Be Well Lead Well® Newsletter

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of talking with many leaders who have shaped systems far larger than themselves. What stays with me most is not their titles or accomplishments, but how they understand power and responsibility. In a conversation with my colleague and friend, Dr. Rich Carmona, former U.S. Surgeon General, he shared a story that touched me deeply. Long before his national roles when the scope and visibility of his leadership blossomed, Rich was a 12-year-old boy growing up in an impoverished neighborhood. His mother worked nights, and when she left the house, she placed responsibility for his younger siblings squarely on his shoulders. At the time, he didn’t think of this as leadership training. He was simply doing what needed to be done. Looking back, he sees it differently. Only later did he realize what that period had taught him: leadership is always about being responsible for the lives and futures of others. What changes over time is not the nature of leadership, but its scope and scale. This perspective feels especially relevant today, when leadership is often framed in terms of influence, authority, or outcomes. Rich’s reflection reminds us that leadership, at its core, is…

In today’s leadership landscape, disruption is no longer episodic. It is the constant hum of our lives and work. As leaders, we’re navigating an unprecedented convergence of forces: accelerating technological change, rising health and wellbeing concerns, geopolitical instability, climate pressures, and shifting expectations about what organizations and brands are responsible for in society. It’s no wonder we feel stretched, reactive, or unsure where to place our attention. Yet amid all this disruption, one thing remains quietly true: people are still looking for signals of stability, coherence, and care. And increasingly, they look for those signals not only from leaders, but from the brands that leaders steward. A THRIVING LEADER’S PERSPECTIVE FROM INSIDE GLOBAL BRANDS Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Konstantinos Delialis for a conversation about thriving leadership. Our dialogue wasn’t just about the breadth of his global management experience across categories, cultures, and continents, but the clarity he’s gained about the role of leadership and brands during times like these. Konstantinos’ career arc is familiar on the surface: senior roles in fast-moving consumer goods, leadership at scale, exposure to some of the world’s most influential brands, such as The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, and Kraft Heinz. But…

A few months ago, I had a conversation that stayed with me far longer than I expected. I was connecting with Jess Price, founder and Chief Vision Officer at Paradigm Makers, based in Australia. We live on opposite sides of the world, with different contexts, accents, and daily realities. Yet, within minutes, I felt a sense of deep familiarity. Jess was naming the very same questions I hear from leaders every day. Jess is devoted to reimagining how work works. Not through small tweaks or surface-level fixes, but by questioning the assumptions we’ve inherited about productivity, systems, and success. As we spoke, I realized she was giving voice to many questions leaders are quietly holding—questions they sense deeply, but don’t always feel permission to ask out loud. When Toxicity Became a Turning Point What struck me wasn’t just the clarity of Jess’s aspiration, but how personally grounded it is. The focus of her career today emerged from lived experience. When a job left her anxious, depressed, and unable to work for months, she didn’t decide she was the problem. Instead, she listened more deeply and recognized something essential: it wasn’t the people who were failing, it was the systems and…

Here’s a statistic that recently stunned me: 70–80% of people in management roles aren’t adding real value to their organizations.  That isn’t a moral critique. It’s the sobering conclusion of Dr. Richard Boyatzis, professor at Case Western Reserve University, whose decades of leadership effectiveness research span hundreds of organizations around the world. And it speaks to something I see every day in our work at Wisdom Works. Most managers aren’t bad people. They aren’t lacking intellect, commitment, or care. They’re overextended, under-resourced, and operating within leadership models that were never designed for the complexities, speed, and emotional demands of today’s world. This isn’t about blame. It’s about possibility. As we step into 2026, this statistic is a wake-up call. It’s also an invitation—to rethink how we’re living, leading, and relating, and to imagine what becomes possible when we shift from surviving to thriving, as human beings and stewards of others. When Leadership Became a Selfie In my discussion with Richard, he posed a fascinating question: “When did the selfie become the most popular form of photography?” He wasn’t commenting on social trends; he was diagnosing a deeper cultural mindset—what he calls rampant narcissism—which has quietly seeped into how many people lead….