We’re full-on Summering now — with our CSN Celebration scheduled, and other great summertime events for you to enjoy Wisconsin at its finest. What are your favorite go-to activities in the area? Concerts on the Square? Live music at the Monona Terrace? The Memorial Union?
Tell us in a message if you have a burning suggestion for fun this season: https://campussupervisorsnetwork.wisc.edu/know-more/
We’re also diving into the deep end of the pool with leadership flexibility, hope, finding joy, and watching our energy flow where we pay the most attention. Enjoy these resources!
:: Image of the Week
:: Mental Health and Self-Care
Lessons From a Physician About Hope
Even in tough times, leaning in to community and starting with small steps forward can help us hold on to hope.
As psychologist Everett Worthington defined it, hope is “motivation to persevere toward a goal or end state, even if we’re skeptical that a positive outcome is likely.”
Life is always full of challenges and we need hope to carry on in the face of inevitable setbacks. Decades of research suggest being hopeful leads to not only a higher quality of life, but also to more resilience, creativity, and problem solving. For those with serious illness, hopefulness correlates with increased life expectancy.
When times are really tough, solutions and the hope to address them can be hard to find. Fear is an intense, hardwired emotion to prepare for threats. In the moment, fear is hard to control in the face of a threat, real or perceived. What we do next requires more complex thinking. That’s when we might need hope—but while hope might spring eternal, it also requires intentional, conscious cultivation, so that it can be there when you need it.
https://www.dailygood.org/story/3289/lessons-from-a-physician-about-hope-leif-hass/
“The brain is can feel like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.” Dr. Rick Hanson
Finding Joy in the Workplace
Welcome to The Work Place, where we’re hot on the trail of what makes great workplace cultures tick, and what we can all do to make the ones we work in better.
This episode, we’re talking with author Ingrid Fetell Lee about joy—why it’s not the same as happiness, and what we can change about the places we work to make our jobs, and ourselves, more joyful. Learn of her “four pillars” which are partially in our control to enhance our workplaces.
Join us after the interview for Tangible Takeaways, where we’ll talk about the ideas and actions we can take with us and implement our own workplace cultures.
https://www.octanner.com/podcasts/finding-joy-in-the-workplace-with-guest-ingrid-fetell-lee
:: Trust, Psychological Safety & Belonging
Amy Sandler on Ruinous Empathy, False Harmony, and Building Trust
On the Give A Damn podcast, Radical Candor’s own Amy Sandler sits down with Justin to break down the lessons of Radical Candor – from navigating Ruinous Empathy and False Harmony to fostering real, trust-based leadership. She and Justin break down the notorious book by Kim Scott, and they both have implemented its teachings as a rubric for their leadership journeys and tools for leaders to build trust within their teams.
Listen in as Amy shares how leaders can move beyond avoiding discomfort to having the conversations that truly matter.
:: Communication
3 Key Leadership Communication Skills to Build a High-Trust Culture that Solves Problems Faster
How can you build a high-trust culture that empowers your team to solve problems faster, innovate more, and reduce stress?
In this episode of Leadership Without Losing Your Soul, we explore the power of a high-trust culture and how it can completely transform your team’s ability to collaborate and solve problems effectively. If you’ve been facing challenges with getting your team to share ideas, open up, or work together seamlessly, this episode will give you proven strategies to overcome those hurdles and build the trust your team needs to thrive.
By tuning in, you’ll learn:
- The #1 skill for building trust: how to model the behaviors you want to see in your team.
- How to communicate your vision consistently to reinforce the culture you’re building.
- The importance of follow-through: using celebration and accountability to reinforce trust and keep momentum.
:: Work Culture & Team Development
How leaders can use happiness as a strategic advantage
Leadership is often associated with decision-making, strategy, and performance metrics. But one of the most overlooked and undervalued leadership skills is the ability to create happiness at work. When employees feel valued, respected, and fulfilled, they perform better, collaborate more effectively, and stay with the organization longer. In today’s competitive business landscape, leaders who understand and harness happiness as a strategic advantage set their teams—and their organizations—up for long-term success.
Friday Pulse has the business case for happiness spelled out for you here:
https://fridaypulse.com/insights/leaders-happiness-strategic-advantage
“How do I get the most of out my people?” Alas, this is the wrong question for a leader or manager to ask. It’s more productive to wonder, “how do we create the conditions for our people to get to where they’re heading?” – Seth Godin
The Work Wellbeing Playbook: A Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Interventions to Improve Employee Wellbeing
The Work Wellbeing Playbook is a concise guide that distils insights from a large-scale systematic literature review of workplace wellbeing interventions. It presents high level insights in an accessible, and plain English format for ease-of use. With support from Indeed, and in collaboration with our academic partner at the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, the World Wellbeing Movement has curated this Playbook of evidence-based interventions categorized by 12 key drivers of workplace wellbeing.
The researchers reviewed more than 3,000 academic studies of workplace wellbeing interventions to identify strategies proven to increase the wellbeing of employees across diverse work environments. Recognizing that business leaders often face time constraints, we have condensed the key insights into this open-access resource and distilled them into an accessible, high-level summary to support busy professionals.
This playbook builds upon the World Wellbeing Movement’s science-based recommendations for how to measure both how employees are feeling at work, and why they are feeling that way – just like the Indeed Work Wellbeing Score, also created alongside experts from the Wellbeing Research Centre, does. Once you have collected the data, you can then use this Playbook to address the areas for improvement within your organization.
