ESG Is Under Attack. How Should Your Company Respond? - Harvard Business Review   

When I speak with business leaders about corporate sustainability, the conversations now inevitably turn to the “anti-ESG” movement — a loosely defined collection of beliefs and actions aimed at fighting a perceived shift towards “woke” or progressive ideas in society and business.

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The New Rules of Executive Presence - Harvard Business Review   

Over the past decade, as a result of the pandemic, political and economic instability, social movements such as Black Lives Matter, and changing workplace technologies, what people expect from leaders has changed.

Executive presence (EP) is typically perceived as consisting of three elements in descending order of importance: gravitas, skillful communication, and the “right” appearance. The author’s new research shows that while confidence and decisiveness are still paramount for gravitas, pedigree has become less central, and new weight is given to inclusiveness and respect for others. On the communication front, superior speaking skills and the ability to command a room still lead the list of desirable attributes, but comfort on Zoom, a “listen to learn” orientation, and authenticity are on the rise. Projecting authenticity is also key to the appearance component of EP; so are dressing for the “new normal,” having an online image, and showing up in person.

This article offers a playbook for developing six attributes that increasingly factor into executive presence, citing the examples of a dozen leaders who have cracked the code.

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Project Managers, Focus on Outcomes — Not Deliverables - Harvard Business Review   

If you’ve ever developed a product, you’ve almost certainly been derailed by scope creep. Features multiply, priorities blur, and schedules and budgets suffer. As a leader, how can you recognize scope creep and realign your team? Shift the focus from “what” you’re building (the deliverables) to “why” you’re building it (the outcomes). In this article, I’ll explain how you can keep your team’s efforts aligned with the genuine needs of your audience.

Organizations typically spend hundreds of hours defining scope for projects and initiatives. This is essential for determining resource allocation, budgets, and timelines. But “scope” is a dangerous word. It can be used to mean either specific deliverables or broader outcomes and teams usually default to zeroing in on the deliverables — checking them off generates a sense of fast progress. But this hyper focus on tactics versus end goals also creates an endless expansion of activities that disrupt both schedules and investments. I’ve seen this occur in almost every client engagement at my company, which designs strategies to help organizations differentiate across competitive landscapes. The executive leaders and their teams spend inordinate amounts of time and energy debating various project tactics, while consistently disregarding, undermining, or even failing to consider the larger outcomes they want to achieve. How can such a habitual problem be effectively addressed?

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How Paternity Leave Helps Dads’ Brains Adapt to Parenting - Harvard Business Review   

Parenting is not as “instinctual” as previously believed. While decades of research have focused on the maternal brain, revealing fascinating changes that train the brain for the demands of keeping a small human alive, new research on the paternal brain shows similar changes. And these changes happen even though fathers do not have the physical experiences of pregnancy, birth, and the related hormone shifts. In other words, paternity leave = a free brain-training program for dads. According to the authors, a short-term time investment in spending engaged time with their new baby has the potential to pay a lifelong dividend in dad instincts. If we want to see greater gender equality, we need to not just focus on women’s participation in the professional world — we need to encourage more men to participate in the caregiving world.

The benefits of paternity leave are many. Research has shown that taking time off work to care for a newborn child is good for father-baby bonding, the baby’s development, and the parents’ relationship with each other. But there’s one more huge benefit that we’re just now learning about thanks to new data and research: paternal brain training.

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