Each week, I compile the resources related to leadership, personal growth, and professional development that I shared on social media the prior week, with the accompanying quotations.
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Marlene Chism:
“When a Leader’s Inner Conflict Becomes Everyone’s Problem”
(8-25-26).
“Ask:
What action best reflects both my values and my leadership responsibility now?”
……..
John Spence:
“What Does Excellence Mean Here?” (9-8-26).
“[High-potential employees] want competitive compensation, but other factors are just as important. The list includes challenging, meaningful work, talented colleagues, a strong culture, opportunities to grow personally and professionally, and a workplace that treats them with fairness and compassion. Above all, they want to work for a leader they trust, respect, and admire.”
……..
Bruce Rosenstein:
“Learning From the Drucker-Like Figures of Psychology” (9-22-26).
“In an age of worldwide anxiety about immigration, it’s worth pointing out that Drucker, Csikszentmihalyi, Schein, and Bandura were all born outside the United States, came here as young adults, and built their careers at universities in this country. Schein even wrote a memoir about his immigrant experience, Becoming American: My First Learning Journey.
….
Each slowly and deliberately built careers based on hard work, ingenuity, creativity, and curiosity. At this inflection point in history, even if we do not reach the heights they achieved, there is nothing stopping us from building our careers in similar ways.”
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Joe Folkman:
“The Most Effective Way for an Employee to Stand Out” (9-24-26).
“The path to standing out isn’t necessarily working harder at everything. It is becoming remarkably effective at a few things that matter.
You don’t need to be great at all six of these capabilities.
You need to identify the strength that fits your natural abilities, your role, and the needs of your organization—and then deliberately develop it until other people cannot help but notice the difference.”
……..
Kirkus Reviews — Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best (2026), by Angela Duckworth:
“Practical approaches for supplementing individual effort with communal support.” (7-20-26).
“The psychologist author of the bestselling Grit (2016) moves on to suggest that effort and persistence may not be enough to create a successful personal and professional life and that ‘grit is necessary—but not sufficient.’ Her new book argues that we can set ourselves up for success by modifying our environments, finding supportive peers, putting ourselves in the way of potential mentors, and immersing ourselves in a helpful and challenging culture. …. Along the way, she makes a convincing case that ‘of all the ways you can change your behavior, willpower is the absolute worst.'”
