Money, politics, family responsibilities, age, ambition, and fear: Some of the topics that matter most to employees are the ones they feel least comfortable discussing at work. But avoiding these conversations can erode trust, undermine psychological safety, and leave leaders making decisions without crucial information. That’s according to Christina Wing, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, who argues that leaders need to get better at addressing workplace taboos. She explains how managers can create an environment where employees feel safe raising sensitive issues, and shares practical advice for addressing mistakes without defensiveness and helping employees speak up about their ambitions. Plus, how to recover when a discussion doesn’t go as planned. Wing is author of the book Unspeakable: The Taboo Topics We Avoid and How to Talk About Them.

How do you lead through a crisis, build an innovative company, and prepare an organization for long-term success? For Kenneth Chenault, former CEO of American Express and current chairman at General Catalyst, effective leadership starts with two responsibilities: defining reality and giving people hope. Chenault, who led Amex from 2001 to 2018, navigated the company through 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis and shares the leadership principles and practices that helped him steer the company through uncertainty, foster innovation, and build a culture of accountability. Chenault explains how leaders can establish clear priorities when the stakes are high, encourage employees to speak up about problems, and challenge the status quo. He also shares lessons from his own leadership development, including how he learned to become a better listener, how outgoing leaders can set their successors up for success, and why diversity remains a core business commitment. Chenault is author of the new book Equal to the Task: A Life Forged Between America’s Promise and Its Truth.

Envy can damage workplace relationships, fuel unhealthy competition, and leave employees feeling stuck. But it can also reveal what people want from their careers—and offer leaders an opportunity to turn rivalry into growth. That’s according to executive coach Stacy Kim, who says there’s a difference between destructive envy and a more constructive response that helps people learn from others. She shares a framework for understanding what envy is telling you, how to turn it into action, and how leaders can foster collaboration rather than competition on their teams. Kim is the author of Envy: Why Wanting What They Have is the Key to Getting What You Want.

What makes a great team? It might have less to do with whether colleagues like one another and more to do with whether they’re aligned on a shared purpose. Organizational psychologist and Wharton professor Adam Grant says leaders can build stronger connections at work, foster productive conflict, and create cultures where people feel empowered to speak up. He explains why task cohesion matters more than social cohesion, how to turn differences into a competitive advantage, and why leaders should reward people who challenge the status quo; and also shares practical ways to rethink onboarding, encourage candid feedback, and help employees connect their work to a meaningful mission. Grant is the author of the new book Vibe: The Secrets of Strong Connection in a Lonely World.

AI is advancing so quickly that companies can’t afford to treat it as simply another productivity tool; it is fundamentally reshaping strategy. In this final episode of our special four-part series on how AI is changing leadership, Wharton professor and AI expert Ethan Mollick explains why leaders need to rethink what their organizations are designed to do—and how work gets done. He discusses how AI agents are changing the role of managers, why companies need to experiment rather than wait for proven playbooks, and how leaders can create competitive advantage when everyone has access to the same frontier models. Mollick is author of the forthcoming book Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI. Plus: • Why AI-driven productivity gains can disappear if companies don’t change their processes and incentives • The four capabilities that will become increasingly valuable: deep knowledge, wide knowledge, taste, and agency • Why companies should build for what AI will be capable of, not just what it can do today In case you missed it, you can find the rest of our AI series below. How AI Is Changing Innovation: Why Speed Alone Isn’t a Strategy: https://hbr.org/podcast/2026/10/how-ai-is-changing-innovation-why-speed-alone-isnt-a-strategy How AI Is Changing Communication: Weighing Efficiency with Efficacy: https://hbr.org/podcast/2026/09/how-ai-is-changing-communication-weighing-efficiency-with-efficacy How AI Is Changing Talent, Not Just Tasks: Rethinking Where Human Judgment Matters Most: https://hbr.org/podcast/2026/09/how-ai-is-changing-talent-not-just-tasks-rethinking-where-human-judgment-matters-most

