Even managers with the best intentions can sometimes compromise team morale without realizing it. The art of team management involves balancing professional competence with genuine interpersonal connection. We consulted with 10 experienced industry professionals who shared the common pitfalls that can zap a team’s spirit as well as practical tips to help you avoid missteps and lead a motivated, high-performing group.
Shift from micromanagement to autonomy
One specific way managers unknowingly harm team morale is through micromanagement. We noticed a roughly 20% drop in employee satisfaction scores and a decline in on-time project delivery whenever team leads checked every minor detail. This oversight, even if well-intended, stifled creativity and made employees feel they weren’t trusted.
To fix this, we shifted from daily “check-ins” to weekly milestone reviews, giving each person more autonomy while still ensuring accountability. Within a quarter, on-time project completion rose by around 15%, and employee satisfaction rebounded, helping us maintain our 100%+ year-over-year growth. The key is to provide clear objectives and supportbut step back enough that people feel ownership of their work.
Harsha Abegunasekara, CEO, Metana
Acknowledge challenges, avoid forced optimism
When managers gloss over challenges with forced optimism, employees feel invalidated. They also begin to question the judgment of their leaders. Managers who do this are typically well-intentioned and want to keep morale high. But without confronting reality, innovation and progress come to a standstill.
Restating the problem and inviting correction helps team members feel heard. For example, “I’m hearing you say that the process for returns is cumbersome because of the customer field, what do I have wrong about that?”
Amanda Daering, CEO, Newance
Implement the ‘priority pause’ for requests
After coaching hundreds of managers through team dynamics, I’ve observed that one of the most damaging yet unconscious behaviors is what I call selective urgencytreating every task as equally critical and urgent, which inevitably burns out teams and dilutes genuine priorities. This often manifests when managers forward emails late at night with a simple, Please handle, or constantly interrupt focused work with quick requests that could wait.
Instead, I teach leaders to implement what I call the Priority Pausetaking 60 seconds before any request to ask: Does this truly need immediate attention, and what’s the cost of interruption to my team? One VP I coached reduced team stress by up to 40% simply by batching non-urgent requests into a daily morning huddle rather than sending them sporadically throughout the day.
When managers respect their team’s focus time and clearly differentiate between urgent and important tasks, morale naturally improves.
Joshua Miller, master certified executive leadership coach, Joshua Miller Executive Coaching
Ensure proper credit for team’s work
One specific way managers unknowingly harm team morale is by failing to give proper credit to their team’s work. This often happens when managers are new to leading people or feel insecure in their role. In an effort to prove their own value or meet high expectations, they may focus on results and unintentionally overlook the importance of celebrating the people who made those results possible. While their intentions aren’t malicious, the impact can leave employees feeling invisible or undervalued.
For example, I worked with a very results-focused manager. When presenting to leadership, they would share the outcomes without mentioning the individuals or teams who made those results possible. The team began to feel like the manager was taking all the credit, even though that wasn’t the intention. Frustration grew, and morale started to dip. Thankfully, a colleague provided honest feedback to the manager, explaining the impact and how this was being perceived.
The manager was open to learning and worked with a coach to improve. Together, they devised strategies to ensure contributions were acknowledgedlike calling out team members by name during presentations and incorporating regular moments of recognition into team meetings. Over time, this shifted the dynamic. The team felt seen and appreciated, and morale improved significantly.
The lesson is that employee recognition goes a long way in building trust and keeping morale high. Managers should also seek input from their teams about what kind of acknowledgment feels meaningful to them, whether it’s public recognition in meetings, a simple thank-you email, or sharing credit during leadership updates. Managers can create a more positive and engaged workplace culture by showing employees that their work matters.
Etty Burk, president and founder, Leading With Difference
Set clear expectations and track progress
One specific way managers unknowingly harm team morale is by failing to set clear expectations and deliverables for each team member and not having a transparent system to track and measure their work. When a manager’s expectations are vague or inconsistent, employees can feel frustrated and uncertain about their contributions and value. This lack of clarity leads to disengagement, misaligned priorities, and a general decline in team cohesion.
One thing we help our clients implement to help keep morale high is a team tracker using objectives and key results (OKRs) to outline specific goals and the measurable steps needed to achieve them. Weekly progress check-ins ensure everyone is aligned and provide an opportunity to celebrate wins or address roadblocks early. A shared dashboard that visualizes progress toward overarching goals can help team members see how their work contributes to the larger mission, giving them a greater sense of purpose and accountability.
You can use a simple spreadsheet. The manager could create a project board for each key objective-planning, execution, and review. Each task is linked to the relevant team member and key results, with deadlines and progress updates. Weekly team meetings then focus on reviewing the board, discussing achievements, and refining strategies as needed.
This approach ensures transparency and cultivates a fair and collaborative environment where every team member feels valued and essential to the organization’s success. That is how you start building a team that can do anything.
Rhett Power, CEO and cofounder, Accountability Inc.
Align feedback with role competencies
One specific way managers unknowingly harm team morale is by failing to align their feedback with the competencies that drive success in a role. Whenfeedback is vague, overly critical, or disconnected from what truly matters, it can leave employees feeling undervalued and unclear about how to improve.
For example, a manager might focus on a minor error without recognizing the critical thinking or problem-solving competencies an employee demonstrated in addressing a larger issue. This approach not only overlooks key contributions but also diminishes trust and motivation.
To avoid this, managers should deliver feedback that is competency-based and actionable. Start by identifying the specific skills or behaviors tied to the role’s successsuch as communication, adaptability, or collaboration. Then, acknowledge where the employee excels and provide clear, constructive guidance on areas to develop.
One of my clients, a manager in a fast-paced sales environment, found that conducting quarterly competency assessments with their team transformed their approach. By grounding feedback in data, they could celebrate progress while offering targeted strategies for improvement. This not only boosted morale but also created a culture of continuous growth and alignment with the team’s goals.
