It was early in my journey as a facilitator, and I was leading a development workshop on navigating your career to a room of seasoned leaders. I had only facilitated a few times before, and if I’m honest, I was more focused on keeping the energy up and making a good impression. I’d nailed a joke, tossed out another, and felt a surge of pride when the whole room burst into laughter.

A few years ago, I conducted a survey to understand the most frequent leadership mistakes that contribute to employee disengagement. Hundreds of global employee responses highlighted key trends, revealing what often causes leaders to lose their teams’ trust and motivation. While not exhaustive, these are the top warning signs identified.

Stories stick in our brains 22 times better than facts and figures. There's a reason why we tell stories to our children at bedtime rather than reading them fact-based reports. The human brain is wired for stories. Partly due to our evolutionary survival, and also due to our emotional limbic system, humans have often used storytelling as a cornerstone of belonging and inclusion.

A few months ago, President Biden announced his plans to decline the Democratic nomination for the 2024 presidential election. Regardless of your political views, he made a decision that went against his interests for the greater good of the country. That, at its core, is transformational leadership.

As a venture investor and founder of Inspired Capital, I spend much of my time contemplating the strength of someone’s leadership.

Workplace culture became a critical business topic a decade ago, with more executives and HR leaders recognizing that shared values and behaviors drive engagement, innovation, and performance. Building a strong culture, however, requires visionary leadership. One framework I’ve been using to develop leaders in my coaching and training practice is based on the seminal research of organizational leadership scholar Dr. Jim Laub.

Throughout my four-decade career, as an author of over 100 books, and a professor of education, I have been driven to understand the behaviors of the most creative people. Everyone is capable of innovative thinking. Without realizing it, many of the common habits of the most creative minds were things you probably did in your childhood. Some of these impulses become stronger as you enter the workforce.

In today’s workplace, success is no longer about individual performance. It’s about building teams that work cohesively, communicate effectively, and share a sense of purpose. But how do you create a high-performance team? Is there a scientific formula to unlock team success? The short answer is yes—team building is both an art and a science, and the best leaders use a combination of research-backed strategies and intuitive people skills to cultivate strong teams.

If leaders want to build a workplace that better prioritizes mental health, the buck stops with them. At the Fast Company Innovation Festival, three executives - Elyse Cohen, executive vice president of social impact and inclusion at Rare Beauty; Andy Dunn, CEO at Pie; and Linus Karlsson, chief creative officer at Ikea - spoke transparently about their own experiences with and research about mental health at work.

More than ever, adversity is a hot topic right now. In our current economic, political, and social landscape, adversity is being felt to degrees we really haven’t witnessed before. And while the majority of people might see that as a negative, I see it as a launching pad to developing a missing ingredient in today’s leadership culture—resilience. Not only do leaders need to possess resilience for themselves, but they need to demonstrate it for their teams.

Artificial intelligence has the power to automate and streamline countless business processes and improve efficiency across just about every sector. However, AI tools (and the humans using them) need guidance and training to perform to their full potential, which makes strong leadership more important than ever. Below, members of Forbes Business Development Council discuss the leadership skills that are still relevant in the age of AI.

Artificial intelligence has the power to automate and streamline countless business processes and improve efficiency across just about every sector. However, AI tools (and the humans using them) need guidance and training to perform to their full potential, which makes strong leadership more important than ever. Below, members of Forbes Business Development Council discuss the leadership skills that are still relevant in the age of AI.

When faced with an underperforming employee, you may instinctively turn to formal training sessions as a solution. But while training is undoubtedly valuable, it’s not the best fit for every situation. As learning and performance strategist Jess Almlie shared in a recent post, “Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how fantastically designed our learning solutions are because training alone won’t address the root cause of a problem.”

When management theorist Peter Drucker coined the term knowledge workers in 1959, most people had no idea what he was talking about. Since then, knowledge workers have come to rule the world. Today, seven of the world's 10 most valuable companies are tech com­panies, the ultimate workplace for knowledge workers. But now, 65 years after the knowledge economy was born, we're about to be ushered into the wisdom economy.

In a world where artificial intelligence is no longer the stuff of science fiction, but a driving force in our daily lives, it's crucial to equip ourselves with the right skills to navigate this new landscape. Whether you're a fresh graduate, a seasoned professional, a technical person, or can barely use a smartphone - these five skills will help you transform from an AI novice to a veritable AI ninja, ready to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence.

As a leader, one of the most significant challenges you face is managing your time effectively. With countless demands on your attention, it’s easy to get caught up in the urgency trap, where you find yourself constantly putting out fires and neglecting the truly important initiatives that drive your organization forward. To overcome this challenge, you need a powerful tool that can help you prioritize your responsibilities and stay focused on what matters most.

BambooHR recently released its quarterly Employee Happiness Index report, showing employee happiness is down 5% year over year, hitting a four-year low. The survey revealed some bright spots, with construction remaining the happiest industry and education achieving the highest June scores the sector has seen in four years. Still, the results raise concerns, given the steady decline in employee satisfaction since 2020.

Although there is an endless list of leadership habits that differentiate high performers from the rest, some of the most wildly celebrated traits in popular articles rarely move the needle according to science. There is often a direct contradiction between the leadership attributes we celebrate and those that actually contribute to leaders’ success.

When it comes to the stuff that strong relationships are made of, there is no more precious commodity than trust. It takes time to establish and can be broken in a heartbeat. But those who achieve the highest levels have demonstrated over and over again the same patterns of behavior that make building trust look easy. Be reliable. Fundamental to trust is reliability. If you say you'll do something, you'll do it.

our speed at work might be hurting you more than you know. Do you know the difference between speed and velocity? Many of my clients use them interchangeably, but there's a critical distinction that can significantly impact your productivity and your ability to manage through uncertainty, disruption, and rapid change. Most business owners operate in a fast-paced, high-pressure, results-oriented environment.

All of us have heard guidelines about how to be physically healthy—eat well, exercise, wash your hands, get plenty of rest. But how many of us have thought seriously about our social lives—the strength of our relationships and our sense of belonging in a community—as key to staying healthy?