Leadership Feeds

IMAGINE two leaders join your organization in the same month. The first arrives with an impressive résumé: a top-tier MBA, fast-track promotions at a well-known company, and a reputation for ‘executive presence’. The second has a solid but more understated track record. This individual is self-effacing and relational. Six months later, the first is struggling to get colleagues to commit to their ideas. The second has a team that would follow them through a wall. What happened? The first leader thought his reputation would win the day. The second focused on building strong relationships with colleagues. The lesson. People don’t follow resumes. They follow the individuals who proactively earn their trust. Most of us attempt to build credibility with colleagues in one of three ways – all wrong. We try to assert credibility through credentials: an impressive title, a recent promotion, an engineering degree. Sometimes we try to manufacture it through sheer confidence and enthusiasm for an idea. Or we try to build it with logic and slide after slide of data. We assume that the analytics and numbers will demonstrate how credible – and clever – we are. None of these succeed by themselves. More importantly, they are not the foundational element of your credibility. Why expertise isn’t enough to earn you credibility Expertise answers only one question about your credibility: "Do you understand the issue you are championing?" While that question matters, it isn’t the one your team is really asking. Their question is: "If I commit…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Amy Edmondson on psychological safety: "Psychological safety is a belief that the work environment is safe for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, and even mistakes and failures. It is not being nice, being comfortable or lowering standards. In fact, let me put this very concisely. I think your job—each and every one of you—is to create the environment where candor is expected and welcome, and standards are as high as possible for your context. Think of it as productive discomfort." Source: Amy Edmondson at the Global Drucker Forum 2026 II. Peter Senge on a learning organization: "Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning. This, then, is the basic meaning of a learning organization—an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future. For such an organization, it is not enough merely to survive. Survival learning, or what is more often termed adaptive learning, is important—indeed, it is necessary. But for a learning organization, adaptive learning must be joined by generative learning, learning that enhances our capacity to create." Source: The Fifth Discipline:…

New MetaLark Edition Clears the Way for L&D Teams to See Inside Their Learning Content – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

THE Global Peter Drucker Forum is an annual international management conference, held in Vienna, Austria, dedicated to the management philosophy of Peter Drucker. This year again, they graciously broadcast live the opening session of the conference from the Vienna Hofburg. What follows are a few of the insights from that session that have been slightly edited for clarity. Richard Straub, Founder and President, Global Peter Drucker Forum: We are living through an astonishing technological moment. Artificial intelligence and what we increasingly call thinking machines are acquiring capabilities that only a few years ago seemed unimaginable. We should not approach this development with fear. The potential is enormous. These technologies can amplify human capacities. Give people access to knowledge and capabilities they never had before and help us make connections that we couldn’t see before. It can help us to create new knowledge and new solutions for improving our lives at an unprecedented scale. But innovation cannot be an end in itself. The question cannot only be what can we create; it must also be what is the impact of what we create on people and institutions, on markets, on society. An algorithm can optimize the route to a given objective. It cannot decide whether that objective is good. A machine can make a decision and act on it autonomously, but it cannot accept moral responsibility for the consequences. That responsibility remains ours. That is why technology must remain our servant and never become our master. Management is not simply…

Go1 Partners With OpenAI to Expand Access to OpenAI Academy Courses – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

WHEN we think about persuasion, we picture the visible part: the rousing pitch, the polished slide deck, the closing argument that wins the room over. But the visible part is only half the equation. Persuasion’s real impact is determined by an invisible architecture. Here’s what that architecture is made of—the frame. In persuasion, the frame establishes what problem needs solving, what opportunity exists, or what future you’re proposing. You can think of it as the core interpretation of the reality that you’re asking your stakeholders to understand. This interpretation guides how an audience interprets the issue you’re persuading. The frame you choose determines whether your decisionmakers see a problem worth solving or a complaint worth dismissing, a strategic priority or a budget burden. It’s critical to understand that the framing, not just the issue’s merits, determines whether decisionmakers will care enough to act. As persuaders, framing is also our biggest blind spot. Immersion in an issue makes one way of seeing it feel obviously right – which is not the same as it being the most effective or compelling frame for our decisionmakers. As you deepen your understanding of an issue you wish to champion, you become invested in that perspective, in that framing. This perspective becomes fixed and causes you to communicate from your own point of view rather than that of your decisionmakers. This is a big mistake. Wouldn’t it be fine if all our stakeholders shared the same perspective as you do? Unfortunately, they rarely do….

