Leader to Leader Insights: Shaping the Future of Leadership

Making Waves

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 19:02:02 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-11

In November 2022 I was thrilled to go on my very first cruise. Invited as a special guest of then CEO of Celebrity Cruises Lisa Lutoff-Perlo to the inaugural sailing of the cruise ship Beyond, I was excited to experience a new (to me) type of travel. Lisa asked me along so that I would be more knowledgeable about her and “cruising” to better help her as we took on the challenge of writing her book Making Waves.

Telling family, friends, and colleagues that I was going on a cruise as research for writing a book brought countless smiles. No one felt in the slightest bit sorry for me when I explained to them that my job was to enjoy myself as much as possible and in that I had done a very good job.

A Leader Who Happens to Be a Woman

When I first started working with Lisa, I understood her wanting to focus on her leadership journey more than on the fact that she is a woman who has achieved a level of leadership that many other women have not yet been afforded. I shared with Lisa former CEO of the Girl Scouts and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Frances Hesselbein’s response when introduced as a “woman leader”.

Frances would reply to the introduction that she was rather “a leader who happens to be a woman. I am a leader first.” With that simple statement, we immediately understood that her focus on being a leader was most important to her.

Lisa loved this story and with it we were immediately on the same page with Frances to describe leadership from Lisa’s unique perspective as a leader who is a woman in a male-dominated industry.

Another Frances story I shared with Lisa that cemented our working together relationship as one of purpose and fun I have shared with many others before and since. And I’m excited to share it here with you.

Frances always listened to understand and then she would distill what she heard into a sentence or phrase or what I call a Francesism. She had a way of simplifying the most complicated subjects and making them easy to remember and fun.

Over the years, Frances and I would often meet for lunch at our friend Alex von Bidder’s Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan or at the cafeteria in her office building, the Mutual of America headquarters at 320 Park Ave.

I was always so struck when after our lunch she would search through her big black handbag for her lipstick. Finally pulling it out of the bottom of her bag, she’d remove the cap, turn to look me right in the eye, and share with me, confidentially, this very important piece of wisdom that I’ll share with you now:

“You always know a woman by the name of her lipstick,” she would say. Then she would expertly and deliberately apply the lipstick to her lips. No mirror needed.

When she had finished, she would say to me, “Mine is All Heart,” and then she would put her lipstick back in its barrel and plop it back into her purse.

When she shared this with me, I was in awe that everything about her exuded who she was as a leader and a person, even the name of her lipstick - All Heart.

“Let me check mine!”

Pulling my lipstick out of my bag, I read its name “Relentless Ruby!”

We’d laugh. Yes, that suits me to a T. Now, put our lipstick missions together, and what do you get? Love that won’t quit!

And it really is true. Those who know me know I have been relentless in my determination to learn from Frances. And, many times, at a proverbial fork in the road, I have chosen the unknown path because Frances’s mentorship has encouraged me to do so.

That’s the thing about being mentored; it’s one thing to find someone who we want to mentor us, to find someone we want to be like, who does something we want to do. And, then it’s up to us. We have to put in the work to develop the relationship and follow their guidance as it applies to our own lives. They can’t do it for us – we have to do it.

There is an old anonymous quote framed on the wall in Frances’s den that I love. It says, “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Frances did this herself and she has emboldened us to do the same.

(This article has been adapted from Sarah McArthur’s Editor-in-Chief column for Leader Leader journal, Issue 112, Volume 2024.)

Sarah McArthur is Editor in Chief of the 18x Apex Award-winning Leader to Leader Journal, “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor with Alan Mulally, Executive Producer of the Telly Award-winning documentary Defining Moments: the life and leadership of quiet revolutionary Frances Hesselbein, and former COO of Marshall Goldsmith Inc.

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Leader to Leader Insights reflects our commitment at the Leader to Leader Institute to create long-term value, to foster growth and innovation, and to strengthen leadership across the sectors through “Working Together”™ leadership, service, partnership, communication, and collaboration.

We publish insights and perspectives from thought-leading contributors about leadership and character, forward-thinking ideas, strategy, and implementation, and actionable practices, research, and applications.

Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

Ground Zero: How People Enter Your Organization Defines Everything That Follows

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:00:46 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-10

Evie Wentink and I had the opportunity to meet and talk recently, and I found myself fascinated by her work and mission to strengthen governance, reduce risk, and equip leaders with the tools to make principled decisions in complex environments.

Evie was kind enough to write and submit the following article to share her expert thoughts about compliance and ethics - I hope you find it as interesting and helpful as we do!

How you enter an organization matters and what the organization does to attract the right people matters even more. Yet recruiting is often treated as an assembly process where we fill the req, screen the candidates, and extend the offer, rather than the first and most consequential act of culture-building. When recruiters aren’t equipped to carry the organization’s culture into those early conversations, leaders pay the price long after the onboarding is over.

My perspective comes from years of leading compliance programs. These are lean operations where culture isn’t a luxury, it is the foundation. What has struck me repeatedly in all of these years is how late culture enters the conversation. By the time compliance messaging reaches a new employee, they’ve already formed impressions through the job posting, the recruiter call, and the interview process. These early touchpoints are largely owned by HR and, increasingly, by AI-driven tools that screen and rank candidates before a human ever speaks with them.

When a job posting neglects to describe how the organization conducts itself, its values, ethical expectations, and Culture of Integrity, candidates notice the absence. And this silence creates room for assumption. These gray areas don’t stay gray for long, and the result is employees will fill the void with their own judgment. A Culture of Integrity is so important, because it is the visible, consistent alignment between what an organization says it values and how it actually operates, starting from the very first interaction with a prospective employee.

The selection process itself is crucial. As AI-driven tools take on greater roles in screening and ranking candidates, organizations face a critical compliance challenge. Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDTs) must be implemented thoughtfully, with recruiters trained not just to use the outputs, but to interrogate them. Both selected and non-selected candidate data require ongoing review to ensure fairness and regulatory compliance. This is not a technology problem. It is a leadership and governance problem.

Once a candidate enters the pipeline, how the organization communicates matters as much as what it communicates. Leading organizations are including a brief overview of their compliance program, for instance, their values, mission, and ethical expectations, as part of early outreach to candidates. Think of it as a cultural introduction before the formal interview begins. Equally important is responsiveness. Ghosting a candidate is a direct contradiction of a Culture of Integrity. Closing the loop, promptly and respectfully, is itself an act of organizational values.

The interview process is perhaps the most powerful and underused opportunity to bring the Culture of Integrity to life. When an interviewer authentically speaks to the organization’s values, it sets a tone no onboarding document can replicate. Leaders who conduct interviews should see themselves as evaluators and culture carriers. They are in fact the first human proof that the organization’s values are real.

Onboarding is where ground zero becomes real. It is the organization’s most deliberate opportunity to establish the Culture of Integrity. It is the foundation of how work gets done. Gray areas will arise in every role. When they do, the goal is for employees to know the rules as well as internalize a standard: what would most people in this organization do? And when they are unsure, they should leave onboarding knowing exactly where and how to ask for guidance and feeling safe enough to do so.

Ground zero is the moment a candidate first encounters your organization in a job posting, in a recruiter’s voice, or in the questions asked during an interview. The Culture of Integrity begins there. Leaders who understand this recognize that every touchpoint before day one is a leadership act. Every touchpoint is a signal to the people they are asking to join them about what truly matters, how decisions get made, and what kind of organization they are walking into. Culture of Integrity doesn’t start at orientation, it begins at hello.

Evie Wentink, M.S.L., CCEP-I is certified compliance executive with 15+ years building ethics-first cultures — now advising boards and leadership through Ethical Edge Experts LLC.

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Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

Expect the Unexpected

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 20 May 2026 19:01:55 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-9

“Expect the unexpected and expect to deal with it - in a positive way.”
– Alan Mulally, former CEO of Boeing and Ford, creator and designer Our “Working Together”™ Leadership and Management System

Unexpected events happen all of the time. It wouldn’t be life if everything always went according to plan. And that the unexpected is a fact of life is likely why the phrase “expect the unexpected,” with its origins in a quote by the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (c. 535–475 BC) has remained an important expression for thousands of years. It is a timeless piece of advice reminding us to keep a frame of mind that is expectant of change, that is agile and prepared for the unexpected because, “The only constant in life is change,” another quote attributed to Heraclitus that remains a staple sage insight today.

