Mid Level Leader

Executive transition playbook first 100 days 

Executive transitions are among the most critical moments in an organization’s lifecycle. When a leader steps into a new executive role, it impacts not only the strategic direction but also the organizational culture, stakeholder relationships, and overall business performance. If managed poorly, transitions can lead to disruptions such as loss of institutional knowledge, diminished team morale, and financial challenges.  The reality is that many executive transitions don’t go as planned. According to Harvard Business Review, 50% of new executives fail or leave within 18 months, potentially costing the organization up to ten times their salary. Additionally, Korn/Ferry reports that only 30% of global executives are satisfied with their onboarding process. These statistics underscore the need for a strategic approach to ensure successful leadership transitions.  Several years ago, I worked with the new CFO of a $6B division of a $40B manufacturing organization. She transitioned from corporate headquarters to a division, which had a markedly different culture. Her challenge was not only adjusting to a new environment. It meant embedding herself in an unfamiliar culture, building trust with her C-suite peers, and establishing herself as a strategic advisor to the CEO—all while leading a team uncertain about its future.  To further complicate the transition, the division was being acquired, and her team faced nine months of incredibly heavy work with no guarantee of securing future roles in the new organization. Despite these challenges, by receiving the right executive advisory transition support, she navigated the complexities, built trust quickly, and inspired her team to stay committed, even when the nine months turned into 18.  Executive transitions are pivotal moments for organizations. They require careful planning, clear communication, and focused support to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Below are four key considerations for senior leaders to manage transitions effectively and with confidence. 1. Understand the ecosystem: stakeholder mapping and engagement As you step into this new role, understanding the organization’s ecosystem is one of the first and most crucial steps. Every organization has its own dynamics—how departments, teams, and individuals interact, how decisions are made, and where power and influence lie. It’s important to map out not only formal authority but also informal networks and relationships. This will help you navigate internal politics, align your strategies, and avoid potential pitfalls that could derail your efforts.  Stakeholders are key to your success—both in the short term and for the long-term execution of your vision. Their support can unlock resources, enable smoother decision-making, and lead to faster buy-in. However, if you don’t identify and understand key stakeholders early on, you risk spending valuable time and energy in the wrong areas or missing out on insights that could shape your strategy.  I recently advised a new SVP of R&D for a $50B pharmaceutical company who was transitioning into this role from academia. We’ll call him Nate. One of his first areas of focus was understanding and connecting with key stakeholders in this highly matrixed organization around the world. Nate formed relationships, sought to understood their roles and their areas of expertise, and learned what is important to them. This has enabled him to speed up what is often a daunting transition from academia to quickly become embedded in the business and drive positive change.  Navigating the ecosystem can be tricky, especially when not all stakeholders are immediately visible. Some people may wield significant influence without holding formal authority, while others may be new to the organization or going through their own transitions, which could affect their willingness to support yours.  Executive ecosystem checklist:  Identify key stakeholders: Identify both formal and informal influencers. Understand their roles, influence, and how their priorities align with yours.  Conduct listening tours: Take the time to engage stakeholders through one-on-one conversations. Listening to their concerns, needs, and aspirations will give you a broader view of the challenges and opportunities ahead.  Understand motivation and metrics: Recognize what each stakeholder needs to achieve and how they measure success. This understanding will help you align goals and collaborate effectively.  Build relationships early: Establish trust by engaging with key stakeholders from the start. Understanding their perspectives and setting the foundation for collaboration is essential for a smooth transition. 2. Communicate a compelling vision: aligning and inspiring your team In your new role, one of the first things you’ll need to do is communicate a clear and compelling vision. This vision should not only align with the organization’s broader goals but also provide your team with a clear direction. As a senior leader, your ability to communicate this vision effectively will be pivotal to driving alignment and motivating those around you.  It’s about more than just outlining a plan—it’s about inspiring action. Crafting a vision that resonates with your team and stakeholders will give them a sense of purpose and direction, especially during a time of uncertainty. To successfully execute this vision, your communication needs to go beyond simply being clear. It must be compelling and motivating. The clearer and more inspiring you can be, the more quickly you’ll build the trust and commitment necessary to lead your team forward.  Nate communicated his vision with passion and energy that inspired others. He also showed genuine curiosity and care for the organization and people within it, so they wanted to buy into his inspiring vision and deliver on it.  