by Gael O’Brien In a recent conversation with a friend, I mentioned I’d struggled at times not feeling I was good enough working on a very challenging project. She shared, “that’s why I work hard to be perfect.” Suddenly I was reminded of a ditty my grandmother taught me when I was in middle school. “Good, better, best, never let it rest, till your good is better and your better’s best.” I recognized I’d been acclimated to a creed akin to perfectionism that depletes you. Inadvertently, I’d walked right into Impostor Syndrome. Information and research about impostor syndrome has been ongoing fo ..read more

by Gael O’Brien Is the U.S. economy slowing to a point where we can expect companies to begin laying off more workers? Maybe, according to an analysis of recent Labor Department data  which shows the average number of hours worked a week by private-sector employees declined in May to below the 2019 average and down from a peak of 35 hours in January 2021. “This could be ominous,” suggests The Wall Street Journal. “With growth now slowing—and by one measure, negative—some employers might be responding by cutting hours, perhaps in preparation for recession.” The tech sector has al ..read more

by Gael O’Brien How can managers (or anyone) increase their ability to thrive amid 2023’s uncertainties and business challenges? It turns out the answer may be science-based: the result of more than eight decades of longitudinal research by the Harvard Study of Adult Development. The key is the quality of your relationships – which means connecting with people you care about who care about you. Positive relationships, from casual to close, impact thriving, according to the study. A new book based on the study’s research, The Good Life: Lessons From The World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happi ..read more

This story was first published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom, and is republished with permission. by Craig Silverman and Ruth Talbot, ProPublica  Google’s ad business hides nearly all publishers it works with and where billions of ad dollars flow. We uncovered a network containing manga piracy, porn, fraud and disinformation. In late 2021, the right-wing site Conservative Beaver published a story falsely claiming the FBI had arrested Pfizer’s CEO for fraud. It wasn’t Conservative Beaver’s first brush with fabricated news. The site had falsely claimed Bara ..read more

by Gael O’Brien EY, the consulting and audit firm, possesses a real sense of irony about ethics. When the huge global firm earlier this month announced proposed plans to split into two separate organizations – one doing mainly auditing work and the other doing consulting and advisory work – most analysts cited it as an effort to help avoid conflicts of interest between the two businesses. The headline of a Bloomberg Tax article in May 2022 (before EY leaders voted on the split) was “EY Consulting Split Aims to Free Firm from Ethics Crackdown.” “We firmly believe that we can embrace the changin ..read more

by Gael O’Brien Sigal Barsade, a pioneering researcher on the impact of emotions in the workplace, leaves a legacy for leaders who want to get their culture right. Professor Barsade, the Joseph Frank Bernstein Professor of Management at Wharton, died at 56 in February 2022 of brain cancer. For nearly 30 years, she researched, taught, and consulted on “how emotions shape workplace culture and influence the performance of both individual employees and teams.” At the beginning of the pandemic, business articles encouraged leaders to lead with empathy. Many did. However, leading with compassi ..read more

by Gael O’Brien CEOs not actively listening to employees’ high expectations for leaders (and the role employees see for themselves) will forfeit the fragile trust they have. Millions of employees have recently quit jobs amid the COVID pandemic, giving up on their companies and leaders. Many employees who’ve stayed feel empowered to be workplace activists and expect their CEO to play a strong societal role, which many haven’t yet. The need for trust increases. Business became the most trusted institution globally last year, according to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer; employee activism is exp ..read more

by Gael O’Brien The vulnerability exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic refocuses not just how work is done but how those doing it are feeling and being valued. Executives have learned enough about their employees during the pandemic to realize change is needed. People and performance are inextricably tied. Remarkably, as burnout rates have increased, performance has generally held steady. A June 2021 Gallup study indicates U.S. workers are among the most stressed in the world. Benefits have increased but there’s been scant progress raising wages for those making less than $15 an hour. The que ..read more

by Gael O’Brien The pandemic changed the work, family and social patterns of our lives. It wreaked havoc on business operations with closings, layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs. Normal became a memory except for continuing pay disparities: 2020 CEO compensation had “some of the biggest pay packages on record”  as worker median pay rose 1.9%. For many, it hasn’t felt “we’re in this together.” The workplace as we knew it is changing. It offers opportunities for do-overs. COVID-19 provided time for self-examination. One outcome is more people quitting jobs than at any time in the past 20 years ..read more

A columnist draws optimism from her experience as a judge in the International Business Ethics Case Competition. by Gael O’Brien Current undergraduate and graduate students have grown up, like others, with the norm of corporate ethics scandals occurring regularly. In October of last year, for example, Goldman Sachs Group admitted breaking U.S. corruption laws. Evidence indicated senior executives “ignored warning signs of fraud.” The cost of not noticing? Likely financial penalties over $5 billion. I’m hopeful current college students will become the generation of employees and leade ..read more