When feedback is tied to competencies, employees feel supported in their professional development, which fosters trust, engagement, and higher morale.
Linda Scorzo, CEO, Hiring Indicators
Avoid inconsistent decision-making
I used to watch managers harm team morale in my corporate days, and it bothered me deeply. It’s one of the reasons I studied coaching: I wanted to learn how to make a difference for both teams and the managers leading them. While there are many things a manager can do to unknowingly harm team morale (poor communication, favoritism, ignoring feedback, etc.), one that particularly pains me because it’s so easily addressed is inconsistent decision-making.
Inconsistent decision-makingwhen decisions are made without transparency or consistencyundermines trust and fairness. The best leaders follow a predictable pattern with clear reasoning when making decisions so their team members know what to expect, can prioritize accordingly, and ultimately feel a sense of stability.
Inconsistent decision-making is very costly to an organization, causing distrust, hindered performance, employee disengagement, and a negative impact on the business.
I coach my clients to involve their teams in decision-making whenever possible, to be transparent about the reasoning behind decisions, and to ensure that the criteria used to make decisions are fair and clearly communicated.
Emily Golden, CEO and strategic talent advisor, Golden Resources, LLC
Foster active listening and engagement
One of the most common yet often overlooked ways managers unintentionally harm team morale is through a lack of active listening and engagement with their team members. In my experience working with both FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies, I’ve seen that when leaders fail to foster an environment where employees feel their voices are truly heard, it significantly undermines morale. This can manifest as a failure to ask for or acknowledge feedback, or, worse, dismissing concerns or suggestions as inconsequential. Over time, this not only diminishes trust but also leads to disengagement and a decline in overall performance.
For instance, a client I worked with in the tech sector had an exceptional product development team, but employee turnover was high, and productivity was slipping. When I conducted one-on-one interviews, it became apparent that employees felt their input was routinely overlooked in meetings, and their concerns were rarely addressed. The team had valuable insights into improving workflows and reducing stress but had grown cynical because they felt like their voices weren’t genuinely being considered.
To reverse this, I recommended implementing structured “feedback loops” during regular team meetings and one-on-one discussions. This would not only offer employees a forum to share their concerns but also demonstrate that leadership was actively seeking to understand their perspectives. Importantly, it was emphasized that these feedback sessions would lead to tangible changesmanagers would be expected to follow up on the issues raised. This simple yet powerful strategy helped the leadership team recalibrate their communication, leading to increased employee engagement, improved morale, and a noticeable decline in turnover.
James Rose, strategic organizational psychologist, Cognitive Direction
Stop moving the goalpost
Constantly moving the goalpost is a surefire way to drain team morale. While fresh ideas may seem exciting and innovative to managers, they can unintentionally undermine the hard work and dedication employees have already invested in previous initiatives. For instance, imagine a marketing team tasked with developing a six-month campaign, only for leadership to scrap it midway because a new trend seems more appealing. The team is left with incomplete work, wasted efforts, and the lingering disappointment of never seeing the fruits of their labor.
This pattern can erode trust in leadership and create a culture where employees hesitate to invest in future projects. To prevent this, leaders should establish clear goals upfront and stick to them barring extraordinary circumstances. If changes are unavoidable, communicate openly about the reasons behind the shift, acknowledging the team’s previous work and ensuring their efforts are not dismissed.
To maintain morale, offer closure on abandoned projects, such as highlighting lessons learned or incorporating completed components into new initiatives. Additionally, celebrate small wins and milestones within ongoing projects so employees feel a sense of accomplishment, even if the larger vision evolves. By balancing innovation with stability and recognition, managers can maintain enthusiasm and trust within their teams.
Cynthia Hayes, chief operating officer, Tarkenton
Develop emotional intelligence and self-awareness
One specific way managers unknowingly harm team morale is by lacking emotional intelligenceparticularly self-awareness of their blind spots. In high-stress situations, this often manifests as reactive, impulsive behavior that disregards the emotional impact on the team. Without realizing it, managers who react rather than respond create an atmosphere of psychological unsafety. Team members become hesitant to speak up, contribute new ideas, or engage fully because they are focused on self-protection. Over time, this guardedness leads to disengagement, reduced collaboration, and diminished morale.
A manager’s emotional state is contagious. When leaders are unaware of how their reactivity influences the room, it sets a tone where employees feel they must walk on eggshells. In this environment, creativity and productivity suffer because people cannot bring their authentic selves to the table. Trust erodes, and with it, the team’s ability to innovate and solve problems cohesively.
This dynamic can be avoied by managers prioritizing the development of their emotional intelligence (EQ), starting with self-awareness. Managers must actively seek feedback from trusted peers, mentors, or even their team to uncover blind spots that might hinder their leadership effectiveness. Additionally, investing in practices such as mindfulness, emotional regulation through neurofeedback modalities, and executive coaching can help leaders build the capacity to pause and evaluate their responses during high-pressure moments.
A critical shift occurs when managers learn to pause before reacting, allowing space to consider the broader impact of their words and actions. This intentionality signals to the team that their contributionsand emotional well-beingare valued. It fosters a psychologically safe environment where vulnerability is met with empathy, and team members feel empowered to take risks without fear of retaliation or judgment.
Leaders who model emotional intelligence set a precedent for the entire organization. When a leader demonstrates humility, empathy, and emotional regulation, it cascades throughout the team, strengthening morale, boosting engagement, and creating a culture where people feel seen and supported.
