Strong Ground

 Strong Ground

Brene Brown

 

Brene Brown comes at the reader in this book was thought you have been close friends your whole life.  She owns a firm that consults with corporate world.  She has her own podcast which I am sure promotes her consulting business.  She knits this with metaphor and real life stories that exposes her all this into a message: “be human”.  She opens with this:  "I recognize that choosing courage, discipline, and kindness can feel impossible and increasingly vulnerable in a time when even empathy has been vilified. I understand that fostering care, connection, and belonging in our organizations seems downright subversive. But I have hope. In my work I get to see people who have not given up on their values and what it means to lead while honoring what it means to be human."

 

The first thing that pops up is Senior Leadership is task oriented with performance reviews that are metric driven.  HR may go through motions towards human development, yet when an employee’s pay check does not recognize human development, the end result is disenchanted employees who move in in search of humanness. She starts her approach with a metaphor in physical training that begins with your core.  If you ignore your core other areas are strained to compensate leaving you vulnerable. Tying individual to organizational that Leaders should make a priority Brenee writes.   "Developing core stability and functional strength in organizations means investing in people, because for an organization, people, and our connection to each other, are the strong ground."

While Brene spends 300 pages plus drawing techniques from experts in numerous areas and then sharing how they played out with leaders of many large organizations, she closes out with two chapters on how those lessons showed up in her life as she is now in her fifties with grown children.  Doing this made the whole book human and the lessons memorable.  I’ll leave with one here and ask you to read the book for the rest.

Compliance is unhuman and you come up short to your true potential.  Commitment is human desire where you exceed tasks on your performance review.

Excerpts:

 

1.     "He defines mindfulness as the “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally…in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”"

2.     Today, when I’m working with leaders who desperately want to transform their organizations and even disrupt entire industries, it’s normal to bump into some resistance up front. They’re often hopeful that the big change effort can be predictable, not too messy, and dependent on tools rather than the tough and courageous work of changing mindsets and building new skills."

3.     "What you’re trying to achieve will require a deep, broad, and disciplined commitment to individual change, team change, culture change, and systems change."

4.     "Despite my best efforts to minimize the level of change I needed to make to get the results I was seeking in my own life, it was clear that I didn’t need a new app. I needed a personal version of the deep, broad, and disciplined commitment to change across my life. For me, this looked like getting back into therapy, working more with my leadership coach, becoming more spiritually fit, committing to my work with Tony and Morgan, and doing what’s always"

5.     "If you’d like to try a computerized IAT, you can go to www.implicit.harvard.edu. There you’ll find several tests, including the most famous of all the IATs, the Race IAT. I’ve taken"

6.     "We need a sense of discerning urgency driven by smart prioritization, trust-building skills, strategic risk-taking, paradoxical thinking, pattern recognition, meaning making, situational and anticipatory awareness in the markets served, agility, tenacity, the humility and confidence to unlearn and relearn, systems and symphonic thinking that deliver operational excellence, and the courage to lead people in a way that honors and protects the wisdom of the human spirit."

7.     "By “emotionally dysregulated,” I mean overwhelmed by big feelings that are hard to name and contain and can drive behaviors and thinking that are not always aligned with who we want to be. In a time fueled by discord, divisiveness, and increasing dehumanization, we need to find ways to actually want to be with other people. It’s hard to buy that what makes us human will save our sanity and our jobs when in fact so many of us have become untethered from our humanity and fundamentally disconnected from one another. This disconnection from our inherent human wisdom—our poetry, our joy, our innate creativity, our yearning for connection, collaboration, and innovation—stems from at least three converging forces:"

8.     "Regardless of the tools, including AI, organizations that build and maintain strong ground do so by respecting and protecting human wisdom and connection as foundational. Technology built on dysfunction is dysfunction, regardless of the genius of the code or the power of the algorithm. Strong ground is the only thing that can provide both unwavering stability in a maelstrom"

9.     "Our strong ground is made up of two elements: Our own footing, including our values, a clear sense of our contribution, our curiosity, and our humility Our connection to another person or group of people who are also grounded In Newtonian teamwork, everyone must be responsible for understanding that it’s the strength of the team that makes winning possible, and, conversely, the cost to the entire team when individuals lose touch with their ground."

