Today's Think Tank guest, Amanda Joy Berenstein, CEO of Weber Shandwick Mexico and author of Reputation and Resilience in an Era of Permacrisis, has a definition of reputation that I haven't been able to stop thinking about:

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It's not your title. It's not your track record. It's whether people think of you and feel trust.

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And here's what makes that so powerful: when people trust you, you feel more capable. When you feel more capable, you navigate change better. Reputation and resilience aren't separate things. They're the same thing.

If you own, run, work at a small or medium sized business you might think mergers and acquisitions are not going to matter to you. That’s just for big companies or once-in-a-lifetime buyouts, right?

Nope.

Mergers and acquisitions happen in every organization, every time workload is redistributed, leadership of a department or team shifts, someone is asked to take on a new responsibility. That means that the big pain points of mergers and acquisitions will show up in your team. Feeling unseen, pulled and pushed by other people’s decisions, being undervalued or disrespected, no longer being a part of a well known team… all of these can crush someone’s will to stay in their job or to do it well.

Should businesses and leaders take a stand on every global issue? Does social justice require every employee and client and customer to know the beliefs of their bosses and sources? Many people think yes. But is it good business practice to wave every flag, comment on every topic? Lots of investors, board members and even employees and customers think no. There is no one correct answer. So what is a leader to do?

Are you facing uncertainty in your business? And if you aren’t, please email me your secret!

Last week on the Think Tank I asked leaders in industries hard hit by regulatory change what we could all learn from their experiences. And they brought smart, strategic solutions.

Are you facing uncertainty in your business? And if you aren’t, please email me your secret!

Last week on the Think Tank I asked leaders in industries hard hit by regulatory change what we could all learn from their experiences. And they brought smart, strategic solutions.

Welcome back for Season 4 of Dr. G’s Think Tank on Resilience. This season we are attacking the thorniest, most difficult resilience topics. We started with a bang:

What do GenZ employees need (and is it different than what they want) to be resilient at work?

Our incredible guests really delivered the goods. Alice Kao is the CEO of Sender One, a network of climbing gyms around California. She employees almost exclusively GenZ coaches and staff. Jonah Craine is a college senior who has worked a variety of frontline jobs as well as stepping into leadership. Last week on the Think Tank they spoke plainly – and sometimes painfully – about the obstacles between GenZ workers and their supervisors and bosses. They debated what’s real – is there a COVID gap in social skills in this generation? Is it the employer’s obligation to address those? Are GenZ using COVID as a crutch? What are “safe spaces” and what do workplaces need to do to create them? If employers do that work does that make GenZ able to hear critical feedback?

Are you thinking about applying for a promotion? Switching employers? Striking out on your own professionally? Any of these changes require a lot of resilience. This past episode of Dr. G’s Think Tank on Resilience focused on this challenge: how do you find the resilience you need to level up?

Do you notice that collaboration has higher value to people than competition? That collaboration is coded as kinder and better than competition? I have seen this over and over again in the world of business - both for- and non-profit. So for the most recent episode of the Think Tank I gathered business people who have excelled in their fields (and aren't done yet!) to talk about the realities and the value of collaboration and also of competition.

How can leaders balance the good of an organization with the needs of the individual team members within their organization? April's Think Tank on Resilience dove into this thorny topic. From IBM's 270,000 employees to multimillion dollar companies with a few dozen team members, these folks outlined strategies to speak truth to their employees, supporting them and still keeping the organization's mission as true north.

When you’re stressed at work your brain wants to find something or someone to blame. And if you’re not at the top of the org chart, it is easy to feel that your stress is your boss’ responsibility – or even their fault.