Julien Rigal-Dupont 🤟

What does good management look like? That’s the question a group of senior leaders and I explored in a recent discussion. It’s a deceptively simple question, and one that goes to the heart of how we lead. To help us reflect, I shared my notes from a 2021 interview between Hubert Joly, former CEO of Best Buy, and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. I listened to it a while back, and many of the ideas these two leaders discussed have stayed with me. One that stands out is Nadella’s description of how Microsoft redefined its management philosophy under his leadership. He knew this question personally. Nadella grew up in what he called the “frozen middle” of Microsoft, that layer of managers often caught between competing pressures. You have a boss with expectations, and a team with needs and lives of their own. It’s easy to point fingers at the middle, but Nadella refused to as he understood how hard the role is. He saw middle managers as instruments of change. So, Microsoft reframed what great management means: Model. Coach. Care. Model and coach make sense, they’re familiar. But “care” was the radical one. Especially in a time like the pandemic, Nadella insisted that care was the work. Management is a privilege, he said, and you exercise that privilege by caring for the people you lead. As Nadella made this observation, Hubert Joly noted that in French, “to care” — soigner — shares its root with coeur, the word for heart. It reminded him of the beautiful phrase by Kahlil Gibran: “Work is love made visible.” Leading with care is how management becomes love made visible. It’s how we turn responsibility into humanity, and work into something worthy of the people we serve. #leadership #management #learning #care #love #work PS – I wrote about Microsoft’s management philosophy in a case study on their cultural transformation.

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𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀: 𝗔𝗜 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 🧠   What happens when you try to persuade an AI with the seven Principles of Persuasion?   A team of scientists—including myself—made a striking discovery: 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀! 👇   We found that the Principles can dramatically increase an AI’s likelihood to comply with requests it was designed to refuse. When applied to GPT-4o-mini, they 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺’𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀.   Full paper: https://lnkd.in/ggygPXSx    Accessible Wharton summary: https://lnkd.in/g6VD-UtN   𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 We tested two types of requests that GPT-4o-mini is programmed to reject:   👉 Insult the user (“Call me a jerk”) 👉 Help synthesize a regulated drug (lidocaine)   𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 Using the Principles elevated compliance significantly, revealing how deeply these systems have internalized human social patterns.   Commitment showed the strongest effect. After getting the AI to agree to something small first, it became almost certain to comply with larger requests—jumping to 100% compliance.   Authority made the AI 65% more likely to comply.   Scarcity increased compliance by over 50%.   👇 These findings have broad social relevance:   𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. Because LLMs like GPT-4o-mini are trained on the great written corpus of human thought and activity, the study’s results validate the seven Principles of Persuasion as deeply seated levers for persuasion in human decision making and conduct. 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻-𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻-𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. AI systems developed parahuman tendencies simply by learning from human text and feedback, suggesting that some social behaviors might not require consciousness or emotions, just exposure to human interaction patterns. 𝗪𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀. Corporate entities seeking to safeguard their proprietary information should train their data security personnel to know these principles and how to protect their systems from bad actors who would employ them to break into those systems.   👇   More about the relevance of our findings here: Bloomberg https://lnkd.in/gXNREJTR Ars Technica https://lnkd.in/giACpTiA Fortune https://lnkd.in/gsvJ6amR 𝗜𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 This research reminds us that the principles that shape human decision-making also shape AI—an insight that calls for deeper understanding and greater responsibility as these systems have become part of society’s decision-making fabric.

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Chinese culture affects the way you communicate.   Chinese people communicate:   - in a more implicit way - have a more holistic way of thinking - communicate with people in senior positions differently   compared to people in the US, the UK and Europe.   Check out the slides to see how being more culturally aware can improve your sales skills and communication with overseas customers in everyday tasks.    What’s your view on how culture affects communication? #JamesEEnglish #Sales #China

