
CEO Empathy Gyms at KKR: A Conversation with Pete Stavros
A year ago, I stumbled upon a video on YouTube that changed how I think about employee ownership. It wasn’t just another corporate success story—it was a moment of pure, raw emotion. Workers in a factory, some of whom had spent decades on the frontlines of their company, learned that their commitment had translated into real financial rewards. I saw men and women break into tears, hug each other, and celebrate a payout that, for many, would change their lives forever. At the heart of this moment was Pete Stavros, the Co-head of Global Private Equity at KKR and the chairman and founder of the nonprofit Ownership Works. His mission? To create a world where employees don’t just work for a...
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The Surrendered Leader
We’ve been sold a lie about leadership. We’ve been told that great leaders take control. That they set the vision, enforce accountability, drive...
Vision 2030: Because Odd Numbers Just Don’t Hit
In 2015, companies everywhere were rolling out their “Vision 2020” plans. It was catchy, it felt ambitious, and it gave organizations a defined...
Who Owns Tariffs At Your Company? The New Rules of Leadership in 2025
I just got off the phone with the CEO of a global corporation with a $75B market cap who was expressing a common challenge: her team needs to learn...
From Fear to FOMO: The AI Whiplash in the Workplace
AI has gone from public enemy number one to the golden child of innovation in record time. Just look at this week’s AI summit in Paris. JD Vance...
Outrage Is Easy. Accountability Is Hard.
Everyone gets selective about their outrage. We see it in politics, in business, in culture—everywhere. But what separates outrage that leads to...
Fear is Having Faith in Something You Don’t Want to Happen
Fear is persuasive. It takes over your thoughts, convincing you to fixate on worst-case scenarios. But fear is not just an emotional response—it is...
Where Have All the Middle Managers Gone?
Not long ago, the middle manager was the linchpin of the corporate world. They juggled project management, performance tracking, and resource...
Why Most People Suck At Power
I was listening to Joe Rogan this weekend when I was struck by one of his comments. I’m not a Rogan fan per se but he shared one line that I loved:...
My New Year’s resolution is to raise the stakes
For the past year, I’ve been wrestling with a nagging feeling that the stakes in my life aren’t high enough. It’s not that things are bad. They’re...
The “Outsider” Strategy: Amazon’s Delivery Dilemma and the Shifting Tides of Public Perception
Raise your hand if you’ve worked for a company that insisted on referring to employees as “partners” or “team members.” I’m looking at you,...
A Culture for All Generations
Disrupting the way we think about generations to attract, engage, and retain all employees
There’s a real benefit in dismantling the perceptions behind Gen Z or X, or whatever the next trendy label is! Citing extensive academic research from her book, Unfairly Labeled, Jessica provides a refreshingly enlightening and data-driven perspective on how multi-generational organizations can strip away stereotypes and and biases that hinder performance and prevent progress toward a common purpose.