This week signals FIVE YEARS of the Planners’ Picks Newsletter — this addition to CSN’s offerings catapulted our network to new heights, from a couple of hundred members back in August of 2020 to over 1700 members on our mailing list today.
We’re continuing to celebrate YOU-W this month—
- What suggestions do YOU have for future (or repeat) sessions from our group?
(At our event last week, someone suggested we host another Leadership Improv; if that was you, please email Rich to talk!) - What actions have you taken as a result of PP articles?
>> We’d love to hear from you! Click here to tell us: https://campussupervisorsnetwork.wisc.edu/planners_picks_action/
We’re also focusing on topics that were covered at our anniversary event on August 4th in this newsletter, including Rachel Druckenmiller’s V.O.I.C.E. framework, an exercise from the book Beyond Anxiety, and more. Watch for additional messages about Rachel’s work in future newsletters, too!
:: Image of the Week
This was part of Rachel Druckenmiller’s message, and also a song of hers (scan QR code to hear it!). We discuss more of Rachel’s ideas below.
:: Trust, Psychological Safety & Belonging
The Power of Trust in Leadership
In this episode of the Love Lead Change podcast, Simon Phillips and Renée Smith engage with Chris Hirst, CEO of Bespak, discussing the importance of love in leadership and workplace culture. Chris shares his journey from laboratory work to CEO, emphasizing the significance of trust, care, and values in fostering a positive work environment. The conversation explores the impact of a loving workplace on employee engagement, loyalty, and overall company success, highlighting the need for leaders to prioritize their own well-being while nurturing their teams.
https://shows.acast.com/love-lead-change/episodes/the-power-of-trust-in-leadership
:: Work Culture & Team Development
Everyone’s Unique: Talent Optimization
Talent optimization is a cultural imperative, and it looks like me at my best, you at your best. It starts with the belief that Everyone’s Unique, and both considers and celebrates all three parts of one’s mind – the affective, cognitive and lesser-known conative. Are you considering all three parts of the mind when hiring, onboarding, developing each member of your team? These three parts working together is talent optimization at its zenith, but requires committed action to be at the forefront of an organization’s culture.
https://humanworks8.com/episode-two-everyones-unique-talent-optimization/
Why leaders should build teams less like machines and more like ecosystems
The metaphors we use drive the systems we design. Treat an organization like a machine and you’ll optimize for speed, control, and predictable outputs. Treat it like a living system—dynamic, interdependent, regenerative—and a different design logic emerges.
Here’s what changes when we swap gears for genes:
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
Red Light Green Light: How Top Leaders Present With Polish, Get Buy-In, And Become More Influential
You’re an executive with a bold idea, a breakthrough innovation, or a critical project that needs the green light. But if your presentation falls flat—unclear, unfocused, or uninspiring—everything can stall.
This book shows you how to stop that from happening.
In Red Light, Green Light, messaging strategist Cindy Skalicky shares the proven HOW-TO Model—a practical, step-by-step framework to communicate complex ideas with clarity, confidence, and conviction.
You’ll learn how to:
- Craft powerful, high-stakes messages that cut through noise
- Influence decisions and secure buy-in from any audience
- Use persuasive storytelling to turn “not sure” into “hell yes”
- Present with executive power, polish, and purpose
Whether you’re pitching innovation, leading change, or rallying a room, this is your playbook for moving people from hesitation to action—and getting your big idea across the finish line
:: Kindness in Leadership
Why Kindness Isn’t a Nice to Have
Organizations that neglect kindness face significant consequences, including employee turnover, absenteeism, eroded trust, poor communication, and customer dissatisfaction. Conversely, workplaces that prioritize kindness see stronger relationships, collaboration, engagement, and retention. Kindness is not the same as niceness. Niceness is about avoiding discomfort, staying agreeable, sidestepping hard conversations, and letting things slide. Kindness means the opposite. Kindness must be treated as a hard skill that can be taught. It must be as clearly defined and reinforced as safety, quality, and professionalism are. And it should be measured in terms of observable behaviors and team experiences and not in vague or subjective terms.
https://hbr.org/2025/07/why-kindness-isnt-a-nice-to-have
“I believe in the sun, even when it rains.” – Anne Frank
:: Courage
The Five Imposter Identities with Aoife O’Brien
Have you ever felt like a fraud or doubted your accomplishments? In this episode, Kevin welcomes Aoife O’Brien to discuss the often-misunderstood phenomenon of imposter syndrome. Aoife shares research that led her to identify five distinct imposter identities: The Overachiever, The Comparer, The People Pleaser, The Procrastinator, and The Success Fearer, and explains how these behaviors show up and affect individuals and teams. They also talk about how common imposter syndrome is in the workplace, how it can hurt performance and confidence, and how leaders can recognize and support team members who might be struggling. Aoife also introduces her simple ABCDE framework as a practical tool for overcoming imposter thoughts.
https://remarkablepodcast.com/the-five-imposter-identities-with-aoife-obrien/#
: Self-Leadership Development
Training Doesn’t Develop Leaders
You can train for skills and processes, but when it comes to development, that’s about how you interact with people. For you to be an incredible leader, you have to shift beliefs and mindsets, you have to be open and curious, you have to be adaptable and flexible, and you have to evolve to develop the characteristics and traits of successful leaders.
See this article from Megan Robinson on how doing is the key to success in your leadership development.
https://www.eleaderexperience.com/post/training-doesn-t-develop-leaders
“What kills a soul? Exhaustion, secret-keeping, image management. And what brings a soul back from the dead? Honesty, connection, grace.”
