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When I was in college, I couldnt close the front door to my dorm room. The wooden door swelled in the August heat. Multiple maintenance requests were made, and yet, weeks later, the problem remained unresolved. I went door to door to every room and found out how long people were waiting to have their urgent maintenance requests resolved. As it turns out, there was a process problem. I bypassed the usual channels and went with my list straight to the head of campus residences. After all, the process clearly wasnt working for anyone. You might be wondering, what does this have to do with the C-suite? The truth is, this experience mirrors what is happening in nearly every organization. Those at the top are often not aware of whats going on below. Its not that they dont care. They just have people who shield them from the truth. You see, the higher a leader rises, the less likely they are to hear honest feedback or unfiltered reality. Thats because asking the right questions and staying grounded in whats happening is a skill in itself. When leaders dont do it, it costs the organization. A leader might be making poor decisions due to inaccurate or incomplete data. Incomplete truths can lead to low psychological safety and trust, which we know can lead to disastrous outcomes. The leader might be missing out on cultural blind spots that lead to ethical or reputational failures. An organization that doesnt allow dissent will see a stall in innovation, which can lead to extinction. As a social scientist who coaches, speaks on, and writes about success and high achievers, including in my recent book, Ive helped many leaders learn how to increase their awareness and navigate what is happening on the front lines. There are several reasons why people guard senior leaders from the truth. Most arent malicious, but are based on self-preservation. Here are some of the most common reasons and ideas on how to act when you suspect this might be brewing: 1) Fear of consequences Employees self-censor to avoid appearing negative. Dont shoot the messenger” of bad news is a valid concern. Employees feel that if they share bad news, they risk being sidelined or worse, fired. At Ford, when Alan Mulally took over as CEO, he asked his leadership team to color-code project updates. Week after week, they were all green, until one brave executive finally submitted a red status, indicating things werent going well, and that he needed help. Instead of punishing him, Mulally applauded him and made him a shining example for the entire company. Mulallys red-yellow-green system made honesty a leadership requirement, not a risk.As a leader, you need to show your employees that you value and prioritize hearing the truth. Reward those who surface problems rather than those who maintain appearances. Make it clear that you cant help or redirect resources if you dont know the problem (and its extent). Now, there is a systematic way to do this so that you dont sound like a whiner. The presenter should share the goal, the current status, and what theyve tried so far. This shows that the presenter has done everything in their power and is looking for alternative solutions or ideas they might not have considered. Encourage upward feedback through surveys, town halls, or anonymous portals. Have regular communication where you say phrases like I hear there is a major problem with X. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Here is our corrective course of action. This shows that your request to hear concerns, as painful as they may be, isnt performative. You want to be able to do something to remedy the situation, but first, you must know it exists. 2) Desire to please Everyone wants to be in the good graces of leadership. People often think that telling them what they want to hear will do just that. They end up sugarcoating updates to match what they think the leader wants to hear. They talk about their accomplishments and improvements while avoiding the areas of concern. 3) Organizational distance Multiple layers insulate leaders from day-to-day reality. When theyre confined to their offices and circles of influence, they dont often know whats happening on the front lines. Organizational etiquette means that people often report to their direct manager, not the head of the organization (although Gen Z seems to be breaking this mold).If people dont see you and know you, they cant approach you. Jared Lamb, a school principal, turned his office into a conference room and repurposed an AV cart as his desk, which allowed him to roll through the school and be around the students and teachers throughout the workday. This way, he was able to see everyone in action, and offer a helping hand exactly in the moment where they needed him, whether it was a teacher needing a bathroom break or helping with a child who needed extra attention. No, going fully mobile may not be conducive for everyone. You can, however, make the time to lead while walking around. Asking pivotal questions such as What are you working on? Whats your most pressing deadline? Where are you getting resistance? Did you find a solution to that problem you were facing? What have you tried? Where do you need help? This will actively and authentically show that you care. Youll also be on the front lines, so you can see when people are celebrating or supporting a colleague, which is something that leaders should be aware of. 4) Time scarcity As leaders become busier (and have fuller calendars), they rely on filtered summaries and dashboards. The problem is that those give glossed-over versions of reality. The critical question to ask here is Why? Why did that happen this way? Why didnt it happen before? Why is it taking so long? Instead of only having updates at meetings, use the time to understand the why behind the dashboard results. The most effective leaders arent just visionaries. Theyre truth-seekers. Surround yourself with those you can trust to tell you the truth and mentors who can help you seek it. Include people outside the chain of command and organization for diverse, candid input. You cant lead well if you dont know whats real. Remember, staying grounded isnt a passive state. Its a form of discipline that you need to practice.
