David Sluss

Personalize relationships with direct reports through career identity-focused one-on-ones Google, via Project Oxygen, popularized 1:1 meetings between managers and their direct reports. One-on-ones within scaling organizations became an essential way for leaders (and the increasing middle management cadre brought in) to “keep things moving” with agility. Effective 1:1 meetings should focus on transactional issues such as task completion and project work.

David M. Sluss, Ph.D., is a professor of management and the Leading@Scale Chaired Professor at ESSEC Business School in Paris. The amount of change coming at leaders right now may feel unprecedented, given today’s political and technical landscape. But amid significant disruptions, such as artificial intelligence tools, deep-tech innovations, novel fintech platforms, and geopolitical shifts, an organization’s capacity to grow depends on its capacity to change constantly.

Change Management: How to Avoid the Hero Trap Many leaders of growing organizations bemoan employee resistance to change. But the reason most change efforts fail is that leaders suffer from the hero complex. Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Summary: Many leaders blame employee pushback when change efforts fail — but they may need to look in the mirror. When leaders try to play the hero, ... they often stop listening and take criticism of proposed solutions personally.