10.  "The embodied expression of emotion, mastery, and skill demonstrated by all kinds of performers, artists, and athletes can make the invisible visible and the unknowable more knowable. I say more knowable because no matter how hard we try and how many gadgets we attach to performers to better understand the biology of their craft, there will always be mystery in artistic, emotional, spiritual, and athletic expression. I believe this is why bearing witness often generates more than appreciation—the mystery of it all inspires awe. And in today’s world we need more awe, wonder, and joy. These are the fuel for restoration and meaning."

11.  "But do the engineer and HR leader need to be embodied, strong, grounded, and connected in mind, body, and spirit? Yes. That’s part of our need for recommitment to the human spirit."

12.  "Tom Brady’s excellent footwork is a direct translation of a leader’s need to have situational, anticipatory, and temporal awareness in decision making."

13.  "The second thread running across the lessons is a clear global yearning for more humanity within us and between us, a real call for a collective recommitment to the human spirit."

14.  "To understand the tenacity of paradox and the wisdom of the human spirit is to realize that following these"

15.  "define spirituality as “recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love, compassion, and mystery.” God, nature, humanity, fishing—there are as many sources of that power as there are people. The human spirit emerged from the data as those undefinable and undeniable connections between all of us that, when honored, allow us to see one another. A Great Witness"

16.  "define spirituality as “recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love, compassion, and mystery.” God, nature, humanity, fishing—there are as many sources of that power as there are people. The human spirit emerged from the data as those undefinable and undeniable connections between all of us that, when honored, allow us to see one another. A Great Witness"

17.  "The gift of the paradox is that if we hang in there and tolerate the tension—grounding down and holding both ideas—a new and deeper level of understanding is born. Paradox is stubborn and never lets go. We are the ones who tap out."

18.  "Jung explained that a paradox is one of our most valued spiritual possessions. He explained, “Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life.” In a world defined by spiritual crisis, where we seem to be slicing and dicing our fullness by orphaning pieces of our humanity, the paradox seems more important than ever. It’s no wonder that whenever I’m in a room of thinkers I respect but with whom I often differ, paradoxical thinking is everywhere. I can give you a great example from earlier this year, when I sat in the audience at a luncheon to listen to Google DeepMind co-founder and CEO Sir Demis Hassabis talk about the future of AI. Only a few months before the interview, Hassabis and John M. Jumper were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their AI research contributions to protein structure prediction. To make things more interesting, this luncheon took place within days of Trump’s inauguration, and in the same week that the world was learning more about DeepSeek, the Chinese AI platform that shook global markets and sent geopolitical shockwaves around the world."

19.  "“There are sound philosophical reasons why our arguments should end in paradox and why a paradoxical statement is the better witness to truth than a one-sided, so-called ‘positive’ statement.”"

20.  "“There are sound philosophical reasons why our arguments should end in paradox and why a paradoxical statement is the better witness to truth than a one-sided, so-called ‘positive’ statement.”"

21.  "by having tough conversations about data governance, manufacturing organizations attempting to move from selling products to selling thought partnership that starts with defining problems. It didn’t matter how complex and competing the ideas, the answers to the questions were always Yes, and."

22.  "The goal is to develop the strength and grounding required to hold the tension of two opposing ideas until a new idea is born—until something more encompassing, more connected, and more nuanced emerges."

23.  "spirituality can’t be separated from paradox, because the spirit’s job is about wholeness—and that’s always both/and."

24.  "accessing the genius he describes requires a disciplined practice of recognizing paradox and finding strong ground to push into while holding the tension."

25.  "Stockdale told Collins, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”"

26.  "But do the engineer and HR leader need to be embodied, strong, grounded, and connected in mind, body, and spirit? Yes. That’s part of our need for recommitment to the human spirit. Does a leader who is forced to make a fast decision in the face of looming pressure need the same level of footwork as the former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, a player known for his ability to stay aware, avoid being tackled, and get the ball downfield in three to five seconds? No, but Tom Brady’s excellent footwork is a direct translation of a leader’s need to have situational, anticipatory, and temporal"

27.  "Stockdale told Collins, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” In Dare to Lead, I shared that our organization started calling this paradoxical learning “gritty faith and gritty facts,” and it helped us reconcile a growing divide that was negatively affecting our culture and our impact. Before reading Jim’s book, we had unconsciously divided ourselves into two camps: the dreamers and the reality checkers. I was not only the founder and CEO, but the head dreamer. I’m pretty sure there were days when I made it miserable for the reality checkers—you know the ones, the folks who keep everything operational,"

28.  "gritty faith and gritty facts, we decided that every single individual would be responsible for both dreaming and reality checking those dreams with facts."