—Shauna Niequist, Present Over Perfect
3 Leadership Lessons from George Washington
Conant Leadership recently reflected on the leadership of our first president. As they considered the stewardship of George Washington they were struck by the persistent question, “what makes a leader?”
Washington wrestled with leadership as he led an army of minimally trained farmers to fight valiantly to forge a new country. As he and his fellow revolutionaries battled to create the United States of America that we know today, it was not their titles or rank that distinguished their actions, it was their principled behaviors, their dedication to their mission, their fortitude, their collaboration, their courage in the face of enormous obstacles, and their belief in each person’s capacity to make hard sacrifices for something larger than themselves.
We found three distinct answers to the question, “what makes a leader?” in George Washington’s legacy and none of them had to do with his title. In fact, these three lessons help clarify that it is not now, nor has it ever been, the title that makes the leader, but the purpose-driven behaviors of people compelled to bring about change.
“Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title.” – George Washington
Read the three leadership lessons here: https://conantleadership.com/3-leadership-lessons-learned-from-george-washington/
“People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.” – Warren Bennis
:: TED Talks
How Self-Silencing Is Sabotaging You | Rachel Druckenmiller | TEDxRockville
Do you ever hold back from sharing your feelings, needs, and desires? Do you know what it’s costing you? Most of us don’t stop to think about it, and we end up burned out, full of regret, or resentful at work and at home. What if we were to get curious and discover what self-silencing is costing us and how it’s limiting what’s possible in our lives, work, and relationships? Through the power of three simple but, thought-provoking questions, Rachel Druckenmiller helps us find the clarity we need to start living a more fulfilled, connected, courageous and unmuted life.
Rachel is an award-winning entrepreneur and thought leader. She’s earned distinctions from Forbes, Smart Meetings, and Workforce Magazine. Rachel is also an accomplished singer-songwriter whose message-driven music inspires people to embrace their self-worth, overcome adversity, and find strength in vulnerability. She was the featured speaker at last week’s CSN anniversary event too! We heard about her V.O.I.C.E method of unmuting yourself during her talk. CSN will be sharing more about that in future newsletters.
Watch her TED talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv8CfP6cJtg
“People do not need your perfection — they need your perspectives.” – Rachel Druckenmiller
:: Mental Health and Self-Care
How to Win… (Without Talent or Luck)
We all want to win. Our definitions of “winning” vary—it may mean happiness and fulfillment to some, money and fame to others—but in some way, shape, or form, we all want to win.
Here’s how:
1. Operate in Your Zone of Genius
2. Adopt a Positive Sum Mentality
3. Speak Up
4. Play Long-Term Games
5. Have a High Tolerance for Failure
6. Follow Your Curiosity
7. Adopt a Process Orientation
8. Prioritize People
9. Work Like a Lion
See more details on these nine suggestions from author Sahil Bloom at https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sahilbloom_how-to-win-without-talent-or-luck-we-activity-7351943864426872832-jQdA/?rcm=ACoAAAIN6SAByZAzl6f1TJ9d2N0zWKN7DD7c8uE
Creativity Exercise from Beyond Anxiety by Martha Beck
Attendees at our August 4th CSN event did a short creativity exercise.
In the book Beyond Anxiety, Martha Beck teaches us about the “anxiety spiral,” a feedback system that can increase anxiety indefinitely. To keep from sliding back into anxiety, we must engage different parts of our nervous system—the parts involved in creativity.
Beck describes a “creativity spiral” that, like the potential for anxiety, is built into our brains. Martha says creativity can applied in everything we do: playing, drawing, and writing, yes, but also parenting, leading, dressing, cooking, conversing, solving problems, moving through the world, and everything in between.
Here is a modified exercise from her book:
Have access to markers, crayons, paints, or pencils. We also supplied Lego kits and gratitude journals to attendees at our event.
First, think about something that makes you mildly anxious—not anything truly horrifying but a situation that makes you just a bit nervous, like remembering to buy a gift for a relative or forgetting how to submit timesheets for staff in Workday. Notice how this mild anxiety feels in your body and emotions.
Now set that thought aside.
Begin using one or more of the tools we’ve suggested to explore your creative side instead. For 10 minutes, either color, build something, write a poem, or list all the things you are grateful for today. After that time, notice what happened to your anxiety while you were composing, experiencing, or writing.
Martha’s full exercise, and other resources from her book, can be downloaded here: https://uwmadison.box.com/s/9ddr04681ubi1txbdjhrd92zy44kogwp. We’ve included the discussion materials from our session, some doodle pages, and more in this link.
:: Communication
The Unkind Habit: How Complaining Harms You and Your Team
Let’s talk about a leadership blind spot: chronic complaining.
This week on The Kindness Advantage with Cindy Cohn, she explores the hidden cost of unfiltered negativity and how constant complaining quietly harms morale, trust, and productivity.
In this quick 10-minute episode, you’ll learn:
✔ The key difference between healthy venting and harmful complaining
✔ How negativity rewires your brain
✔ 3 simple mindset shifts that promote a kinder, more effective workplace
Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gtSCsc86
“Always aspire to act in a way that cancels out someone else’s cruel or stupid behavior.” – Carl Hiaasen
:: Upcoming Events
LinkedIn Local Madison August Meeting
Are you interested in networking outside of the university? Are you ready to go BACK to BASICS on your LinkedIn profile? The people in charge of LinkedIn Local Madison can’t wait to see you on the last Friday of this month at Serendipity Labs at 8:00am for coffee and networking! They will power through a speedy review of the LinkedIn profile basics, what’s new and trending, and give you all time to connect with one another via group profile audits!
Apprehensive about networking? Bring your curiosity for others, and you’ll do fine!
Interested in growing your network? RSVP here: https://lu.ma/paflw03m