Schoox Places Dollar Value on Frontline Training Gaps – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

WorkForge Launches New Workforce Training Platform at American Food Manufacturing Summit 2027 – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

SweetRush Reimagines L&D Staffing With New Talent Agency – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

HERE’S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in November 2026 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month. Illuminating Hidden Brilliance: The Power of Multidimensional Leadership in a One-Dimensional World by Tony Martignetti Most high-performing leaders share a quiet secret: they have been suppressing the very dimensions that make them extraordinary. The pressure to specialize, perform, and fit the mold has created a generation of leaders who are accomplished on paper—and hollow inside. In Illuminating Hidden Brilliance, leadership advisor and keynote speaker Tony Martignetti challenges the myth of specialization and offers a proven framework for leaders ready to stop fragmenting themselves and start integrating all of who they are. This book is for visionary leaders at inflection points—executives navigating complexity, high performers who sense something essential is missing, and anyone who has been told their breadth is a liability. It is time to stop competing in a one-dimensional world and start leading from your whole, multidimensional self. The Persuasive Leader: Proven Strategies for Moving People and Ideas by Jay A. Conger Most change efforts fail not because of poor strategy but because leaders struggle to win genuine commitment. Between 60 and 70 percent of major organizational change initiatives fall short or fail outright. The missing ingredient? Constructive persuasion. Drawing on over two decades of research and coaching thousands of executives worldwide, Conger shatters outdated myths about persuasion as manipulation or performance. Instead, he reveals…

Here is a selection of Posts from October 2026 that you will want to check out: Predicting the Present by @kevin2kelly It is clear that all predictions of the future are really just predictions of the present. Their visions tell us more about what people were thinking of then, than of what we have now. Judge the Judger by @garyvee Be thoughtful on whose judgment you decide to accept How to Recognize When You Have Stopped Growing via @AdmiredLeaders What It Costs to Think by @chrbutler AI is best understood as infrastructure, and that the sooner we think of it that way, the sooner we can stop being astonished and get back to making things. AI Agents Are Here. Are Leaders Ready? via @KelloggSchool Work in a feedback desert? Tips to help your executive boss grow comfortable giving feedback by @artpetty While individuals at the executive level are typically savvy communicators in a variety of settings, the ‘f’ topic for ‘feedback’ is a stressor for many. 10 Theodore Roosevelt Leadership Lessons by @jamesstrock TR’s Project of Personifying American Nationalism Is Evergreen 5 Traits That Make One Leader Capable of Changing Everything by @BrianKDodd Words Matter. The Power of Language Is Sitting Unused Inside Your Company by @sorenkaplan The Uneasiness of the Open Office by @edbatista The New Identity Politics by @jamesstrock | 1 of 4 30 Hours in a Massive Earthquake by @SahilBloom When chaos hits, lower your expectations. Six Problems Leaders Misdiagnose as Fear of Conflict by @stopyourdrama…

EARLY in my career, I spent about six years just going through the motions. I was busy. I had meetings, email, work, kids, responsibilities, all the normal stuff. If you had asked me whether I had a lot going on, I would have said absolutely. But if you had asked me where all of that activity was actually taking me, I am not sure I could have told you. At the time, I worked at a university and my family lived in campus housing. We had a place to live. I had a job. Our basic needs were being met. Nothing was really wrong, and I think that was part of the problem. We were comfortable enough that I never felt much pressure to ask whether I was actually satisfied, and for a few years I was satisfied. Running in Place, Going Nowhere That is what I mean when I talk about the hamster wheel. A hamster can run like crazy and still end up in exactly the same place. I think people do the same thing. We fill our days, keep ourselves busy, and sometimes mistake all that activity for progress. My days were filled with meetings, email, and whatever problem needed to be solved next. I worked hard, but I was not spending much time thinking about where I wanted my career to go or what kind of life my wife and I were actually trying to build. I had speed, but not much velocity. The strange…

NIIT Learning Systems Limited Acquires Bluewater Learning to Power AI-Driven Learning and Talent Transformation – Read more by Sarah Gallo on Training Industry, Inc..

