Author Archives: Larry Janis

4 Brilliant Leadership Lessons You Can Learn from Donald Trump’s Meeting with Zohran Mamdani

 

 

 

 

The president welcomed the mayor elect to the Oval Office this past week.

 

Why are Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani, former enemies from opposite political camps, suddenly acting like the best of friends? That’s the question politicians, journalists, and New Yorkers are asking themselves after the president and next mayor of New York City held a meeting and joint press conference Friday in the Oval Office. It was actually a very, very clever move for both of them. Every leader can learn from it.

Mamdani has said that Trump has a fascist agenda. Trump has called Mamdani a communist and urged Republicans to vote for Andrew Cuomo–a Democrat–to try and keep Mamdani out of office. So it was astonishing to see them side by side, praising each other to the press.

That astonishment is the point. We live in an attention economy and Mamdani and Trump’s “love fest” captured a huge amount of attention. “You know, I’ve had a lot of meetings with the heads of major countries, nobody cared,” Trump said to the press. “This meeting, you people have gone crazy.”

Here are four more ways the meeting benefited both men, and what every leader should learn from them.

1. Use the power of being unpredictable.

Trump seems to delight in keeping people guessing, and it often works to his advantage. Though Politico’s Jonathan Martin predicted that Trump would heap praise on Mamdani, most observers expected the meeting to go very differently. The president foiled those expectations, as he has so many others.

Just two days earlier, Trump announced he had asked the Justice Department to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, after working for months to block their release. Many MAGA Republicans, including Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, had called for the files to be released. (She now says she’ll resign from the House in January, after her public falling out with Trump led to death threats.) Some suggested Trump might be losing his grip on the party.

It was clear Trump wouldn’t be able to block the files’ release. So calling for their release was a way to regain his leadership position, forging ahead in the direction the party was going, with or without him. It was a reminder that you never really know what he’s going to do next.

2. Stay in tune with the times.

Trump and Mamdani have one important thing in common: They come from outside the traditional power structures of their respective parties. In both cases, that outsider status helped them win office against opponents who’d been inside those power structures for years.

Voters from across the political landscape are frustrated with the status quo these days. They blame longtime political leaders for problems such as inflation. They seem to want to try something new. In very different ways, both men promise something other than business-as-usual. And that’s a very big part of their appeal.

3. Be practical.

Mamdani could be a useful ally for Trump. At 34, he’s young enough to be the 79-year-old president’s grandchild. He seems to represent a politician of the future. And because both men appeal to voters who want to see things get shaken up, Mamdani could conceivably help Trump win more votes.

As for Mamdani, like most major American cities, New York is under threat of a military and ICE takeover of its streets, as well as a threat to have federal funds withheld. A good relationship with Trump may be Mamdani’s best chance to keep both those things from happening.

4. Look for common ground.

That may be the biggest lesson of all. Trump and Mamdani say they share many of the same goals. They’re both concerned about inflation and high prices. Both want safe streets. They’ve both lived in Queens. And they both want the best for their home city. ” I don’t care about affiliations or parties or anything else. I want to see if this city could be unbelievable,” Trump said at their press conference.

We live in a very divisive time, when most people seem to look for disagreement, rather than agreement. They’re quick to demonize their political opponents. And they assume they’ll disagree with those opponents about absolutely everything.

That approach might make sense on social media, but in the real world, our differences are much more nuanced. And we probably share a great deal of common ground, even with our political opposites. But we don’t find that common ground because we don’t look for it.

It’s rare for anyone to do what Trump and Mamdani just did and sit down for a friendly conversation across a great political distance. That’s a shame. If more of us did it, we might learn that there’s more agreement between our different sides than we think. Like Mamdani and Trump, we might even learn how we can benefit each other.

 

Source: INC

First-time manager? Here’s how to build ‘boss brain’

 

 

 

 

 

by Erica Lamberg

Easing into a leadership role can be nerve-wracking. Here’s how to set a ‘manager mindset’ and lead with confidence.

 

 

Being a manager is never easy. And if you have never supervised others, the feat can be even more daunting.