29.  "There are two essential dimensions of leadership: “plumbing,” i.e., the capacity to apply known techniques effectively, and “poetry,” which draws on a leader’s great actions and identity and pushes him or her to explore unexpected avenues, discover interesting meanings, and approach life with enthusiasm. The plumbing of leadership involves keeping watch over an organization’s efficiency in everyday tasks…. This requires competence, not only at the top but also throughout all the parts of the organization; a capacity to master the context (which supposes that the individuals demonstrating their competence are thoroughly familiar with the ins and outs of the organization); a capacity to take initiatives based on delegation and follow-up; a sense of community shared by all the members of the organization, who feel they are “all in the same boat” and trust and help each other; and, finally, an unobtrusive method for coordination, with each person understanding his or her role sufficiently well to be able to integrate into the overall process and make constant adjustments to it."

30.  "Leadership also requires, however, the gifts of a poet, in order to find meaning in action and render life attractive. The formulation and dissemination of interesting interpretations of reality form the basis for constructive collective action. A leader is equipped with the power and words for this purpose. If power is not used as an instrument for winning personal influence, but as a means of encouraging other people to blossom, its charms can be enjoyed while the fear that it inspires is minimized. Words allow us to forge visions and poetic language, through its evocative power, allow us to say more than we know, to teach more than we understand."

31.  "From my experience in organizations, some of the most transformative leaders I’ve met—at all levels—have the ability to cast a poetic vision that excites people and gives them a sense of agency and can oversee the building of systems and communities of connected people that are able to deliver against that vision."

32.  "enormously—I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.”"

33.  "Rather than coming to an immediate conclusion about an event, idea or person, Keats advises resting in doubt and continuing to pay attention and probe in order to understand it more completely. In this, he anticipates the work of Nobel laureate economist Daniel Kahneman, who cautions against the naïve view that “What you see is all there is.”"

34.  "Keats reminds us that we are most likely to gain new insights if we can stop assuming that we know everything we need to know about people by neatly shoehorning them into preconceived boxes."

35.  "Negative capability is a difficult muscle to build. We’re wired to resolve tension and seek certainty. This capability requires the courage to reach inward toward stillness rather than out toward counterfeit facts and reason. One of the best examples of daring leadership is a leader who can say “I don’t know” or “We need to slow down and make sure we’re not rushing to make a decision before we’re ready.” Negative capability is a grounding tool, and it is fundamental to practicing courage."

36.  "Because along with our need to accept our impermanence is our need for meaning. The gift is the paradox; the skill we need to straddle the tension and develop paradoxical thinking skills is negative capability—resist the urge to reach for certainty where it does not exist."

37.  "That makes me wonder: is it possible to train people in other fields to think more like scientists, and if so, do they end up making smarter choices? Recently, a quartet of European researchers decided to find out. They ran a bold experiment with more than a hundred founders of Italian startups in technology, retail, furniture, food, health care, leisure, and machinery. The entrepreneurs arrived in Milan for a training program in entrepreneurship. Over the course of four months, they learned to create a business strategy, interview customers, build a minimum viable product, and then refine a prototype. What they didn’t know was that they’d been randomly assigned to either a “scientific thinking” group or a control group. The training for both groups was identical, except that one was encouraged to view startups through a scientist’s goggles."

38.  "Core to finding strong ground and embracing paradoxical thinking is a commitment to intellectual humility. We have to challenge ourselves to challenge our thinking.

39.  In psychology there are at least two biases that drive this pattern. One is confirmation bias: seeing what we expect to see. The other is desirability bias: seeing what we want to see. These biases don’t just prevent us from applying our intelligence."

40.  "As we question our current understanding, we become curious about what information we’re missing. That search leads us to new discoveries, which in turn maintain our humility by reinforcing how much we still have to learn. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom."