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Jeffrey Cole and Harlan Lebo on disruptors: "Intense focus on long-time rivalries distracts from an even more important priority: being prepared for unexpected change from a source that is unknown—especially “two guys in a garage”—and that tears apart a business model. Such change rewrites all the rules, reorganizes the players, and in extreme cases, eliminates an industry. The biggest mistake a successful organization can make that invites disruption is to focus exclusively on the competitive threat from a known rival." Source: Disrupters at the Gate: When Visionaries, Trailblazers, and Two Guys in a Garage Turn the World Upside Down II. Constantine Alexandrakis on inertia: "Inertia rarely announces itself as resistance. More often, it shows up as a subtle change in the feel of the organization—less candor, more caution, and often silence—or through the withholding of resources. Not just money or headcount, but emotional commitment. The strategy is agreed at the top, yet the right people aren’t assigned. Leaders nod in the meeting, then return to their own functional priorities. No one openly blocks the strategy. They simply fail to fuel it." Source: The Catalyst CEO: Why CEOs Can’t Lead Transformation Alone—And What the Best Do Instead * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and…

APEX Global Partners With CII to Launch Data Center Masterclass Certification in the Philippines – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Docebo Expands Workforce Readiness Platform With Launch of Knowledge and Agents – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

ForeverLearning AI Launches the Conversations API, Putting Conversation Practice Inside Other Products – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

WHEN I started a business at 19, I knew next to nothing about leadership. The only thing I did know was that I wanted to put my people first, always. I was a servant leader through and through. Being so others-focused was a huge strength. It helped me become a caring leader who was in tune with other people’s needs and who focused on making people feel valued. It helped me build a company and a culture that people loved being a part of. It filled me with a sense of purpose. But years later, I would learn that this strength had a shadow side. In becoming so others-focused, I had become disconnected from myself. I’d taken servant leadership to the extreme, and now, I knew others’ needs better than I knew my own. I had strong, trusting relationships with my team and almost no relationship with myself. That meant that in my worst and lowest moments, like when I was overworking myself and burning out, or when I felt let down by my team, my instinct was to put the blame externally. I became resentful, and I never once stopped to look at my own role in how I was feeling. It wasn’t until I started working with an executive coach that I became aware of this pattern in myself. In one of our calls, we identified something he called a personal narrative. Narratives form in childhood, he told me, and most people have at least one, if…

Ciphr Updates Sexual Harassment E-Learning as Employers Face Tougher Prevention Duty From Oct. 30 – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Synthesia Launches Syren, an AI Video Creation Tool – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

LEADERSHIP that is effective in uncertain times is equally effective in times of relative stability. The opposite, however, is not true. There are many actions taken by leaders in routine circumstances that give the leader power and influence, yet such behaviors may not work well when uncertainty dominates. Why? When things are going well, and not stirred by uncertainty or crisis, people are willing to put up with all sorts of poor leadership, often obeying leaders whether they trust them or not. Yet in uncertainty, trust becomes essential for influence. That’s when trust in the leader must be earned, rather than assumed. Against the Storm: How True Leaders Prevail When the World Shakes, holds more than a dozen practical techniques to build trust in uncertainty. Here are two: 1. Leader Meeting Control All leaders host meetings. One type of meeting that is common, yet difficult, is the “town hall” meeting—meetings of 50-200 people with open questioning to the leader. Town halls are quite useful for academic, political, and business leaders. In those circumstances, the best leaders find ways to control dialogue. Uncontrolled dialogue in open meetings is a recipe for disaster—as many politicians have found out, having lost the ability to control their meetings and having been advised by their political leadership to stop having them. Such meetings allow people with specific agendas—some well-meaning, some not—to take over the direction and purpose of the meeting. Competent leaders always put rules or procedures in place that give them some control…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Richard P. Feynman on not knowing: "Admitting that we do not know, and maintaining perpetually the attitude that we do not know the direction necessarily to go, permit a possibility of alteration, of thinking, of new contributions and new discoveries for the problem of developing a way to do what we want ultimately, even when we do not know what we want." Source: The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist II. Lloyd Blankfein on the importance of history: "Every so often, when a young person asks my advice on what to study in college as preparation for a career in finance, I always recommend history rather than math or economics. I say that because it is valuable to have a sense of what has happened before, a consciousness of historical cycles, and the ability to distinguish secular changes from the kind that tend to recede and recur. That kind of perspective helps you keep your head on when things go awry and keeps you from getting too cocky when things go well. Ultimately, an awareness of history makes you a better boss, a better leader, and a better risk manager. It makes you better able to practice resilience, knowing that things do recover." Source: Streetwise: Getting to and Through Goldman Sachs * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the…