Executive vision checklist:  Align with organizational goals: Ensure your vision is aligned with the strategic objectives of the organization. This alignment will ensure that you and your team are working toward the same long-term goals.  Communicate clearly: Convey your vision in a way that resonates with your team and stakeholders. Use your communication skills to inspire confidence, trust, and action.  Inspire and motivate: Use your vision not just as a roadmap but as a source of motivation for your team. Help them see their role in achieving the broader goals, making the work meaningful and engaging. This is much easier said than done. Remember that numbers engage those in levels above you, however they are not inspiring for those at levels below.  3. Develop a strong strategic plan: laying the foundation for long-term success A strong strategic plan to guide your transition and ramp up your impact is essential as you step into your new leadership role. This plan should outline your immediate goals, long-term objectives, and key milestones to mark your progress and success. It’s important to approach your planning with an understanding of the organization’s broader strategy and how your goals align with it. While your experience gives you the strategic insight to create a plan, remember that flexibility is key. A transition period often comes with uncertainty, so your plan should be adaptable to changing circumstances and evolving challenges.  As you lead through change, creating a clear roadmap helps you set expectations and provide clarity for your team. At the same time, it’s important to recognize that no plan is without its risks. Identifying potential challenges and understanding how to manage them proactively will set your organization up for success in both the short and long term.  Nate sparked bold, future-focused thinking on his team while communicating long-term strategic priorities related to how to invest wisely to grow the portfolio. He advocated for impactful portfolio investments while engaging in open, strategic dialogue to ensure his team would contribute meaningfully to, and own, the strategy.  Executive strategy checklist:  Set clear success objectives: Define what success looks like in the first 6 to 12 months. Engage your leadership team in setting achievable goals that align with the broader strategy.  Identify potential barriers: Identify potential challenges, such as misalignment or lack of support, and create contingency plans to navigate them.  Develop a flexible roadmap: Create a strategy that balances structured goals with the flexibility to adapt as needed based on evolving circumstances. Build in check points along to way to allow for reset. 4. Evaluate, build, and engage the team: ensuring alignment and high performance As you settle into your new role, evaluating and aligning your team is critical. You’ll need to assess whether the team structure is equipped to execute your strategic plan. Do you have the right people in the right positions? Are there any gaps or opportunities for development? This is a delicate process and requires a deep understanding of both individual and collective team dynamics. Building a high-performing team isn’t just about filling positions. It’s about fostering a culture of collaboration, psychological safety, and shared ownership of your vision. Strong teams don’t just execute strategy—they innovate, problem-solve, and drive business results. Your leadership will be pivotal in shaping that culture and creating the environment where your team can thrive.  Nate quickly built trust through openness, thoughtfulness, and respect while encouraging collaborative thinking and cross-functional idea sharing within his organization. As a result, his team was positioned to lead significant initiatives that will positively effect the future of the business.  Executive team checklist:  Evaluate and align the team: Assess your team’s structure and capabilities in the context of your strategic goals and roadmap to ensure you have the right people in the right roles, and identify areas for development. Align and engage the team to drive your strategy forward.  Foster a culture of collaboration: Create an environment where open communication and constructive conflict are encouraged. This will enable the team to make better decisions and solve complex problems together.  Invest in building a high-performing team: Continuously invest in developing your team’s skills, fostering collaboration, and guiding them to ensure alignment with your broader strategic goals.  Set the stage for true transformation  Stepping into a new executive role is more than just a leadership shift—it’s a pivotal moment for both you and the organization. The challenges are significant, and the stakes are high, but this transition also offers a powerful opportunity to shape the future. The actions you take early on are crucial in establishing your credibility and influence, setting the tone for your leadership from day one.  How you navigate these early challenges will define both your immediate success and your long-term legacy within the organization. This transition isn’t just about managing change—it’s about actively shaping it. By embracing a structured, strategic approach, you can turn uncertainty into a clear roadmap for growth and transformation.  The more you invest in understanding the organizational ecosystem, building your team, and aligning your vision, the better equipped you’ll be to lead with confidence, inspire loyalty, and drive the organization forward.  Ultimately, this transition is not just a phase to endure—it’s a defining moment that can elevate the organization and set the stage for sustained success. Make it count. 

