Hosted by Susan Mazza | Random Acts of Leadership
Welcome to the August 2026 Leadership Development Digest – a curated collection of 21 articles and one podcast episode from some of today’s most thoughtful voices in leadership. Each month, contributors from across the leadership community share a selection of their work from the previous month. It is organized by topic so you can jump straight to what matters most to you right now.
Whether you’re navigating change, cultivating your own growth as a leader, thinking about culture and communication, or working out where AI fits into how you lead, you’ll find something to stimulate your thinking. Enjoy the collection, and be sure to connect with these terrific thought leaders on LinkedIn.
Culture
You Spent a Fortune on Talent and Strategy – Culture Neglect Is Wasting It
By Sean Glaze
Culture is not a soft extra that sits next to the real work. It is the environment your real work happens inside. Neglect it and it does not stay flat. It goes stale. And a stale culture quietly drains the value out of everything else you paid for.
Connect with Sean Glaze on LinkedIn
LET’S GO DODGERS! Lessons in Leadership, Culture and Team Building from the “Boys in Blue”
By Susan Inouye
My husband LOVES the Dodgers, so for a recent date night he surprised me by taking me to a game. We sat by first base and I soon realized I wasn’t just watching baseball, I was watching culture in action. The Dodgers organization has created a winning culture where people want to belong, fans and players alike. See what you can learn from the Boys in Blue.
Connect with Susan Inouye on LinkedIn
What Data Reveals About Broken Workplace Culture
The newest episode of the Mastering Workplace Culture podcast, featuring Victoria Pelletier, poses a clear challenge: how do business leaders align their actions with defined values so teams learn to trust leadership fully? Victoria draws on decades of executive experience to highlight a pattern that shows up across industries — leaders often promote strong values while rewarding behaviors that contradict them, and that disconnect creates frustration, disengagement, and turnover. She calls her approach “Whole Human Leadership”: investing in people as people, not just as producers.
Connect with S. Chris Edmonds on LinkedIn
When Alignment Kills Adaptation
Alignment can kill adaptation. When teams optimize for agreement, they lose the friction that tests assumptions and catches blind spots early. Adaptive organizations design for both alignment and constructive misalignment, where different views get explored before decisions are made.
Connect with Marcella Bremer on LinkedIn
Growth & Development
20 Lessons from 20 Years
By Jon Verbeck
Jon has worked alongside owners through growth, turnarounds, cash shortages, acquisitions, reporting challenges, operational changes, and more than a few unexpected surprises. What he’s learned is that the numbers are only part of the story. Behind every financial statement is a business owner making difficult decisions, a leadership team solving problems, and a group of people trying to build something that will last. Here are 20 of the most important lessons from the past 20 years.
Connect with Jon Verbeck on LinkedIn
From the Red Dot to the Trophy: Reflections of the Best TEDx Speaker 2026
On the value of stepping outside your comfort zone to share an impactful message, and the ripples of influence that has as a leader.
Connect with Susan Heaton-Wright on LinkedIn
10 Ways to Strengthen Your Self Confidence
Confidence is the master key that unlocks the door to your full potential, turning “can’t” into “can” with a simple twist.
Connect with Frank Sonnenberg on LinkedIn
Why Perfectionism Holds Us Back – and What Frees Us
By Lisa Kohn
Recognizing perfection and overlooking imperfections doesn’t mean lowering our standards or putting up with unacceptable behavior. But constantly driving toward perfectionism hurts us and the people around us. When we choose where to be less perfect and where to lean in more, we open our brains to possibilities and give ourselves what we need to function at our best.
Connect with Lisa Kohn on LinkedIn
From Overwhelm to Spaciousness
By Ann Van Eron
For much of her life, Ann experienced a persistent sense of busyness and stress. As she studied how to live and support others in an uncertain world, she began to appreciate the importance of being open and allowing a sense of spaciousness. Creating space seemed counterintuitive, yet spaciousness may be exactly what we need amid the chaos.
Connect with Ann Van Eron on LinkedIn
Leadership Priorities
Invest in Your Infrastructure: What Crumbling Roads and Failing Bridges Can Teach Leaders About Organizational Health
A city may have brilliant architects and talented citizens, but crumbling, outdated, or misaligned infrastructure stalls growth, drives people away, and loses opportunities. The same is true for an organization. The question for leaders: where is our infrastructure strong, and where are the potholes, outages, and missing bridges slowing us down?
