Planners’ Picks — July 28, 2026
Leading is the focus today in our self-leadership section of the resource library. We’re also taking language lessons and saying less for more impact today. Enjoy!!
:: Image of the Week
:: Self-Leadership Development
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. At the same time, 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
“Leadership involves a delicate combination of plumbing and poetry.” – James C. March
Leading Through Low Morale
Key points
- Workplace morale problems rarely have quick fixes or simple technical solutions.
- Strong leaders resist rushing to solutions before fully understanding the problem.
- Employees closest to the work often have the clearest insight into needed change.
We’ve all been there: Maybe there’s been an economic downturn leading to layoffs and turnover, or maybe the company has been acquired and is going through a major restructuring with plenty of growing pains and changing expectations along the way. Or maybe there’s simply a new boss whose new policies and procedures clash with those of the department they’re charged with leading. Whatever the reason, most of us have experienced workplace climates that are less than ideal. The problem is that low morale is like a virus—it spreads quickly and can be difficult to contain once it takes hold.
Additionally, once morale is low, there’s little incentive to be engaged or do one’s best work. Productivity suffers, potentially exacerbating problems within the organization and creating a negative feedback loop of employee dissatisfaction and poor output.
If you are charged with leading such a unit, what role can you play to help turn things around?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/leading-with-connection/202605/leading-through-low-morale
Leading Through Your Peak Times
In Daniel Pink‘s book When, he describes the perfect times of day for you to do certain things, and when you have a trough in your energy.
Dr. Melissa Hughes has a tool to check out your peak times for productivity on her website —
Time of day explains 20% of the variance in cognitive performance. In the Chronotype Lab, her five short experiments map your personal rhythm — peak, trough, and recovery — and show you how to schedule around it. You’re not necessarily procrastinating; you might be in the wrong cognitive space to accomplish that task at that time in your rhythm.
Turns out I’m a Lark. How about you? Click to find out! https://brainpowerrocks.com/chronotype-lab
One Boundary Adjustment
This week, choose one thing to stop doing. Not because you’re giving up. Because you’re making room.
Room for deeper conversations.
Room for strategic thinking.
Room for creativity.
Room for coaching.
Room for listening.
Every boundary you establish is really a decision about where your leadership is most valuable.
The question isn’t:
“How can I fit more into my day?”
The better question is:
“What deserves the very best of my attention?”
From Cindy Rowe’s weekly newsletter
To be nobody but yourself, in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you just like everybody else, means to fight the greatest battle there is to fight and never stop fighting. – e.e. cummings
The Leadership Lessons I Learned Running Scientific Teams
Some of the smartest teams I have ever led struggled with communication, alignment, trust, and execution. Meanwhile, other teams with fewer resources and less pedigree consistently outperformed expectations because they learned how to function as a unit during uncertainty.
That realization changed the way I think about leadership. It also changed the way I thought about my own development. As my responsibilities expanded beyond conducting research to leading people, building international collaborations, managing large federally funded projects and making strategic decisions that affected entire teams, I began to appreciate that technical expertise alone was no longer sufficient. While scientific training had prepared me to ask rigorous questions and generate evidence, it had not fully prepared me to lead complex organizations. That realization ultimately led me to pursue formal leadership education. I wanted to understand not only how to lead, but why certain leadership approaches consistently succeed while others fail.
https://poetsandquants.com/2026/07/22/the-leadership-lessons-i-learned-running-scientific-teams
:: Neurodiversity
Coqual’s Neuroinclusion Imperative
We spend a lot of time in organizations talking about talent. Acquiring it. Retaining it. Developing it. We spend almost no time asking why so much of it never surfaces at all.
Jennifer Brown recently had the privilege of building and facilitating sessions on neuroinclusion awareness, working alongside Amber Kidd, her Director of Operations, who has played a role in elevating how Jennifer thinks about this more than any framework has. What she learned from watching her work, and listening to her share so transparently, and from being in rooms where this conversation finally gets named, is that the gap isn’t talent. Its conditions.
Coqual‘s Neuroinclusion Imperative is research that Jennifer was honored to help bring forward as a Founding Luminary. It puts numbers to what she’s been watching up close.
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People
Dramatically improve workplace relationships simply by learning your coworkers’ language of appreciation.
This book will give you the tools to improve staff morale, create a more positive workplace, and increase employee engagement. How? By teaching you to effectively communicate authentic appreciation and encouragement to employees, co-workers, and leaders. Most relational problems in organizations flow from this question: do people feel appreciated? This book will help you answer “Yes!”
A bestseller—having sold over 300,000 copies and translated into 16 languages—this book has proven to be effective and valuable in diverse settings. Its principles about human behavior have helped businesses, non-profits, hospitals, schools, government agencies, and organizations with remote workers.
“The price of anything is how much of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
:: Communication
Say less: When more words mean less impact
When you deeply consider your message and say less, your words can land with more power, writes Julie Winkle Giulioni.