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Reorg ready roadmap: What great leaders do before, during, and after the change

In times of major organizational change, structure alone doesn’t guarantee success. The difference-maker is leadership—leadership that takes into account the uncertainty, the lack of clarity, and the need to engage and support your teams in new ways and propels the organization forward. Our research and work with organizations undergoing complex transformations has underscored the fact that leadership before, during, and after reorganization requires careful attention to how you react and show up to others. It means doubling down on showing up with clarity when roles are undefined; building trust while systems are still forming; and translating structural blueprints into real-world behavior. Through each phase, one theme remains constant: thriving in transformation isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about how you lead in the fog, under pressure, and beyond the launch. The leaders who do this well don’t just survive change—they shape and define what comes next.

Why AI experiments are key to workplace learning

The danger of stopping at skills

Skills-based hiring promised to change everything. And for a moment, it felt like it might. What started in the mid-2010s as a push for fairer, more flexible hiring gained traction fast—helping organizations look beyond résumés to what people could actually do. The pandemic only accelerated the shift, turning adaptability into the skill everyone suddenly needed. But momentum alone hasn’t delivered on the promise. Since then, the skills conversation has grown louder—and more crowded. AI-powered platforms promise to map every skill in your workforce. Consultants pitch taxonomies as the backbone of agility. And HR teams are working hard to translate roles into capabilities. But here’s what’s clear: skills alone won’t get you there. Yes, defining work by skills is a step forward. But most organizations stop at identification. They focus on tagging, categorizing, and matching—without specifying what actually drives performance. And in today’s environment—where AI is reshaping work, strategies shift in real time, and roles evolve faster than org charts—that’s no longer enough. Because skills don’t create value on their own. People do—when they can activate the right skills, in the right context, under real conditions. If your organization wants to be future-ready, you’ll need to go beyond mapping skills. You’ll need to understand how those skills show up in the flow of work—shaped by your culture, enabled by your systems, and developed through practice. That’s the difference between building a skills list—and building a workforce that’s ready for what’s next. The list is limiting: Why skills alone won’t do it We talk about skills all the time—but what is a skill, really? In talent strategy, a skill is a learned ability to perform a task or function with competence. It goes beyond knowledge or theory—it’s something that can be demonstrated and applied to produce results. Skills exist across a spectrum: from technical (e.g., data analysis, coding) to human (e.g., coaching, influencing) to cognitive (e.g., critical thinking, decision-making).

Resilient by design: How to build strategic agility amidst increasing uncertainty 