When we look a little closer, we can see that in every day there is a high probability of at least one unexpected low-impact event occurring.

For instance, a colleague, friend, or family member needs a hand unexpectedly or an impromptu meeting gets called in the afternoon. You might get a flat tire on the way to work or you might get a call from a friend that you weren’t expecting. These events are relatively low-impact, and they happen frequently. What is unexpected about them isn’t that they happen, rather it is that we don’t know which low-impact event will happen on any given day.

And then there are the low probability high-impact events that are unplanned, unexpected, and change the world as we know it in major ways, sometimes in an instant. Take the Covid-19 global pandemic for instance.

And it seems these unexpected events are happening more often than they used to, which is in large part why the phrase “in our rapidly changing world” has become one of the most frequently used sentences in leadership literature today. Rapid change expected and not is what we are facing as a global society, and the leaders we need are those who lead us through this constant in such a way that it unifies and heals rather than furthers division across the sectors and around the globe.

As a thought partner and advisor, I work with individuals and leaders on how they approach change and navigate the challenges of the unexpected to create a bright future for all of their stakeholders, including generations to come. We start with their values and the fact that the values by which we work together positively, such as inclusion, listening, helping, connection, civility, service, and a host of others which focus on cooperation, respect for all people, and building consensus, don’t change. And they don’t change even while the external circumstances influencing our working together are constantly changing and we may not always agree on the best plan, outcome, or result.

For example, most recently I was working with a client who had coached a leader who was facing an unexpected event that would impact productivity. To meet the performance goal, the leader needed to bend on their values just slightly and was upset to be put in this position and faced with such a choice. Yet, in the end, the leader chose to bend just a touch to meet goals and stay employed rather than to live the values agreed upon by the leadership team and committed to by the entire company.

My client understood the leader’s challenge and had also faced the choice at times to either bend slightly or lose an account, program, or client. With some disappointment in themselves, they said that they too had sometimes chosen to bend. The personal issue with this is letting ourselves down. If we look in the mirror, we may see a lesser version of ourselves than we would like to see. The larger issue of acquiescing even ever so slightly is that when we bend to produce, what we produce is bent.

Could this be at the root of our challenges today? That under the constant of rapid change and the unexpected and the pressure of meeting quarterly goals and outcomes, we are bending our behavior just slightly from our values, and thus our results are just slightly bent. Of course, this would mean that the more our decisions, behavior, and actions are not aligned with our values, the more skewed from our values will be the result. Alignment of our beliefs, values, and behaviors takes great courage, strength, and determination. It is why great leaders, such as Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and former CEO of the Girl Scouts Frances Hesselbein, are respected and admired as they are.

Frances often said, “In the end, it is the quality and character of the leader that determines the performance, the results.” What she meant is that who we are will have everything to do with our success and our effectiveness as leaders. [Frances Hesselbein, “The Leaders We Need,” Leader to Leader, Winter 2005]

How we face and navigate low- and high-impact events, the natural constant of change, is how we lead. Those who follow us can see our character, because in the end, it is our actions and behaviors that reveal our character. They reveal who we are. To illustrate this point ever so clearly, Frances often recited the following quote in her speeches and with friends.

Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words;

Be careful of your words, for your words become your deeds;

Be careful of your deeds, for your deeds become your habits;

Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character;

Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.

∼ Author Anonymous

So, let us ask ourselves, who am I? As a leader, citizen, worker, family member, and individual, what are my beliefs and values, and are my actions and words aligned with them?

In the end, in today’s rapidly changing world where external circumstances change and the unexpected happens, when we meet the unexpected with our thoughts, words, and behavior aligned in a positive way we bring “hope, healing and unity within the organization and beyond the walls,” {ibid} and the results and outcome benefit us all.

Thank you, Alan Mulally, for our many discussions that led to this article!

(This article has been adapted from Sarah McArthur’s Editor-in-Chief column for Leader Leader journal, Issue 114, Volume 2024.)

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Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

The Monergy Flow™: Most Businesses Get the Order Wrong

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 19:00:54 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-8

The following article is written by John Hibbs.

John is an experienced entrepreneur, having started and run many businesses. over the years. We met a couple of years ago when John reached out interested in the alignment of our work teaching and sharing Alan Mulally’s Our “Working Together”™ Leadership and Management System and his The Monergy Flow™.

I was immediately intrigued by John’s concept of The Monergy Flow, which is a model for busines that connects profits, people, and purpose. John kindly wrote an article for our Leader to Leader journal (which you can read here) and I’m excited he agreed to share more about The Monergy Flow here in Insights.

Let’s play a little game. Think about everything that touches your life between opening your eyes and walking into work; how many businesses are involved?

Let’s see. Your alarm went off; the phone, the alarm clock, the smart speaker, whatever it was; made in a factory by a company, with components from ten other companies, shipped by three more, and powered by electricity provided by another. The battery? A business. The copper inside the battery? Mined, refined, packaged; all businesses. The little screw that holds the battery door shut? Yep, another business. Then there’s the electricity itself, produced, transmitted, regulated, oh, and billed to you, all by different companies.

The light you turned on? A bulb made by one company, inside a fixture from another, bought from a shop owned by someone else, probably installed by an electrician who runs their own company or works for one. The water you drank from the tap? Infrastructure, pipes, chemicals, filtration, more businesses. Toothbrush, toothpaste, kettle, mug, tea…all businesses, all layered on top of each other.

Your clothes (from your pants to your shirt to your shoes) all made by someone, somewhere, likely with dozens of suppliers involved. Yes, even your bloody socks!

Your car? Thousands of businesses. Steel, rubber, electronics, finance, insurance, maintenance, fuel. The road you drive on? Businesses. The petrol? Businesses. The app that tells you where to go? Businesses.

And I haven’t even got to your smartphone, which by the time you arrive at work has probably touched hundreds of businesses just by turning on and syncing your email.

And then — finally — you walk into your workplace… which is itself a business… where you are working for a business… using tools made by businesses… to help other businesses do business with more businesses.

And we think we live “independently.”

My point is businesses are important. Without them, well I don’t even know where to start. They have enabled our very lives.

And have you ever looked around a business? You know, been in their office or their factory? Notice anything? That’s right… they are full of people. Every single one. Full of people trying to work together in groups to do something that will benefit their customers. Whether big or small, business is all about people. There is not a business on the planet that is not owned by at least one person, usually employing other people, selling to other people. And because business is all about people, then it’s also all about relationships!

Next, let’s think about things that exist, and things that don’t.

There are things in this world that clearly exist — trees, stones, people. You can see them, touch them. And then there are things that don’t exist in the same way, but we behave as if they do. Money is one. Laws. Nations. Time, arguably. And businesses.

You can’t actually point to a business. You can point to a building, a product, a person. But the business itself is an idea we’ve all agreed to believe in. Meta, Coke, Apple — they don’t exist in a physical sense. They’re a collection of people, products and agreements, wrapped around a shared belief.

And yet, these “made up” things shape our lives more than almost anything else.

Businesses are remarkable. They allow groups of people to come together, create value, and improve each other’s lives at scale. Most of the time, they are doing something good.

The trouble is, the way we think about them is often too simplistic.

Ask most people why businesses exist and you’ll hear the same answer: to make money and grow. And to a point, that’s true. Without money, a business doesn’t survive. But somewhere along the way, many leaders begin to treat money not just as essential, but as the starting point.

The Monergy Flow argues that’s the wrong way round.

Let’s walk through it.

On the left, you’ve got money. It is absolutely right that your business makes money. It’s needed to keep the business alive. But it’s also used to pay your staff and pay taxes. Paying taxes is important because that money goes towards building the life we expect; great schools, parks, infrastructure, health care and looking after people who can’t look after themselves.

Now, it would be fantastic if simply wishing for money made it so, but unfortunately, business doesn’t work like that. To make money you must sell something. It used to be considered that you could only sell a product or a service, but I think what we’re really selling are experiences. If you think about this for a moment, you’ll realise that even the products we buy offer us an experience of using them. How much value do you give to what you’ve bought and how much value goes towards the enjoyment of using the product?

