Eric McNulty

Technology alone won’t solve your organizational challenges

I recently participated in an online open innovation session on the future of work hosted by Everything Omni, a UK-based group aiming to “future-proof work and the workplace for the uncertainty of today.” I was quickly in over my head. Not because of…

In search of elegance

The pandemic has laid bare the dire need for elegance in business. I’m not talking about the kind of elegance exhibited by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing in formal attire, but elegance in the best software engineering, computer programming,…

The best way to lead in uncertain times may be to throw out the playbook

In 1993, management theorists Steve Haeckel and Richard Nolan introduced to the business world a concept borrowed from cellular biology, “sensing-responding-adapting.” The idea behind their framework was simple: the introduction of information…

Micromanagement is not the answer

My late mother, who worked in human resources and customer service into her 70s, was what one now calls an “engaged” employee: never late, sincere in helping resolve problems, and committed to the organization. She never complained and was willing to…

Managing a Distributed Team Through Natural Disasters (And Other Crises)

Summary. As distributed teams become more common, the question for those planning for the next crisis is what to do should the grid go down, as we saw over several days in Texas in February 2021, or should digital workflow tools become suddenly…

How to predict disruption when there’s no such thing as normal

“We weren’t expecting that!” “It happened so fast.” “We never thought it would be this bad.” These are the kinds of comments one hears more and more lately. Even the most seasoned prognosticators have found themselves unable to divine an increasingly…

Five ways to avoid the pitfalls of binary decisions

Deciding is easy: true or false? The first challenge in answering this question is that it’s impossible to know without more information. Which decisions, with what stakes, and on what timeline—these are just a few of the contextual factors most of…

Why your organization’s wellness app isn’t working

I recognized the buzz in my pocket. It was my daily reminder to meditate, courtesy of my employer’s wellness app. As usual, I ignored it and went back to work. Make no mistake, I appreciate the concern and generosity reflected in my organization’s…

The secret recipe to organizational culture is no recipe

Imagine a chocolate chip cookie. Better yet, get one. Take a bite. Savor the flavor and texture. What makes a chocolate chip cookie so delicious? Save for the chocolate chips, most of the ingredients aren’t that appealing on their own. Few people…

Lessons from the Crises of 2020

PwC recently released its annual #crisis survey. It is interesting to read to see what executives think they got right (and wrong) over the past tumultuous year. For leaders, it is a chance to look back as you look forward. Some worrying…

Unlock Altruism to Conquer Fear-based Responses to Covid-19

The dominant emotion of the coronavirus pandemic has been fear: fear of illness or death, vanishing employment, social loss, and more. Now, some people grapple with fear of not being vaccinated while others fear the vaccine itself. As leaders…

Three steps to the “best next” workplace

“I can’t wait to get everyone back to the office!” “I’m never going to need an office again!” From these two extremes to a thousand variations in between, leaders are thinking about what work will look like once a critical mass of the population has…

How Do We Weather Our Civic Storm?

Business leaders have a role to play in resolving our current crisis Early in the first week of the New Year, I posted to LinkedIn a link to a forecast of terrorism threats for 2021. The top three were conspiracy theory extremism, violence against…

To see the future more clearly, find your blind spots

It was the year we saw it all. And 2020 was also the year we didn’t see it all coming. Wildfires. Floods. So many storms in the Atlantic that meteorologists had to resort to the Greek alphabet to name them. Global protests over racial and economic…

Out of the Crisis, Into the Unknown

The COVID-19 crisis began in March in the United States and shows no signs of letting up. Globally, some organizations are adapting and holding their own. Some have been hit very, very hard. Most leaders are struggling to prepare for what could come…

Use social design to help your distributed team self-organize

The corner office. The water cooler. The cubicle farm. So many of our place-based work clichés feel suddenly anachronistic in a world of remote work and Zoom fatigue. Many people will be happy never to return to the office, and some organizations…

Leading your team of hunter-gatherers

There was much consternation among business leaders about the changing demands placed on them before the global coronavirus pandemic. Some of the concern was generationally driven. Some was rooted in the gig economy and the growing demand for…

To Pivot or Not to Pivot

My friend and former colleague, Alessandro di Fiore, along with Daniel Isenberg wrote an interesting piece on pivots in Harvard Business Review recently. Their advice, in short is not to pivot automatically or too quickly. They provide several…

The Curious Crisis Leader

According to the old adage, curiosity killed the cat. Lack of curiosity, however, may be what thwarts a leader. This is particularly true in times of crisis and significant change. Information is incomplete, evolving, and sometimes conflicting. Yet…

Crisis Leadership Program Instructors Announced

The National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) today announced that Darrell Darnell and Anne Kronenberg will serve as program faculty for the upcoming online course, Crisis Leadership: Core Principles and Practices that begins on October 6.…