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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 of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Regular readers of Modern CEO know I often cite advice and anecdotes from Bill George, the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic and executive fellow at Harvard Business School. I share his words in part because of the depth of his experience and his extensive body of work, including True North, Authentic Leadership, and 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. Still, I began to wonder if I had become overly reliant on his insights and set out to find other leadership experts. And who better to ask than George himself? What follows are edited excerpts of a wide-ranging conversation on the next Bill George, the difference between management and leadership, andbecause I couldnt help myselfGeorges advice for leading organizations in these supremely chaotic times. Modern CEO: Whos the next Bill George, if there is such a thing? Bill George: No. 1 would be Hubert Joly, the former CEO of Best Buy. Hes doing an amazing job at Harvard Business School, running CEO programs there, and wrote a book, The Heart of Business. And hes got a major research study, which Im sure will result in a [new] book, on frontline workers. Hes doing really good work and has a keen understanding of business purpose, values, and how one leads in this very chaotic period we are in. Within the business community, the best CEO in the world today is probably Satya Nadella at Microsoft. Others I would mention are Mary Barra [of GM], Doug McMillon of Walmart, and Dave Ricks at [Eli] Lilly. There are a lot of great CEOs out there right nowbut I dont know if any of them are going to write about it. Most academics prefer to write about management rather than leadership, and I think thats a terrible mistake. Many of the management techniques we have talked about over the last 30 to 50 years are woefully outdated. Theres no such thing as a 10-year strategic plan anymore. You can do one, but its meaningless because the worlds changing so rapidly. MC: Can one teach leadership without having been a leader? BG: Thats a really good question. [Former Harvard Business School Dean] Nitin Nohria is a brilliant teacher of leadership. I actually do think you need practice in leading. MC: We cant do a 10-year strategic plan anymore, but is there enduring advice on how to manage in chaos? BG: Leadership is much more difficult today than it was when I was a CEO or even 10 years ago. Why? Because the external world is changing so rapidly. One has to be very adaptive. Not all leaders are trained to deal with this worldtheyre trained to run businesses, to gain market share, to innovate with new products, to come up with creative, new marketing plans to make money, to manage the finances skillfully, to create more cash to please the stock market. Those are all the traditions. But today most of the issues one faces have to do with external factors. The great leaders have to be very skilled in how they deal with external events. We had 9/11, the meltdown of the banks in 2008, COVID, which affected every single human being on the planet in one way or another, and now the chaos thats taking place in trade and other things as a result of leadership in the United States. You have to be adaptive; you have to be flexible. But beyond that, I think there has to be a grounding, and that is your purpose or your mission and your values. And if youre not grounded in that as a company, youre going to be in [trouble]. A good example is Meta. Mark Zuckerberg is all over the map, and hes not going to fare well in this environment. Hes a brilliant guy, created the whole field of social media, but hes not going to do well in this because he is not well grounded. One has to lead with clarity about purpose and clarity about values. And that means you have to be clear in your own values. MC: Theres no shortage of people offering leadership advice on LinkedIn and TikTok. Is there information overload? BG: I think a lot of those writers are looking for an edge. A lot of the academics are thinking, How can I do something different? MC: How are you advising CEOs to manage through uncertainty at this moment? BG: First, be out there talking to your people all the time about your purpose and values. [Say,] Were not deviating from that as a company. Second, keep your head down and run the business really well. Dont deviate from what your business’s basic core strategy is. Three, if youre a global company, you have to be global. I actually think we will continue to be a global world, but [tariffs are] causing CEOs to really have to reset the bar. Who is the next top leadership guru? Which next-gen CEOs and leadership authorities should Modern CEO know? Send your recommendations to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Im eager to expand my network of experts. Read more: CEO wisdom Mass Mutuals CEO on the No. 1 leadership trait What SAIC CEO Toni Townes-Whitley learned from Satya Nadella Steve Ballmer has cracked the code on CEO second acts