To sell something you have to tell people you have something to sell and that’s called marketing. Marketing is fascinating. Let’s say I’m an accountant. I could say “Hey there, I’m a great accountant. Do you want to buy my services?”.

Now, if I’m lucky you’ll say “Yes”. And we’ve got ourselves what’s called a transactional relationship, I sell something to you (in this case, accountancy services) and you give me something in return (money)...

...But...businesses are just groups of humans; and humans like humans like them.

Think about the relationships you have in your life. The relationships with your best friends or your spouse. They are not transactional. It’s not about what you can get out of them. They are based on shared values. Shared beliefs, principles, and outlooks...basically, people similar to you. And these relationships are strong and deep and will stand the test of time and occasional pressure.

What happens in my transactional relationship above when another accountant comes along who can provide better services for the same price, or the same service cheaper? If the relationship is based on the transaction alone, you’ll switch. But if the relationship is based on shared principles and values, then the bond between you and your customer is much stronger and your customer is less likely to switch.

Marketing is not about “what I have to sell” it’s being able to say “Hello, here I am.”

If you, as a business, can stand on the street and be clear about who you are and why you’re in business then people who get you and are aligned with your values will come over for a chat… and be much more likely to buy from you and recommend you to their network.

The best businesses understand this, and have developed their personalities, which we call their brand. But, of course, it’s not the business per se that created the brand… it’s the humans who started and work for the business that create the brand. Everything starts with the humans.

So, if you want to make money, don’t focus on the money, focus on your humans and their shared purpose at the start of the chain of events that leads to money (outcomes).

Once you’re up and running and you’re making more money than you need, what should you do with it?

You should reinvest your profits back into your business. If you nurture, provide meaningful connections, and love your humans, you’ll have better humans, which will enhance the chain of events which leads to more money, which leads to more profits to reinvest in your business and round and round and up and up the cycle goes. I call this an upward spiral.

Nurtured Humans are Happy Humans

A better functioning and more profitable business isn’t the only outcome of this model. Nurtured humans feel like they belong to the group, and are part of the vision and future of the organisation. They ultimately feel happier. It’s a rare privilege to work with people who share your vision of the world and become people you admire, respect and love.

Happy Humans go Home

Happy humans are not only more fun to be around at work, they go home at the end of the day and are more fun around their families too. Go home stressed and tired and you’re much more likely to carry that negativity over to your family. Go home happy, positive and feeling loved and you’ll be carrying those powerful vibes right into the heart of your family, affecting how they feel and ultimately behave.

Happy Communities

Happier families lead to happier neighbours, happier streets, happier schools and ultimately happier communities.

Easy with a Model

So, that’s how we’re going to make more money, surround ourselves with people we love and make the world a better place. Easy, isn’t it?

Collective Responsibility

Happier communities are not someone else’s responsibility. It is all too easy to point a finger at governments or schools and suggest that they need to do something to fix these social issues. And yes, they have their part to play, but so do we. As humans, we must refuse to absolve ourselves of the part we play in building the society in which we live and the legacy we leave behind. We call it responsibility, but really it’s our privilege.

John Hibbs believes businesses should be a force for good and helps businesses around the world capitalize on their amazing human talent. He likes to spend his time thinking about the interconnections that form our work, communities, and lives and how these can be enhanced for the benefit of all. A serial entrepreneur and experienced businessman, John enjoys achieving results in a win-win world. Learn more at CoEfficient.

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Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

Leadership in Verse

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:01:52 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-7

The following piece is written by dear friend and longtime colleague John Baldoni. John is a world-renowned leadership educator and keynote speaker, and this piece is written to support his new book, Leadership in Verse: Poems & Stories. Leadership in Verse reveals through poetry and prose how to lead in times of challenge and stress with courage, compassion, and grace.

I remember asking John years ago to be an editor with me of The AMA Handbook of Leadership. I could not have been more excited than when he said yes.

Since that time I have likely read every book that John has written. He is such a prolific writer that one time he asked me if I would edit a book that he had written that he had been keeping in a desk drawer. I was amazed that anyone could write so much that the overflow could be kept in a drawer until such time as deemed appropriate to publish.

Thank you John for our many years of friendship and your thoughtful contributions to the field of leadership literature.

By John Baldoni

Poetry is the art of getting to the heart of

the matter.

It gives structure to ideas that are often overlooked or ignored, but nonetheless must

be explored.

Poetry puts thoughts into verse in ways that make tough subjects approachable and accessible.

Leadership, too, is about reaching the heart.

as well as the mind.

Leaders are called upon to address challenging issues and act with candor and courage to address them.

Poetry can be a siren song for action.

Leadership can be those songs put into action.

+++

What do you want people to get from reading your poems?

This question was posed to me by a colleague, and I will admit that it threw me. I can tell you what I hope people will learn from my nonfiction books and articles because, to quote Marshall McLuhan, “the medium is the message.” I write about leadership themes that are explicated with research, stories and prescriptions. My work provides the how in what it means to lead with purpose, communicate with conviction, and connect for community.

Not so with my poetry. Or so I thought. I know why I like writing poetry – writing concisely, using similes and metaphors, playing with language, and shining a light on everyday life. Poetry allows me to “cut to the quick” of an idea, a story or an image. I am an observational poet. I write about what I see.

Poetry spans that chasm between experience and understanding. And as such it becomes a medium to explore what it means to lead and by extension to live. Toward that end, I have put together a new collection of poems I call Leadership in Verse.

And being one who has spent over three decades writing about leadership—as well as teaching and coaching it—I know I still have some observations to share.

What We See

These are observations of management that we see around us in good times and in bad.

Leadership is about making a positive difference.

The difference becomes obvious when we look around at the world as it is, rather than how we wish it to be.

Too often, we see overlook – or turn the other way – when problems arise.

It is important to take blinders off and examine what is truly happening.

Burnout

Gnawing emptiness pervades.

Fatigue without perceived exertion

Endless hours of sameness.

Hour upon hour.

“It’s like being drunk,” they say.

If so, there’s no comfort. No high.

Just exhaustion.

What took an hour may take a half-day,

Including time spent staring.

Worse. A loss of what and why?

What am I doing,

And why am I doing it?

Motions for the sake of motion.

Burnout.

How We Act

These are a set of leadership thoughts and actions that come in handy in times of stress.

Looking for ways to make a positive difference is the challenge everyone faces.

It is easy to become discouraged when the change we seek meets resistance.

But then, if it did, then perhaps it would not be worth our effort.

Resilience

Yes, I can.

So simple to say when things are going well.

Not so easy when…

Your project has been cancelled.

Your team has been disbanded.

Your boss, whom you like, has been transferred.

Your job has been eliminated.

So hard then when fortune turns to misfortune.

But when you realize what happened to you,

It’s not you,

Then you can decide your next move.

Slowly. Deliberately. Carefully.

Maybe not as strong as before,

But adding muscle with every move you take.

How to Inspire

Poetry can open our minds and hearts to possibility. Here in “May the Blessing” I cite the example of John O’Donohue, an Irish poet.

May the Blessing

Philosopher-poet John O’Donohue wrote reams of poems.

Many were blessings.

As befit his previous priestly calling.

Each line of his blessings begins with “May.”

May you think freely…

May you feel the ground…

May you know you are loved.

And so forth.

May is the intercession between

Mother and child.

Pastor and parish.

Leader and follower.

May is a door opener.

Invoking it says, “Are you listening, Lord?”

Or to whomever you are addressing.

May is a kind word.

An invitation, as the French would say, to “parlez.”

To have a conversation with a Higher Power “up there.”

Or a “higher power” down here.

May is a good word.

One of full of grace.

Smiling as I write this.

As children, we asked for intercessions from

Mary, full of grace.

May we all find more mays.

May the light snuff out the dark.

May despair lose to hope.

May sorrow drown in joy.

May. May. May.

Frances Hesselbein

In this same vein of hope and grace, I include a poem about Frances Hesselbein, the founder of the Leader to Leader journal. Her life story exemplifies what it means to lead with strength, bravery, and heart. When she led the Girl Scouts of America, Peter Drucker, the founding father of modern management, said she was the greatest CEO he had ever met. Frances was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

“Life Lesson” is my remembrance of her.

Life Lesson

“To serve is to live,” she taught us.

