Brian Leavy’s research while affiliated with Dublin Business School and other places

Purpose McKinsey partners, Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock and Emily Field are championing the premise that the need for a fundamental rethink of the role of middle management in today’s organizations is now more urgent than ever. Design/methodology/approach So what should the new blueprint be for middle management as the crucial link between the executive level and the front line S&L interviewer Prof Brian Leavy asks the authors of Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work. Findings Companies with top quartile management practices can have more than three times the return to shareholders than other companies. Practical implications Because of middle managers’ proximity to the front line, they have a helpful, realistic perspective on how new tools like generative AI should be adopted throughout the organization. Originality/value The authors found that middle managers deliver the most value to the organization when they can serve as coaches, connectors, talent managers and strategists. For senior leaders to truly put middle managers at the forefront, they must give managers space to grow and the license to manage in a way that works for them and their team.

Purpose An interview with Zeynep Ton, a professor of practice in the operations management group at MIT Sloan School of Management, about er latest book, The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay & Meaning to Everyone’s Work. Design/methodology/approach She believes that leaders can either view their employees as a cost to be minimized, invest little in them and operate with high turnover, or they can see them as drivers of profitability and growth—investing heavily in them, designing their work for high productivity and contribution and therefore operating with low turnover.-- “the good jobs strategy.” Findings The secret sauce of good jobs strategy is four operational choices—focus and simplify, standardize and empower, cross-train and operate with slack—that improve productivity and contribution and make that higher investment possible. Practical implications The competitive costs of low people investment are even higher than the poor operational execution costs. Originality/value By making the work better and increasing pay, companies can better attract and keep their talent and enforce high standards, which improve execution and service, uplifting revenue. Few have examined this important topic more closely than Zeynep Ton, a professor of practice in the operations management group at MIT Sloan School of Management, best-selling author of The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits.

Purpose This masterclass examines former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty's personal memoir of her life and career as a study of authentic leadership in action, and her concept of “good power” through which she distills the major insights on leadership she gleaned along the way. Design/methodology/approach This masterclass examines the insights from a former IBM CEO's “memoir with purpose” as an example of the classic perspective on authentic leadership developed in the “True North” series of studies by Harvard's Bill George and his research associates over two decades. Findings Ginni Rometty's “good power” concept and principles, as developed in her “memoir with purpose,” represent a practical guide for aspiring leaders seeking to become a positive force for change, and they make a valuable addition to the literature on authentic leadership. Research limitations/implications Her “good power” concept and experience-based principles, as developed in her “memoir with purpose” make a valuable addition to the literature on authentic leadership. Practical implications Her “good power” concept and principles, as developed in her “memoir with purpose,” represent a practical guide for aspiring leaders seeking to become a positive force for change. Social implications Her memoir, with its conception of “good power,” strongly encourages corporate leaders to adopt a “stakeholder perspective” and become more active and outspoken, forces for positive change in the wider societies within which they operate. Originality/value Reflective memoirs as analytical as this one, from someone who has led at the highest level in the business world, are still rare in the genre.

Purpose Over the last two decades Bill George has been researching the basic ingredients of authentic leadership through one of the most extensive empirical studies of leadership ever undertaken. He and his team have extended their research to include both international and rising generation leaders and parlayed their findings into a development process aimed at helping current and aspiring leaders to become both more authentic and effective. His latest book, True North: Leading Authentically in Today’s Workplace (Emerging Leader Edition), is co-authored with Zach Clayton. Design/methodology/approach Interview with authors Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic, and Zach Clayton, CEO of Three Ships, conducted by Brian Leavy, Emeritus Professor of Strategy at Dublin City University Business School, a Strategy &Leadership contributing editor and author of the S&L masterclass, “ Effective leadership today – character, not just competence. Findings Authentic leaders engender trust and develop genuine connections, which enables them to motivate people to achieve high levels of performance. Practical implications “I believe the hardest person you will ever have to lead is yourself.” -- Bill George Originality/value “The authors interviewed hundreds of CEOs and found that the self-awareness that they develop in the process of self-discovery is the most essential determinant of their effectiveness as a leader.”

Purpose This is a thought-leadership interview with digital-era experts Thomas Davenport and Nitin Mittal on the strategic desirability and implications for legacy companies on being fully committed to becoming AI-driven businesses. Design/methodology/approach An interview with thought-leaders in the area of digital strategy. Findings The interview explains what it means to be an AI-driven company and how to manage the kind of transformation that legacy will need to go through to become AI-fueled leaders in their sector. Originality/value The main value is the direct dialog with digital-era experts on their latest research insights.

Purpose This is a thought-leader interview with psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic on his insights into the implications for our humanity of the AI age. Design/methodology/approach A thought-leader interview Findings The interview highlights six maladaptive human tendencies that are at risk of being amplified in the age of AI and what we can do to mitigate them Originality/value The interview examines the latest thinking on the topic.

Purpose This study aims to propose a conceptual framework describing the relationship between enablers of knowledge sharing (KS) and organizational sustainability. Design/Methodology/Approach An in-depth literature review based on PRISMA flowchart was conducted to identify the enablers of KS. The study develops a conceptual framework by assimilating enablers of KS on three levels: individual, technical, and organizational, to attain organizational sustainability. Findings Enablers of KS are beneficial for organizations to enable problem-solving, better and faster decision making, stimulating creativity and innovation, improved customers’ services, and leveraging employees? talent. Research/Limitations/Implications Within organizational structure, KS can be fostered by a culture that encourages employees to generate novel and creative ideas. Originality/Value The model of KS presented in this study is applicable to organizations in more complex and uncertain contexts, e.g., the post-pandemic era to retain and sustain talented employees.

Generation after generation, particularly in times of crisis, cry out for leadership. People and institutions that we once admired, like Kenneth Lay of Enron or Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco end up letting us down. How do we get them so wrong? Leadership remains an intriguing but elusive phenomenon. What then is the essence of great leadership? Is it the “vision thing”, as George Bush senior once ruefully described it, knowing that this was not his forte, or is it “charisma”, the gift that Lyndon Johnson envied in John F. Kennedy, yet always seemed to elude him? This chapter examines leadership impact at the institutional level where it is always shaped by three factors: context, conviction, and credibility. The chapter offers a contextual perspective on leadership education.

Purpose The interview explores the Live Enterprise model at Infosys. The idea is to enable mature companies to transform into a business with digital native agility, with many small teams innovating while leveraging shared digital infrastructure, in an environment of continuous evolution and learning. Design/methodology/approach Jeff Kavanaugh, Vice President and Global Head of Infosys Knowledge Institute, the research and thought leadership arm of Infosys, explains how the model promotes rapid experimentation through the digital runway, innovation at the edges by distributed micro-teams and extreme automation at scale for repeatable processes and functions. He and co-author Rafee Tarafdar describe the inner workings of this model in their new book “The Live Enterprise: Create a Continuously Evolving and Learning Organization”. Findings Outcomes are made possible by four capabilities: hybrid talent, a design-to-evolve mindset, a digital runway and a ‘micro is the new mega’ approach to transformational change. Practical implications Micro is the new mega because the Live Enterprise model uses frequent micro-change releases at scale in short sprints. The cumulative effect of these many small changes compounds quickly to transformational change Originality/value Essential reading for executives at mature companies who need to compete in the new digital environment. Offers such revolutionary ideas as: Employee experience (EX) is as important as customer experience (CX) in the live enterprise