Business leaders are recommended to keep diversity top of mind when leveraging the playbook to craft a holistic employee wellbeing strategy for their organization. When choosing interventions, employers should consider factors such as their workplace environment, industry, geographical location, and the unique needs of their employees. Although there is no magic formula, and all interventions have their limitations, many companies start to affect positive change when they combine multiple interventions (organizational-level interventions, group-level interventions and individual-level interventions) across multiple drivers of employee wellbeing.
Download the Work Wellbeing Playbook at: https://uwmadison.box.com/s/msmw89d0fj4yafztoemvm3layy4mknzk
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
Whether you are near the top of the ladder or still have a ways to climb, this book serves as an essential guide to help you eliminate your dysfunctions and move to where you want to go.
Marshall Goldsmith is an expert at helping global leaders overcome their sometimes unconscious annoying habits and attain a higher level of success. His one-on-one coaching comes with a six-figure price tag. But, in this book, you get Marshall’s great advice without the hefty fee!
What’s holding you back? Your hard work is paying off. You are doing well in your field. But there is something standing between you and the next level of achievement. Perhaps one small flaw–a behavior you barely even recognize–is the only thing that’s keeping you from where you want to be.
What is the solution? The Harvard Business Review asked Goldsmith, “What is the most common problem faced by the executives that you coach?” Inside, he answers this question by discussing not only the key beliefs of successful leaders, but also the behaviors that hold them back. He addresses the fundamental problems that often come with success–and offers ways to attack these problems. Goldsmith outlines twenty habits commonly found in the corporate environment and provides a systematic approach to helping you achieve a positive change in behavior.
:: Productivity and Innovation
Where Focus Goes, Energy Flows
Focus issues are rarely about discipline.
They’re emotional.
You’ve seen the phrase:
Where focus goes, energy flows.
It’s more than a quote.
It’s a blueprint for emotional clarity.
Most people don’t lose focus from laziness.
They lose it from emotional overload.
See this post from Lukas Stangl on how to protect your focus.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7332050628334002177/
:: Kindness in Leadership
Small Acts of Kindness Anyone Can Do
Cindy Rowe is a kindness ambassador, and put this on the web recently:
“I’d like to challenge you to think of a small act of kindness you can do to brighten someone’s day this month.
If you need ideas, I’ve got a free PDF I can send you with 45 Random Acts of Kindness ideas!”
Grab it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q27FeTKHVhqpU3IndKi8JiA2GXDJbXH_/view
“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it’s beauty.” — Albert Einstein
:: Self-Leadership Development
Leadership Ideas Ryan Holiday Tries To Apply Every Day
While this post isn’t a totally comprehensive breakdown of Ryan Holiday’s philosophy (if you want that, check out The Daily Stoic Leadership Challenge), these are the core tenets—the maxims, rules, and reminders the people who work for him hear most often. Check out this stoic’s ideas on leadership in this post:
:: Upcoming Events
From Potential to Performance: Unlocking Leadership Flexibility
Date: June 13, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm CST
FREE, LIVE WEBINAR
If you are leading the way you did five years ago, odds are your results are declining. Because the world and context in which we are leading is changing, and how we lead must change too.
Everything isn’t changing – but what is changing matters (a lot). And chances are those leaders of five years needed to improve then too, right?
Kevin Eikenberry says the answer is leadership flexibility. Because if you keep doing the same things the same way, nothing will change – both organizationally and for individual leaders.
Join Kevin for an engaging, thought-provoking, and practical session where he will outline what leadership flexibility means (and what it doesn’t). And more importantly, why developing flexible leaders is the key for greater leadership success in a complex and uncertain world.
At the end of this fast-paced, leadership acceleration session, you will be able to:
- Describe what leadership flexibility is, and equally important, what it isn’t
- Create the mindset that allows for flexibility in how leaders lead
- Apply the Flexible Leadership Approach
- Identify multiple ways you can apply this Approach in developing the leaders in your organization.
The world is changing – are you keeping up? Your teams want leaders who can do that. And your organization needs it.
Start this conversation in your organization, and let these new ideas help you make that happen.
https://keg.infusionsoft.app/app/form/flexible-leaders-playbook-webinar1
Celebrate Ten Years of Leadership Learning With CSN!
Come to CSN’s 10-year anniversary celebration to experience:
- International Speaker Rachel Druckenmiller joining us live!
- Win fabulous Raffle Prizes!
- Networking and creativity exercises!
- Looking back on 10 years of leadership learning!
- Snacks and refreshments!
We’re having a special event featuring a livestreamed visit with international speaker Rachel Druckenmiller, an inspirational message from author and TEDx speaker Heather Younger, some fun in-person networking activities, and a look back at some of the successes CSN has experienced since its inception in 2015.
We’ll also have light refreshments and snacks, as well as some exclusive raffle prizes and giveaways for attendees. Don’t miss this chance to celebrate your premier leadership network’s anniversary!
Date: August 4, 2025
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 pm
Location: DeLuca Forum, WID
Register here: https://go.wisc.edu/63wy44
Raffle Prize Request:
We are looking for raffle prize donations from our community members!
(Even if you cannot attend the event, please consider donating something for your peers on campus to enjoy.)
Your raffle prize donation could be a special skill you have, something you make, promotional items from your office or a community organization, an experience or activity, or anything else you would like to donate as a raffle prize (the more creative the better)! Prizes can be donated by individuals, groups, or offices/units/departments.
Raffle donation submissions are due by Friday, July 18, 2025 at 5:00 pm.
We will review each submission and follow up shortly after this deadline.
Please fill out this form to be part of our raffle prize family!