Leadership & management

Western analytical tools are important to the process of understanding industries and competitors, but true insights can be achieved with what the Buddha called beginner’s mind. In this The Tao of Strategy excerpt, the authors explore how Eastern philosophy complements Western strategy-making and offer 12 principles that can inform business leaders

Change is a concept that organizations live through every day — especially in days since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Darden Professor Lynn Isabella discusses how people interpret change as it unfolds, the stages of adjustment as they make sense of change and how interpretations to change unfold in a predictable pattern.

A new leader can turn around a failing organization — or drive it further into the ground. Strategy, leadership and success are intertwined phenomena, and accounting controls can make all the difference. This Case in Point examines a new pastor in a low-income community, confident he could turn around a small church — and the following controversy.

Strategic thinking, sound decision-making, critical thinking, persuasion, empathy. There are a host of qualities that effective leaders should model in the workplace if they want to influence others and deliver truly positive outcomes. But chief among these is one that might not be on your radar: the willingness and ability to act courageously.

It doesn’t matter how big your leadership toolkit is if you won’t be courageous enough to use those tools when it counts. Just like any other competency, you can learn, practice and strategically deploy the ability to act skillfully in high-stress moments. Here we dig into practical recommendations for getting to the other side of workplace fears.

University of Virginia Darden School of Business faculty share ways in which business leaders should prepare for 2022.

Courage: the lynchpin of leadership. It’s also the key to solving problems, innovating, pursuing opportunities and safeguarding the welfare of others. In a new book — and this Darden Ideas to Action series — Professor Jim Detert discusses courage as a skill that can be learned and developed.

Russell Diez-Canseco, CEO of Vital Farms, a partner company of Conscious Capitalism Inc and Alexander McCobin, CEO of Conscious Capitalism Inc., tell Professor Freeman what changed their minds from “shareholder value maximizers” and led them to become two of the most outspoken advocates for stakeholder-centered capitalism.

Remote work has its challenges. And research shows that we tend to focus on what we are losing in the midst of change. But as we see the picture of the new take shape, we can positively and proactively see benefits to our situations. Here, experts discuss five advantages of remote work, which we can embrace if we move with intention.

Professor Ed Freeman’s new The Stakeholder Podcast features interviews with some of the world’s best theorists, policy makers, scholars, authors, and practitioners of stakeholder thinking. In a recent episode, Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne shares what stakeholder theory has to do with her research and teaching and project management.