Natalie Jobity, leadership elevation strategist, keynote speaker, best-selling author, The Unveiled Way
AI will undoubtedly become a bigger presence in your working life over the next few years. In fact, it likely already is, even without you knowing it. According to a recent study by Gallup, nearly all Americans (99%, in fact) use products that involve artificial intelligence features, but (64%) dont even realize it.Our current level of AI use may seem subtle and harmlessthink virtual assistants, navigation apps, or weather-forecasting websites. But the speed of new technology is fast and the promises it holds for transforming our work are too tempting for many companies to pass up. Like it or not, no matter your industry, AI is likely going to be your new coworker.So how can we adapt to work with AI, rather than training it to replace us? On the most recent episode of The New Way We Work, I spoke to Nigel Vaz, the CEO of Publicis Sapient, a consultancy focused on digital transformation.Vaz has been helping companies adapt to new technology for decades and sees both parallels and significant differences between our current AI transition and the dot-com boom of the 1990s.
How this time is different
Vaz points out that when the internet first started to change businesses, many leaders were skeptical that it would have a big impact. E-commerce sales accounted for such a small percent of sales, for example, and it took 20 years for the shift to fully take place.
Now, he says, leaders remember how transformational the internet was and are more eager to embrace the changes that AI will bring. The difference this time around is everybody’s interested in ‘What is AI? How is AI going to manifest? What does it mean for my business?’ he says. But there is a recognition that it could be a significant driver. He also notes that the speed of change is much faster now than it was before.We are really asking organizations and people to evolve the way they work on an exponential basis, he says.
How employees and leaders can adapt
The technological transformation is the easy part, Vaz says. It’s the people transformation alongside the technological transformation. That’s the hard part.So how can employees and leaders adapt to the speed of techs advancements? Vaz says that the average person can (and should) tune out all of the discussions around chip development and instead focus on the applications themselves and what problems they help solveand what data they are trained on. He advises that companies should look at their needs and see if general AI tools can help or if they need customized tools.
Learn, unlearn, and relearn
So what about employees who are afraid of losing their jobs to AI? Vaz says that the nature of work is ever evolving and its not the ability to perform tasks that makes an employee valuable; its their ability to learn. If you obsess about what you know, you are always fundamentally going to be less valuable to an organization. I think what you have to obsess about is your ability to learn, he says. He uses the expression learn, unlearn, and relearn.
The single biggest gift an organization can give you, and you can give yourself, is this mindset that what we value is your ability to adapt and to learn and to evolve as things are evolving, he says.Listen to the full episode for more on how companies and employees should prepare for AI changes, how they should be vetting new tech, and where tech is going in the future.You can listen and subscribe to The New Way We Work on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages ofInc.andFast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you cansign up to get it yourselfevery Monday morning.
Last June, global architecture and design firm Gensler named Elizabeth Brink and Jordan Goldstein as co-CEOs, succeeding Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins, who jointly led the company for nearly 20 years.
Though some U.S. companies, including Netflix, Zola, and Warby Parker, have two chief executive officers, the dual-CEO arrangement remains rare. In a recent joint interview, Brink and Goldstein explained how co-leadership permeates the entire organizationmost of Genslers offices and its regions are led by pairsand the way the model helps nurture managerial talent and train future managers to collaborate. They also shared insights into how they make their long-distance partnership work (Goldstein is based in Washington, D.C., and Brink is in Los Angeles), and why the co-CEO model isnt for every company. Edited excerpts follow:
Modern CEO: Lets start by talking about the co-CEO relationship. You are the second set of co-CEOs at Gensler.
Jordan Goldstein: The company started in 1965 and Art Gensler, who founded it, led it for a number of years. The prior CEOs, who actually were mentors to both of us, have now stepped into global chair roles.
Elizabeth Brink: The co-leadership model is pretty deep in the organization.
JG: We have about 300 co-leaders. My introduction to co roles started at the office level. I was a co-office leader starting in 2008. Elizabeths been here 20 years, so weve known each other for 20 years in the organization. I did the co-office director role, then we each did co-regional roles, then moved into [the co-CEO] roles. My background is definitely heavy in design and design-oriented technology. My experiences in the firm have been focused on design on a global scale, practicing in different locations around the world, working with different cultures, different climates.
EB: My background has been more on strategy and pushing our design strategy into areas that we have not been, connecting business and design, and also a little bit on the urban strategy side of things. Its a really nice balance. I think we are both also people-oriented leaders, and one of the areas where we really overlap is an incredible focus on mentorship. And thats part of why we work so well as a duo togetherbecause of that kind of commitment.
MC: You were elevated to the co-CEO roles simultaneously. But co-leads are not always assigned at the same time, right?
JG: Right. For instance, when I was leading the Washington, D.C., office, it was me and another person, and we worked together growing our architectural practice in the D.C. metropolitan area. We did that for a number of years, and then my business partner said, You know what? I really want to get back to just designing every day. He stepped back into that everyday work, and then we brought in another individual who was much more oriented around particular industries. She joined me for a couple of years, and then I rotated out.
EB: The organization is pretty matrixed, too. Were always looking at what the needs are within each market, within each office, within each region, and who are the best people to be partnering together to create that balance? But our situation was a little bit different because of the scale [of the roles].
MC: Tell me about how that succession process worked. In your situation, when did it become clear that you were going to be each others co-CEOs?
EB: We were on our own leadership exploration journeys; we were both getting opportunities across the firm. I had stepped in on building a lot of our work around our people and culture. Jordan had been a really strong design leader. Both of us had been members of the board. And both of us had stepped into some key task force development over the last couple of years. Thats where we really started developing our connection, and I think others saw how well we work together and what we could really bring to the table as a duo.
JG: I was really focused on a design career, but as I got into larger, complex projects globally, I really enjoyed the leadership aspect of that. It was 10 years ago when the CEO team [at the time] asked: Would you be interested in this type of path?
EB: One of the things thats been so beneficial about both of us having these non-linear career journeys is the depth of relationships that we have stepping into this role. Were leaning on people who have been peers, who have been mentors to us, who weve mentored.
MC: Do you share direct reports, or do you divide and conquer?