We listened.

And wondered how.

So,

She showed by example how to

Listen with an open heart.

Stand tall for what’s right.

Understand differences

Seek common cause

Be grateful

Find joy in work and play.

In short,

To love.

Making Poetry Work for You

“Poetry is an echo asking a shadow to dance,” wrote Carl Sandburg. So, pick a poem or a series of poems and consider what they say to you.

· What do these poems/stories say about us?
· What insights into yourself do they reveal?
· How might you change how you think and act when it comes to making the choices that matter most?

The answers you give are yours. You can share your thoughts with others who have read the same poems. It does not matter that you agree. What matters is that you express yourself and, in doing so, connect with others in ways that illuminate what makes us what and who we are.

To sum up, what do I want people to get from reading my poems?

Insights into the human condition that may provoke you to second-guess your preconceptions. Doing so may make you think again, appreciate what you have, or laugh a bit more.

Simple really. But let’s not delve too deeply into the whats, wherefores, and whys of poetry. Best to let it speak for itself.

John Baldoni is an internationally recognized keynote speaker, senior communications advisor and author of 15 books translated into ten languages.

John’s thought leadership is reflected in his writing and choice of media: columns, videos, and books. He also integrates piano improvisations into his keynotes, which he illustrates with his still-life photos. John also authored three collections of poetry.

John is also a member of 100 Coaches, a select group of business, science, medicine and coaching thought leaders founded by Marshall Goldsmith.

John’s leadership resource website is www.johnbaldoni.com.

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Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

The Greatest Threat to Democracy

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:00:57 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-6

(This column has been adapted from Frances Hesselbein and Sarah McArthur’s Editor-in-Chief column for Leader Leader journal, Issue 104, Volume 2022.)

Years ago, when asked to describe the challenges to democracy Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Frances Hesselbein said matter-of-factly, “The greatest threat to democracy is our lack of civility.” A bold declaration, it recognizes not just external threats, but also the potential perils within democracy when we lack civility.

We see about us everywhere, in all sectors, evidence that civility isn’t a “given” and this lack is leading us, perhaps unbeknownst to many, toward momentous challenges for our functioning global society.

Civility isn’t always our automatic or default response, and sometimes it isn’t even practiced, encouraged or supported by leaders around the world much less by those in our closest intimate circles. It should be.

We thought we’d start with our operational definitions of the words in Frances’s statement. We recognize that these words, so precious to us, can be understood differently by different people, and so we want to share with you what we mean by these words.

For our explanation of these terms, we discussed amongst ourselves and also used the freely accessible online dictionaries: Google’s English Dictionary provided by Oxford Languages [https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/], The Brittanica Dictionary [https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/] and Merriam-Webster [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary]. And as a fun exercise in American English grammar and linguistics, we’ve included what parts of speech these words represent in this statement. We love diagramming sentences!

The: This is a determiner. In this case it is used to point to the phrase that follows. (Oxford Languages)

Greatest: This is a superlative adjective in this case, and denotes that what follows is the most important thing for us to consider, in this case as a threat to democracy. (Oxford Languages)

Threat: This is a noun and denotes something that will cause damage, and in this case the damage is to democracy. (Oxford Languages)

To: A preposition, it points to the particular condition discussed, in this case it is the condition we call democratic. (Oxford Languages)

Democracy: “A noun denoting a country, state, etc. with such government. The definition of democracy is a form of government in which the common people hold political power and can rule either directly or through elected representatives. An example of democracy at work is in the United States, where people have political freedom and equality.” (Merriam-Webster)

Is: A linking verb, which indicates that what follows (our lack of civility) belongs to the group, class, or category of, in this case, threats to democracy. (The Britannica Dictionary)

Our: An adjective we use to denote belonging “of or relating to us ourselves or ourself especially as possessors or possessor, agents or agent, objects or object of an action.” In this case, it is democracy that belongs to all of us who are part of it. (Merriam-Webster)

Lack: A noun denoting “the state of being without or not having enough of something,” in this case not having enough civility. (Oxford Languages)

Of: This is a preposition used to indicate “an association between two entities, typically one of belonging.” The association of belonging here is between lack and civility. (Oxford Languages)

Civility: This is a noun and it describes our conduct especially as it is courteous, polite, as in a polite act or expression. (Merriam-Webster)

With our definitions expressed, let’s explore this greatest threat to democracy further. What do we mean by civility in this particular context?

Civility occurs organically when we live and lead with humility, love, and service. It is a natural byproduct of these principles. To be civil in all of our actions and communications is a higher calling to which we can aspire, and for which we will be given many opportunities to practice throughout each of our lifetimes.

To be civil does not mean we agree or disagree with one another. It is rather the practice of grace that allows for and results in open doors of communication so that we can come together on issues for the good of our society.

Without civility, we are at a loss. Doors slam shut, and sides and silos compartmentalize and fester in isolation to the detriment of the whole. We polarize and we divide, and this division makes us weak where we could be strong. Where we could be united, we are instead fractioned, separated, alienated, and frail.

As mentioned, civility is not a given. It must be cultivated, nurtured, taught, exampled, practiced, sustained, and protected to ensure democracy survives during all times, from the most peaceful and gainful to the most trying and volatile.

In such times as we live today, where we are experiencing polarization and where globalization is dissipating into global culture wars, we must recall the examples and strength of our greatest leaders and recollect our civility towards each other for the good of all. Courtesy, respect, and kindness. Respect for all people. These are our battle cries as we face our future together.

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Frances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, was editor-in-chief of Leader to Leader, founding president of the Drucker Foundation, namesake to the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum in the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), and former chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts of the USA. Fortune magazine named Frances one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.

Sarah McArthur is Editor in Chief of the 18x Apex Award-winning Leader to Leader Journal, “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor with Alan Mulally, Executive Producer of the Telly Award-winning documentary Defining Moments: the life and leadership of quiet revolutionary Frances Hesselbein, and former COO of Marshall Goldsmith Inc.

Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

How Synthetic Storytelling Erodes Trust—and How Leaders Can Rebuild It

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 19:00:26 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-5

I met podcaster, speaker, author, and coach Lisa Nirell many years ago through our mutual friend executive coach Marshall Goldsmith. And since that time, I’ve enjoyed learning from Lisa as she explores and dives into subjects and solutions using her expert marketing lens. In the following article, Lisa is giving us an incredible analysis of how the “AI treadmill can quietly undermine the trust mill” and what we can do to avoid that pitfall. Enjoy!

Here’s a “productivity versus trust” tension trap that’s playing out daily across boardrooms and C-Suites—and how you might manage it more effectively to protect your reputation during tough transitions.

In late 2024, I completed a series of confidential 360 interviews for a $1B client. The CEO had engaged me to coach a rising executive.

The stakeholders were engaged, candid and generous. They revealed growth edges, organizational constraints, champions, and leadership strengths. They also produced 74 pages of notes.

Distilling that into a clear, evidence-based growth narrative felt daunting. I did what many of us now do. After setting strict privacy parameters, I fed the notes into an LLM. Within minutes, it surfaced themes and recommendations.

Was it efficient? Absolutely. Was it insightful, inspiring, and board-ready? Not even close. That step required judgment, lived experience, and hard-earned pattern recognition.

Most of us agree that generative AI tools draft synthetic stories at speed. They help us structure thoughts. They summarize. They relieve pressure. AI-based storytelling aids such as Claude, Grammarly, Poppy, and Saywhat offer relief.

But speed has a price. The AI treadmill can quietly undermine the trust mill—especially during high-stakes transitions. Here are three reasons why:

1. Trust remains elusive across organizations. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed that seven in ten individuals are hesitant or unwilling to trust those who think or live differently. Yet diversity of thought fuels innovation--a key ingredient for any high performing team. Your teams most likely favor the familiar over innovation.

Trust erosion has affected boardrooms and C-Suites, too. Over the past five years, the rate of CEO firings resulting from board activism has skyrocketed.

In a recent Fortune article, authors Thompson and Byron reported “that first annoying text gives the CEO chances of getting the boot from a long shot 5% chance just five years ago to a nearly one in five today. And “for megabrands (like Unilever), that spikes to 40%.”

