Blog

November 7, 2024

Standing in Purpose to Lead and Collaborate Without Authority

Remember the good ol’ days when you could tell people what to do and they’d do it?  Yeah, we don’t either.  The reality is in most […]
October 27, 2024

Can Survival Instincts Work Against Us?

As human beings, we have a mess of things that make being the best and most valuable version of ourselves a little complicated. We live in […]
October 7, 2024

Facing the Fear of Giving Feedback

The key to providing feedback – Check your assumptions at the door. As a leader, when you think about giving performance improvement feedback to your team […]
August 31, 2024

Working With Opposing Viewpoints

We all know political division in our country is at an all-time high. Especially in this election year, tensions are at a fever pitch.  It’s more […]
August 15, 2024

That Email Could’ve Been a Meeting

We’ve all been there—sitting in a meeting that goes nowhere, watching the minutes tick by, wondering if we’re achieving anything meaningful. How often have you thought, […]
July 23, 2024

Finding Common Ground: American Politics Needs to Change, and So Do We

It’s 2024 and something nearly every client or individual I interact with is present to is the U.S. election. It’s hard not to be. Whether you’re […]
July 12, 2024

Do This One Thing to Run Meetings More Effectively

The meeting started innocently enough. A group of leaders sat around a table. The CEO’s EA passed around an agenda to the 9 people present while […]
June 12, 2024

Do You Want a Culture of Safety? Bet on Presence Over Reactivity.

Being present and aware in our day-to-day life makes us generally less susceptible to accidents. This is true in all areas of our lives. If we […]
April 29, 2024

Care Longer

In 2024, approximately half the world’s population will be impacted by some form of a national election, according to Time Magazine.  Since the beginning of this […]
April 18, 2024

Connected Teams – Setting a New Standard for Leadership, If You Choose

Over many years of experience with work, sports and volunteering, the idea that “we are a team” has almost always been operating in many of the […]
February 28, 2024

Conflict – An Act of Inclusion and Wellbeing?

I hear all the time from leaders “my team is conflict averse” or “so and so is conflict averse”.  I wonder, what do we mean when […]
February 7, 2024

Social Health: A Challenge for Leaders

How can leaders in any organization support mental and emotional health? While most leaders are not mental health experts, they can become skillful and accountable for […]
August 10, 2023

Your First Leadership Role? Here Are 6 Lessons Learned the Hard Way

When I first became a manager of people many years ago, I was faced with the challenge of leading people that were once my peers. And […]
August 10, 2023

Dealing With Confusion? Don’t Give Better Answers, Ask Better Questions.

I’m so confused by organizational confusion.  I’ve been hearing from individuals and teams lately about how they’re ‘confused’ about organizational goals or strategy.  It has me […]
February 14, 2023

Love: The Core Leadership Value and Organizing Principle for Business and Society

The following is an excerpt from The Business of Building a Better World: The Leadership Revolution That Is Changing Everything, published in 2021 by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. The […]
July 7, 2022

Want Your Team to Go Further Faster? Then Go Deeper

Besides being a consultant and leadership coach, I am a long-time ski instructor. Given the cyclical nature of ski season, it is easy for managers and […]
July 7, 2022

Back to Office? Hybrid? Be Intentional About Your Transition

The past two years has taught us all a lot. As we begin the transition back to offices, in-person work, and hybrid ways of working together, […]
April 6, 2022

Turning Differences into Value is all about Perspective

I think it would be fascinating to create a movie theater where each theater shows the story from a different perspective. You could pick and choose […]
March 7, 2022

Decisions Are Culture, Not Just Office Design

This blog was co-authored by Patrick Kennedy & Robin Anselmi As our relationship to offices and space has evolved, we need to become more intentional about […]
February 14, 2022

What is it to work, and to work with love?

In the last several years, our shared fundamental understanding of work has shifted significantly. The occurrence of a global pandemic forced immediate and enduring structural changes […]
February 14, 2022

Introducing Michelle Wonsley & Inclusive Leadership Design | The Connection Diaries

Welcome, Michelle! We are thrilled to introduce you all to Michelle Wonsley, who joins Conversant full-time to lead a new global practice focused on Inclusive Leadership […]
December 14, 2021

A Rest & Refresh Challenge | The Connection Diaries

At Conversant, one of the things we are continuously focused on is how we can design work to be consistent with the nature of being human. […]
December 14, 2021

The Chemistry of Collaboration & Burnout

Consider two versions of the same meeting. A task has just been identified, and it now falls to the group to figure out who can take […]
December 14, 2021

Leadership Lessons from The Beatles

Over Thanksgiving, I had the pleasure of watching Get Back!, the recently released three-part Beatles documentary on the making of the Beatles’ final album, 1970’s Let It […]
November 17, 2021

Leadership That Inspires Trust & Safety

Have you ever been in a conversation and had the thought, “I can’t believe that I just shared that”? Or, perhaps you leave a conversation feeling […]