JG: The way we approached it was, for the beginning of our tenure together, we were all in on all [reports] so we could really get the lay of the land and feel where there was natural chemistry within the organization. [A few weeks ago] we mapped it out and said, All right, given what weve experienced, lets talk through it. And we just divided it up. And were now letting people know shes first position on this, and Im first position on that. That doesnt mean we wont both be on the calls or both be in a meeting.
EB: What it allows us to do iswhen there are challenges, when there are issuesone of us can go really deep. Its been very beneficial to have spent that time together because we start to understand how we each think about the tricky problems. I know which parts of a problem Jordans going to want to know about. And the reverse: He knows what parts are going to be really important for me to understand. And we text all the time.
MC: It seems like trust is such an important part of what makes this co-leadership model work at the regional levels, at the office levels, and crucially at the CEO level.
JG: I think its like trust combined with almost like an iterative dialogue.
EB: I will say, to put out the vulnerable part of this, too, over the last year-and-a-half as weve been stepping into things, we both made mistakes. Weve had times where I should have read you in on that. Or said, Oops, I misread that situation. But I think where the trust is coming in is in the openness with one another and [acknowledging]: I made a mistake on that one. The trust lies in both of our intentions and both of our ambitions to do whats right for this organization.
MC: Have you had co-leaders at the office or regional level where the pairing didnt work out?
JG: Yes, and those are obviously delicate conversations because the people can still be valuable to the organization. We just have to help them see a new perspective on how they can contribute, where their value add is, and how that offers career growth opportunities for them. The interesting thing for us is that when the co isnt working, its not just something you see in th pairing, you see it in the office. It translates to other aspects of business.
EB: When it works, it really can expand and elevate peoples opportunities to make an impact. But when it doesnt, weve learned to not let that fester. The more you just hope for it to go away, the less it goes away and the more it impacts other people.
MC: Would you recommend co-leadership to other organizations? And if a company is thinking about either starting out with co-leadership or adopting co-leadership, what advice would you give them?
JG: There are some industries where its probably a tough fit. We actually get questions from clients [about the model]. It has to be something that can stand up on the pillars of a strategy that is embedded in the organization. The thing we havent really talked about is that the co model also enables a level of exploration, for pushing innovation in a way that you know surprises people when we talk about it.
When I was an office leader, we talked about [developing] a venture capital mindset, to encourage different thinking. If one person was trying to grow the business and delegated [different thinking], thats very different than if its owned by these two leaders, and they can touch it in different ways. We ended up creating these innovation funds, which were granted based on peoples ideas, which ended up going firmwide.
EB: I think the co-leadership model has enabled really rapid growth, innovation, and iteration. I dont know that its something to put onto an established organization. But I think, particularly for a creative entrepreneurial organization that is looking to grow or provide a platform for [professional] growth for a really talented team of people, its a great model.
JG: When I was visiting Elizabeth recently, I spoke at USCs [University of Southern Californias] business school, and the students were fascinated by the co-CEO model. You could just see the wheels turning because the students never thought about [the CEO role] that way. It was always the CEO as the singular visionaryand thats not this model.
EB: Ego has to be put aside.
JG: Absolutely.
EB: If you come in with ego, it doesnt work.
Does your company divvy up leadership roles?
Are you a co-CEO or co-leader in your organization? How do you divide duties, and what are the skills and practices you employ to make the partnership work? Send your comments to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Id like to share some of your insights in an upcoming newsletter dedicated to co-leadership.
Read and watch: co-leadership at work
Inside Netflixs unusual co-CEO arrangementand why it works
Zola co-CEO Rachel Jarrett says you need this skill for a good partnership
Is it time to consider co-CEOs?
Generative AI transforms the way we work, but its impacts arent limited to what it can do. It can also teach us about language and communication.
We typically think of hallucinations as sensory perceptionslike a sound or imagethat seem real in the mind but didnt occur in external reality. In the era of Generative AI, the word hallucination refers to a large language model that produces incorrect or fabricated information.
But hallucinations arent just an AI problem, because inaccuracies are an equally common occurrence in human interactions. Most conversations contain hallucinations, and the corporate meeting is a space that is especially prone to that.
Meetings are often where we tackle the most challenging communication tasks. Balancing priorities, working through clarifying questions, delivering newsthese tasks require the tools of real-time responses and nuanced inflection. Meeting hallucinations occur when incorrect assumptions derail conversations. These misunderstandings can lead to circular conversations or meetings that dont accomplish their goal. These hallucinations are a key piece of the puzzle of our meeting culture. And this is why many despise meetings even though they remain necessary.
The concept of common ground
In my subfield of linguisticspragmaticstheres a foundational concept called common ground. During a conversation, common ground refers to the information that all parties have established to be true. If information is in the common ground, you dont need to restate it. In my role as a data scientist at AT&T, we dont feel the need to say things like: this is an AT&T meeting, we are data scientists, or this is a work meeting. However, its fair to say that all of those assumptions are in common ground at any given time.
Or do they? The challenge with meeting hallucinations occurs when you have mismatched common ground assumptions. One persons understanding of what constitutes common ground (e.g., the purpose of the meeting, the goal of the project, the best outcome of the discussion, the role of the meeting participant) doesnt always match someone elses. Meeting hallucinationsor mismatched common ground assumptions in meetingscan lead to conflict that diverts the focus. It can also mask the fundamental disagreement, which might not actually be about a specific solution requirementbut the goal of the solution writ large.
Addressing meeting hallucinations will reduce the frequency of meetings, increase productivity in meetings across the board, and perhaps most importantly: will enhance the buy-in to your meetings. Here are some best practices to follow to overcome these subtle, hidden miscommunications:
Reflect on common ground assumptions before a meeting
Preventing meeting hallucinations starts with understanding what is in your own set of common ground assumptions. Before you begin a meeting, think through what you want to achieve. Consider what you believe to be true about the topics youre discussing. Reflect on whether all parties in the meeting share this belief.