41.  "My follow-up question: Why courage? What were the specific problems that CEOs believed increased courage could help address? We avoid tough conversations, including giving honest, productive feedback. Some leaders attributed this to a lack of courage, others to a lack of skills; shockingly, more than half talked about a cultural norm of “nice and polite” that’s leveraged as an excuse to avoid tough conversations. Whatever the reason, there was saturation across the data that the consequence is a lack of clarity, a decrease in trust and engagement, and an increase in problematic behavior, including passive-aggressive behavior, talking behind people’s backs, pervasive back-channel communication (or “the meeting after the meeting”), gossip, and the “dirty yes” (when I say yes to your face and then no behind your back). Rather than spending a reasonable amount of time proactively acknowledging and addressing the fears and feelings that show up during change and upheaval, we spend an unreasonable amount of time managing problematic behaviors. Diminishing trust caused by a lack of connection and empathy. Not enough people are taking smart risks or creating and sharing bold ideas to meet changing demands and the insatiable need for innovation. When people are afraid of being put down or ridiculed for trying something and failing, or even for putting forward a radical new idea, the best you can expect is status quo and groupthink. We get stuck in and defined by setbacks, disappointments, and failures. Instead of spending resources on clean-up to ensure that consumers, stakeholders, or internal processes are made whole, organizations expend too much time and energy reassuring team members who are questioning their contribution and value. Too much shame and blame, not enough accountability and learning. People tend to opt out of vital conversations about diversity and inclusivity because they fear looking wrong, saying something wrong, or being wrong. When something goes wrong, individuals and teams rush into ineffective or unsustainable solutions rather than staying with problem identification and solving. When we fix the wrong thing for the wrong reason, the same problems continue to surface. It’s costly and demoralizing. Organizational values are gauzy and assessed in terms of aspirations rather than actual behaviors that can be taught, measured, and evaluated. Perfectionism and fear are keeping people from learning and growing.

42.  One change that’s developed over the past several years as the challenges mount is that courage skills are not enough—we need to develop daring mindsets in addition to building skills. One thing that has not changed is our definition of leadership. A leader is anyone, regardless of title and position, who holds themself accountable for finding potential in people and ideas, and who has the courage to develop that potential. Developing daring mindsets requires getting underneath a lot of fear and self-"

43.  "In my experience, CEOs and CTOs often underestimate the importance of emotional and cultural adaptation, and they overfocus on the technology. Dr. Hill’s research highlights the emotional toll and complexity of digital transformations for employees, noting that transformation requires changing mindsets, behaviors, and even the sense of purpose within an organization. Digital mindsets require daring mindsets."

44.  Operationalizing and reoperationalizing existing values. One hundred percent of the organizations that we’ve researched or partnered with have a list of values. Approximately 10 percent have operationalized their values into observable behaviors

45.  Operationalizing and reoperationalizing existing values. One hundred percent of the organizations that we’ve researched or partnered with have a list of values. Approximately 10 percent have operationalized their values into observable behaviors that are grounded in their mission and integrated across their systems

46.  list of values means nothing if the values are not translated into behaviors that are grounded in your mission and integrated across the organization

47.  What needs to change to meet the new demands of changing markets, shifting competition, technology, and geopolitical instability is how they’re operationalizing those values.

48.  Challenging is driven by trust and commitment to mission

49.  feeling fear is not the barrier

50.  The Heart of Daring Leadership Remains You can’t get to courage without rumbling with vulnerability. Embrace the suck. Self-awareness and self-love matter. Who we are is how we lead. Courage is contagious.

51.  There is no courage without vulnerability

52.  A rumble is a discussion, conversation, or meeting defined by a commitment to lean into vulnerability, to stay curious and generous, to stick with the messy middle of problem identification and solving, to take a break and circle back when necessary, to be fearless in owning our parts, and, as the psychologist Harriet Lerner teaches, to listen with the same passion with which we want to be heard. More than anything else, when someone says “Let’s rumble,” it cues me to show up with an open heart and mind so we can serve the work and each other, not our egos.

53.  "The foundational skill of courage building is the willingness and ability to rumble with vulnerability. Without this core skill, the other three skill sets are impossible to put into practice."

54.  How would you rewrite your thoughts on vulnerability if you had it to do over again? Maybe it was the jet lag peeling away my filters, but I responded with “Learn how to do vulnerability or risk being an asshole when you reach for that armor."

55.  How would you rewrite your thoughts on vulnerability if you had it to do over again? Maybe it was the jet lag peeling away my filters, but I responded with “Learn how to do vulnerability or risk being an asshole when you reach for that armor."