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E-Commerce
Reigning National Football League MVP Josh Allen met Therabody founder and chiropractic doctor Jason Wersland at his first Buffalo Bills training camp in 2018. Three years later, Allen became an investor in the company (along with a laundry list of other athletes and celebrities), and now he is becoming the brands first-ever performance adviser. The move reflects a broader trend of brands expanding the job description of ambassadors to go beyond mere promotion, with roles that include key investors or roles in product and R&D. We’ve seen it with On and Zendaya, David Beckham and IM8, even the Kelce brothers and Garage Beer, among others. “For me, it’s not just about the recovery, it’s about preparing and being ready to perform,” Allen tells Fast Company. “I’m excited to bring what I’ve learned that works for me on the field into the product development side to help push some innovation forward.” Allen says Therabody products like the Theragun Pro Plus, JetBoots Pro Plus, and ThermBack LED wrap play a significant role in his preparation, training, and recovery routines. The company is launching a new ad campaign starring Allen, as well as two exclusive Josh Allen Performance Bundles in the U.S. from September 7 through November 22, built around products Allen uses in his personal routine. Make it official Therabody chief marketing officer John Solomon says that making Allen an official performance adviser is just formalizing a process and relationship hes already had with the brand since that first training camp. We wanted to formalize that process with Josh, as a longtime investor and Therabody user, but also as someone who is having a huge moment right now, Solomon says. It allows us to get insights quicker and for him to be a part of the process, which makes him an even more enthusiastic advocate when products are launched. This new role is aimed at strengthening the brands place in sports and performance, which has exploded with copycat and competitive products since the first Theragun was launched in 2016. In more recent years, the company has branched out to include wellness (pain, stress, sleep) and beauty (focused on antiaging). Since expanding, Solomon says the company has seen double-digit year-over-year growth, only recently interrupted by tariffs. Authentic Allen Allen says that his relationship with Therabody is rooted in the same process he uses for all of his business and commercial partnerships. It’s really about the authenticity of itnever putting my name on something that I personally don’t believe in or I wouldn’t use, he says. In the past year, Allen has starred in ads for Gatorade, Pepsi, and Snickers. He credits his close advisers and some Hall of Famers with helping him navigate this side of his career. I’m very fortunate to have a really good team around me, obviously with my wife and my family, he says. And then, I’ve had small talks with guys like Peyton [Manning] and Tom [Brady], because they’ve done pretty well for themselves off the football field as well. Earlier this year, Allen signed on as the first New Era brand ambassador to have a direct investment stake in the headwear company, and he also joined the Cashmere Fund, a Nasdaq-listed interval fund led by former Endeavor exec Elia Infascelli. He sees this latest move with Therabody as another way to utilize his present to help secure his future. At the end of the day, you can only play football for so long, but you can use your expertise in other fields just like this, Allen says. It’s a chance for me to help a brand and become better at something outside of the game of football.
Category:
E-Commerce
On 10 wooded acres outside of Tallahassee, Florida, a curved, wood-paneled home juts out of the natural landscape like a ship thats been permanently grounded on land. Its the only residence designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the whole state, and its currently on the market for $2.1 million. [Screenshot: NAI Global] Nicknamed the Spring House after a nearby natural water feature, the home was completed in 1954 as a commission for husband and wife George and Clifton Lewis. According to the Spring House Institute (the organization responsible for the propertys preservation), the Lewises asked Wright to design a space for them with the stipulation that they had a lot of children and not much money. The resulting 2,000-square-foot structure is an example of how Wrights experimentation with complex curved geometries shaped the tail end of his careera fascination that’s also apparent in his design for New York City’s iconic Guggenheim Museum. [Photo: Swcopeland/Wiki Commons] What the Spring House has in common with the Guggenheim For most Americans, the name Frank Lloyd Wright probably calls to mind a structure dominated by artfully arranged parallel lines and hard anglesthe kind of geometry exemplified by some of Wrights most iconic buildings, like the Fallingwater home in Pennsylvania or the Ennis House in Southern California. However, in his later years, Wright became more interested in understanding how carefully conceived curves could change the utility of a space. This curve-based approach, termed Wrights hemicycle style, involved designing semicircular floor plans behind large curved glass walls to allow the building to receive the full arc of the sun during the day. In the Spring House, thats most evident through the homes back wall, which features a sweeping semicircle that looks out into the back yard and is almost entirely paneled in glass. Per the Spring House Institute, the Spring House is one of just 11 hemicycle houses designed by Wright, and one of only two hemicycle houses with its “unusual boat-like shape,” derived from the intersection of two arcs. John Waters, preservation program director at the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, says he believes the Spring House is a reinterpretation of an earlier design known as the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House, which similarly employed a curved exterior to let in maximum light. “There are a number of aspects of the Spring House, like the way its second story is suspended from the roof, that are similar to the second Jacobs house,” Waters says. “But there are also some really interesting tweaks. Either end of the interior balcony gracefully extends out beyond the glazed wall to exterior balconies on either side. I think it’s just a very elegant design in that way.” [Photo: NAI Global] Waters notes that Wright used similar design principles to simultaneously create the Guggenheim Museum, recognizable for its interior of concentric white circles, as well as the David and Gladys Wright House, which features a circular spiral design. “It’s probably a chicken-and-egg situation in terms of which design was leading the others, but they are all sort of conceptualized at the same time,” Waters says.
Category:
E-Commerce
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