Boldly state the obvious at the top of the meeting
No one wants to beat a dead horse. But its worth talking through relevant common ground assumptions with other meeting participants. This way, you can avoid unnecessary miscommunication and avoid wasting time. Whether the common ground assumption is about timelines, who owns the work, or the overall goal of a project, take the time to say the obvious part out loud. It might not be obvious to everyone.
Identify possible communication gaps by restating the common ground assumptions
When meeting hallucinations happen, they require you to recognize that a moment of conflict or confusion isnt always due to the discussion topic. If you feel like a meeting is going south, reset the conversation. You can do this by reestablishing common ground assumptions or flagging statements that seem to introduce a new common ground assumption to the context.
Perspectives based on unrelated previous outcomes, rigid takes on a situation based on specific training, rushing to judgement without all the informationthese are common issues that many have with corporate meetings. Theyre also core drivers of AI hallucinations, and they are also lurking in our corporate culture. Meeting hallucinations might feel like a strange way to think about meetings. But once you apply it, youll find that youre finally meeting your colleagues where they are.
At a time when book bans are raging and the federal government is pushing back against DEI initiatives, there’s one place where diversity is thriving: children’s literature.
Picture bookswhich cater to those under the age of 10are often children’s first introduction to poetry and art. And this year, there are many newly-published picture books that celebrate aspects of Black life in nuanced ways, portraying history, culture, and joy. Here are five of our favorites.
‘City Summer, Country Summer’
[Art: Courtesy of Kokila/Penguin Random House]
By Kiese Laymon, illustrated by Alexis Franklin. (Kokila/Penguin Young Readers, ages 5-9.)
Author Kiese Laymon is the author of Heavy: An American Memoir. In 2020, he wrote an article for the New York Times describing what how Black boys from New York would come down South to visit their grandparents during the summer months. He’s translated this narrative into a story about three Black boys who spend a summer together exploring the woods of Mississippi, under the watchful eye of their grandmother.
Under the surface, you find a tale about how the Great Migration shaped the Black community, resulting in different subcultures in the North and South. But ultimately the story is about the tender bonds of friendship that Black boys create with one another, and how they turn to one other to express their joy, as well as their fear.
‘Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became A Writer’
[Art: Courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers]
By Quartez Harris, illustrated by Gordon C James. (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, ages 7-10.)
James Baldwin is remembered as a celebrated writer whose work offered Americans a powerful insight into the richness and complexity of Black American life. But few of us know about his childhood. Growing up in Harlem, he was known as a Jimmy, and the stepson of a Reverend who preached fiery sermons against racism. At fourteen, Jimmy decided to take to the pulpit, but chose to speak from a place of love.
This pivotal moment informs the years to come, as Jimmy leaves home to become a writer. With lyrical language, the book shows Jimmy traveling to France and returning back to New York to write his first book, Go Tell It On The Mountain.
‘On Our Way! What a Day!’
[Art: Courtesy of Penguin Random House]
By JaNay Brown-Wood, illustrated by Tamisha Anthony. (Nancy Paulsen/Penguin Young Readers, ages 4-6).
This is a fun, colorful book that will delight young readers. Six grandkids wake up and get ready to go visit their grandmother on her birthday. But none of them have a gift. As they walk over as a grouplooking after one another along the waythey come across lots of little objects, from pine cones to pencils. But they’re not sure whether any of these things are good enough for Gram.
This book is ultimately about the joy of having siblings, discovering treasures in the world around us, and enjoying a little bit of independence from grown-ups. The illustrations in this book are replete with little details that will keep children coming back to it again and again.
‘And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life’
[Art: Courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers]
By Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Daniel Minter. (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; ages 4-8).
This book is written as a poem that captures the beauty in Toni Morrison’s language. It depicts how she grew up in a small town in Ohio by the name of Chloe Ardelia, finding joy playing hopscotch in the playground and as the only Black girl at her school. It was at Howard University that she decided to take her fate into her own hands and change her name.
We learn about how Morrison rose through the ranks of the all-white publishing world as an editor. And even though she have very little time as a single mother, she woke up a four in the morning to write her own stories. The words, and she was loved echoes in each page, reflecting how she took all the support her community gave her to create some of the greatest works of American literature.
‘Girls on the Rise’
[Art: Courtesy of Penguin Random House]
By Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Loveis Wise. (Viking Books for Young Readers, ages 4-8).
The poet Amanda Gorman has a new picture book dedicated to girls, written in verse. It is a manifesto about how girls are strong and capable, but are unstoppable when they work together to bring about change. The book nods to history, as the illustrations explore everything from the achievements of everyone from Beyonce to the Williams sisters to Simone Biles. But it also hints at how women have had to fight for their rights, including reproductive freedom.
Gorman first came to the world’s attention as the youngest poet to speak at a presidential inauguration four years ago, when President Biden entered office. As a new administration takes root with a much more regressive stance on women’s rights, this picture book could not come at a better time.
With TikTok and DeepSeek, young people are forking over sensitive personal data to the Chinese government. We should be worried.
Among Gen Z, theres a certain nihilism about Chinas access to American data. Some argue that they have nothing to hide. Others say that, if American billionaires can access their data, why not let China, too? When TikTok momentarily shut down, young people ran to RedNote, a Chinese alternative, as a not-very-veiled middle finger to the U.S. government.
Chinas threat to our data security is difficult to comprehend. If they were accessing sensitive information, we wouldnt see it. And, for young people not yet in the workforce, their privacy concerns may be decades away. But we should take this threat seriously; China isnt some victimless entity to hand over your data to.
Knowing that the worlds largest police state is collecting your data should make anyone nervous, James Lewis, a researcher at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, writes in an email. China’s laws say that any and all Chinese companies must turn over data if MSS asks for it and there is no appeal or refusal.