Managers are often spinning several plates: leading by example, setting and exceeding goals for your team, keeping workflow moving, providing support, and keeping employees motivated, engaged, and productive . . . all while adhering to your company’s objectives. If you haven’t done it before, it can be overwhelming.

It’s almost like having to activate an entirely new part of your brain. Luckily, experts say creating “boss brain” is within anyone’s reach, regardless of leadership experience . . . or lack thereof.

Listen and react to the feedback of your team

To develop a leadership mentality, it doesn’t necessarily start by trying to muster up more confidence. Rather, it can start by simply listening to your new direct reports. Show them that you care. Ask your team specific questions about their well-being and identify ways to alleviate some of the challenges they are facing.

According to the 2025-2026 Aflac WorkForces Report, “fewer than half [48%] of employees believe their employer cares about them, down from 54% in 2024, and nearly 1 in 5 employees [18%] believe their company doesn’t care about their mental health at all,” says Matthew Owenby, chief strategy officer and head of human resources at Aflac in Columbus, Georgia.

Part of developing “boss brain” means also developing your empathy muscle.

Zero in on direct reports’ individual strengths

Another component of a manager’s role is to meet goals. But when you’re first becoming a boss, it helps to get more granular and specific with your direct reports. Discover ways to best leverage people’s individual strengths. And then, share their accomplishments, pointing out to the rest of the organization how their contributions strengthen the team and the overall organization.

The same workplace survey revealed that when employees have a strong sense of purpose, they are more likely to report job satisfaction, be more engaged, have strong relationships with colleagues and superiors, and be less likely to experience workplace stress and burnout—all of which contribute to employee retention, he notes.

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How networking can make you a better leader

 

 

 

 

By Porter Braswell

 

 

Over the past few weeks, I’ve traveled across the U.S. and Europe, attending back-to-back leadership conferences. These weren’t your average networking events; they were filled with C-suite executives asking difficult questions in a particularly charged moment: What’s next for DEI? How do we adapt and innovate when it comes to AI? How do we steer employees in a politically divided country? On stage, speakers repeated polished points, but to me, the most important part of what these gatherings offered wasn’t the panel talks—it was the smaller, informal meetings taking place, the standing around high-tops, and the walks to the various meals.

In these candid conversations, leaders spoke with a level of candor and vulnerability that there isn’t always room for at the office. Some asked questions, others gave answers. What unified us all was a strong desire for connection, a resolve to make sense of the world together. Today’s leaders are seeing the status quo rapidly dissolve and are looking for support and guidance. As often as not, they’re finding it in one another, not in town halls or board meetings.

At one conference I attended, an impromptu group debate over what it means for a brand to have a literal voice in the age of AI prompted a CMO to leave that session committed to developing a sonic identity for their brand—not because of extensive market research, but because of a single peer-driven conversation. More and more frequently, I see firsthand the necessity for executives to have a trusted community to turn to for advice.

No Longer Just a ‘Nice-To-Have’

Today’s leaders need more than strategy decks. As we face political uncertainty, technological advancements, and cultural shifts, in this landscape, no leader can afford to try to go it alone. Yet, unfortunately, many leaders are, in fact, just that—alone.

I’m no stranger to navigating executive circles, but even after years, walking into rooms with industry leaders can still be intimidating. No matter how confident you are, it still takes genuine vulnerability to approach someone, introduce yourself, and initiate a meaningful conversation. This discomfort isn’t unusual: many executives I’ve spoken to, regardless of their tenure, have expressed feeling awkward or isolated. A recent survey found that over 70% of CEOs experience work-related loneliness, and according to former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, feeling lonely at work “reduces task performance, limits creativity, and impairs other aspects of executive function such as reasoning and decision making.”

In a time where clarity and creativity are crucial, building connections is now more necessary than ever. But the reality is, building connections takes work, and it can often be uncomfortable. The benefits are worth it, however, and for lonely or struggling executives, there’s cause to be hopeful. I’ve personally seen how many leaders openly embrace community and look out for one another, and I’ve also seen how quickly things can change for the positive when leaders get themselves into the right rooms. The ability to speak openly, share notes and experiences, and weigh pros and cons with peers before making decisions is a lifeline.

