The Insightful Leader
A Weekly Newsletter
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The science of failure (and success)
Sent to subscribers on March 12, 2025
Behind every great success story lie even greater tales of failure. Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school three times. Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first anchor job. There’s a good reason this has become something of a valuable cliché.
Setbacks can be a crucial part of young... more
Encouraging authenticity at work
Sent to subscribers on March 5, 2025
We all bring a version of ourselves to work. And we tend to fare—and feel—better when the version we bring is our most authentic self.
People from marginalized social groups might still fear the consequences of revealing too much about themselves. But certain conditions can make them feel more... more
How “artifacts” can define your legacy
Sent to subscribers on February 26, 2025
This week, we look at how family-enterprise leaders can identify “artifacts,” or objects and stories that convey meaning, to transmit the firm’s values across generations.
We also have advice for startup founders on how to find funders who share their company’s vision.From framed dollar bills to... more
Is meritocracy a myth?
Sent to subscribers on February 19, 2025
In the U.S., there’s an ethos that we get our jobs—and the status that accompanies them—as a result of our own hard work and intelligence. There’s a sense that meritocracy is the norm and that we earn our economic and social positions, rather than inherit them.
But in taking a closer look at... more
Torn between two offers?
Sent to subscribers on February 12, 2025
We’re told to be bold and ask for what we want in interviews—but is there a line?
Kellogg’s Leigh Thompson, an expert negotiator, addresses the question in the context of a student who had a dilemma: Should they leverage one job offer against another they had already accepted?
We’ll get into that... more
Growing pains for growing teams
Sent to subscribers on February 5, 2025
It’s Super Bowl week, so we here at Kellogg Insight are thinking about teams. Specifically, we’re thinking about one consequence often faced by growing teams: as they expand, it may get tougher for team members to talk to each other. New research from Jillian Chown, an associate professor of... more
The workplace scapegoat
Sent to subscribers on January 29, 2025
When things go wrong at work, it’s often the middle managers who are scapegoated. They tend to bear the brunt of the criticism, both from the team they manage and their higher ups. And they’re often characterized as bureaucratic or ineffective.
But Brooke Vuckovic, a clinical professor of... more
Delegation dos and don’ts
Sent to subscribers on January 22, 2025
At the risk of being the millionth person to tell you this: you should delegate. It can simultaneously save you time and develop your ranks.
Of course, I’d need about ten hands to count the amount of times I’ve tried and failed to do that myself, so I’ve long thought the advice grossly... more
New year. New sense of self.
Sent to subscribers on January 15, 2025
Biopics about bad behavior have been on a roll in recent years: The Dropout, on the Theranos scandal; Inventing Anna, about how a young socialite scammed New York’s high society out of millions; and two shows (Dopesick and Painkillers) about Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid crisis. These are just... more
Indra Nooyi gets tough
Sent to subscribers on January 8, 2025
It’s great to be back.
I imagine we’re all still in the throes of our resolutions for 2025 (unless you aren’t, in which case, congratulations on knowing when to quit), so today I’m sharing a few lightly edited motivational excerpts from a conversation between Kellogg’s Ellen Taaffe and Indra Nooyi,... more
4 steps to a strong CEO–board relationship
Sent to subscribers on December 18, 2024
Becoming CEO: for many career-climbers, that’s the dream, right?
But having made it to the top, many new CEOs find themselves unprepared to deal with their new bosses, aka the board of directors, which may include as many as 15 people, some of whom know very little about the company or even the... more
AI … hardly an overnight success
Sent to subscribers on December 11, 2024
Given the outsized attention paid to ChatGPT and its brethren, one could be forgiven for thinking the technology behind generative AI sprung out of nowhere, fully formed. Not so, says Kellogg’s Sergio Rebelo. This week: a brief history of the long history of AI.
Plus, AI-generated misinformation,... more
Your career’s next chapter
Sent to subscribers on December 4, 2024
Two years ago, when Anne Chow was CEO of AT&T Business, she decided she was done with her career at the company where she had spent 32 years. But the move didn’t feel like a retirement, she says, since she planned to remain active in the business world. Instead, she calls it a “rewirement”: a... more
The financial upside to loving what you do
Sent to subscribers on November 27, 2024
Do you love what you do? If so, you should consider letting the world know. This week, we’ll dive into why.“I really enjoy making it”
A new study getting at this question was recently published by Kellogg’s Jake Teeny, along with collaborators Anna Paley and Robert Smith of Tilburg University and... more
Sustainability—burden or boon?
Sent to subscribers on November 20, 2024
You’d think acting sustainably ought to be a no-brainer—surely, operating in a way that ensures our continued existence is preferable to extinction?
But for corporate leaders, sustainability can be a hard sell, conjuring up costly investments that cut into profits and distract from other business... more
Why we give peers a pass
Sent to subscribers on November 13, 2024
Sunlight: good for brightening the sky, enabling all life on earth, and triggering our bodies to produce vitamin D.
It’s also, at least metaphorically, a great disinfectant. Indeed, plenty of leaders have come to the conclusion that transparency will curb a multitude of ethical sins. Which is why... more
Storytelling, shrinkflation, and more
Sent to subscribers on November 6, 2024
Need a break from the wall-to-wall U.S. election coverage? Look no further. Here’s a roundup of uplifting stories we’ve published recently that you may have missed.Story power!
When it comes to creating a world we want to live in, don’t underestimate the power of stories. Research by a team of... more
Are you a connector?
Sent to subscribers on October 30, 2024
A large condo building recently went up across the street from my house, and though to my knowledge nobody has yet moved in, a person with a dog regularly emerges from the building, presumably to walk said dog. I have over time developed a working theory that the individual is a hard-working real... more
What rom-coms get right about communication
Sent to subscribers on October 23, 2024
When it comes to me and rom-coms, well—it’s complicated.
Oh wait, who am I kidding? Groundhog Day? A classic. Crazy Rich Asians? Loved. It. Bridget Jones’s Diary? To this day, I still chuckle about that blue soup.
In addition to being a time-honored way of passing an afternoon, however, rom-coms... more
What’s your company’s purpose?
Sent to subscribers on October 16, 2024
What is your company’s purpose?
According to Anne Chow, the former CEO of AT&T Business, you’ll need to go beyond what your company does and zero in on why it does it when defining your company’s purpose. You’ll also want to understand how your company’s way of doing things makes it unique and... more