The domestic capitalists versus the foreign autocrats
Many Americans arent thrilled with who has access to their data already. Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has effectively taken a buzzsaw to the federal bureaucracy, holds gobs of sensitive user data through X. The same goes for Mark Zuckerberg and his portfolio at Meta. So why would we care about China having that data too?
But theres a difference between domestic and foreign data ownership. The United States has a court system users can fight through if their data is misused. If China abuses your data, theres no recourse. Moreover, the Chinese government and America-based companies have completely different incentives.
Musk and Zuckerberg have a lot of money, but Chinas rulers have a thousand times more, plus an army and nuclear weapons, Lewis writes. Theyre individuals, the [Chinese Communist Party] CCP is a huge institution that will do anything to maintain the Partys control.
China has also committed dozens of documented human rights abuses. Bill Drexel, a fellow at the Center for New American Security, says it’s entirely possible the CCP is using American data to fuel their abuses of power. Shipping off our data to China helps “strengthen and augment” their “techno-authoritarian” governance, he argues.
These companies are part of an ecosystem that is actively engaging in genocide, Drexel says. Yes, Facebook is not my favorite company, but it doesn’t have Uyghurs in labor camps.
‘Preventative’ data privacy
Chinese ownership of American personal data feels like a victimless crime. Wed likely never see its usage, given how secretive China’s data collection process is. (Drexel says that experts are even wary of saying what they know, given how quickly the CCP can “patch” holes.) That means we dont even know if the abuse is happening at all. Much of the conversation around a TikTok ban covered how China could access American data, not that they are.
But there are signs. Lewis says the CCP is addicted to collecting data, having done so through health insurance companies, airlines, travel agents, and federal offices since 2014. True, America has the Foreign Information Surveillance Act, which allows the government to collect foreign intelligence information through means such as electronic surveillance and physical searches. But, he writes, compared to the CCP’s operations, that law “looks like a chihuahua.”
The greatest threat of China’s data abuse is pluralistic in nature; the fear, basically, is that the CCP can effectively mine the data of millions of Americans for value. But that’s not to say some individuals aren’t especially vulnerable. Those in military and intelligence roles are especially wary of Chinas data overreach, Drexel notes, but more working professionals should be cautious.
Its conceivable that if you’re in a business role that has significant national competitiveness dimensions, they could use it there too, he says. China has been extremely effective at corporate espionage and IP theft. You can see this data coming into the service of that.
That puts young people in an especially blind position. Most have yet to reach high-ranking military status or climb to the top of the corporate ladder. Why would China care about the data of a random high school student? But that teenager scrolling Red Note or treating DeepSeek like a therapist could enter a sensitive industry in the decades to come. Meanwhile, the CCP is building their leverage.
Lewis calls data privacy preventative, trying to cut out foreign data abuse at the root. But Americans are notoriously bad at valuing forward-looking policy. Just look at climate change; while many Americans claim to care about the issue, it remains low on their priorities because it is so far away. But we should want to protect our future selvesespecially from the whims of a foreign competitor with which there is no legal fallback.
Drexel puts it bluntly: The CCP isnt interested in you until they are.
Picture this: Its Black Friday, and the point-of-sale system your thousands of customers depend on keeps crashing. Understandably, those retailers are livid. Complaints pour in day after day, and you start to wonder if the business will survive.
Thats exactly what happened to me when I was just starting out as an entrepreneur nearly 20 years ago. And as painful as it was, that near-death experience taught me something invaluable: the power of calm leadership.
In todays unpredictable world, whether thats due to economic, environmental, or political eventsit can be harder than ever to stay calm and centered. Company leaders are no exception to this. Yet its critical that they do learn to stay calm, because thats what will set the tone for the rest of their team.
Stress and entrepreneurship
Theres no escaping the brutal realities of entrepreneurship. As this founder and CEO can attest, stress is an unfortunate part of it. Thats why three-quarters of small business owners are worried about their mental health, while more than half have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or stress-related problems.
As a company matures, new hurdles and anxieties arise. The average entrepreneur spends almost 70% of their time working in the businessmuch of it putting out fires.
Inevitably, there are days and weeks when the failures far outnumber the wins. That makes it easy to get dragged down into negativity. But if the leader operates from a place of calm, it can help everyone else bring their best selves to work. Here are a few principles that Ive learned about that can help you do just that.
1. Youre not the hero of this story
So many business leaders feel like its up to them to save the day and feel like theyre the only one who can fix things.
But this is a recipe for dizzying highs and crushing lows. And trust me, the lows outnumber the highs. You whiplash back and forth between elation and despair, and rarely find that middle ground of calm that you desperately need to make strategic decisions.
A far more useful approach is to think of yourself as just one player in a larger drama. Sure, youre the boss, but youre channeling greater forces. Ultimately, youre an instrument that supports and directs the talents of the team around you.
2. Mission actually does matter
Sustaining calm is easier with a sense of purpose. People can accept a tough journey if they know where theyre going and can see progress, however small.
This is where your mission comes in. Now, it doesnt have to be earth-shattering. You just need something that everyone can get behind. My companys mission is simple: helping small businesses compete in a world of Amazon and Shein. Using technology to empower customers is our rallying cry.
Importantly, this has to be more than a slogan on a website or a poster on the wall. (Theres a reason only 25% of employees actually feel educated on company goals, according to Slingshots digital work trends report). Your company needs to live the mission, and employees need to understand how it translates into tangible goals and also see incremental progress.
As gimmicky as it might seem, dashboards and trackers can be invaluable here. We have screens throughout our office showing key KPIs and movement over time. We also celebrate wins in monthly huddles and recognize team members who push the mission forward.
3. Think impact rather than urgency
The startup world moves fast. On any given week, there will be dozens (if not hundreds) of time-sensitive tasks that demand your attention.To focus on the things that matter, you need to think in terms of impact, not urgency. Rather than prioritizing your to-do list by deadline, narrow your to-do list down to the tasks that will actually move the needle for you and your company.