Under these modern-day conditions, outsourcing our high-stakes messages to an AI slop factory may introduce unnecessary risk.

2. Synthetic Often Lacks Emotional Weight. In a January 2026 Communications Psychology article, Professor Joshua Wenger and team conducted four experiments to test people’s reactions to AI-generated versus human-delivered messages.

Their results show that humans trust other humans more than a chatbot—even when the messaging may not be as crisp as what the chatbot delivered. We need story clarity and credibility to build trust. One without the other causes emotional impact to plummet.

The executives within my private peer community shared similar experiences. I spent the past month interviewing customer-facing executives and CEOs to understand their reactions to synthetic stories. In every case, executives could point to an advertisement or message that fell flat.

Here’s what one Atlanta-based CEO told me: “When I saw the Coca-Cola ‘Holidays are Here 2025’ AI-generated video, I noticed that it did not meet their normal quality standards…it felt like the brand was betraying us.”

3. Your best stories may be hiding in the dark. Leaders who rush to build synthetic stories on a shaky ground of truth experience strategic vertigo. The companies winning market share and mindshare now use AI to uncover the powerful stories buried in their organization’s data—especially in the “dark social” corners. I explained this concept in my recent book, The Mindful Marketer.

Dark social—the messages your audience shares secretly across texting, Slack, LinkedIn direct messages, WhatsApp, and Signal—shape trust and influence buying decisions. Sophisticated tools cannot access these private conversations.

Nano Banana Generated Image

How can you align synthetic and human stories to create positive impact? Here are my recommendations:

a) Set clear story intentions. What feeling and core value (s) will your story amplify? Some values and emotions can change quickly: Shutterstock’s 2025 Creative Impact Report found that “nostalgia” climbed in importance, rating high on believability during this time of uncertainty and discontent.

b) Test for the neural coupling factor. This neuroscience-backed concept happens when the speaker’s and the listeners’ brains synchronize during storytelling, creating emotional resonance and shared understanding (think back to the Star Trek “Vulcan mind meld” trope).

In my decades of advising hundreds of B2B marketing leaders and CEOs, I can name a handful of companies whose stories passed the neural coupling test. To this day, most still over-index on feeds and speeds—which I call feature-palooza syndrome.

If your message does not create a visceral response, it will not mobilize people.

c) Create and publish operating standards for AI-assisted storytelling. Determine when AI might lead versus aid with crafting stories.

Start by mapping story types. These range from a quarterly global investor call (high impact, high strategic value, high compliance requirements) to a press release about a sponsored regional sporting event (lower impact, low strategic value, low legal compliance requirements).

Then, categorize your story types on a grid. Finally, determine the role of AI-generated stories in each scenario. Consider using the SDEL framework: Support, (assist with) Draft, Edit, or Lead.

d) Select metrics to track synthetic versus human-enabled storytelling resonance. Traditional metrics may not be helpful, such as average viewer time or open rates. In the marketing or investor relations realms, consider tracking purchase intent, trust and engagement scores, and Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS). Consider Decipher, an AI platform, to help you measure content believability and virality.

e) Prioritize emotive over purely factual messaging. Shutterstock’s analysis of top creative content found a 58% believability rate in emotive content versus 48% believability in factual content.

Despite his tech-heavy roots, Soundstripe CEO and author Jeff Perkins still believes in human-delivered stories: “The core of storytelling still resides in my teams’ hands…we continue to use AI more for workflow efficiency.”

In this era of insularity and polarization, storytelling no longer remains sole responsibility of the CMO or investor relations team. It’s everyone’s job, and it’s a skill worth improving and amplifying across the organization.

Wisdom, not widgets, helps leaders uncover the stories that help stakeholders do hard things together. Zen Media CEO Shama Hyder summarizes it well: “The question and

dilemma is not ‘AI storytelling or human storytelling?’ It’s ‘How sophisticated is your team at using AI to find and amplify powerful, values-aligned stories?’”

Maya Angelou reminds us that “the idea is to write so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.” Using these strategies, you will discover the right balance of human and AI-augmented storytelling. Your audience will feel seen, not sold.

For over 30 years, Lisa Nirell has helped market leaders navigate high-stakes transitions and grow healthy companies. She’s a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches global community. Organizations such as Google, Hilton, Qualcomm, and Schneider Electric hire Lisa to launch breakthrough ideas.

A seasoned podcaster, keynote speaker, HBR contributor, and executive coach, she has also written and edited five books. Lisa draws from four decades of traveling the world for open water swim adventures. She also held prior sales and marketing roles in high-growth technology companies.

Download Lisa’s latest insights and invites at themindfulmarketer.com. For keynote availability, reach out to lisa@lisanirell.com.

Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

The Bricklayer Who Taught Me More About Leadership Than Any CEO

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 20:00:52 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-4

Tom Loarie is one of those leaders who share their experience and leadership with us to help us go forward so positively. We met when Tom asked Alan and I to support him with an interview for The Mentors Radio Show that he hosts. You can listen to this great interview here: “From Vision to Reality: Alan Mulally’s Blueprint for Transformative Leadership,” The Mentors Radio Show Podcast, March 16, 2024.

The following article by Tom is about a great mentor of his, Eddie Johnson, who shaped who he is as a leader and a person. It makes me think of mentorship in a couple of ways.

First, who have been my mentors and why was I so drawn to learn from them?

Of course Frances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, comes immediately to mind. I am so drawn to her for her courage and mantra she lived and led: Respect for All People.

And second, how am I mentoring today? Am I not only opening and going through doors, but am I bringing someone else with me?

Thanks to Tom for this wonderful article that makes us consider the honor and gift of great mentorship.

April 9, 2025

Not all mentors wear suits. Some wear worn work boots, carry bricks on their shoulders, and lead without ever needing to raise their voice. One of the most influential mentors in my life was Eddie Johnson, a bricklayer’s foreman I worked for right after high school. My time with Eddie and the crew from G & R Masonry shaped me in ways I only began to fully appreciate later in life.

It all started with a chance opportunity. My ex-wife’s cousin, Richie Fitts, and I were looking for summer work. Richie had picked up laboring jobs before while training as a cyclist in Illinois. We landed a small bricklaying job together, and soon after, walked onto a construction site near my home in Deerfield. That’s where we met Eddie Johnson - a ruggedly handsome man, about six-foot three, broad-shouldered, with a quiet strength that commanded respect without ever asking for it. He stood up from his work, gave us a quick once-over, and when we asked if they needed help, simply said, “Yes, but only one of you.” Richie deferred to me. “When should I start?” I asked. Eddie didn’t miss a beat. “Right now,” he said.

That moment kicked off a five-year adventure working summers as a bricklayer’s laborer, and in many ways, as an apprentice under Eddie’s quiet, powerful leadership. I worked those summers all through college, even picking up work during holidays and right after graduation before moving into my first professional role. And in that time, I became not only a better worker, but a better person. What I learned from Eddie went far beyond how to mix mortar or carry hods of brick. I learned how to lead, how to earn trust, how to stay humble, and how to bring people together.

Eddie wasn’t flashy. He didn’t need to be. He led by example. He didn’t talk much about himself or preach values - he lived them. He treated every job with respect and expected the same from the rest of us. He was a man of integrity, someone who believed in doing what was right even when it wasn’t the easiest or most beneficial choice. His motto, one he passed on to his children, was to “make the right choice first.”

What stood out most about Eddie was his quiet strength. He reminded me, in hindsight, of leaders like Alan Mulally of Ford - humble, deeply competent, and always focused on the team. Under Eddie’s leadership, the job site was a place of mutual respect and quiet camaraderie. Our crew was diverse – two college students, seasoned tradesmen in their 60s, immigrants from Europe with an artisan’s eye for stone, and laborers from Chicago’s West Side. It was hard work. Grueling work. But it was also joyful.

Eddie made sure everyone found their place. If you had a particular talent - like Vito from Italy and Gunnar from Sweden, who crafted breathtaking stone fireplaces - he’d make sure you were positioned to excel. He knew how to adapt, how to manage changing conditions, and how to bring out the best in a team. He didn’t micromanage or command. He enabled. He coached. He watched closely, saw where you struggled, and helped you get better.

