Planners’ Picks — May 26, 2026
After a long weekend, let’s dive into a summer edition of PP. We’ll learn to unlearn old ideas with Reed Hastings, former Netflix boss. We’ll overshare a bit. And we’ll look for more beauty in our surroundings. This and much more in the resources below!
:: Image of the Week
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing
A groundbreaking book about the hidden power of opening up by a celebrated Harvard professor.
We all know the feeling—that cringe after we’ve said too much. So we hold back, hide our emotions, and keep our truest selves under wraps. But what if our fear of oversharing has been holding us back from the best parts of life?
Packed with bold insights and unforgettable stories, Revealing shows how revealing wisely can deepen friendships, supercharge careers, and transform how we connect, love, and lead.
Leslie John is the James. E. Burke Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Her award-winning research appears in top academic journals and media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. A Canadian-born, professionally trained ballet dancer, she now calls Boston her home, where she lives with her husband and two young sons.
https://www.proflesliejohn.com/book
“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.” – Stephen Covey
:: Communication
How to Lead Meetings That Get Results
Mamie Kanfer Stewart is a managerial excellence expert, executive coach, author of Momentum: Creating Effective Engaging and Enjoyable Meetings (https://bookshop.org/a/90226/97816196…) *, and host of The Modern Manager podcast (https://themodernmanager.com) . She loves helping managers apply the best thinking on human behavior and flourishing in how they lead themselves and their teams.
Key Points
• There are six reasons to have meetings: connect, align, decide, ideate/brainstorm, plan, and/or produce.
• Set an outcome for the meeting and structure the agenda accordingly.
• Approach other leaders for clarity when the purpose of the meeting is not apparent.
• Consider the impact of unnecessary participants in meetings and decide in advance who needs to be consulted, informed, and engaged.
• Maximize all attendees time by providing clear meeting invitations and concise instructions on pre-work or pre-reading to be completed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s16mhi-POg
How to Get People to Listen to You
We all want to get our message across, and we also want it to land well. Using strategy to do that well is a skill every leader can benefit from.
Anytime I see work from Amy Gallo at Harvard Business Review, I know it’s going to be great. In this 10-minute video, Amy gives tons of practical tips to stay credible while framing your message well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AS94R-7YCs
“If you aim for perfection and miss, you’re still pretty good, but if you aim for mediocre and miss?” – Bill Walsh
The Art (and impact!) of Email Tone
Listen in to this honest conversation exploring the challenges of navigating different communication styles in a professional setting, particularly the shift between legalistic and friendly tones in emails. Angela Alvarez Riggs shares her experiences and insights on the necessity of agility in communication, highlighting how AI can help us navigate the complexities of maintaining professionalism and managing communication tones in the workplace.
Takeaways
- Communication styles impact workplace relationships.
- Agility in communication is essential for success.
- Professionalism must coexist with friendliness.
- Navigating different tones requires skill and practice (and AI is a big help!).
- The ability to switch tones can enhance workplace dynamics.
- Effective communication is key to fostering relationships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v_7PP0cIdA
:: Trust, Psychological Safety & Belonging
The Math of Retention is Simple: Nobody Leaves a Job Where They Are Respected, Well-Paid, and Growing
For years, corporate boardrooms have treated the “Great Resignation” like a paranormal phenomenon. They spent millions on consultants, poured over exit interview spreadsheets, and blamed “macroeconomic shifts” or a “generational lack of work ethic.” They looked at every data point possible—except the one staring back at them in the mirror.
The Great Resignation wasn’t a trend, and it wasn’t a mystery. It was a mirror. It reflected, in stark and sometimes painful detail, the crumbling quality of leadership within our organizations. It stripped away the jargon to reveal a fundamental truth we’ve been socialized to ignore: The math of human retention is remarkably simple. Nobody—not a single soul—walks away from a job where they are genuinely respected, fairly paid, and intentionally grown.
When a talented person walks out your door, they aren’t just leaving a cubicle or a salary. They are escaping a vacuum of value. They are choosing their dignity over your paycheck. They are deciding that their future is too bright to be dimmed by a culture that views them as an interchangeable part in a machine.
If we want to build organizations that don’t just survive, but endure, we have to stop treating “culture” like a collection of office perks and Friday happy hours. Culture is a sacred contract. It’s time to close the book on the era of “Human Resources”—where people are assets to be used—and step into the era of Human Partners, where people are souls to be led.
The question isn’t “Why are they leaving?” The question is: “Have you built a place worth staying?”
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/math-retention-simple-nobody-leaves-job-where-respected-tp7se
:: Self-Leadership Development
Magic in the Room #200: How to Lead through Polarities
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke and Hannah explore the concept of polarities. Tensions like purpose and performance, stability and change, or accountability and grace are often mistaken for problems to solve rather than dynamics to manage. Drawing on insights from Barry Johnson’s work, they explain how these opposing forces are interdependent and must be balanced over time to achieve sustained success.