With a manageable list, its easier to exit panic mode and to start calmly working away on what really matters. Running on adrenalineand treating everything like a five-alarm firemight get results in the short term. However, this is a surefire recipe for team burnout, which is ultimately inefficient and counterproductive.
Doing this right isnt possible without long-term priorities. Setting a north star or long-term goal for your company allows you to see what you should prioritize and what you shouldnt.
4. Remember that creation follows in the wake of destruction
When Im not running a business, I work in conservation. Ive seen how the terrible violence of a forest fire sets the stage for regreeningand how quickly that recovery can happen.
I think of that every time I suffer a setback, like losing a key employee. Of course, it hurts, but more often than not, such departures set the stage for much-needed changes and renewals. From moments of devastation, new opportunities for growth arise.
5. When in doubt, write down the good and the bad
Calm leaders focus on the positive, but they also take stock of the negative.
Throughout the year, I keep a running list of my gratefuls and lows. The real impact of this approach is retrospective. Looking back, I often realize that some of the lows werent really that low after all. In fact, they needed to happen and sometimes led to a major transformation. One example was losing a particular deal. In the end, that event ended up setting the company up for success by pushing us to explore new markets.
Ultimately, every leader must decide how they want to show up for the team. In my experience, calm beats panic every time. Thats especially true when the stakes are high and people are looking to their leader to lower the temperature. And right now, that virtue may be more valuable than ever.
When White Lotus first season debuted in 2021 and shot to near-instant acclaim, it was a sleeper hit for HBO. But now, four years later, HBO is well aware of just how enthusiastic White Lotuss fanbase has becomeand, to tap into the shows highly online viewership, its marketing team has decided to officially don their tin foil hats and fangirl right alongside the rest of us.
White Lotus recently debuted its own TikTok page dedicated to stirring up conversation around the shows third season, which just debuted. Its the first time that the show itself will have a separate TikTok presence from HBOs broader account. White Lotuss marketing team is in a unique position, given that its joining TikTok after a culture of mining the show for meme fodder has already flourished organically on the app. (See: Jennifer Coolidges unforgettable delivery of the line, These gays, theyre trying to murder me being the soundtrack to dozens of mash-ups and even a few original songs.)
@thewhitelotus Vacation doesn't always go the way you planned. #TheWhiteLotus #HBO #StreamOnMax original sound – The White Lotus
As a result, the White Lotus TikTok account needs to offer something unique to stand out from the crowdand their strategy includes pulling back the curtain on behind-the-scenes anecdotes, fan theories, actor perspectives, and hidden details from the show. Its a move that taps into the growing culture of using TikTok as a site for exchanging detailed critical analyses of popular media.
Especially in the White Lotus, when you see the craft that [director Mike White] puts into the details of everything, people want to dive in, says Pia Barlow, EVP of originals marketing at HBO and Max. Like, Oh, did you see that that statue was turned this way? Or, Did you catch that little aside that some character said that paid off later in the episode? It’s really a way for us to engage fans by tapping into memes and trends, but also theories and speculation.
The new account currently hosts about 27,000 followers. Its most successful clips are digging into small anecdotes, like one video with 6.3 million views about how Jennifer Coolidge hated being on a boat in the shows second season, or an in-depth analysis of a confrontation scene in season 1 thats racked up 10.1 million views so far.
[Photo: TikTok @theWhiteLotus]
These kinds of videos feed fans appetite for close-reading beloved seriesespecially those with a mysterious plot linewithin a community of other viewers. A search for white lotus fan theories on TikTok produces dozens of results from the shows last season, digging into everything from the subtle motifs of background wallpaper to how certain plot points might mirror Homers The Odyssey. TikTok users have similarly used the platform to hash out ideas during recent seasons of Succession, Squid Game, and, currently, the second season of Apple TVs Severance.
For TikTok in particular, it’s really about just being aware of whatever trends are happening in real timewhich, as you know, changes weekly, or even daily, Barlow says. So its about behaving like a fan.
For White Lotuss marketing team, digging into the shows small nuances on TikTok is a pretty smart way to cosplay as a fan. As of yet, its unclear just how much the account will attempt to harness the meme culture thats bound to pop up around season threea move that might be harder to pull off, given that the new account is pretty late to the scene. And, to be honest, wed take a Gen Alpha teens fan edit of Jennifer Coolidge falling off of a boat over an in-house video from HBOs marketing team any day.
This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.
Imagine turning your reading history into a treasure map. By feeding a list of your favorite books and movies to an AI assistant, you can uncover hidden patterns in what you love. From your subconscious attraction to unreliable narrators to your love for stories that begin at the end, you may be surprised by what an AI assistant can reveal.
Building a personal taste atlas helps you understand your reading self better. It can also surface blind spots in your cultural diet and point you toward unexplored literary territories youre likely to love.
Why analyze your preferences?
This isnt just another recommendation engine. Netflix or Amazon may suggest what to watch or buy next based on viewing history, but a taste atlas goes much deeper.
It analyzes themes, narrative structures, and emotional resonance across media formats. It can reveal connections between novels you adore and foreign films youve never heard of, or help you articulate why certain stories stick with you while others dont.
You can tune the atlas by adjusting the info and examples you give it. You can customize the analysis with your prompts, asking for particular kinds of observations or recommendations.
With AIs help, you can map out your own universe of awesome. As you scout out gaps in your reading or movie watching, you can discover authors and films that expand your horizons.
Start by gathering your favorites
You need to provide an AI assistant with a list of at least 10-15 titles that resonate with you for meaningful insights; 30+ is better. Here are the fastest ways to gather them.
Physical books or DVDs: snap a photo of your bookshelf. AI can read the titles. Or write a list of titles on paper. AI assistants can read handwriting surprisingly well.
