Planners’ Picks — February 10, 2026
We’re looking at love in leadership, growing through positivity, and building your capacity for strategic thinking this week in PP. Enjoy!
:: Image of the Week
:: Becoming Unmuted
Showing Up Unmuted with Rachel Druckenmiller and Jen Marr
Most people are walking into work muted.
Muted ideas. Muted needs. Muted boundaries. Muted truth.
Recently, Jen Marr sat down with Rachel Druckenmiller (CSN’s 10-Year Anniversary Presenter) for a conversation that’s practical, honest, and built for the world we’re leading in right now.
What they unpack together:
-Why so many people are holding back at work (even the high performers)
-The difference between “speak up” advice and real psychological safety
-How leaders accidentally train people to stay quiet
-What “self-advocacy” looks like when you’re tired, burned out, or new
-Micro-moves that help someone unmute without forcing a big moment
-How to be supportive without turning into the Fixer
You’ll leave with:
-Simple language you can use.
-A few prompts you can try in your next 1:1.
-And a clearer view of what it really takes to build a culture where people contribute fully.
Share with your team. Hear Rachel’s VOICE Method of becoming unmuted. Because muted people don’t stay forever.
https://www.linkedin.com/events/7421685266383409155
“Luck writes the first chapter, but your actions write the rest.” – Shane Parrish
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
Love, Hope and Leadership: A Special Edition
In Love, Hope & Leadership: A Special Edition, bestselling author Gary Burnison, CEO of Korn Ferry, offers an inspiring collection of reflections, perspectives, and pivot points that capture the moment and define how we live and lead today.
Through stories and beautiful imagery, with the look and feel of a coffee table book, Love, Hope & Leadership illustrates today’s dynamic environment – while offering leadership advice for executives and professionals to consider.
The book explores the attributes of what makes leadership not only personal, but also Special:
- Selflessness – knowing that improving an organization starts by improving ourselves
- Potential – helping others exceed more than what they thought possible
- Empathy – meeting others where they are to embrace who they are
- Connection – adopting a horizontal mindset across communities and even society
- Inclusion – creating a sense of belonging by consciously including everyone
- Authenticity – ensuring others trust what we say, so they can believe in what we do
- Love – leading with our hearts as we seek to understand
As the book chronicles:
Leadership is never about the what and the how – it’s always about the who. We are all in the people business.
What it takes to lead others is often found in the intangibles – the unseen that has just as much value as what is seen.
Without love for other people, we cannot have love for what we do. Purpose and people are always inextricably intertwined.
This is the realization that changes everything: it starts with you, but it’s not about you.
Timely and thought-provoking, Love, Hope & Leadership will speak to managers, executives, entrepreneurs, and other leaders, with the reminder that hope and humanity are not luxuries, but necessities for leading in today’s world.
“True beauty is born through our actions and aspirations, and in the kindness we offer to others.” – Unknown
:: Work Culture & Team Development
Lead and Disrupt
You think startups are hard? Try innovating inside a large company where 99% of the company is executing the current business model, while you’re trying to figure out and build what comes next.
Charles O’Reilly and Michael Tushman coined the term “Ambidextrous Organization” to describe how some companies get this simultaneous execution and innovation process right. Their book Lead and Disrupt describes how others can learn how to do so.
I was honored to write the forward to their second edition. Here it is in its entirety, and is also pertinent to departments trying to innovate while maintaining current offerings or services.
https://steveblank.com/2021/09/01/lead-and-disrupt/
“Give ordinary people the right tools, and they will design and build the most extraordinary things.” — Neil Gerschenfeld
Pit Stop Leadership: What Endurance Racing and F1 Teaches Us About High-Performance Teams
In Endurance Racing, pit stops have gone from minutes in the 1950s to under 6 seconds today. Formula 1, with eighteen mechanics, has even set the world record at 1.8 seconds by my favorite, McLaren Racing. Think about that: eighteen people changing four tires in less time than it takes to read this sentence.
That’s not just fast. That’s the result of obsessive process optimization, relentless practice and complete clarity on roles and responsibilities.
Compare that to your average business team. How long does it take your organization to make a simple decision? To respond to a customer issue? To pivot when conditions change? I’ve had “pit stops” that take days or weeks when they should take hours.
The Endurance Racing and F1 standard asks: What if we treated every critical business process like a pit stop? What if we designed for speed, practiced relentlessly and measured performance in fractions rather than generalities?