Optimism isn’t about ignoring problems or pretending everything will work out. It’s about acknowledging challenges while believing that your actions can still make a difference. Psychologist and researcher Michelle Gielan says leaders can cultivate that mindset in themselves and their teams and argues that, when they do, it creates a powerful performance advantage. Drawing on an 11-year dataset of more than 25,000 business professionals, she shares research linking optimism to higher productivity, sales, engagement, and lower burnout. She explains how leaders can use techniques like “power leads” to help teams focus on progress and possibility without losing sight of difficult realities. Gielan wrote the book Resilient Optimism: The Science of Sustaining a Positive Mindset in Tough Times and the HBR article “How Leaders Counter Pessimism in Trying Times.”

AI is making it faster and cheaper than ever to turn ideas into prototypes, products, and businesses—but that abundance creates new challenges for leaders. In episode 3 of a special four-part series on how AI is changing leadership, we look at the ways industry leaders are using AI to truly gain a competitive edge and innovate for the future. Cisco Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel explains how AI is changing the pace and nature of innovation, why human judgment and taste become more important when everyone has access to the same tools, and how companies can use AI to tackle problems they couldn’t have solved before. He also discusses the risks of AI agents, why organizations need new approaches to security and oversight, and how leaders can build a culture that embraces experimentation without sacrificing rigor or accountability. Plus: • Why deciding what not to build may become more important than deciding what to build • Why every major AI productivity gain can create a new human bottleneck • How Cisco used AI to dramatically accelerate the development of a new integrated management platform

How do you know when to trust your previous experience in a transformation environment, and how do you know when to listen, observe, and adapt? Ron Johnson helped create the Apple Store and transform Target into a design-forward retailer. But when he brought his approach to JCPenney, his transformation failed. He explains why leaders shouldn’t rely too heavily on data when they’re trying to create something that hasn’t been done before, how Steve Jobs used patience and diverse perspectives to drive innovation, and why great customer experiences depend on empowering employees to solve problems one customer at a time. Johnson also reflects on his experience at JCPenney, where he moved too quickly and underestimated how deeply employees and other stakeholders were invested in the company’s existing way of doing business. He shares what he would do differently today—and why listening may be one of the most important skills a leader can develop. Johnson is the author of Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple’s Genius.

AI is rapidly changing how top leaders communicate with employees, customers, boards, and each other. In episode 2 of a special four-part series on how AI is changing leadership, we explore how executives can use AI to improve communication without outsourcing the thinking, judgment, and empathy that make it effective. Stanford professor Matt Abrahams and Zapier CEO Wade Foster discuss how leaders are using AI to synthesize information, structure ideas, prepare for difficult conversations, and rehearse for high-stakes moments. They also explain why leaders should be wary of letting AI write everything for them, how overreliance on AI can create a “comprehension gap,” and why preserving a distinctive human voice may become even more important as AI-generated communication becomes ubiquitous. Abrahams is the author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter and host of the podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart. Foster is the cofounder and CEO of Zapier, a software automation company. Plus: Why we need clear rules for when and how AI should be used in workplace communication Why AI could make spontaneous, unscripted communication more valuable Why you should use AI to challenge your assumptions, not just confirm them How leaders can hold on to accountability and authenticity

Becoming CEO can look like the culmination of a career. But the skills that help someone rise to the top job aren’t necessarily the ones that make them successful once they get there. Nitin Nohria, former dean of Harvard Business School, has spent three decades studying CEOs and working with new leaders as they adjust to the demands of the role. He says one of the biggest surprises for new CEOs is realizing that they can’t—and shouldn’t—run the company themselves. Instead, their job is to create the conditions for their leadership team to run it well. He also explains how CEOs can stay connected to their organizations, build the right leadership team, manage their boards, focus their time, and decide which emerging issues—including AI—actually deserve their attention. Nohria is author of The CEO: The Role, the Reality, the Responsibility.