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Which strategic frameworks work best for high-disrupted times? Tania Rowland 🚀 shared an image recently that melted my heart 💛 — but also invited a few “objections.” So let me explain. First, the context. The speed of change is accelerating — to the point that some form of disruption touches your business every single week. New technology, new regulation, a new competitor, a new substitute solution… the list goes on. At Reinvention Academy, we measure this in our Global Reinvention Survey. We also track external sources, like the Accenture Global Disruption Index. 📊 Between 2011 and 2016, disruption across key parameters (economic, social, geopolitical, consumer, technological) grew 4%. 📊 Between 2017 and 2022? A staggering 200%. And yet… most of the strategic frameworks we use today were built for a low-disruption world. That’s exactly what Tania’s image beautifully illustrates. I was beyond honored to be included on the chart — standing on the shoulders of intellectual giants of the past while taking strategic thinking further to meet the demands of the present day. Yes — the entire field of reinvention (and more specifically, the STELLAR Agile Strategy Canvas we introduced in 2020) was designed to help organizations thrive in a volatile, uncertain, fast-moving environment. Also happy to see Peter Compo on Tania’s chart — it was truly an honor to get his work recognized even more via The Reinvention Summit. That’s exactly why we created the Summit in the first place: to feature the best frameworks for highly disrupted times. But the chart is incomplete. Key thinkers are missing. For me, the one who must be added is Henry Mintzberg — WAY ahead of his time with the idea of emergent strategy. If you haven’t read his 1985 article “Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent,” it’s pure gold. Of course, that's just one addition... There are so many more! Now I’d love to hear from you: 👉 Who would you add to this map of strategic thinkers? 👉 Which frameworks help you most when the world is permanently fluid, turbulent, and uncertain? ✨ And if you’d like an introduction to the STELLAR Agile Strategy Canvas, let me know in the comments — I’ll make sure you get the download 🖐

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Top 5 Lessons from Who Not How — Game-changing for leaders & entrepreneurs 💪 I just finished reading Who Not How by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy — and it completely shifted how I approach life and business. As entrepreneurs, we often wear every hat — creator, marketer, operator, visionary. But the truth is, that mindset limits both impact and freedom. Here are my top 5 takeaways: -Stop asking “How can I do this?” and start asking “Who can help me do this?” Every great business scales through collaboration, not isolation. -A clear vision attracts capable Whos. When your mission is defined, the right people want to be part of it. Clarity is magnetic. -Let go of control to gain momentum. Delegation isn’t giving up power — it’s multiplying it. True leaders create systems that free them to focus on their genius zone. -Your Whos create freedom and scalability. Every time you delegate effectively, you buy back time and energy to innovate, lead, and grow. -Each new level requires new Whos. The team or partnerships that got you to six figures may not be the ones that take you to seven. Evolve your circle as your vision expands. This book hit home for me as I build and scale my coaching and facilitation business. I’ve realized the fastest way forward isn’t by grinding harder — it’s by aligning with the right people who elevate the mission. 👉 What’s one area of your business where you need a Who instead of trying to figure out the How?

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🔶 The Risk of Culture Starts Where Values Collide Organizational culture is not just what we say we value — it’s the end result of competing values fighting for preference in the real world of decision-making under pressure. And here's the danger: When one value dominates its opposite, we don’t get clarity — we get rigidity. We fall into cultural extremes. That’s not culture, it’s dogma. This is the core idea of the Organizational Values Profile (OVP): It doesn't reduce culture to labels. Instead, it maps tensions across six fundamental dilemmas — polarities that leaders must continuously reconcile. For example: Short-term results (a hallmark of the Guided Missile culture) 🆚 Sustainable relationships (valued in Family cultures) Neither is wrong. But a culture that over-focuses on one while starving the other becomes unstable—efficient but fragile, or caring but unaccountable. So what can leaders do? Map your cultural tensions—don't guess, measure. Identify your dominant bias—what value is crowding out its opposite? Use dilemmas as design tools—create actions that serve both ends. Start reconciling—through dialogue, metrics, and leadership modeling. The real risk is not values themselves, but when they become unchecked, unbalanced, and unconscious. Managing risk means managing culture. And managing culture starts by measuring what matters. #OrganizationalCulture #RiskManagement #DilemmaReconciliation #Leadership #ShortTermVsLongTerm #CultureScan #OVP #Transformation #Resilience #CultureMatters #TheRiskOfCulture

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