:: Mental Health and Self-Care
Seven Ways to Shift Your Difficult Emotions
There are times when my emotions really get in my way. When I perform on stage, fear of failure makes my heart race and throat clench. Or when a friend says something hurtful to me, I can’t stop ruminating about it.
When we get emotionally stuck like this, our first instinct may be to shove down our feelings or lash out at others. But neuroscientist Ethan Kross’s new book, Shift, offers another way forward that’s both respectful of our emotions and helpful for managing them effectively. Without ignoring our feelings, his book argues, we can learn to work with them in more positive ways, allowing us to gain relief and wisdom from them.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/seven_ways_to_shift_your_difficult_emotions
:: LinkedIn Learning
Supercharge Your LinkedIn Profile for Opportunities and Growth
In this LinkedIn Learning course, Kim Kaupe—an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, podcast host and a self-described superfan of LinkedIn—shares with you all the ways you can enhance your profile and make the most out of your LinkedIn experience. Learn how to level up your career, attract opportunities, and connect with power players in your industry. Find out how to configure your profile to position yourself as a thought leader. Explore strategies for profile pictures and banner images. Dive into creating impactful content, including LinkedIn posts, collaborative articles, LinkedIn Live sessions, audio events, and newsletters. Plus, learn about analytics you can use to measure the effectiveness of your efforts.
:: Self-Leadership Development
Build Your Capacity for Strategic Thinking
It’s a tale as old as time: the individual contributor gets promoted because he’s good at his job (accounting, engineering or marketing, for example). Now he’s managing a functional area.
The skills that got him here are not the same skills he now needs to succeed. Midyear reviews roll around, and he receives an unexpected message: you’re too bogged down in the day-to-day. We need you to be more strategic.
This “be more strategic” message may come in your early management experiences, or maybe as you jump from manager to director, or director to VP.
No matter when you first hear the message, you’re probably left wondering — what does it really mean to be more strategic?
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/build-your-capacity-for-strategic-thinking-with-these-questions
You Don’t Need to Do More; You Need to Be Seen Differently
Why your visibility rises when you stop overworking and start leading differently.
Have you ever wondered why doing more doesn’t make you more visible at work? And by visible, I don’t mean loud. I mean getting noticed, feeling seen and heard, and being fully recognized for your contributions. This is the struggle of many high-achieving women. You’re an expert in your field. You deliver excellent work. You produce results. You do whatever it takes to get the job done.
And for a while, that was enough. You felt yourself growing. You felt proud of your work. You rose to every challenge. Until one day — suddenly or slowly — it wasn’t enough anymore.
https://randomactsofleadership.com/why-doing-more-doesnt-make-you-visible/
“The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity.” – DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Identifying the Leadership Gaps That Matter Most
What does it actually take to spot the leadership gaps that matter, especially when life and work keep speeding up?
In this episode of Becoming Unshakable, Heather Younger sits down with Erik Dodier, an entrepreneur who describes his career as a “30-year overnight success.” Erik takes us from his early love of business and entrepreneurship to building a company through decades of pivots, pressure, growth, and change. What stood out to me right away was his willingness to discuss the pause that comes after the grind, that moment when you stop running and finally have enough space to reflect on who you became while you were building.
They also get into the real weight of leadership as teams grow. Erik opens up about a pivotal season in 2014, when his company had to narrow its focus and make a painful shift that changed people’s careers. He describes doing it as humanely as possible, giving people time to retrain, find their path, or lean into the new direction. That conversation led them into something many leaders wrestle with: how to show care and compassion for others while you are privately carrying your own stress, doubt, and exhaustion.
One of my favorite parts of this conversation is Erik’s honesty about what kept him steady. He talks about books, biographies, and even motivational YouTube videos as tools to reset his mindset on hard days. He also shares how his leadership evolved from feeling he had to have every answer to recognizing that his real job was building the right team, removing obstacles, and focusing everyone on the problems that truly moved the business forward.
They close with a powerful reminder for anyone who feels stuck right now. Erik’s advice is to take the smallest step back in the right direction, because the shift you need might be closer than you think. As we step into 2026, he shares how he is using more time, greater intention, and AI tools as a sounding board to keep growing, personally and professionally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FX8UoG4HQ
:: Productivity and Innovation
How to Turn Talk into Traction with this Practical Habit
“This is good. What’s the first step we can take to make a plan?”
You’ve been in those meetings. Lots of nodding. A whiteboard full of what-ifs. Maybe even a few “Let’s circle back” comments floating in the air.
And then? Nothing.
No next step. Or ownership. In short, no movement. That’s why you practice the Ignite Action habit. Because good ideas don’t create momentum—clear next steps do. You make sure the energy in the room doesn’t drift. You grab it, ground it, and move it forward.