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The leadership skill nobody talks about: Self-editing

 

 

 

 

by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

 

When you think of leaders you admire, you likely imagine them as authentic, at least in the sense of seeming genuine, real, and trustworthy.

Science confirms this is usually the case.

For example, data tells us that trustworthy leaders stand out for their “no thrills” patterns of behavior: They are, in other words, predictable, reliable, and unlikely to shock their employees or followers with erratic or excitable behavior that freaks them out.

Furthermore, the best meta-analysis (quantitative review of hundreds of independent top studies) on personality and leadership tells us that one of the most consistent predictors of whether someone emerges as a leader, and is in turn actually effective in that role, is conscientiousness—a trait embodied by people who are methodical, disciplined, gritty, and who excel at self-control and resisting temptations (in other words, the opposite personality to Charlie Sheen, though his current self has no doubt become more conscientious!).

Unsurprisingly, leaders with this profile also tend to create higher levels of psychological safety, which as my colleague Amy Edmondson and I have recently illustrated is likely to create the conditions that enable teams to experiment, take healthy risks, fail smart, and speak up without fear of being reprimanded. Ironically, then, the more leaders can edit themselves, the less pressure their teams will feel to edit themselves. In other words, if you want people to feel safe and included, focus on being your best rather than your “real” or natural self.

Works in progress

More importantly, every leader is a work in progress. That is, the growing complexities and uncertainties underpinning each and every one of the new challenges leaders must face (e.g., navigating the human-AI age, coming to terms with global geopolitical conflicts, managing shareholder and stakeholder value, having a voice on polarizing matters without alienating or antagonizing or acting like a cult leader), make it imperative that leaders improve, evolve, and develop. This requires being coachable, and having the necessary curiosity, humility, and motivation to not just be yourself—to not be limited by your past and present self. (more…)

Are you trapped in the middle as a middle manager?

 

 

 

 

by Anna Burgess Yang

 

I spent several years of my career in the uncomfortable role of middle manager. On one side, I had executives asking me why my team couldn’t “do more,” and on the other side, my employees told me they were stretched too thin.

It was an endless tug-of-war. I was both the enforcer of company expectations and the advocate for my team’s needs. At times, my role felt at complete odds with itself. Executives push for efficiency and growth, while employees look for empathy and stability.

The shifting role of middle management 

My role as a middle manager was many years ago. Today’s middle managers have the added pressure of potentially becoming obsolete. Big companies like Amazon, Google, and Citigroup have opted to make their management teams leaner. Not to mention the looming threat of AI.

With flattening org charts and AI-driven efficiencies, the role of middle management has changed. They’re no longer the roles that “keep things moving.” Instead, they’re responsible for people: managing culture and communication across departments and locations.

Yet even though the expectations and job descriptions have changed, many of the underlying limitations of middle management haven’t. Middle managers often have limited authority to implement changes. Yet, somehow, they have unlimited accountability for outcomes.

Unlimited accountability that often leads to burnout, especially when managing people. I spoke to one former middle manager who said that she felt like she had to compensate for her employer’s unsustainable growth practices. “I had to choose between screwing people over or shielding my team,” she said. “It was emotionally draining.” Eventually, she quit and took a new job as a non-manager.

The reimagined role of middle management

To survive in the new world of middle management, you have to acknowledge that you’ll mostly be a people-manager rather than a task-manager.

To succeed in this type of role, you’ll need to do all of the following:

Set the right expectations with upper management, making your team’s bandwidth and capabilities clear.

Push back strategically and learn to frame conversations around outcomes (“If we do X, here is the impact on Y”).

Protect your team’s trust by being transparent, admitting the limitations of your authority, and advocating for fair workloads.

Protect your own boundaries by caring for your team without carrying the burden of everyone’s problems.

For many companies, middle management is the only way to get ahead (and earn more money). Yet it’s an increasingly risky role for companies that see the job only as task-based, not people-based. Those employers are most likely to lay off managers during rough economic times or when AI can replace tasks.

Take on a middle manager role with your eyes fully open. If the company doesn’t value a people-based role, you might want to find a new job elsewhere. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself underappreciated, constantly pulled in different directions, and at risk for losing your job.

This post originally appeared at fastcompany.com