Blog

March 23, 2020

Community Gathering: Leadership communication that creates community and confidence in times of uncertainty

Last week we hosted a virtual gathering to share what we’ve learned and learn from all of you. We explored the question, what is critical about […]
March 16, 2020

Our big meeting has been cancelled – now what? | The Connection Diaries

We just cancelled our big meeting – now what? We’ve been having this conversation with many of our clients over the past few weeks, and it […]
March 16, 2020

The Connection Diaries, Ep. 1: How do we stay connected when we’re physically apart?

All over the news are reports on the need for social distancing, and many of our clients have sent their employees to work from home. In […]
March 15, 2020

Moving Meetings to Virtual: 7 Guidelines for Increasing Connection

With the disruption caused by COVID19, many companies are facing choices about how to adjust their plans for long meetings, conferences, and programs as in-person connection […]
March 11, 2020

Conversant Announces the Addition of Dr. Gretchen Gagel

Conversant is thrilled to announce the addition of Dr. Gretchen Gagel to their global executive team as Managing Director Asia Pacific. Gretchen brings three decades of […]
March 9, 2020

Showing Up In Your Authentic Confidence

It wasn’t the first time Molly had been told she wasn’t showing confidence in the monthly board meeting. She’d lost a lot of sleep thinking about […]
March 2, 2020

Empathy Principle #1: The Test for Listening Is Learning

In the Financial Times article “The Quiet Art of Being a Good Listener,” Jeff Immelt, General Electric’s chief executive, is quoted as saying that listening is […]
December 18, 2019

Timing is Everything

Picture your last genuinely tough conversation. Did you pause at some point and think, “How did we find ourselves here?!” Too often, hard or difficult or […]
October 30, 2019

The Resilient Leader: inspiring agile achievement

What is Resilient Leadership? At Conversant, we think of resilience as the ability to turn stress and disappointment into strength, achievement and joy. Leading change in […]
October 23, 2019

Finding it challenging to engage people in your strategy? Trust the force…

A common complaint we hear from CEOs is, “I don’t get why people keep saying they don’t understand our strategy. I talk about it all the […]
October 17, 2019

Watch This Space: Emerging Leaders at Work

A few months ago, Conversant engaged in an informal discussion about the exact meaning of the term “Emerging Leaders.” What does it mean to be an […]
September 29, 2019

Moving from a Siloed to a System View

Several times a month I am asked by a client, “How do we know we are becoming better systems thinkers?”  Often they have in mind a […]
September 23, 2019

The Choice is Yours: Moving from Reactive to Responsive

This post is the first in a 3-part series that explores how we can stop reacting to everything in our lives and instead, build a life […]
August 28, 2019

4 Keys to Managing in Times of Ambiguity (a.k.a., today and forever more)

The world we find ourselves in challenges the best of leaders. The old ways have gotten us here but were designed for a world that used […]
August 22, 2019

Connected Confidence: Preventing a Crisis of Trust

A somewhat remarkable thing occurred in the world of corporate governance recently – 200 CEOs signed the Business Roundtable’s Statement on the Purpose of the Corporation. […]
June 27, 2019

Language Matters

Fish can’t see water.  So it is with words and cultural differences. Words are not universal. It’s easy to think that whatever a word means to […]
June 24, 2019

Getting People to Do What You Want: That’s Leadership, Right?

I find that at some point, the same realization occurs to many senior executives: it’s often more challenging to get things done the higher you are […]
May 8, 2019

Avoiding a Challenging Conversation? Make the Invisible Visible!

Avoiding a difficult conversation? Be honest. Most of us have done it at some point. We realize that we need to discuss an issue, but we […]
April 9, 2019

What You Need to Know About Developing High-Performing Leaders

Today’s global, volatile and complex business environment requires a new breed of leader. “Get me more leaders who are smart, have good people skills and have […]
April 8, 2019

Don’t Just Expect Conflict – Want It

Leaders around the globe all seem to want less conflict. We want everyone to manage their conflicts better. We just want people to get along! Let’s […]
March 12, 2019

3 Tips for Emerging Leaders on Building Your Leadership Brand

An experience I had a few weeks ago was a catalyst for a revelation: it is worth my time to invest in how I am perceived […]
February 22, 2019

Leading Change? Organizational Evolution Requires Human Connection

Conventional wisdom says that a “burning platform” is essential to organization change. We’d like to challenge that.  In our experience, vibrant, innovative organizations don’t require a […]
February 11, 2019

Getting Beyond “Yes” – When Agreement is Not Enough

Remember that time when you prepared for a flawless, powerful, convincing presentation to a group of important stakeholders?   You knew you would have to influence their […]
August 3, 2018

3 Key Factors for Harnessing Collective Brilliance in a Digital World

Organizations that truly excel in the digital world harness the power of collective brilliance. Sure, some companies clearly have great visionary leaders, but these individuals are […]
July 11, 2017

Isn’t it time you got serious about developing your leadership?

  In these dynamic and stressful times, leaders need every edge they can get to grow themselves, their leadership and their organizations. And while Amazon has […]