Leadership Articles

Insights, tips and more from David & the world's top leaders.

Listen to Your Critics…They Might Be Right

You’re never going to love being criticized. But learning to like it could mean the difference between stellar success and so-so results. I’ve had an evolving relationship with criticism over the years. As a young gun, eager to prove myself, I felt like I had to hold fast against my critics. My instinct was to […]

How an index card can help you finish this year stronger than you start it.

Growth is the hallmark of every great leader. But if you’re not intentional about it, you can grow in directions you don’t intend. That’s why I start each year with a deceptively simple exercise I learned years ago from an image consultant. His name was Jack Byrum, and I met him as a 27-year-old advertising […]

Want to outrun the Great Resignation? Build true change in service of your employees.

Much of the conversation around the Great Resignation has focused around compensation. And while it’s true that compensation must be part of every good employee retention and satisfaction strategy, money alone won’t cut it. When I think back on my own Great Resignation moment, even though I was early in my career, money didn’t really […]

The 10-minute Exercise Every Effective Leader Must Do

To be a great leader, you must know who you are and where you’ve been. That may sound simple, but leadership requires a tremendous sense of self-awareness, one that typically takes time and experience to develop. For years, I’ve used a tool I call the lifeline exercise to help me hone my self-awareness. The lifeline […]

Daily Habits of Highly Successful Leaders and What You Can Learn from Each One of Them

One of the most powerful secrets of effective leaders today is establishing a daily routine. Maybe you haven’t had the best track record with daily habits, and that’s ok. The good news is you can get better today and then even better tomorrow. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a CEO say […]

The Great Resignation: How Self-Coaching Can Help You Make a Change

The Great Resignation, or what some people have begun to call the Big Quit, has taken on a life of its own this year. If you turn on the news you are sure to hear about it. Monster reports that as many as 95% of workers are currently considering changing jobs, and 41% of the […]

How to Build Female Leadership: Three things men need to do to advance women in the workplace

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing my good friend Indra Nooyi on my podcast, How Leaders Lead with David Novak, about her new book, “My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future.” Indra, the former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, and I worked together at PepsiCo before I became chairman and CEO […]

Self-Coaching Keeps You Moving Forward When You’re Going It Alone

Training for a marathon is the ultimate example of self coaching. There is no one there to get you out of bed in the morning when it’s raining or -20 degrees outside. If you want to do 20 miles, you have to put in the work. When you hit the wall at the 20-mile mark […]

Lead to Leave A Mark

Welcome to How Leaders Lead Insiders, a newsletter where I share stories and explore styles of some of the most accomplished leaders of our time. People like Tom Brady, Indra Nooyi, Kendra Scott and Jamie Dimon who are truly making big things happen in their respective fields. My mission in life is to make the […]