Today, change isn’t just constant—it’s compounding. AI is reshaping roles. Supply chains remain volatile. Customer expectations evolve faster than annual planning cycles can keep up. In this context, a strategy that looks great on paper often falls apart in practice. Imagine a team, for instance, who spent months crafting a detailed strategy—every milestone mapped, every risk assessed. But when conditions shifted, their well-laid plan quickly felt more like a burden than a beacon. Sound familiar?  This is a reality many organizations face. The traditional top-down approach to strategy, where a select few create the plan and hand it down, is cracking under the pressure of a faster, more complex world. Organizations need a strategy that’s dynamic, resilient, and, most importantly, actionable by everyone. To make this a reality, today’s leaders must bring strategy to life through a more inclusive, flexible model that empowers teams to contribute and adapt in real time.  In this new approach, strategic planning is about more than a set of priorities and goals—it’s about creating a two-way dialogue with people across the organization, building a culture of ownership, and embedding adaptability at every level. Here’s how to reinvent strategy in a way that turns it from an isolated exercise into a collective movement, creating a fast track to impact and ownership.  Create feedback loops closer to the customer  In conventional strategy sessions, plans are often crafted behind closed doors, only to be revealed once they’re fully formed. This approach may feel efficient, but it leaves out insights from those closest to the work—and to customers. Without input from these critical perspectives, strategies risk being disconnected from the realities on the ground.  This doesn’t mean handing over the strategy process to every employee or crowd-sourcing big decisions. Leaders still set the direction. The key is being intentional about when and where employee input will sharpen the strategy. Rather than starting with a blank slate, offer specific, targeted opportunities for feedback—especially from those on the front lines.  From: Senior leaders make the strategy and inform employees of the plan  To: Employees are engaged at critical moments early in the strategy planning process  An example: A SaaS company set an ambitious goal to double in size within three years—but early alignment was missing. Leaders were energized by big ideas but lacked a shared direction. To clarify the path forward, they created a set of strategic alternatives rooted in a clear purpose. Rather than relying solely on executive input, they brought in next-level leaders to pressure test early ideas and offer real-world feedback. These leaders piloted key parts of the strategy in their markets and then offered insights from their experiences that helped sharpen the long-term strategy. By intentionally involving the right people at the right moments, the organization gained clarity faster—and built stronger alignment early on.  By building feedback loops at the right moments, you can:  Capture frontline insights that executives may not see, enriching the strategy.  Generate early buy-in by giving employees a voice in shaping the “how” of the strategy where they are better positioned to know what will work.  Align daily work with strategic goals by allowing employees to take the strategy for a test drive to identify where it will work and where it might fall down.  Create an environment where teams feel empowered to surface new insights and adapt.  A participatory approach at the right times along the strategy process doesn’t just inform the strategy—it makes it stronger and more grounded in real challenges, empowering employees to shape an outcome that feels both ambitious and achievable.  Cultivating ownership at every level  Even the best strategy is only as effective as the people who execute it. Ownership at all levels is essential to driving speed and adaptability, but it doesn’t happen by accident. When employees have clarity on how the strategy is aligned to their individual roles and on the decisions they can own, employees feel empowered and motivated to contribute to its success. This sense of ownership fosters a nimble, resilient organization.  By building purpose and clarity into every level of the plan, leaders can:  Empower informed decisions at the right level that support company goals.  Create momentum by showing employees their impact early on.  Encourage continuous learning and adaptability anchored in the customer and market, enabling teams to respond to change effectively.  Shift from static planning to an iterative, progress-driven mindset.  When employees see how their roles connect to larger goals and feel like they have the authority to make decisions, they are more willing—and prepared—to take ownership. This alignment, combined with a focus on purpose, drives momentum even in a shifting landscape.  From: Strategy execution is top-down, with decisions held at the leadership level. To: Employees at all levels have clarity on how their roles connect to the strategy and where they can make decisions, fostering ownership and speed. An example: One global healthcare company, having grown rapidly through acquisition, struggled with a fractured strategy—each business unit pulling in a different direction. Their turning point came not from a better plan, but from a unifying purpose. By helping teams see how they fit into a bigger vision, people could start seeing themselves in the future of the company. This shared purpose became a powerful driver of ownership—especially when disruption hit. When a major supply chain issue emerged just months later, teams didn’t splinter. Instead, they used that shared purpose as a compass, identifying new ways to deliver value and keep momentum going.  