"We humans love some words because we don't really know what they mean. Therefore, we can throw them around and project whatever we feel is important onto them. Two such ambiguous words that possess an aura of gravitas and perceived importance are authentic and leadership. I am hard-pressed to say one is thrown around more frequently or with more fervor than the other. Put the two words together and you have the term authentic leadership, which is then vague to the second power. If you listen carefully to the election chatter and everyday conversations, the only thing we know for sure about authentic leadership is that it is a good thing. This presidential election cycle we even have a new vague diagnosis: he or she has an authenticity problem. This lack of clarity does not serve aspiring authentic leaders. We need a pragmatic definition of authentic leadership that we can work with. That is my goal with this manifesto."

"Change is inevitable. Whether we're talking about business, society, politics, or life, we all know that trying to stay still is a recipe for stagnation. Since Duarte, Inc., was founded twenty-five years ago as a small design firm in Silicon Valley, the company has undergone numerous transformations. But none has been more challenging than the internal reinvention we began three years ago. As we worked to motivate our employees and align our organization around a new vision for our collective future, we were simultaneously studying how other leaders—in business and society, at companies large and small and different as Apple and Starbucks, IBM, and Market Basket—have successfully helped others embrace change and sparked movements. This is our manifesto for change communications and, more specifically, for leaders who want to inspire others to understand and follow their vision for change, over and over again. It's a tricky road to navigate. Most people are more comfortable with what they know than with the unknown future. Great leaders anticipate this challenge, empathize with that struggle, and communicate in ways that overcome resistance. Throughout this process, four tenets play a critical role in helping them to succeed in realizing their goals."

"Everyone seems to be talking about diversity these days. Tech companies have pulled back the curtain to reveal how white and male they are. Indian firms are scrambling to appoint female board members in order to abide by new laws. European and North American multinationals are hiring executives from emerging markets. And even Hollywood is admitting that you're more likely to see an alien on screen than an Asian or Latina female. Diversity has moved from a nice-to-have to a must-have. And innovation is one of the benefits most consistently lauded to sell people on diversity. It sounds promising. Rather than approaching a problem from one perspective, you gain the opportunity to see things more broadly. The problem is, diversity rarely works out that way. [...] Diversity is undoubtedly one of the best sources of innovation. But it's not automatic. Diversity by itself does not lead to better solutions. Cultural intelligence, or CQ, is the differentiating factor. CQ is a research-based way of measuring and improving effectiveness for working across cultures. And CQ is a multiplying factor when combined with diversity. Diverse teams with low CQ perform significantly worse than homogeneous teams. But diverse teams with high CQ outperform homogeneous teams in every area—productivity, employee engagement, cost savings, profitability, and yes—innovation."