He was also meticulous. The job site had to be cleaned before we left - no exceptions. He believed in leaving the “campsite” better than you found it, a principle that extended into every part of his life. It’s no surprise to me that he remained close friends with people from his childhood throughout his entire life. He valued relationships and was generous with his time. He mentored, guided, and poured coffee without thinking twice. He showed care in quiet, deliberate ways.

Eddie served as a groomsman in my wedding. Years later, I invited him and his wife, Jan, to a formal dinner in Chicago where I was pitching my company to a group of investors ahead of going public. I wanted him there—not just to share the moment, but so those investors could see the kind of man who helped shape me. And I wanted Eddie to see what I had done with what he taught me. He and Jan remained warm, steady presences in my life until their passing.

Eddie had a fascinating life. He grew up during the Depression in a place called Mudville, in the northern suburbs of Chicago, where he learned to make do with very little. He served in the Navy during the Korean War, working in the engine room of a destroyer, and later built a life through the trades—first as a bricklayer, then as a carpenter when the bricklaying trade collapsed in the ’70s. He smoked a corncob pipe, and later in life, grew a beard that made him look strikingly like Abraham Lincoln. He was a diehard Chicago Cubs fan. Eddie faced deep personal loss, including the death of his son, Steve, and the hardship of watching his father drink himself to death. Yet through it all, he remained steady, kind, and quietly faithful. He didn’t preach about Jesus—he lived what Jesus taught.

In one of the most touching stories shared by his son Ken, Eddie and a childhood friend named Russell - both in their late 80s - went out for one last fishing trip with Russell’s son. The boat was a gift to the son, but the condition was that he had to take Eddie and Russell out on the water one more time. Ken said it was one of the most profound experiences of his life, watching the bond and the stories of two men who’d shared 80 years of friendship.

That’s who Eddie was. A relationship builder. A quiet rock. A servant leader before the term existed. On my radio show, The Mentors, I speak with well-known leaders from business, government, and the arts, but I’ve yet to meet someone who exemplified leadership more naturally than Eddie Johnson. He didn’t claim to be anything. He just was. He showed empathy. He took accountability. He asked for input. He listened deeply. He understood diversity and brought people together. He held himself and others to high standards. And most of all, he helped me become a man.

At the beginning, I wasn’t a great laborer. I struggled. But the guys on the crew helped me out, showed me the ropes, and Eddie stuck with me. Eventually, I became one of his best laborers. He asked me to work weekends. He asked me to help with side jobs. And when I was home from college, he asked me to come back for the holidays. That meant something to me - still does. It was never a hardship. It was an honor to serve him, to be trusted by him, and to be part of his team.

I learned from Eddie that real leadership is not about titles or accolades. It’s about presence, reliability, and how you treat people when no one’s watching. It’s about helping others become better, making good choices when no one’s looking, and holding fast to your principles when times get tough.

There was no performance review, no written evaluation, no formal acknowledgment of my work with Eddie Johnson. But what I gained from those years working alongside him can’t be measured on any form or scorecard. I carry his wisdom with me every day—in business, in life, in how I lead and how I serve. Working with Eddie as a bricklayer’s laborer gave me a foundation sturdier than any wall we ever built. And for that, I will be forever grateful.

We never truly know, in the moment, who will shape us most. Eddie Johnson wasn’t a public figure. He didn’t seek attention or titles. But in the quiet way he led, in the care he showed for his work and his people, he left an imprint on my life that has lasted decades. The lessons I learned from him didn’t come from textbooks or boardrooms—they came from job sites, sweat, humility, and a man who led with his hands and his heart. Eddie was the kind of leader the world needs more of. And I was lucky enough to work beside him.

Tom Loarie is a Life Sciences CEO, Board Chairman, and mentor with a 45-year career defined by a single mission: “Bringing entrepreneurs and technology to life.”

What sets Tom apart is his unique dual track record as both a builder of new ventures and a seasoned turnaround executive. He has guided multiple companies from raw concepts to global commercial reality, raising over $400 million and pioneering “first-in-class” medical breakthroughs - from the first portable heart pumps (LVAD) to revolutionary tissue expansion technologies. Simultaneously, he has led multiple successful turnarounds, most notably serving as a Division President at American Hospital Supply (now Baxter).

Beyond the boardroom, Tom is dedicated to cultivating the next generation of leaders. His commitment to mentorship is evidenced by his service as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Creighton University and guest lecturer at UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Pepperdine. He has held significant advisory and board roles across academia and industry, including at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering, Enterprise Ireland, AdvaMed, and the California Healthcare Institute.

His passion for service is best exemplified by his work at the community level. Since the dot-com crash, Tom has co-led a parish ministry that has supported more than 6,000 professionals - from CEOs to supervisors - navigating the challenges of job loss and career transition.

Today, Tom extends this reach globally as the host of The Mentors Radio, www.thementorsradio.com. Broadcast on the Salem Radio Network and iHeartRadio, the show shares the wisdom of accomplished leaders on life, careers, and personal success, bridging the gap between executive strategy and the grounded values that build lasting legacies.

Tom holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and has pursued graduate business studies at the Universities of Minnesota and Chicago, along with executive programs at Columbia University and UCLA.

Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

Under the Tutelage of a Great Leadership Communicator

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:00:51 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-3

The great leadership communicator and founding editor-in-chief of the Leader to Leader journal, Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient and former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, Frances Hesselbein and I were co-editors in chief of Leader to Leader for a number of years. Because of this, we wrote and published many columns together. And you probably won’t be surprised to learn that just as Frances taught us that “who we are will have everything to do with our performance and results,” every work we wrote together was the result of simultaneous exploration and experience.

As we did with much of our work together, our process was for me to pen a draft to explore a thought or learning more deeply and then to share it with Frances. Reading it, she would soak in each word for its meaning and understanding and then in her signature blue felt pen write a succinct, always encouraging note with her thoughts and suggestions for consideration. It was a wonderfully inspiring and engaging process to learn from Frances and to share our collaborations with others.

The following piece is one of these collaborations. Published four days before Frances passed away on December 11, 2022, “The Elephant in the Dark” is the result of this tutelage and it is also our final Leader to Leader column together.

The Elephant in the Dark

Sarah McArthur & Frances Hesselbein

The parable of The Elephant in the Dark offers a timeless reminder for leaders. In the story, a group of blind men encounter an elephant in a dark room. Each touches a different part and confidently describes what he believes the elephant to be. Their descriptions differ so dramatically that they argue, each convinced the others are wrong. In truth, each is describing a real experience—yet none can see the whole.

This parable reflects a central challenge of leadership today. We all form perspectives shaped by our experiences, roles, responsibilities, and histories. These perspectives are real and meaningful, yet they are inherently incomplete. When we mistake our partial view for the full truth—and dismiss the views of others—we create division, not progress.

We see this dynamic playing out across organizations, institutions, and society at large. People with opposing viewpoints often believe they are in conflict, when in fact they may be describing different aspects of the same reality. The result is polarization, mistrust, and an erosion of our ability to work together. The consequences are serious. Our collective well-being and our capacity to solve complex challenges are at risk.

Leadership, in this moment, is not about asserting certainty or winning arguments. It is about creating the conditions for understanding. The true purpose of dialogue and debate is not to prove who is right or wrong, but to discover what is true—together. This requires humility, curiosity, and a willingness to listen deeply, even when doing so is uncomfortable.

As leaders, how we are matters as much as what we do. Our character, self-discipline, and respect for others shape the culture around us. Behaviors such as passing judgment, speaking in anger, failing to listen, or blaming others undermine trust and close the door to collaboration. They keep the room dark.

Turning on the light begins with simple, disciplined practices. We can choose to respect all people, recognizing the dignity and worth of every voice. We can listen not to respond, but to understand. We can hold ourselves accountable to the principles we ask others to follow. And we can remember that leadership begins with self-control and personal responsibility.

We will not resolve today’s challenges by silencing voices or insisting on a single point of view. Progress comes when we acknowledge that we are all, at times, blind—grasping different parts of a much larger whole. When we approach one another with civility, kindness, and openness, we gain access to insights that none of us could reach alone.

The work of leadership, now more than ever, is to illuminate the room. By honoring diverse perspectives and committing to shared principles, we create the possibility of common ground. From that ground, we can truly work together—toward a bright future for all.

