women jumping out of a cake. Just guys sitting around talking about life. This group has been meeting regularly ever since, taking turns hosting brunch so they can chat for hours, sharing the joys and struggles of their lives.

A new Korn Ferry survey on the use of ChatGPT in the workplace leaves no doubt that the artificial-intelligence platform—only months old—has captured the business world’s attention. According to the survey, which polled professionals across industries, 46% are already using ChatGPT to complete work tasks. More telling, upwards of 80% say ChatGPT is a “legitimate, beneficial work tool” that will be a regular part of their workday in the future.

What is a scary hour? In her video, which has more than 1 million views, Wheeler says she sets a timer for one hour and works only on tasks she’s been avoiding because of anxiety. Indeed, feelings of stress make us more likely to procrastinate, according to Alicia Walf, a neuroscientist and senior lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. According to research, 20% of U.S. adults are chronic procrastinators, meaning they procrastinate at home, at work, in relationships, and more.

Today’s business leaders must navigate ever-changing conditions—economic uncertainty, geopolitical instability, and a lingering pandemic. Meanwhile, the same leaders are working to optimize business efficiency. Much has been written about business efficiency and how much, fast, and well a company can produce a product or service vs. the time, effort, and resources.

If you can’t remember the last time you apologized: congratulations, you are perfect — or at least you believe you are. For the rest of us, apologizing is a common, if difficult, part of life. Among the earliest lessons imparted to children is the art of saying sorry, yet these skills don’t always transfer neatly to adulthood. Relationships are messy and both parties often have some level of culpability. However, the biggest obstacle to apologetic bliss isn’t a complicated argument — it’s self-protective motivations.

Let’s face it, you won’t see eye-to-eye with everyone you work with — no matter how hard you try. From co-workers to bosses, there are probably more than a few people who you consider to be difficult.

And we’re all the “difficult person” in at least one other person’s story, says Marc Lesser, a Zen teacher and executive coach with clients like Google and Facebook, and CEO of consulting company, ZBA Associates.

Credibility is an increasingly valuable attribute today. Perhaps to no one’s surprise, the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer found a rise in polarization, with the U.S. falling in the top quarter of countries deemed “severely polarized.” But business bucks that trend. Edelman’s research found that business is now not only the most trusted institution but also the only one trusted globally. In addition, the research found that respondents overwhelmingly expect CEOs to use their resources to “hold divisive forces accountable,” according to the report’s press release.

Mental health is a topic of critical importance and front of mind for so many of us. My series on mental health has generated comments, ideas and recommendations—and it’s worth considering all the ways the collective thinking about mental health will shape responses from leaders and organizations.

Hundreds of readers shared in comments on LinkedIn and other social media about the pressures they feel as leaders, the risk of burnout, and how best to support themselves and their teams during difficult times.

For my entire life, I’ve struggled with anxiety, insomnia, and obsessive worries about things I can and can’t control. My friends chide me as the most paranoid risk-taker they know. Sometimes it helps me, but sometimes it absolutely doesn’t. When I’m facing a big moment, I can become absolutely paralyzed and completely unproductive. My body rebels, putting my success at risk simply because my brain won’t shut off and let me get rest. It’s a fight-or-flight response, a constant need to be at high alert—to look for danger.

Ask 100 leadership experts what the most important leadership skill is for the new hybrid workplace and you may get responses like listening, vulnerability, emotional intelligence, humility, coaching, etc. There have been many studies and articles with solid reasoning for developing all of those soft skills in leaders. But many of these abilities are based on one truly important attribute that accelerates our growth in most aspects of life: Self-awareness.

When you’re in the middle of a difficult conversation, it’s common to focus solely on yourself: your ideas, your viewpoint, and your feelings. But a “me-centric” approach can backfire. To achieve your goal, you need to think beyond yourself. While crafting your message, you must keep the other person’s feelings and opinions in mind, too. To do so, avoid these common mistakes: don’t assume your viewpoint is obvious; don’t exaggerate; don’t challenge someone’s character or integrity; don’t blame others for your feelings; don’t tell others what they should do; and don’t say “It’s not personal.”

If you've ever had the privilege to work for a good leader, you've probably noticed that they have their people's best interests in mind. In other words, they genuinely care about the success of their people -- including their career goals and aspirations. It is counterintuitive for most bosses to naturally gravitate toward caring and serving the needs of others due to competing demands, including pressures to meet their own performance expectations.

What makes for a happy life? Philosophers have pondered this question for millennia, coming up with different theories and recommendations for people to follow, but not necessarily having any hard evidence to prove their ideas. That’s what inspired the long-running Harvard Study of Adult Development. Starting in the 1930s, researchers tracked men from different neighborhoods in the Boston area over several decades, asking them to provide regular updates on their lives, including their current health, income, employment, and marital status.