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E-Commerce
For some, Microsoft Teams is a necessary evil: the modern day equivalent of an ever-ringing desk phone. But the fact is that in many organizations, its become an essential tool for communication and collaboration. And as long as youre using it, you might as well transform your Microsoft Teams experience from simply functional to truly powerful. Here are some quick tricks you should be using to get the most out of Microsoft Teams. Slash your way around the interface Slash commands save you time by providing quick access to frequently used features. Simply type a forward slash (/) in the search box at the top of the screen and a list of available commands will appear. Here are a few helpful ones to keep at the ready: /chat: Initiate a chat with someone. /away: Set your status to “Away. /dnd: Activate “Do Not Disturb” mode to silence notifications. /call [Name]: Instantly initiate a call with a specific contact. Use keyboard shortcuts to cut down on clicks The time you spend mastering keyboard shortcuts in Teams will pay off in spades down the road. Better yet, many shortcuts are universal across applications. Here are a few key Teams shortcuts that work in Windows: Ctrl + Shift + I: Mark the message youre sending as important. Ctrl + O: Open your current conversation in a new window. Ctrl + E: Go to Search. Ctrl + N: Start a new chat. Mac users: Substitute “Ctrl” with the Command key. To find a full list of shortcuts, click the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner next to your profile photo and select the Keyboard shortcuts item. Save messages for future reference Teams had a handy “Save” feature that allowed you to bookmark messages. Then it became the Bookmark feature, which allowed you toyou guessed itbookmark messages. Now its gone for some reason. But! Theres a workaround of sorts. If you forward messages to yourself, it creates a personal repository of notes that you can reference whenever you like. If you find a message youd like to save, hover over it and when the three-dot menu pops up, use the forward feature to send it to yourself. To access your saved messages, find yourself in the Recent section of the Chat pane. Better yet, hover over your chat with yourself, click the three-dot menu, and select Pin to stick yourself to the tippy top of the Chat section for good. Schedule messages to send later Need to send a message outside of work hours, but don’t want to disturb your colleagues? Sandbagging and want to make it look like youre burning the midnight oil? Teams allows you to schedule messages to be sent at a later date and time. Note that this feature works only for new posts you create in Teams channelsnot in chats and not in replies to others posts. To schedule a message, craft your post, click the plus icon in the lower-left corner, and choose the Schedule message option. Your post will stay in place, but will now have a delivery message at the top. Click it and youll be able to reschedule it or cancel it.
Category:
E-Commerce
When Paule Tenaillon was head shoe designer at Chloé, she was responsible for designing hundreds of shoes a year. With each design, she had to consider many factors: The Chloé aesthetic, trends, heel height, materials. But there was one issue she didn’t think much about. “Comfort was never a consideration,” Tenaillon says. “Nobody ever asked me to make a comfortable pair of shoes. But it bothered me, because it’s important to me to wear shoes that are comfortable.” Now, Tenaillon is on a mission to make the most uncomfortable shoe in the world comfortable. Her shoe label, Nomasei, is releasing a stiletto model for the first time, full of small design tweaks that she believes will make the spiky heel more wearable. [Photo: courtesy Nomasei] Bringing comfort to a notoriously uncomfortable heel This week, the brand launches two stiletto designs, the “BeforeSunrise” sandal ($575) and the “Gattaca” pump ($595), which are both inspired by the sleek, minimalist aesthetic of the 1990s, when both of these movies came out. To make the shoe as comfortable as possible, the heel is relatively short at 3 inches high, making it just a smidge taller than a kitten heel. It is placed close to the ball of the foot, creating more stability and balance. The heel also tapers out and there is memory foam padding in the toe box, both of which relieve pressure. [Photo: courtesy Nomasei] Since the brand launched in 2019, customers had asked for stilettos. This presented Tenaillon with a new challenge, since the thin, pointed heel of a stiletto puts a lot of pressure on the ball of the foot. For