Connect with Priscilla Archangel on LinkedIn
How Does a Leader Become a Leader?
By Susan Mazza
What if becoming a leader wasn’t a title to claim or a position to arrive at? Much has been said about leading without a title. But if we really believed that, title or position wouldn’t be a prerequisite for being recognized as a leader, and I’d suggest a lot more people would already claim the leader they are right now. So what about you: have you fully claimed the leader you already are? The answer might surprise you, and so might what opens up once you understand how a leader actually becomes one.
Connect with Susan Mazza on LinkedIn
Communication
Adapting to Your Boss Without Losing Yourself
Strong leaders know that influence isn’t just about what you say, it’s about how well your message reaches the other person. Adapting your communication style to your boss’s preferences isn’t compromising your authenticity. It’s a practical leadership skill that strengthens relationships, builds trust, and helps good ideas gain traction.
Connect with Bill Treasurer on LinkedIn
10 Communication Behaviors That Can Transform Any Relationship
By John Stoker
There are certain communication behaviors that enhance the quality of your relationships, personal or professional. Here are 10 that, practiced consistently, can make a significant difference in any relationship.
Connect with John Stoker on LinkedIn
Change & Innovation
How to Diagnose Your Change Type Before You Plan Your Approach
This article explores how to diagnose your change type, why the diagnosis matters, and how it should shape your planning approach.
Connect with Braden Kelley on LinkedIn
It Turns Out, Resistance to Your Change Initiative Is (Mostly) a Good Sign
By Art Petty
A mentor once told Art: “If you’re getting flak, you’re close to the target.” The flak, or resistance, never felt good in the moment. It turns out the mentor was right. Here’s how to better leverage resistance as part of leading successful change initiatives.
Connect with Art Petty on LinkedIn
AI & Technology
Why Clear Messages Still Don’t Land
By Sara Canaday
Leaders often wonder why their teams aren’t more engaged or connected to the outcomes they’re trying to achieve, even when their messages seem clear. Sara explores what may be missing, and how AI can help leaders see a message through others’ eyes before sharing it.
Connect with Sara Canaday on LinkedIn
The Danger of Outsourcing Your Thinking to AI
By John Spence
The AI-generated strategy documents crossing John’s desk look increasingly impressive and increasingly empty at the same time. Sophisticated analyses, elegant frameworks, well-designed graphs that create the illusion of rigor, but under scrutiny most of them fall apart. Why AI makes good judgment harder to replace, not easier.
Connect with John Spence on LinkedIn
Trust, Fairness & Psychological Safety
Creating Environments Where Trust Flourishes
By Randy Conley
In these times of unprecedented change, leaders can’t control every circumstance, but they can influence the environment in which people experience those circumstances. Why leaders need to create environments where trust can flourish.
Connect with Randy Conley on LinkedIn
Resilience, Well-Being & Burnout Prevention
Radical Resilience: The Art of Thriving in a Fragile World
Every word of this title matters. What resilience really means, and where you can grow your own skill in it, in a fragile world.
Connect with Eileen McDargh on LinkedIn
Engagement & Motivation
Say Less: When More Words Mean Less Impact
Leaders often believe that more explanation leads to greater understanding, but too much direction can unintentionally reduce ownership and engagement. By communicating with greater clarity and restraint, leaders create space for people to think, contribute, and become more invested in the work. Sometimes saying less is the key to inspiring more.
Connect with Julie Winkle Giulioni on LinkedIn
Empowerment
Stop Waiting for Feedback: Write Your Own Review
Many bosses and leaders treat performance reviews like the plague. “Write Your Own Review” turns feedback and reviews on their head. It’s about self-empowerment, and it’s a game changer.
Connect with Diana Peterson-More on LinkedIn
Performance & Results
The Leadership Shift Employees Need Now
What do employees need from leaders when uncertainty keeps building? In this episode of the Partnering Leadership Podcast with Mahan Tavakoli, David shares the moment he realized “good” leadership can actually make things worse, and what exceptional looks like instead.
Connect with David Grossman on LinkedIn
______________________________
It has truly been my pleasure to host the Leadership Development Digest this month, and I know I speak for many when I say how grateful we all are to Julie Winkle Giulioni and Diana Peterson-More for sustaining this fantastic platform.
Month after month, they bring together thoughtful voices from across the leadership community and create a space where great ideas get the attention they deserve.
Thank you, Julie and Diana, for your commitment to making all of us better leaders.