This work was originally published in Leader Leader, Issue 107, Volume 2023. More articles at Leader to Leader here.

Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

The Story That Wasn’t

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:50:18 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-2

The following article is by friend and colleague Nathan Lyons. Nathan was a contributor to our 2005 edited compilation book Coaching for Leadership 3e, coedited by myself, Marshall Goldsmith, and Larry Lyons. Nathan’s piece for the book was at once a look at leadership and coaching and at the same time a dive into the importance of story. Continuing his lifelong quest to understand the importance of stories and the principles that guide their telling Nathan shares with us his continuing reflections in The Story that Wasn’t.

There are times when you wake up and realize something isn’t working, something isn’t right. It’s been bubbling quietly beneath the surface, until one morning it demands to be seen.

This was such a day. Here is the story of a keynote that never happened, and what it taught me about the uneasy space between the public stories leaders tell and the private truths they carry inside.

Nothing seems unusual when Dave opens the hotel room door, cigarette in hand. Gauloises, I later learn, his fourth of the day. The sauce-smudged breakfast tray in the corridor barely registers; Dave is an enthusiastic customer of room service. Even the sheepish smile he gives me feels familiar enough.

It is the pajamas that set off alarm bells.

I have never seen Dave in anything but a suit and tie. Now he stands barefoot before me, hair unwashed, collar askew in high-end nightwear. In less than thirty minutes, he is scheduled to deliver the keynote address launching our company’s new digital currency to an auditorium full of investors, customers, and press. At this very moment they are assembling forty floors below. The rubber is about to hit the road.

“Feeling alright, Dave?”

He mumbles something unintelligible, takes a long drag, and exhales slowly. Smoke blooms across the room like a small weather system. His face is gray. His eyes avoid mine. When they finally meet, the contact is brief, startled, almost guilty.

Houston, we have a problem.

“Just can’t,” he says eventually. “Can’t do it.”

I drift toward the lukewarm coffee pot, pour myself a cup, and smooth the crease in my trousers. I ironed them at dawn, thinking today demanded extra care. Perhaps I needn’t have bothered.

By the bedroom door sits a small heap of Dave’s clothes: polished boots, belt, crisp shirt. His gold watch rests on the glass table, ticking steadily toward launch time. I imagine him watching it through the night, apprehension accumulating as each minute evaporated.

A sharp knock breaks the moment.

The door opens and Chico and Mike push past me before I can respond. Chico, the business partner and Dave’s technical superior, is bullish and impatient. Mike, his younger brother, carries a restless, coiled intensity. They start talking over one another as they approach the couch.

“What’s going on?” “We’re supposed to be downstairs.” “It’s the big day.” “We flew all the way to New York for this!”

It takes a moment for the tension to register. Dave does not reply. He smokes, otherwise motionless. I sit on the edge of the couch, careful not to brush his toes.

Chico leans forward, his voice steady but heavy with restrained fury. “Dave, this is important. You’re launching our currency in less than twenty minutes. We came here for this.” He gestures toward Mike. “The whole top team. Private jet. Our partners are here. Investors are watching. The press is waiting.”

He’s right. Tens of thousands spent on this trip. Months of planning. Back home, all fifteen employees in our startup office are counting on this moment. The birth of our company is meant to happen today. And Dave is the midwife.

“I get that you’re nervous,” Chico continues, softening slightly. “But we’ve come too far. We’ve got you, Dave. You can do this.”

Dave finally stubs out his cigarette and looks up. His expression is hollow.

“No. I can’t,” he says again, this time without hesitation. “I can’t go out there.”

Chico is about to erupt. I catch his eye and gesture subtly for space. Let him speak. Let whatever this is find words.

Dave shuts his eyes and breathes out slowly. When he speaks, his voice is low, almost fragile. “I don’t believe in it.”

Something shifts in the room. The narrative cracks.

“It’s too early,” he continues. “I don’t believe in what we’re about to tell them. Not with the numbers as they are. Not with the uncertainty we still have. If I stand on that stage and sell a story that isn’t real, we won’t come back from it.”

Chico grips the armrests. “Dave, it’s messaging, that’s all. Vision. You know how this works. Sure there’s risk but who’s going to invest in a pessimist? The story we’ve got is feasible. You tell the best version of the story; the world catches up to meet it.”

But Dave shakes his head. “This speech isn’t vision, Chico, it’s commitment. Maybe things will turn out the way we plan; maybe they won’t. If the story I tell them doesn’t materialize, then it’s not a story. It’s a gamble.”

He looks over at me. All of life is a gamble.

“When you tell a story from a stage, you bind yourself to it. You make a promise. And I just… I don’t think we’re ready to deliver on the promise we’re about to make.”

This, I realize, is his breaking point. Not stage fright. Not burnout. Not nerves. Integrity: the only qualification a leader ever really needs.

The kind of integrity that catches up with you suddenly, after weeks or months of pushing it down. The moment when something inside refuses to let you act out the part anymore.

Chico tries a different tack. “So what are you saying? You want to cancel? Walk away from the biggest announcement we’ve ever made?”

“I’m saying,” Dave replies quietly, “that if I go out there today, I’d be lying. And I owe them honesty.”

Mike scoffs. “Honesty doesn’t build companies. Courage does.” He’s not altogether wrong.

“Courage, real courage,” responds Dave, “is sometimes refusing to tell the story people want to hear.”

His voice cracks halfway through the sentence. The room goes still.

And suddenly, I feel the weight differently. Not as a communication crisis or a professional failure, but as something deeply human: a leader wrestling with the very tool he relies on to do his job. Storytelling. The power to frame meaning. The power to persuade. The power to rally others behind the flag. And the responsibility to use that power honestly.

The argument continues for another fifteen minutes, cycling through anger, disbelief, and half-hearted attempts at persuasion. Mike storms in and out of the bedroom. I stay beside Dave, silent, simply present.

In the end, there is nothing left to say. Time’s up. The elevator doors close on Chico and Mike as they head down to face the crowd without their keynote speaker. They’ll improvise.

Dave remains on the couch in his pajamas, eyes fixed on his gold watch, the quiet ticking marking – and then passing – the moment he chose to tell the truth, by saying nothing.

We did not launch that day. The announcement was postponed. The press left empty-handed. Investors were confused. Inside the company, reactions were mixed. Some were frustrated - why fly halfway around the world to sit in a hotel room? Others, particularly the product team, were quietly relieved.

I remember that morning more vividly than any ‘successful’ conference I’ve ever attended. It taught me something deeper about storytelling than any workshop or leadership training ever could.

Reflection: When a Leader Says No

As leaders, we love stories. We build them, polish them, rehearse them, deliver them. We rely on them to give shape to the future, context to the present, and meaning to our work.

But stories become dangerous when they outrun the truth.

What I witnessed that morning was not a failure of courage, but its opposite: a leader refusing to speak words he could not stand behind.

Leadership storytelling is not just about crafting a compelling narrative. It is about earning the right to tell it - and knowing when not to.

The keynote that never happened taught me this: a story can inspire, illuminate, or unite only if the leader telling it believes it completely.

And sometimes the most important message a leader can communicate is the story they refuse to tell. Sometimes, true leadership is staying silent.

Nathan Lyons is a communications coach and writer. He works with organizations across marketing, strategy, and leadership development, helping leaders refine their messaging and public presence, ensuring they speak their truth and act from it.

Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

What Is Your Mission?

Sarah McArthur — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 15:45:23 GMT

Vol. 2026 Issue No. 2-1

As we navigate this incredible period in history termed the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, “Artificial Intelligence/AI, robotics, the Internet of Things/IoT, genetic engineering, quantum computing” and more are raising critical questions and causing significant disruption for economies, societies, and governance. Instant global communication, “artificially” composed content, conflicting views from around the globe, and blurred and often non-existent boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds, are challenges of the current age.

So, how do we navigate if the path ahead appears to be changing all the time? What should we do to elevate our leadership in today’s fast-changing business environment?

In answer to these questions, Frances Hesselbein, former CEO of the Drucker Foundation and Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient, advised us to, “Focus on a short, powerful mission statement solely on why we do what we do.”

What is your mission?

Many years ago, Frances asked me, “What is your mission?” At that time, I did not have a personal mission statement. So she gave me an exercise to define one for myself.

