Great ideas often die, not because they’re wrong, but because no one knows how to influence others to act on them. In leading today’s complex organizations, it’s not enough to be right. The real challenge for leaders is getting people to change behavior, and stay changed. In this episode, we sit down with Joseph Grenny, co-author of Crucial Conversations and one of the world’s leading experts on influence and behavior change, to unpack the science and strategy behind lasting behavior change using his powerful Six Sources of Influence framework. We explore the difference between persuasion and true influence, why most change efforts fail, and how even well-intentioned leaders often rely on the wrong tools—like incentives or policies—when they should be focusing on motivation, social systems, and structural design. Joseph shares real-world stories, including how The Other Side Academy transformed the lives of former felons without a single failed drug test in over a decade. We also look at corporate examples, such as how to pitch ideas internally, how to harness peer pressure the right way, diagnose resistance to change, and why influence always begins with empathy, not authority.

________________

Start your day with the world’s top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Most leaders manage culture with dashboards that measure what's easy, not what's true. In this episode of Leadership Spark, KeyAnna Schmiedl, Chief Human Experience Officer at Workhuman, challenges leaders to stop relying on outdated engagement scores and start looking at what really drives culture: recognition. She explains why traditional HR data misses the lived employee experience and how recognition moments reveal the hidden influencers, team dynamics, and unspoken values shaping your organization every day. KeyAnna unpacks how recognition isn’t just a feel-good perk, but a source of human intelligence that shows who’s thriving, who’s struggling, and where your culture is strongest or weakest. Learn how to stop leading with rear-view metrics and start using recognition data to shape your culture in real time.

________________

This episode is sponsored by Workhuman:

AI without purpose doesn’t serve people. It’s why many companies have tried, and few have succeeded.

Workhuman is one of them. With the groundbreaking release of Human Intelligence, Workhuman combines AI with real recognition data to help leaders do right by their people, and their organization.

It’s how you spot burnout before it leads to turnover. Or discover hidden strengths before they’re overlooked. It’s how you build a culture that’s not only productive—but sustainable. That’s what future-ready leadership looks like.

Learn more at Workhuman.com and see how Human Intelligence is helping the most forward-thinking companies lead with insight, empathy, and impact.

________________

Start your day with the world’s top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

The future of work is changing, and we can't afford to have our leaders evolve backward by sticking to outdated leadership styles. It's high time for a major upgrade because this new era of work won't wait for you to catch up. In this three-part episode, we explore what it takes to thrive at the highest levels of leadership across three urgent dimensions: executive readiness, AI fluency, and hybrid work strategy. We begin with Mark Thompson, world’s #1 CEO coach and author of CEO Ready, who shares what it really takes to step into the top seat: mastering leadership languages, building trust with your boss, and aligning ambition with the real demands of executive life. Then we dive into the age of AI with Dr. Michael Chui, Senior Fellow at McKinsey and QuantumBlack AI, who explains how agentic AI is reshaping leadership itself—from decision-making and team structure to the rising need for leaders who can manage machines as skillfully as people. Finally, we turn to the workplace of the future with Stanford Professor Dr. Nicholas Bloom, the world’s top expert on remote work, who debunks common myths, lays out why hybrid work is the sweet spot, and reveals how AI might accelerate the decline of fully remote roles.

________________

Start your day with the world’s top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/