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Confluence for 10.5.25 For your radar: context rot. Anthropic's guide to context engineering. When expertise matters most. GPT-5 Pro on OpenAI's new Sora social app. Read this week's issue of Confluence at the link in comments below.

Join us online on October 14 for this complimentary event. Save your seat at the link in comments below.

Knowing when and when not to elevate an issue or problem to those above you is a critical competence in any workplace. To establish long-term trust and credibility, it is essential for leaders and team members to make good decisions regarding when to raise an issue or solve it on their own. Making the wrong call can destroy credibility and undermine the trust leaders place in people. Although every situation and circumstance has its own nuances influencing the choice to elevate, there are several guidelines to consider. Here are the 5 major reasons to elevate an issue or problem: - The issue potentially jeopardizes deadlines, budgets, or the organization’s reputation. - Multiple stakeholders or team members are affected, thereby requiring cross-functional approval or awareness. - Attempts to resolve the problem have failed after a reasonable time and effort. - The risk of immediate inaction is materially high, such as with customer complaints, compliance issues, and security breaches. - The leader’s leader is involved or has asserted themselves in the issue or problem. Most leaders expect their direct reports to elevate any issue or problem that matches one of those guidelines. The failure to do so can have long-term ramifications for how much trust the leaders place in the team member. With that said, elevating an issue that doesn’t need to be suggests a team member who is overly reliant on the leader and can’t solve problems on their own. Here are the 3 practical reasons not to elevate the issue or problem: 1. You possess the necessary experience, skills, and resources to resolve it independently, and the risk of failure is low. 2. The problem is minor, isolated, and has limited impact on team goals. 3. The situation is routine, common, and has been previously encountered without an issue. Overwhelmingly, most of the problems and issues a team member faces can be comfortably handled without involving their leader. But on those occasions and situations where it makes sense to elevate the matter, good team members don’t hesitate. They know that the maxim “asking for forgiveness and not permission” doesn’t apply when the risk is sky high.

Come join Admired Leadership in Charlotte on October 8th! Making People Better Through Feedback. A night of learning and conversation. Sponsored by PWC. Link in comments below to register.

Save your seat for our online, complimentary 2025 Community Conference. It starts at 11AM ET on Oct 14th. You can register at no cost at the link the comments below. Join Courtney Storz, Heidi Jackson Everett, Lisa Magnuson and Scott Baker as we discuss Searching for Extraordinary Talent with these guests.

"How are you using AI to make your team faster, stronger, more efficient?" This question is already hitting leaders everywhere. If it hasn't reached your desk yet, it will. The teams thriving right now aren't just experimenting with AI—they're strategically integrating it into how they communicate, lead, and deliver results. Every organization is at a different stage, but no one can afford to fall behind given the pace at which AI is moving. Want to stay ahead of the curve? Confluence, our weekly newsletter, cuts through the AI noise to deliver actionable insights at the intersection of AI, Communication, and Leadership. When that question comes (and it will), you'll have the strategic context and practical frameworks to give a confident, informed answer. Subscribe link in the comments. Your future self will thank you.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟗.𝟏𝟒.𝟐𝟓 The wizard problem. Claude can use mobile apps. Claude crosses the workflow threshold. A week with generative AI. Read this week's issue of Confluence at the link in comments below.

Confluence for 9.7.25 Why large language models hallucinate. Functional leadership and AI adoption. ChatGPT gets a new type of memory. "AI School Is in Session." (Read the issue at the link below in comments)

In case you are thinking about your team’s talent during this season of annual planning …. Some high utility options for “Ready Now” leaders … Senior roles and positions are typically hard to come by in most organizations, so there are usually more Ready Now candidates sitting in the queue than is ideal. https://lnkd.in/eP_4KC4u

While waiting too long to make a decision plagues some leaders, the hidden danger of making decisions prematurely is far more prevalent.” Read the full insight found in this morning’s Field Notes. (Link in comments below)