This mission she said should be personal to me. It would be my purpose, my call to service, and it would guide all of my decisions and actions even when it is difficult to see the road ahead.

Then she asked me a question to help me focus on what is most important to me. The question she asked me is “What do you see when you look out the window that is visible but not yet seen by others?”

At first my answer was very broad, something like “I see that people have difficulty communicating, and it makes it hard for them to get along and work together. I think I can help with that.” Ever encouraging, Frances said, “Great answer.”

And then she put one more parameter on what was becoming my mission courtesy of her partner Peter Drucker, the founding father of modern management. My mission, she said, should be seven words or less and it should fit on a t-shirt.

It took some time to whittle away all of the many thoughts, words, and ideas I had about what I wanted to do about this challenge of communication that affects people’s ability to work together. After some time considering and deliberating, as Frances would say, “agonizing”, it finally came together so easily. What do I see when I look out the window that is visible but not yet seen by others?

What do I see? I see People “Working Together”™ towards a Bright Future.

It had been right in front of me all of the time, lived, led, and exampled by two great leaders: Frances Hesselbein and Alan Mulally.

Bright Future comes from Frances Hesselbein’s hope, focus, and confidence in future generations, which she described as our “Bright Future” and from her ever optimistic outlook of respect for all people where to serve is to live with love and humility.

With that I had a great and wonderful destination and purpose, but how do we get there, I wondered.

The answer to how we get there comes from my friend and partner, Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Boeing and Ford. Alan’s Our “Working Together”™ Leadership and Management System and Authentic, Connected, Collaborative, and Aligned Culture of Love by Design is how we work together to create value and growth for all of the stakeholders and the greater good.

It was with “Working Together”™ that Alan led the design and creation of the Boeing 777 in the 1990s as well as the incredible turnaround of the Ford Motor Company during the Great Recession. Considered two of the greatest feats of modern business history, “Working Together”™ provides the operating processes and expected behaviors that nurture and enable “Working Together”™ toward a Bright Future for all.

Frances knew this, and that is why in 2006 she recognized Alan with the Leader to Leader Institute’s first Leader of the Future award. This defining recognition was because of Alan’s leadership at Boeing. Specifically, his leadership of the design and building of the Boeing 777 in the early 1990s and his leadership of Boeing Commercial Airplanes to become the number one commercial airplane company in the world in 2006. Most importantly, she was recognizing his creating and leading with the “Working Together”™ Leadership and Management System, which has proven time and again through even the most difficult of circumstances to create value and growth for all of the stakeholders and the greater good of humanity.

Today, as we continue our venture into the unknown, at a time when the path ahead appears to be changing all the time, we can do little alone and much together. And that is why People “Working Together”™ toward a Bright Future, could come at no better time than now.

More Readings:

“A Star to Steer By,” Frances Hesselbein, Leader to Leader, Volume 1996, Issue 1, Wiley, Summer 1996.
“A Conversation with Alan Mulally about His “Working Together”© Strategic, Operational, and Stakeholder-Centered Management System,” Alan Mulally and Sarah McArthur, Leader to Leader, Volume 2022, Issue 104. PDF.
Work Is Love Made Visible: A Collection of Essays About the Power of Finding Your Purpose from the World’s Greatest Thought Leaders, Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, Sarah McArthur, foreword Alan Mulally. Amazon.
“A Mighty One: The Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein,” Leader to Leader 110
USA Baldrige Foundation’s 2025 Lifetime Leadership Service Award, A Conversation with Alan Mulally, Baldrige Foundation, April 1, 2025.
“People “Working Together”© to Produce the Preferred Boeing 777 Airplane Family,” Sarah McArthur, Alan Mulally, Dan Dornseif, Michael Lombardi, Peter M. Morton, Lars Andersen, Ron Ostrowski, and John Roundhill, Leader to Leader, Volume 2025, Issue 117, Wiley, May 19, 2025. PDF.

Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”™ Partner & Advisor.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

Leader to Leader Insights

Sarah McArthur — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 16:02:22 GMT

Vol. 2025 Issue No. 1-1

Welcome to Leader to Leader Insights: Shaping the Future of Leadership.

Leader to Leader Insights reflects our commitment at the Leader to Leader Institute to create long-term value, to foster growth and innovation, and to strengthen leadership across the sectors through “Working Together”© leadership, service, partnership, communication, and collaboration.

Our hope is that each issue of Leader to Leader Insights will encourage action, spark thinking, and stimulate conversation that will make a positive difference for all.

For our inaugural edition of Leader to Leader Insights, I would like to share a brief bit of history about my leadership service journey and years of friendship, mentorship, and collaboration with Frances Hesselbein, founding editor-in-chief of the award-winning Leader to Leader journal, upon which our Leader to Leader Insights is based.

Frances Hesselbein was the transformative Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of the USA (1976-1990). She was the founding president of The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management in 1990, and in 1998 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work in changing lives for the better.

The official citation from the White House reads:

“Frances Hesselbein has devoted herself to changing lives for the better. Rising from a volunteer troop leader to Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of America, she reinvigorated the organization with her commitment to inclusiveness and to upholding the Girl Scout mission of empowering each Scout to reach her highest potential. Under her guidance, the number of minority Girl Scouts tripled and overall membership soared. She has worked to imbue other nonprofit groups with the hallmarks of true leadership: openness to innovation, willingness to share responsibility, and respect for diversity. With skill and sensitivity, Frances Hesselbein has shown us how to summon the best from ourselves and our fellow citizens.”

In 2015, Fortune magazine named Frances one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. You can find the legacy of her work in many places, including the Leader to Leader journal, at MCEC (the Military Children’s Education Coalition) at West Point, and at the University of Pittsburgh in the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum and the Frances Hesselbein Papers.

Frances and I first met in the early 2000s while I was Chief Operating Officer for world renowned executive coach and NYT bestselling author of What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, Marshall Goldsmith. Marshall and Frances had recently published the first edition of the best-selling book Leader of the Future, a remarkable collection of world-renowned leaders, executives, authors, and consultants sharing their visions of the future of leadership. We later co-edited the book Work Is Love Made Visible, with our foreword writer and visionary leader of the future Alan Mulally who created, implemented, and led Our “Working Together”© Leadership and Management System to incredible success for all at both Boeing and Ford.

I will never forget one of our phone conversations during the early days of the global pandemic in March 2020. I asked Frances, “How will we get through this?” She replied, “We will get through this together.” And that’s it. That is our solution for every challenge and opportunity we face.

Over the years, Frances and I enjoyed every second of working side by side editing articles and books, attending leadership and social events, and sharing time together at her home in Pennsylvania. She showed me every single day what it means to serve. And, I am filled with a deep feeling of joy and a sense of responsibility to carry forth her wisdom and leadership, to carry the torch as it were.

Of the many lessons Frances taught me, one of my favorite sayings of hers is: “Communication isn’t saying something, communication is being heard.”

This simple yet profound truth is more relevant now than ever. With so many voices in our world, some real and some “artificial”, the challenge is to recognize if our voices are being heard and if they are not, to listen first, and then to decide the next actions we will take, how we shall try again, and with whom.

As we move through the continuing changes of our world, we see both challenge and opportunity. Most significant of these is that bridging the divides of our time requires the greatest leadership, love, humility, and service. It calls us to respect and seek to understand one another, to honor our past, and to lead with civility, hope, and courage as we move into our shared future. In essence our future hinges on leadership that unifies and heals and that brings us together regardless and because of our differences.

This is the leadership Frances modeled so beautifully for her entire life, and it is the work that we are honored to carry forward with our Leader to Leader Insights.

To serve is to live,

Sarah

Sarah McArthur is the Editor Leader to Leader Insights, Editor in Chief Leader to Leader Journal, Executive Producer Defining Moments, & “Working Together”© Partner & Advisor.

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Our inaugural issue of Leader to Leader Insights is dedicated to Frances Hesselbein, Alan Mulally, and Marshall Goldsmith for their lifetimes of contribution, leadership, and service, and to our friend Luke Joerger, CEO of Hastings Digital, especially for his positive encouragement and determination to publish Leader to Leader Insights.

Watch the trailer for Defining Moments: A Documentary about the Life and Leadership of Frances Hesselbein

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