Want to trade more for less when it comes to your communication? Try these three strategies.
- Get clear on your goal before you open your mouth — or hit send. Too often, leaders start talking or writing and hope that the act of communicating will create clarity. It won’t. Others don’t need a front-row seat to your thinking process — they need the conclusion it produces. When you know precisely what you’re trying to achieve, you naturally edit. Clarity creates economy.
- Pay attention to the signals. Eyes glazing over in a meeting. Emails that don’t get responses. These aren’t just distractions or oversights — they’re feedback. People are telling you something. Listen and calibrate accordingly.
- Trust the gaps. The silence after you make a point isn’t a problem to fill. It’s where sense is made, and understanding happens. Stay present and available, but resist the urge to rush in with more words when what people need is more processing space.
The Real Cost of Avoiding Hard Conversations
Are you exhausted by the constant negativity… and tired of biting your tongue at family dinners, business meetings, or social gatherings?
In this powerful special episode, Dr. Melissa Hughes helps us connect the dots between our nervous system and the chaotic, high-stimulation environment we’re living in. We unpack what’s really happening when people “check out,” shut down, or avoid hard conversations—and why that silence can come with a cost.
What you’ll learn in this episode
- The neuroscience behind psychic numbing (emotional overload + the brain “turning down the volume” to keep you functioning)
- Why moral disengagement is different—and how it becomes a choice to distance yourself
- How “go along to get along” culture shows up at work, in families, and in friendships
- The “exhaustion of reason” and why facts don’t land when identity feels threatened
- Practical ways to build healthy boundaries without becoming disconnected or complicit
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2NCD6famGfsU01NbU6ob7c
:: Confidence
A Guide To Thriving
Rishad gives us five points to ponder in this newsletter on thriving in today’s world.
1.Success is the freedom to spend time in ways that gives one joy.
2.” Do not price yourself out of your dreams.”
3. “Do not live in other people’s minds”.
4. “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so”
5. “Practice Compound Improvement”.
Dive in to see the details of each of these points here: https://rishad.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-thriving?publication_id=76314&post_id=207587660&isFreemail=true&r=3c3hz&triedRedirect=true
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” – Cicero
:: Work Culture & Team Development
Embrace Constructive Conflict
One more time, raise your hand if you’ve been in a meeting where concerns hang heavy in the air, but they remain unspoken. Some participants know the flaws in the plan; others are bristling at a decision handed down without discussion. Yet, when the leader asks, “Are we all on board?” no one speaks. Some nod. Some stare down at their shoes. The only sound is the low hum of the HVAC system.
See the latest tin man problem from the book The Octopus Organization, CSN’s Summer Book Club feature.
https://link.hbr.org/view/654a7671fe5aeb7c2e87714b6a3164ffaaeac50aab285187/a77c8a87
:: Upcoming Events
ForwardFest 2026 Line-up
The Forward Festival is Wisconsin’s largest technology and entrepreneurship festival, attracting more than 5,000 attendees and serving as host for more than 40 events over 5 days every August.
Forward Fest 2026 will run August 17 – 21 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Now in its 16th year, it’s the state’s flagship celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship for business folks, nerds, social impact innovators, foodies, hackers, entrepreneurs, creatives, problem-solvers, community supporters, and more from across the Midwest.
Whether you’re already plugged into the Midwest scene or you’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to sample what the area has to offer, Forward Fest is about bringing the technology and startup communities together to learn, share, and have some fun. The Forward Festival provides the rare opportunity to interact with professionals across a wide range of disciplines and at a variety of events, and is open to everyone.
Many of the events are free to attend! https://forwardfest.org/about
Some recommended sessions:
How We Show Up Matters with Kim Walters
Technical expertise gets you in the room. How you show up determines what happens next.
In this interactive session, consultants will examine the attitudes, assumptions, and habits they bring into client and colleague relationships, and how those choices shape trust, collaboration, and results. Through meaningful dialogue with peers, you’ll uncover blind spots that may be limiting connection or effectiveness in your work.
Date: Monday, August 17, 2026, 1:00-3:00 pm online
https://forwardfest2026.sched.com/event/2P0Ej/how-we-show-up-matters?iframe=no
Date: Thursday, August 20, 2026, 8:00-10:00 am in-person @ Willy Street Coop, 1128 Williamson Street, Madison
https://forwardfest2026.sched.com/event/2P0Eg/how-we-show-up-matters?iframe=no
Bridging Generations at Work: Leading Multigenerational Teams Through Technology & Change
Bridging Generations at Work is a dynamic, beginner-friendly session designed to help leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals successfully navigate generational differences while driving meaningful progress through technology. This session will explore how communication styles, expectations, and comfort with technology vary across generations, and how these differences can either hinder or accelerate success.
Thursday, August 20, 2026, 12:30-2:30 pm at Delta Beer Lab, Madison
https://forwardfest2026.sched.com/event/2P0Ej/how-we-show-up-matters?iframe=no