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Uncertainty and CEO Overconfidence
Overconfidence is not a personality flaw. It's a measurable business risk. University of Chicago Booth research found that less talented CEOs over-promise, under-listen, chase vanity projects, and abandon strategies the moment short-term results disappoint. In good times, rising tides hide a lot of leadership sins. Downturns wash them out into plain view. The good news: the habits that separate skilled CEOs from overconfident ones are learnable, if you are willing to see your

Dr. David Macauley
5 min read


Business Cycles and Zero Sum Thinking
Economic downturns don't just shrink revenue, they quietly reshape how people think. Research across 51 countries and nearly 60,000 respondents shows downturns trigger zero-sum thinking: the belief that someone else has to lose for you to win. Collaboration collapses at exactly the moment leaders need it most. Here's how to name the pull, disarm it, and keep your team playing an infinite game.

Dr. David Macauley
6 min read


Why did it take a virus for work to go remote?
Why did it take a pandemic to make remote work mainstream? Before COVID-19, remote work had grown 91% in a decade and 80-90% of US workers wanted it — yet only 3-16% actually did it on any given day. The barriers weren't technological. They were habit, managerial distrust, and quiet assumptions about what productive work looks like. The companies that use this moment to examine those assumptions will emerge stronger than they went in.

Dr. David Macauley
13 min read


Corona Connections
When the COVID-19 pandemic sent more than a quarter of the US population into shelter-in-place orders, businesses and employees had to adjust to a new normal overnight. People embraced remote technology to conduct their business, educate their children, and nurture their spiritual life. In one week alone, Facebook recorded a 70% surge in video calls hosted on its platform.
Among the many lessons being learned was the importance of sustained social connection. Social bonds mat

Dr. David Macauley
2 min read


Driving forward via the rear-view mirror
Today's employers have a love-hate relationship with technologically facilitated work. In 2017, the popular business press declared that the permanent telecommuter had officially gone extinct. Yet that same year, the Society for Human Resource Management reported that organizations offering some form of telecommuting arrangement had grown from 20% in 1996 to more than 60%. High-profile reversals at Yahoo and IBM made headlines, while quietly, more than 70% of employers contin

Dr. David Macauley
36 min read
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