The Inner Workings of the Executive Brain

Summer has finally arrived and I hope you are enjoying a more relaxing pace; perhaps taking some vacation time. With that in mind, I’d like to share some “lite” summer offerings that I thought you might find useful and helpful in keeping your leadership skills honed. Preparing organizations for the future inevitably means disrupting the present—and pulling people away from old habits, even if they’ve been successful habits. These offerings encourage giving up the insular and antiquated ways of managing in favor of innovative ways of leading.

1. New research shows the best business minds make decisions very differently than we thought. Below is a Wall Street Journal article on The Inner Workings of the Executive Brain. After reading, ask yourself if you would consider being more intentional about your decision-making process?
2. I am including a link to a PowerPoint that provides radical suggestions for effectively managing the talent of your team. Why is it that a no-frills PowerPoint presentation about how Netflix manages talent has been viewed five million times on the Web? Because it offers a significantly different—and simple view of how people can be managed in a more consistently fulfilling manner.
3. Here is a remarkable commencement address from U.S. Navy admiral and University of Texas, Austin, alumnus William H. McRaven. His 10 lessons in this address apply to any of us as we think about a personal framework to practice leadership daily. Click here for the video and full transcript.