Align strategy and culture  All too often, strategy and culture are treated as separate domains. Yet, no matter how robust your strategic plan, it can only succeed if it aligns with the organization’s cultural norms and ways of working. For example, adopting a more agile operating model might mean shifting the culture toward quicker decision-making and cross-functional teamwork.  To create alignment between strategy and culture, leaders should:  Identify key behaviors and ways of working that support strategic objectives and those that are getting in the way.  Focus on how these behaviors show up in everyday actions and decisions, and start making small shifts that will reinforce what is needed to execute the strategy.  Experiment and iterate and as you start to see success to formalize new ways of working.   When strategy and culture move in harmony, they generate powerful momentum. Strategy then becomes part of the organization’s DNA, reinforcing behaviors that propel the company toward its goals.  From: Strategy and culture are treated as separate priorities.  To: Strategy and culture are intentionally aligned, with behaviors, ways of working, and decision-making reinforcing strategic goals.  An example: A company formed through a series of acquisitions faced a challenge: culture fragmentation. With each acquired unit operating by its own norms, there was no shared way of working—and no clear basis for making strategic tradeoffs. Before any strategy could take hold, leadership recognized that the organization needed a common foundation. The breakthrough wasn’t a new plan, but a cultural one: reconnecting people to why they were part of the same company and what future they were building together.  By identifying consistent ways of working across teams and aligning on a shared purpose, they built the cultural scaffolding needed to execute strategy effectively. When external conditions changed, teams responded not with confusion, but with cohesion. Cultural alignment became the engine that made adaptive strategy possible.  Build in flexibility and adaptability  Even the best strategies need room to flex. But too often, organizations treat adaptability as an exception—something reactive, triggered only when disruption hits.  In a world where the conditions you plan for rarely match the ones you execute in, flexibility can’t be an afterthought—it must be a built-in feature of how strategy takes shape and stays alive.  The problem? Most strategy processes are built for control, not change. They prioritize precision over learning, timelines over feedback, and reporting over reflection. The result: strategies that look solid on paper but crack under real-world pressure.  Everyone talks about agility. It’s become a fixture in executive keynotes and strategy decks. But what’s often missing is the how—the operating system that actually enables teams to move quickly and stay aligned when conditions shift.  To build that system, leaders need to rethink not just their planning cadences, but the behaviors, structures, and decision-making norms that shape how strategy is executed day to day.  Here’s what that looks like in practice:  Empower teams to surface real-time insights and propose tactical shifts—so strategy stays grounded in frontline reality  Support rapid adjustments without losing strategic direction—aligning short-term moves with long-term outcomes  Strengthen leaders’ resilience and decision-making under pressure—so they can lead through ambiguity without stalling progress  Establish structured feedback loops and clear decision rights—so teams know when to escalate, when to adjust, and when to act  These shifts aren’t abstract ideals—they’re already reshaping how leading organizations approach strategy execution. One global logistics company, facing rapid expansion and constant external pressure—from shifting customer expectations to volatile supply chains—recognized that reacting faster wasn’t enough. They needed to design for adaptability from the start.  Instead of relying on rigid quarterly plans, they implemented a 30-, 60-, and 90-day strategy rhythm. These weren’t status updates—they were structured checkpoints designed to challenge assumptions, surface real-time insights, and recalibrate execution before small issues became big ones.  So, when disruption came—as it inevitably does—the teams didn’t freeze or fall behind. They flexed with purpose and kept moving, not because they had all the answers, but because they were built to shift. Adaptability wasn’t a reaction—it was how the organization worked, by design.  A new era of strategic planning  Strategic planning today isn’t about crafting the “perfect” plan—it’s about building the capability to learn, adapt, and align at scale. What’s different now? Disruption is no longer episodic—it’s constant, compounding, and often coming from directions leaders didn’t anticipate. AI is rewriting roles. Markets move overnight. And decision-making is no longer confined to the top—it’s distributed across teams, functions, and geographies.  In this environment, traditional planning cycles collapse under pressure. The organizations that thrive won’t be the ones with the most polished strategy deck—they’ll be the ones with the strongest strategic muscles: the ability to sense, shift, and stay aligned in real time.  By replacing rigid plans with dynamic systems, leaders can activate strategy as a living, participatory process—shaped by insight from every level, reinforced through culture, and tested through execution.  Because in a world that won’t wait, the real advantage isn’t having the right answers upfront—it’s building an organization that knows how to respond when the questions change. 