The decisions leaders must make about AI today go far beyond what platforms to invest in: AI is changing organizational culture and leadership for good. In episode 1 of a special four-part series on how AI is changing leadership, we look at how the technology is changing how people interact at work, the new culture it is creating, and how leaders can get smart about talent management and strategy in this rapidly advancing world. Paula Goldman, Salesforce’s chief ethical and humane use officer, argues there’s currently a big opportunity to redesign work around the complementary strengths of humans and AI. She explains how AI could reshape entry-level jobs and the development of future leaders, why companies need to rethink internal mobility and talent development, and how executives can prepare their organizations for an AI-powered workforce without sacrificing accountability, creativity, or trust. Goldman is the author of Manage the Machine: How to Harness Human-AI Collaboration at Work. Plus: • Why “human in the loop” is an outdated model for managing AI—and what it means to put humans “at the helm.” • How leaders can determine which tasks to delegate to AI and where human judgment matters most • Why treating AI primarily as a cost-cutting tool could mean missing its bigger potential • How companies can redesign jobs and develop talent as AI takes over more routine tasks • Why leaders need to think differently about entry-level hiring and the development of future executives • How organizations can use AI to improve management, internal mobility, and employee development

When the future feels increasingly out of our control, how can leaders and organizations make progress? University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman, a pioneer in the study of optimism, resilience, and human flourishing, argues that the answer is agency: the belief that we can influence outcomes and create positive change. He defines agency as a combination of three capabilities: efficacy—the belief that you can achieve a goal now; optimism—the belief that you can achieve it in the future; and imagination—the ability to envision possibilities that don’t yet exist. And he explains how leaders can cultivate these qualities in themselves and their organizations, how managers can help employees overcome catastrophizing, and what AI can—and can’t—do when it comes to one of the most important human capabilities: imagination. Seligman is the author of Agency: The Psychological History of Human Progress.

When a company is small, maintaining a strong culture can feel relatively easy. But as organizations grow, layers of management, geographic distance, and pressure for efficiency can make it much harder to preserve what made the company special in the first place. Restaurateur Danny Meyer has spent decades figuring out how to do just that. He founded Union Square Cafe and built Union Square Hospitality Group, then helped scale Shake Shack from a single location in New York City into a global restaurant chain. Along the way, he’s learned that culture isn’t what happens when the CEO is in the room—it’s what happens when they’re not. He explains how he turned his philosophy of “enlightened hospitality” into a set of specific behaviors that employees can understand and practice. He discusses why companies should hire for both technical expertise and emotional skills, how to identify people with a high “hospitality quotient,” and why promotions are one of the most powerful tools leaders have for reinforcing culture. Meyer is the author of What Could Possibly Go Right? The Essential Journey to Scale an Enduring Culture.

How much does a leader actually matter to an organization’s success? We tend to credit CEOs, founders, and other powerful figures with shaping the institutions they lead, but historian Jared Diamond argues that we often underestimate the role of timing, circumstance, industry, and plain luck. Diamond explains his “Hamlet test,” which asks whether someone else could have achieved the same outcome or whether the leader was uniquely qualified to do it, and how it applies to many business leaders. He also explains why some leaders are able to seize a fleeting moment of opportunity, why founders can have an outsized influence on institutions, and why boards may overestimate the impact of replacing a struggling CEO. Diamond is author of Prophets, Profits, Coaches, and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Matter?

In today’s increasingly decentralized workplaces, leaders often need to get things done without having direct authority over the people they depend on. So how can you influence colleagues, clients, vendors, and even senior executives without simply telling them what to do? Pamela Meyer, founder and CEO of Calibrate, says the answer is learning to read the room—and understanding the informal networks, emotional dynamics, and hidden sources of power that shape decisions. She explains five paths to indirect influence: becoming an influence spotter, a backchanneler, a precision mover, a connector, and a pulse reader. Meyer also explains why the best influencers focus less on how they’re performing and more on what the people around them need. Meyer is the author of How to Read the Room: The Art and Science of Social Observation and the HBR article “Five Ways to Wield Influence When You Lack Authority.”