How to create conditions in the brain to gain insight By Diane Craig, President and Founder, Corporate Class Inc. Legend tells us that Archimedes, the Classical Greek scholar, leapt out of his bath shouting “Eureka! Eureka!” – meaning, “I’ve found it; I’ve found it!” In a split second, by simply stepping into the bath and displacing water he had grasped the law of buoyancy. This was Archimedes’ aha moment – his sudden comprehension of what … Continue Reading

Lessons in Leadership and the Thai Soccer team rescue By Sandra Corelli, Vice President, Corporate Class Inc. As news of the last soccer player and coach rescued from the cave in Thailand broke, the world breathed a sigh of relief to cheer this modern-day miracle. The story is one of community, strength, resilience and bravery. It demonstrates the power of mental and emotional agility and effective leadership, in times of crisis. Like most of you, … Continue Reading

It’s Not Always Clear What Constitutes Sexual Harassment. Acclaimed author, leadership expert and educator Kathleen Kelley Reardon contacted Sandra Corelli, Vice President at CCI, to discuss one of the most complex workplace issues today – sexual harassment. She was compiling research for her forthcoming HBR article. Entitled, It’s Not Always Clear What Constitutes Sexual Harassment. Use This Tool to Navigate the Gray Areas., the article was published June 18, 2018. Dr. Reardon requested Sandra’s feedback … Continue Reading

The connection between ever-present office politics and personal branding may appear to be something of a stretch. Closer examination reveals their interdependence. Dr. Kathleen Kelly Reardon is an expert on navigating office politics. In her book, The Secret Handshake – Mastering The Politics of the Business Inner Circle, Dr. Reardon’s research validates the importance of personal branding. She writes about a young woman who declined her mentor’s advice regarding the importance of attending a company … Continue Reading

Study groups are an integral part of MBA programs, meant to simulate the real-life corporate world of working in teams. Although the intent is to encourage people to develop a collaborative mindset, often the reality is bullying, wannabe leaders, peer criticism, and anxiety about speaking out, derail students from actively participating. Instead of the intentional joining of forces, the result is friction and a total lack of productivity. When a corporate team clicks, there are … Continue Reading

A fact of corporate life is that presentations are extremely important. A popular myth of corporate life is that leaders are inherently endowed with presentation skills. And yet, nothing could be further from the truth! Even seasoned leaders struggle with presentation anxiety. They may attempt to conceal their apprehension through false bravado but the underlying fear is there. The absolute finest presenters, in our experience, have faced these fears courageously. This is not an overstatement … Continue Reading

Consider the proverb “clothes make the man.” Although often attributed to Shakespeare, its origins lie in the classical Greek saying, “the man is his clothing.” Today, “the woman is her clothing.” This is, indeed, a significant principle for women aspiring to high-profile roles. Why, then, are many ambitious women ambivalent about the importance of appearance, notably, their apparel choices? Think of the endless dialogue surrounding Hillary Rodham Clinton’s wardrobe of pantsuits.It sends a clear message … Continue Reading

The Center for Talent Innovation holds an impressive record for both defining the essence of corporate talent challenges, and proposing solutions. At its helm, President and Founder Sylvia Ann Hewlett has her finger on the pulse of what’s making waves across every organizational level, including the current preoccupation with Millennials. The Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) regularly publishes carefully researched reports on its findings. During a recent study, Misunderstood Millennial Talent, Dr. Hewlett lead the … Continue Reading

In the final days of last year, among the endless Best-of-2017-lists, a book described by the New York Times as a “well-told book about leadership, one that intelligently masquerades as a book about sports,” caught our attention. Entitled The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World’s Greatest Teams, by Sam Walker, the book was also widely praised as one of the best business books of the year on many fronts including CNBC and … Continue Reading