VinciWorks Adds Learning Plan Builder to the Portal, Turning Course Libraries Into Ready-to-Launch Training Plans – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Announcing the 2026 Training Industry Top Training Companies Lists: Learning Management Systems (LMS) – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Morgan by Go1 Launches as a Standalone AI Workforce Enablement Brand – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Thought Industries Launches Lens and Unveils Customer Knowledge AI Platform, Breaking the Knowledge Silos Holding Businesses and Their Customers Back – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

OpenSesame Expands AI, Data and Cybersecurity Training With Chegg Skills – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Make the Call Before You Make the Call: Rockbeach Training Launches AI Sales and Manager Training for Sports Ticket Teams – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Beekast Launches Pollen Create to Help Trainers Build Interactive Sessions – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Dave Rossi on living with purpose: "Without this sense of purpose, emotion and rumination can take over, acting like a thick fog that distorts vision and clouds judgment. While emotions are powerful, they are not the objective truth. They can trigger impulsive reactions that feel right in the moment but ultimately lead to regret. Living with purpose forces you to challenge your automatic responses. It requires you to pause and ask yourself: Am I acting from fear, ego, or programming, or am I acting from a place of alignment with my deeper values? This simple shift-learning to recognize emotion and then choosing behavior instead of reacting—is profound. You either live for approval or live for purpose." Source: Alphas Die Early: For the Man on a Mission — And the Women Who Love Him II. Nathan Bennett and Stephen Miles on the shifting role of COOs: "COOs must simultaneously guide organizational development and manage high-velocity operations where necessary skills constantly evolve. Success depends less on executing predetermined plans than on orchestrating continuous adaptation—a skill set many traditional operators never mastered. Executive search professionals caution that operators without strategic depth face limited growth prospects. The label ‘solid operator,’ once praise, now functions as a ceiling. Today’s COOs are expected to act as strategic architects who not only translate vision into execution but provide operational insights that…

IN the early stage of an enterprise software startup, the founder is often the best – and main – salesperson. And that makes sense – founders have the deep product knowledge, intuitive understanding of the market, and heartfelt enthusiasm to win over customers, even when they thought ‘sales’ wasn’t really their thing. But if you want to scale up, at some point founder-led sales are going to hit a ceiling, and founders have to work out how to transition to a different model. This can be difficult: Intuition, improvisation, and sheer force of character often work to get deals over the line when a founder is the one working with the customer, but it is very hard to recreate once they pass the torch. The foundational principle of my go-to-market framework – which I detail in my new book, Built to Grow: A Handbook for High-Performance Sales Teams – is that every startup passes through three distinct phases on the road to success. First, you experiment with the tactics that will form the bedrock of your business. Second, you build systems and processes that create a repeatable and sustainable business. And then you scale everything: you hit the gas pedal and accelerate, investing heavily to drive growth. When it comes to sales, founders and CEOs play a different role and must have different priorities in each of these phases. The approach that gets a business going isn’t the same one that will get it to $100m in sales. Here’s…

Crucial Learning Launches All-in-One Platform to Turn Learning Into Action and Results – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

LearnUpon Secures $50M Growth Financing Facility from Claret Capital Partners to Drive Investment in the Agentic Era – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Ryushun Kusanagi on living in the now: "Clinging to the past and using it as a reason to negate the present is a mental trap-a distraction from what truly matters, and a source of inner turmoil. Life is full of missteps and failures. What matters is how you respond to them. Don’t dwell on your mistakes. Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t look back in regret. Don’t give in to pessimism. Instead, focus on the present, understand it correctly, and dedicate yourself to what you can do right now. Of course, if you’ve hurt someone, it’s important to acknowledge it and sincerely apologize. Doing this is part of taking responsibility. Embrace that moment and take the opportunity to start afresh." Source: The Practice of Not Reacting II. John Maxwell on not taking sides: "If you’re a leader and you allow yourself to get drawn into taking sides and working against other groups of people, you’re limiting your leadership. As leaders, we all need the people on the other side. Our side doesn’t have all the answers. Believing we do is arrogant. I’m not always right, and neither are you. And those on the “other side” are not always wrong. If you don’t listen to them, you’re shrinking your influence and limiting your impact. If you can’t work with people who disagree with you, you will…

Expanded MadCap Syndicate Intelligent Content Delivery Platform Brings New Level of AI Analysis, Access and Control – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