Sparking Change: How BTS Spark and Tostan are building grassroots leadership for sustainable impact

In a world where transformation often feels complex and distant, real progress is often sparked at the community level, through leaders who create change from within. In Senegal, a partnership between BTS Spark and Tostan, a nonprofit dedicated to community-led development across Africa, is bringing this idea to life. It’s a reminder that sustainable leadership isn’t built by imposing new systems. It grows when people are equipped to lead themselves. A ground-up approach to lasting change Since 1991, Tostan—whose name means "breakthrough" in Wolof—has partnered with rural African communities to advance human rights, health, literacy, and economic development. Its Community Empowerment Program (CEP) weaves together practical knowledge and human rights education, enabling communities to define and pursue their own visions of progress. Across eight countries and more than five million lives, Tostan’s approach has led to deep-rooted changes, including the voluntary abandonment of harmful traditional practices. Not by directive, but by choice. It’s an approach that shows leadership capacity isn’t something to be delivered from outside. It’s something to be nurtured from within. Meeting communities where they are In 2024, BTS Spark deepened its collaboration with Tostan through an in-person leadership workshop, led by a BTS Spark consultant, following a year of virtual engagement. The visit coincided with a leadership transition at the executive level—a pivotal moment requiring clarity, continuity, and resilience. Through targeted coaching and workshops, BTS Spark worked alongside Tostan’s leaders to support the transition and strengthen leadership capacity at every level of the organization. The focus wasn’t on delivering a model. It was on listening, amplifying existing strengths, and equipping leaders to navigate complexity with confidence. Practical tools for complex challenges As part of the ongoing collaboration, BTS Spark also provided custom-designed micro-simulations focused on sectors vital to community sustainability: climate resilience, microfinance, and agriculture. These micro-sims offer leaders a chance to engage with real-world decision-making challenges in a safe, practical environment—an approach that mirrors how leadership development increasingly happens: not through theory alone, but through repeated, real-world application.   It’s a reminder that growth is rarely linear. It’s built through practice, reflection, and adaptation over time. Building leadership that endures The work between BTS Spark and Tostan reflects a broader truth: Leadership isn’t confined to titles, industries, or regions. It emerges where people are given the tools, trust, and space to act. Sustainable change, whether in communities or organizations, happens when leadership capacity is strengthened closest to where challenges are lived every day. The partnership also highlights the power of investing in local capability: focusing on what’s already working, building resilience from within, and preparing leaders not just to meet today’s challenges, but to shape tomorrow’s opportunities. Moving forward: Scaling with purpose The work in Senegal is continuing to evolve. BTS Spark and Tostan are exploring ways to extend leadership development to more communities, deepen their impact, and continue supporting transformation through shared expertise and partnership. It’s a model rooted in respect, collaboration, and the belief that leadership is most powerful when it reflects the realities and aspirations of the people closest to the work.