months, Tenaillon created prototypes, which she had many women wear-test for comfort. Ultimately, the breakthrough came when she studied the design of tango shoes, which allow the dancer to pivot gracefully, while remaining stable. Inspired by dance shoes, Tenaillon has designed stilettos with a tapered heel that relieve pressure and support balance, along with two two buckled straps that adapt to the wearer’s foot, keeping it firmly in place. “I lived in Buenos Aires for five years, where I danced a lot,” she says. “Tango shoes are often stilettos, but women wear them to dance all night.” [Photo: courtesy Nomasei] Leaving A Luxury House Tenaillon and her cofounder Marine Braquet had spent their lives wanting to work in fashion. And for the most part, all of their dreams came true. They each made their way through some of the most storied Parisian brands. Tenaillon had designed for everyone from Givenchy to Chanel; Braquet, the former footwear designer for Chloé, previously worked for Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. But inside the luxury houses, things weren’t so rosy. Tenaillon says that when she started her career in the early 2000s, she was designing two collections of shoes a year. But in the decades that followed, the industry sped up, churning out more and more styles every few months, to keep customers coming back for more. This was also when fast fashion emerged, ripping off runway looks and selling them for a fraction of the price. In response, the luxury brands had to keep one step ahead. Tenaillon was so stressed, she ended up in the hospital from exhaustion. “We were just on a hamster wheel,” Tenaillon says. “Creativity just became poorer and poorer.” Braquet, who worked on the business side, was also burning out. “I just stopped loving my job,” she says. “But before we gave up on fashion, we decided we would give it one last shot.” So together, they sketched out a plan to create a shoe label that focused on the things they loved most about luxury shoes: craftsmanship, beauty, careful attention to detail. And they would throw in something else that the high end brands didn’t have: comfort. [Photo: courtesy Nomasei] Designing Wearable Luxury Shoes The founders launched Nomasei in 2019, creating a selection of heels and boots that start at around $500. They’ve partnered with an Italian factory that also makes shoes for Hermes, leveraging Baquet’s extensive experience manufacturing shoes for luxury brands. Nomasei sells products online in both Europe and the United States. But months after opening the business, the pandemic struck and the world went into lockdown. Nobody was interested in pricey designer shoes, so the nascent brand went into hibernation. Eventually, around 2022, people wanted to get out of the house again, clad in beautiful outfits. And after spending years wearing sweatpants and slippers, comfort was an even greater priority. To Tenaillon, this just reinforced her commitment to comfortable design. She has spent the past five years designing a selection of shoes that stand out aesthetically, but that women can wear all day. And unlikes her previous jobs, Tenaillon now has the freedom to design slowly with a lot of attention to detail. She takes time to review what is on the market, creating pieces that are unique. On the website, each product has elaborate notes from Tenaillon about her approach to the design. [Photo: courtesy Nomasei] When it comes to comfort, there are many tricks that can make a heel more comfortable. Part of Tenaillon’s strategy has been to create block heels that distribute weight more evenly. Most Nomasei shoes, including the popular Adora and Baghera sandals, have these wide heels. In some, like the Taxi and Frenchkiss, there is also a platform, which makes the heel feel less high. Shoes like Venus are very popular with brides because they go nicely with wedding dresses, while being very walkable. [Photo: courtesy Nomasei] Besides the heel, Tenaillon believes that customizing the fit of the shoe to the wearer’s heel is important. So most shoes come with many straps whose buckles can be adjusted to fit the ankle and bridge of the foot. And there is memory foam in the heels to provide some cushioning. All of these features have made Nomasei a cult brand, with fans that include Bella Hadid, Kristen Stewart and Nicole Kidman. Six years after leaving Chloé, Braquet and Tenaillon aren’t looking back. And indeed, they’re now competing with some of the brands they once worked for. But they believe that designing comfortable, well-made shoes sets them apart. “We’re two very different women, with different tastes, and at different phases in life,” says Braquet. “But we both love shoes and expect them to be comfortable. The same is true for our customers.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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