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The team leader's guide to leadership and management with Suzy Welch
Managers often get a bad rap, dismissed as bureaucratic cogs while leaders are celebrated as bold visionaries. Yet both roles are essential to making an organization function effectively. So why does this unbalanced narrative persist? Suzy Welch argues it comes from an overemphasis on separating leadership and management, rather than recognizing how they intersect. The most effective team leaders, she notes, break through this false divide — knowing when to inspire broadly and when to dig into the details. The blend is so crucial, Welch even coined a term for it: “lanaging.”
Welch is a professor of Management Practice, NYU Stern School of Business. In this video lesson, Welch explains how to be beloved by both your team and your bosses and to bring organizational values to life in daily work.
Learning objectives:
Be beloved by both your team and your bosses
Bring organizational values to life in daily work
Adapt your management style to diverse employee needs
Improve hiring and handle terminations with care
Make tough calls and handle crises with confidence
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Lessons:
Lesson 1: Balancing Your Approach to Running a Team
In life, we often have to juggle two perspectives at once — for instance, saving for a dream vacation while paying the bills, or being a supportive friend while offering a tough critique. As Professor Suzy Welch explains, leadership requires a similar balancing act. She calls this process
Lesson 2: Making Culture the Fabric of How You Do Work
The fabric of society. The fabric of our community. When we talk about what holds things together, we often describe it as a fabric — something interwoven, essential, and enduring. In an organization, culture plays the same role: it creates the conditions for how work gets done.
Lesson 3: Avoiding One-Size-Fits-All Employee Management
Picture this: one of your strongest employees just handed in their resignation. You’re stunned — they seemed happy, engaged, and self-sufficient. Could you have done more to keep them? Perhaps! According to Professor Suzy Welch, neglecting to celebrate and support star performers is a common management mistake — and unfortunately, not the only one.
Lesson 4: How Not to Go Wrong with Hiring
When addressing a medical condition, doctors follow a clear treatment plan to ensure the care is tailored to the diagnosis. Similarly, in hiring, a structured approach is essential to accurately assess candidates and select the best fit for the role. Without it, common tendencies — like biases — can undermine decision-making. Fortunately, as Professor S…
Lesson 5: The 4 Cardinal Rules of Firing
“The day firing becomes easy is the day to fire yourself,” says Jim Peters — a sentiment every leader should consider taking to heart. According to Professor Suzy Welch, letting someone go is never easy, nor should it be. It’s a responsibility that demands care, professionalism, and empathy. From addressing performance issues early to preserving dignity…
Lesson 6: Systematic Strategies for Making Hard Calls
“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” This quote from Peter Drucker highlights a key reality of leadership: progress starts with bold choices — and the people willing to make them. Yet making tough calls, especially with high stakes and limited information, requires more than bravery. It takes the right tools…
Lesson 7: Handling the 5 Hard Truths of Crisis Management
What’s your gut reaction to a crisis? Freeze? Fight? Fix? Crises challenge everyone, but they’re particularly defining for leaders, testing their ability to manage pressure effectively. And while the instinct to fix things quickly is natural, crises seldom come with straightforward solutions. So, what’s the best approach? Professor Suzy Welch advises fi…
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