Built to shift: How great organizations move with the moment

Disconnect between talent priorities and executive expectations 

AI is reshaping how work gets done—automating tasks, accelerating decisions, and raising expectations for speed and precision. Strategy is shifting faster than structures can adapt, leaving many leaders operating in systems that weren’t built for what’s being asked of them now. Employees are asking more of their managers—while the business is asking more of them, too. And leaders are stuck navigating it all with development priorities, operating norms, and support systems that weren’t designed for this level of speed, ambiguity, or stretch.  As expectations rise, leadership capability is under scrutiny. But are development efforts evolving fast enough to meet the moment?  Where priorities and expectations diverge  Most leadership development programs today emphasize foundational strengths:  Executive presence  Personal purpose  A growth mindset  Empowering others  Stretching others  In contrast, senior executives in the BTS study identified a different set of capabilities as most critical for leaders right now:  Accountability  Transparency  Enterprise thinking  Divergent thinking  The contrast reveals a disconnect between what development programs are building—and what executives believe their organizations need most from their leaders today.  How did we get here?  The expectations placed on leaders—especially at the middle—have always evolved alongside the business landscape.  In the 1990s, leadership development focused on emotional intelligence and team empowerment. The 2000s brought globalization and lean operating models, with a sharper focus on efficiency and agility. Then came digital transformation, agile ways of working, and flatter, more matrixed structures.  Each wave expanded the leadership mandate—asking leaders to become connectors, coaches, and change agents.  What’s different now is the pace and proximity of change. Strategy no longer shifts annually—it flexes monthly. And mid-level leaders are no longer simply executing someone else’s vision. They’re expected to interpret it, shape it, and deliver results through others—in real time.  At the same time, the psychological contract of work has changed. Employees want more meaning, flexibility, and support—and they often look to their managers to provide it. Add in the rise of AI and the frequency of disruption, and the expectations placed on leaders have outpaced what many development efforts were designed to support.  What’s driving the disconnect?  What we’re seeing isn’t disagreement—it’s a difference in vantage point, shaped by the distinct challenges each group is solving for. This isn’t about misaligned intent—it reflects different priorities and pressures.  Talent and learning teams often prioritize foundational capabilities because they’re proven, scalable, and critical to developing confident, human-centered leaders. These programs are designed to grow potential over time.  Executives, meanwhile, are focused on the immediacy of execution—strategy under strain, shifting priorities, and the need for alignment at speed. Their focus reflects where progress is stalling now.  Both perspectives matter. But when they remain disconnected, development risks falling out of sync with business reality—and the gap is most visible at the middle, where expectations are rising fastest.  What’s the takeaway for talent leaders now?  This moment offers more than a gap to close—it offers insight into how leadership needs are evolving.  What if the differences between these two capability lists aren’t in conflict, but in sequence? Foundational strengths help leaders show up with purpose and empathy. Enterprise capabilities help them lead across systems and ambiguity. The opportunity isn’t to choose between them—it’s to connect them more intentionally.  What’s uniquely now is the acceleration. The stretch. The pressure to reduce friction and support faster alignment. Talent leaders aren’t just being asked to build capability—they’re being asked to build momentum. That means designing development experiences that reflect complexity, enable cross-functional thinking, and help leaders decide and adapt in real time.  It also means listening more closely. The capabilities executives are calling for aren’t just wish lists—they’re signals. Signals of where transformation slows, and where leadership must evolve for strategy to move forward.  This isn’t about shifting away from what works—it’s about expanding it. To connect what leaders already do well with what the business needs next—and to do it in ways that are grounded, human, and built for today’s pace.  Shifting momentum  Leadership development isn’t just a pipeline priority. It’s a strategic lever for how your organization adapts, aligns, and accelerates through change.  This research doesn’t just reveal a skills gap—it surfaces a systems opportunity. The disconnect between talent priorities and executive expectations highlights where momentum gets lost, and how leadership development can close the space between vision and execution.  Talent leaders are uniquely positioned to reconnect the dots—between individual growth and enterprise outcomes, between what leaders learn and how they lead, between what the business says it needs and how that shows up in behavior.  So the next question isn’t just: What should we build?  It’s: How do we enable leaders to build it into the business—faster?  Every organization is navigating this differently. If you’re revisiting your development priorities or rethinking what leadership looks like in your context, let’s connect. We’re happy to share what we’re seeing—and learning—with others facing the same questions. 

Meetings as culture, Part 3: Your behavior matters 

Put it into practice  At the nonprofit, assessing meeting behaviors over time led to better individual behaviors, stronger team results, and a shift in the way staff meetings contributed to the mission. As old behaviors that previously dominated or derailed staff meetings declined, the meetings became an even more valuable time for organization-wide connections and storytelling. This approach and discipline to meetings was adopted by the individual leaders’ meetings. Meetings all around the organization improved. While getting there took longer than predicted, the shifts lasted, and the organization’s outcomes improved. People began to expect good meetings that were productive and contributed to action and success.   Meetings are more than just a tool for getting things done—they’re a powerful reflection of a microcosm of your organization’s culture. When approached with intention, they can drive behavior change, foster collaboration, and align teams with strategic goals. Simply by developing five fundamental behaviors, the way you and your teams show up in meetings can transform how your company works together and accelerates progress. Ultimately, meetings are where culture is built, one conversation at a time.  

Radical Adaptability: Culture and Belonging in Constant Change