Through practical examples and personal reflections, they show how over-relying on one side of a polarity leads to predictable “shadow sides” such as stagnation, chaos, inefficiency, or burnout, while effective leadership requires recognizing where you are on the cycle and intentionally recalibrating. The episode emphasizes that many recurring organizational frustrations are not failures, but signals of imbalance, and offers a more nuanced approach to leadership. One that replaces rigid either/or thinking with flexible both/and awareness to improve decision-making, team dynamics, and long-term performance.
https://www.purposeandperformancegroup.com/magic-in-the-room-200
“All that an obstacle does with brave men is, not to frighten them, but to challenge them.”– Woodrow Wilson
Unlearning Leadership: From Netflix to the Mountain
Reed Hastings built Netflix from a DVD-by-mail startup into a global entertainment empire — and then did something most founders never do: he walked away. In this first episode of Unbossing, hosts Rishad Tobaccowala and Drew Ianni sit down with Reed for a candid conversation about the leadership principles he’d keep, the ones he’d rewrite, and what he’s learned building something entirely new.
Reed opens up about the famous Netflix Culture Memo — what it got right, what it got wrong, and why, if he could do it again, he’d lead with the heart.
Now on the board of Anthropic and developing Powder Mountain into a private ski community in Utah, Reed reflects on the shift from the digital to the very physical — and what that’s taught him about culture, community, and starting over. This is a conversation about unlearning the rules that made you successful, so you can build something even better.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ypBz6psAGZ1SGCC56R3LF
:: LinkedIn Learning
Building Creative Thinking from the Brain Up
The World Economic Forum has identified creativity as an essential, in-demand skill, especially with the rise of AI. In this course, join neuroscientist Indre Viskontas as she outlines practical strategies and techniques to help you unlock your full creative potential.
Get started by understanding what creativity really means and how anyone can tap into their creative brain. Explore how to prepare your brain for creative thinking by engaging the brain’s control network, default mode network, and salience network. Indre shows you how to rewire your brain networks with targeted practice, get in the mood for creative work, and overcome creative funks. Additionally, you will learn to identify what inhibits creative potential and use proven methods to boost inspiration and recognize aha moments. This course also covers innovative approaches to collaborative creativity with generative AI and shifting perspectives for more effective everyday creative problem-solving.
Learning objectives
- Understand and define the concept of creativity and its importance.
- Apply techniques to engage different brain networks for enhanced creative thinking.
- Identify and overcome common inhibitors to creative potential.
- Implement targeted practices to foster and sustain creativity in everyday activities.
- Collaborate effectively with generative AI to amplify creative problem-solving capabilities.
:: Change Management
Embracing Change: Jeri Doris on Workplace Evolution and AI
In this episode of the Nuri Edge podcast, host Mariana Merritt speaks with Jeri Doris, an experienced HR leader, about the evolving landscape of workplace culture, employee expectations, and the role of AI in enhancing productivity. Jeri shares her personal journey through various cultures and languages, emphasizing the importance of seizing opportunities and adapting to change. The conversation highlights the shift from a one-size-fits-all approach to a more personalized employee experience, driven by curiosity and collaboration. Jeri encourages leaders to model the change they wish to see in their organizations, fostering a culture of learning and growth.
It’s worth a listen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaRV0O6xKJA&t=107s
:: Burnout & Stress
Play Your Part
We do not get to choose everything that happens around us, but we do get to choose the part we play in response.
I was shopping recently with my 19-year-old daughter. As we walked past a large store, we were startled by the security alarm going off. When we turned, we saw a young woman and a man casually strolling through the exit laughing. It quickly became clear that she had stolen a packet of false eyelashes.
They were now walking just ahead of us, clearly pleased with themselves. Then she ripped open the packaging and threw the cardboard onto the floor.
We were both stunned. For a split second, I felt heartbroken by what we had just seen, the disregard, the entitlement, the carelessness.
Then my daughter quietly stepped forward, picked up the discarded packaging, and put it in a litter bin. In that moment, everything shifted.
She could not stop their behaviour. She could not undo what they had chosen. But she could choose her own response. She chose not to add to the mess. She chose not to become hardened. She chose to play her part. That is true for all of us.
We will all come across behaviour that disappoints us, angers us, or saddens us. We will see selfishness, disrespect, dishonesty, and carelessness. But even then, we still have a choice. We can let the moment pull us downward, or we can decide who we will be within it.
We may not be able to change everything, but we can still influence what happens next by the part we choose to play.
From Dani Saveker’s weekly LEAPS newsletters: https://glasmethod.com/leaps-blog
“Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long.” – May Sarton
:: Upcoming Events
CSN’s Summer Book Club: The Octopus Organization
Three sessions. Three big ideas. One smarter way to lead.
This summer, the Campus Supervisors Network is exploring The Octopus Organization, a book that reimagines how teams create clarity, build ownership, and strengthen accountability in a rapidly changing workplace.
We’ll break the book into three one‑hour sessions, each focused on one of its three core parts and 36 antipatterns:
- PART 1 — Creating Clarity (June 16: 1:00-2:00 pm)
- PART 2 — Increasing Ownership (July 9: 1:00-2:00 pm)
- PART 3 — Inciting Curiosity (July 23: 1:00-2:00 pm)
Join one, two, or all three sessions — whatever fits your summer schedule. We are sharing instructions to access the book through the UW–Madison Libraries, so no purchase is required.
This is a great chance to connect with colleagues and sharpen your leadership practice in a low‑pressure, high‑impact format.
Next steps will be communicated to all registrants before each session.
Register here: https://go.wisc.edu/t565w7
Access The Octopus Organization at UW-Library: Steps to download “The Octopus Organization” from EBSCO. The book’s introduction: The Octopus Organization Introduction