And often, it starts here: “This is good. What’s the first step we can take to make a plan?”
It’s not a great idea until someone does something about it.
You’ve been in those meetings. Lots of nodding. A whiteboard full of what-ifs.
Maybe even a few “Let’s circle back” comments floating in the air.
And then? Nothing.
No next step. Or ownership. In short, no movement.
That’s why you practice the Ignite Action habit. Because good ideas don’t create momentum—clear next steps do. You make sure the energy in the room doesn’t drift. You grab it, ground it, and move it forward.
And often, it starts here:
“This is good. What’s the first step we can take to make a plan?”
When you use the Ignite Action habit, you shift a conversation from exploration to execution. You’re not shutting ideas down—you’re shaping them into motion. You don’t need a full strategy. You just need a starting point. A first step. A plan someone can say yes to today.
You don’t let people walk away wondering what just happened. You help them walk away knowing what happens next.
See this installment of Let’s Grow Leaders here: https://letsgrowleaders.com/2026/01/05/ignite-action-how-to-turn-talk-into-traction-with-this-practical-habit/
:: Upcoming Events
The Principles of Supervision and Management (PSM) certificate program is available in-person this spring!
Who Should Attend:
This program is designed for people managers of university staff, academic staff, limited appointees, and faculty who:
- Supervise and guide the work of others
- Hire and onboard new employees
- Conduct performance conversations
- Make decisions about time and task management
- Support and encourage professional development
What You’ll Gain:
- Through this 11-week, in-person program, you’ll:
- Strengthen your leadership and supervisory skills
- Learn key campus policies and resources to support you and your team
- Explore strategies to foster a positive, engaged work environment
- Practice real-world scenarios and build a supportive peer network across campus
Details:
- Mondays, March 2 – May 18, 2026
- 12:30 – 4:30 p.m.
- 21 N. Park St., Rooms 1106 and 1108
- In-person format
Ready to take the next step?
Submit your interest by Monday, February 16, 2026 via the PSM Interest Form using your wisc.edu account. A facilitator will follow up with you within a week of submission.
Leadership Improv with CSN
We’re doing it again! Through a variety of fun, engaging activities, Amanda and Jason from IT Connects will demonstrate how improvisational comedy skills can help supervisors work through difficult situations with staff and peers, as well as practice leadership skills in a light-hearted and low-risk environment.
No comedy or improv skills necessary; we just ask that you bring your willingness to be curious and open to trying new things.
Date: Thursday, March 19, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:15 pm
Location: 1210 W. Dayton St. (DoIT), Room 3139
OSC Announces In Scope and Ignite Spring Series
The Office of Strategic Consulting is once again offering sessions for leaders and project managers to grow and thrive in their roles.
In Scope is designed for managers of small- to medium-sized projects at UW–Madison. In this series, project management experts address managing projects in the university environment, introduce project management methods and resources, and facilitate conversations around common problems and solutions.
Ignite: Fueling Organizational Excellence features interactive workshops that focus on the tools and resources faculty and staff need to promote and sustain organizational excellence at UW–Madison. In these hour-long sessions, experts share ideas, methods, and approaches to help participants build skills to support continuous improvement and increase organizational effectiveness. Participants leave with stronger cross-campus networks, new strategies on how to improve their work, and the inspiration to implement their ideas.
Find all offerings for these two series below, including a session by CSN Planner Nancy Kujak Ford (see below) on building stronger team connections and trust!
https://strategicconsulting.wisc.edu/in-scope-managing-projects-at-uw-madison/
https://strategicconsulting.wisc.edu/ignite-fueling-organizational-excellence/
Beyond the Timeline: The People in Projects with Nancy Kujak-Ford
Managing projects often means balancing deadlines, deliverables, and resources—but truly successful projects go beyond the basics. This session explores how human dynamics shape project outcomes and introduces T.R.U.S.T. (transparency, reliability, understanding, support, and timeliness) as a practical framework for building stronger team connections. You’ll learn how to establish trust quickly, align perspectives, and make relationship-building a daily practice. We’ll also cover what to do when trust is missing and how to rebuild it. You’ll leave with actionable strategies to make your projects more people-focused, resilient, and successful.
Presented by Nancy Kujak-Ford, a CSN Planner and director of strategy and impact @ the College of Letters and Science
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026
Time: 10:00-11:00 am
Location: Online via registration link
https://strategicconsulting.wisc.edu/in-scope-managing-projects-at-uw-madison/