CHANGE initiatives rarely fail because of flawed strategies or poor execution. They fail because of human behavior: what people do when they feel threatened or at risk of losing status, control, or relevance. A senior leader withholds resources from another team. A project team member hoards information about transition status. Each move undermines the initiative’s success. When combined with others, they can derail it. These are the wrenches people throw during high-stakes change. They can be hard to spot and address because they are often covert, uncoordinated, and unpredictable. Without quick and effective responses, dysfunction grows and plans unravel. Left unchecked, the self-interested behaviors become cultural norms, and the downward spiral to failure accelerates. Why People Throw Wrenches During Change Change initiatives typically start well. The leader’s vision of a better future is clear and widely supported. The kick-off builds momentum, and work begins. Before long, people piece together their relative position in the post-change organization. Employees view disruptions through the lens of personal gain or loss. What will this mean for my role, status, influence, or security? As the answers become clearer, emotions flare, which drives actions intended to improve their position. Four forces explain self-interested behavior: Self-preservation: People try to protect the status, certainty, freedom, camaraderie, and confidence they have. Power: People seek the capacity to influence outcomes. They do so through formal authority or personal influence. Change can threaten existing power sources or create opportunities for new ones. Politics: People maneuver to influence those who define…

WeLearn Reveals FRAME™: L&D Reporting in Business and Financial Terms – Read more by Sarah Gallo on Training Industry, Inc..

Attensi Ships RealTalk 3.0, Introduces RealTalk Moments, RealTalk Maker and RealTalk Insights – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Mirantis Launches Training Courses for Using AI Agents and Building AI Infrastructure – Read more by Sarah Gallo on Training Industry, Inc..

Aptiva Advisory Inc. Launches a Bilingual Course On Integrating Human Judgment and AI Into Strategic Decision-Making – Read more by Sarah Gallo on Training Industry, Inc..

WILL Interactive Announces Common Ground 3 — the Next Chapter in Proven Effective Harassment Prevention – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Pearson Acquires Workera, a Pioneer in AI-Native Enterprise Assessment and Skills Verification – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

AI Adoption Is Stalling on Human Uncertainty, Not Technology: Mediazoo Group Launches a Platform That Solves This Problem on Microsoft Marketplace – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Panopto Launches New Ways to Find, Study and Use Knowledge Captured in Video – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

CGS Immersive Introduces Cicero Orchestrator, a Governed AI Knowledge Engine for Workforce Readiness – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Meridian Knowledge Solutions Secures U.S. Patent for Cloud Environment Compliance Automation Technology – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

360training Expands Commercial Training Portfolio With Acquisition of Atlantic Training – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Eubrics Raises Funding From super{set} to Accelerate North American Expansion – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Pearson Acquires Assessment Technology Provider, ITS – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Phoenix Education Partners to Acquire Fuel50, Advancing the Future of Workforce Transformation – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Announcing the 2026 Training Industry, Inc., Top Training Companies Lists: Experiential Learning Technologies – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Mindtools Kineo Helps Close the Management Development Gap for Small Businesses and Teams – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Jericho Security Content Studio Brings Course and Media Workflows Together to Address Training Tool Sprawl – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

OpenSesame Expands AI-Powered Curation to Help L&D Teams Turn Complex Learning Needs Into Action Faster – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Camtasia Launches ChatGPT Plugin to Transform Images Into Instructional Videos – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Zing365 Launches Outcomes-Based Learning Platform as Insurance Sector Moves Beyond CPD Box-Ticking – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Acorn Launches Acorn Altitude, Introducing Workforce Evidence: The Step Beyond Workforce Readiness – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Articulate and Thinkific Announce Partnership and Articulate’s First Native Third-Party LMS Integration – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Skillsoft LX Design Studio Reduces Custom Learning Content Development From Weeks to Days – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Scrum.org Launches New Online Training Course and Certification: AI Fluency for Product Team Members – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Articulate Unveils Major Platform Evolution With Nova, Frontline and New Enterprise Integrations – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

SimpliTrain Launches MCP Server, Letting Organizations Run Their Learning Data Through the AI Assistant They Already Use – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

ForeverLearning AI Launches Conversations, a Multi-Person AI Practice Environment for Difficult Conversations – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

aNewSpring Acquires TrainTool to Turn Training Into Proven Skills – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Scrum.org Announces New Self-Paced Microlearning Course — Product Backlog Refinement™ – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..

Duke Executive Education and Simplilearn Launch Professional Certificate in Applied Generative AI and Agentic AI – Read more by Avery Williams on Training Industry, Inc..