Digital readers: refer to your Kindle library, your read shelf on Goodreads, listen history on Audible, timeline on Libby, or any doc or spreadsheet you maintain with your favorites.
Streaming: Apps like Likewise, Sofa, Listy, Listium, Letterboxd, Trakt, and Reelgood let you compile lists of favorites. You can use those collections to train your AI assistant.
Use your voice: If talking jogs your memory, use conversation mode in ChatGPT, Claude, Googles Gemini, or Microsofts CoPilot. Let the AI interview you about your favorite books or movies.
Scan award lists: If you cant think of favorites, check a list of Oscar-winning movies or book awards for reminders of what youve enjoyed.
Criteria: Consider titles you often revisit or recommend. Include recent favorites and older resonant ones. Give extra weight to those that provoked emotion, changed your perspective, or prompted action. Ideally, note not just the title but one or more aspects of a work that particularly resonated.
Prompt AI to analyze your list
Once you’ve compiled your list, use your preferred AI tool to uncover patterns in your literary tastes. Prompt the AI assistant for insights to advance your self-understanding. After that, ask it to help you discover more books/movies you’ll love.
Start by writing a detailed prompt to elicit a thorough, subtle analysis of your taste in books or movies. Heres an example you can adopt or adapt:
You are a perceptive literary critic and cultural analyst with deep knowledge of literature across genres and cultures. Carefully analyze the attached list of my favorite books for patterns. Think deeply about connections between titles and topics that might not be immediately apparent. Where you notice interesting patterns, explain your reasoning and cite specific examples. Please analyze this list of my favorite books. Create a detailed literary taste profile that identifies:
Core Elements:
Primary themes and topics
Genre preferences and style patterns
Narrative approaches and structure choices
Character types and relationships
Tone and emotional range
Upload a file with your list or paste it.
Which AI tool to use?
ChatGPT 4o worked well for me in importing Google Docs and PDFs with my favorites. Its analysis and recommendations were nuanced and helpful.
Limitation: Occasionally, it suggested authors who were already in my existing lists, despite being prompted not to.
Claude Pro provided an excellent overview of the kinds of books Ive selected for the book group I facilitate over the past eight years. It helped identify gaps in our reading list and offered useful suggestions for future titles.
Limitation: Some documents I tried to import, like my Readwise reading highlights, were too large to fit in a Claude Project I created for my taste atlas.
Gemini 2.0 Experimental Advanced, Googles newest model, was an excellent voice partner in analyzing my current reading interests.
Limitation: 2.0 couldnt yet import documents, but Gemini 1.5 could. It helpfully analyzed the Google Doc with my complete Readwise Highlights archive.
Use either free or premium AI tools for this analysis. For long book lists or extensive highlights, use a pro model for nuanced analysis.
Expand your taste horizons
Once an AI tool has analyzed your book or movie preferences, prompt it to suggest new authors and titles. Ask about specific connections between the titles you liked and its recommendations, so you understand the rationale.
Cultural leaps: Ask AI to identify authors who write like your favorites but in different languages or cultures.
Whats missing? Try a prompt about negative space what authors, titles, topics or genres are missing from your favorites. What notable titles might stretch your literary horizons?
Presidents’ Day always falls on the third Monday of February, which, this year, is February 17. At the federal government level, the holiday is called Washington’s Birthday, which was its original name and which used to be celebrated on February 22, George Washington’s actual birthday. But in 1971, Congress enacted the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, providing federal workers and others with three-day weekends, and Washington’s Bday observance got swept up with that. The idea behind the holiday’s new name was to create a day that paid tribute to the office of the presidency.
For many Americans, Presidents’ Day is a long weekend and an opportunity for holiday shopping dealsthis year, however, massive nationwide demonstrations are scheduled under the rubric, “Not My President’s Day” in protest of the Trump administration’s alarming power grab and attempts to overhaul the federal government.
The demonstrations are organized by the #50501 Movement50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement”fighting to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach” and protest “the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies” (Elon Musk, anyone?). The idea for the movement’s name came from the subreddit community, Reddit r/50501, and spread rapidly across social media.
So far, #50501 has already pulled off more than 80 peaceful protests in all 50 states since Trump took office, according to the movement’s website. Information about where the nationwide protests and street marches are planned can be found here upon entering your city or state.
Now, heres a look at whats open and closed on Monday, from the stock market to banks, supermarkets, and stores.
Are financial markets open on Presidents’ Day?
The Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange, and U.S. bond markets are all closed.
Will mail be delivered on Presidents’ Day?
The U.S. Postal Service post offices will be closed and won’t be delivering regular mail or packages, though USPS priority mail will.
However, UPS will be open for business as usual, while FedEx has modified service, so check for availability in your area.
Are banks open on Presidents’ Day?
Banks will be closed, but you should still be able to access your bank’s service online and via your local ATMs.
Are schools open on Presidents’ Day?
Public schools and most private schools will be closed for the federal holiday.
Are restaurants and fast-food chains open on Presidents’ Day?
Most major casual-dining and fast-food chains are open plus most sit-down restaurantsit’s a great shopping day, after all. That said, their hours may be reduced, so it’s always a good idea to call ahead or check individual websites.
Are grocery stores open on Presidents’ Day?
Most regional supermarket chains should be open, though some with reduced hours; ditto, your local grocery stores. Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Costco are all open.
Are stores open on Presidents’ Day?
This is a big day for retailers, with many having weekend-long sales. Looking for a little retail therapy? Walmart, Macy’s, West Elm, Nordstrom, Walmart, and Best Buy are having major sales, while Amazon has an entire section on its home page dedicated to its Presidents’ Day bargains.
Are pharmacies open on Presidents’ Day?
CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid are all open, although they may have reduced hours of operation. Check your pharmacy’s website for more information.