56.  How would you rewrite your thoughts on vulnerability if you had it to do over again? Maybe it was the jet lag peeling away my filters, but I responded with “Learn how to do vulnerability or risk being an asshole when you reach for that armor."

57.  humiliation is not only the most underappreciated force in international relations, it may be the missing link in the search for root causes of political instability and violent conflict…perhaps the most toxic social dynamic of our age.”

58.  Daring leaders welcome conversations about power and model self-reflection and curiosity, which is in itself a demonstration of using power in service of mission, not ego

59.  genuine power is not coercive control, but coactive control. Coercive power is the curse of the universe; coactive power, the enrichment and advancement of every human soul.

60.  Power with “has to do with finding common ground among different interests in order to build collective strength."

61.  Leaders who work from power over Believe that power is finite and use fear and control to self-protect and serve self-interest. Leverage fear and control to divide, destabilize, and devalue decency. Give people experiencing fear and uncertainty a sense of false certitude and safety based on ideology and nostalgia rather than facts. Give people someone to blame for their discomfort—preferably someone who looks/acts/sounds different from them. Maintain power over by demonstrating an ever-increasing capacity for cruelty, especially toward vulnerable populations.

62.  Again, effective transformations are led by relational leaders. It’s thrilling and scary.

63.  Transformation is an iterative process that begins with the application of rigorous assessment sets to identify and critically interrogate the assumptions and thinking that underpin existing systems, structures, and ways of working that are no longer creating value, driving growth, and supporting employees in meaningful ways. These systems are intentionally and strategically dismantled and deconstructed so that what remains is a strong mission-grounded foundation on which new mindsets, skill sets, tool sets, coaching sets, and system sets are built to support the vision of the organization."

64.  People are the strong ground on which big change happens; therefore, people must always be the priority in transformation. This means clear communication of the why, making space for questions and conversations, and a constant flow of well-crafted and honest messaging. In our transformations, the person who leads comms is a linchpin of our success. This is why you will see care, connection, and mission-grounded communications as the nucleus of the transformation illustration at the end of this chapter."

65.  The goal of a transformation should be a rock-solid core that is functional, highly adaptable, agile, and strong."

66.  Assessment Sets—Most change efforts require a current state assessment, a future state definition assessment, and a gap analysis. This is also true of transformations; however, before the current state assessment, we start with a rigorous readiness assessment at the C-suite level."

67.  "Using a combination of expert human coding and AI analysis, the research identified five consistent elements associated with transformative coaching experiences: Understanding and Connection Inquiry and Reflection Designing Goals and Actions Guiding the Process Expanding Possibilities"

68.  Organizational systems have to support new mindsets and skill sets. In our work building daring mindsets

69.  "Using a combination of expert human coding and AI analysis, the research identified five consistent elements associated with transformative coaching experiences: Understanding and Connection Inquiry and Reflection Designing Goals and Actions Guiding the Process Expanding Possibilities"

70.  "accurate diagnosis and grounded, frequent communication and information sharing with the people who are engaged in the changes. And all levels of successful change require relational leaders at the helm."

71.  "The solution for me is finding my own strong ground and focusing on building my foundation. I can either get strong and operative from my own values and groundedness, or I can shift my focus and become reactive to how people are working through their anger or fear of powerlessness and lose my contact with ground. I’m going for the tush push—I’m going to fight for what I believe by keeping my feet planted, seeing the turf below me flying, and pushing toward the next one yard."

72.  "All of these fault lines will be examined and spotlighted, power will be made visible, and the mandate for change will be crystal clear. Making the invisible visible, naming what no one has named, and saying the unsaid stuff are the tools of transformation."

73.  "We now have a process for identifying senior leaders whom we observe as too transactional to lead transformative change."

74.  There is no consultancy PowerPoint or team of strategic advisers that will deliver you from the reality that transformation means walking through the darkness of the tomb and the darkness of the womb. The tomb is the dying of old systems and ways of working, and the womb is the darkness before rebirth. The challenge is that darkness is darkness, and it’s sometimes impossible to tell where you are in the process."

75.  "Ginny is the creator of Fifth Dimensional Leadership—a transformative approach that empowers individuals to lead from a place of higher consciousness and authenticity."

76.  "Ginny is the creator of Fifth Dimensional Leadership—a transformative approach that empowers individuals to lead from a place of higher consciousness and authenticity."

77.  I am committed to developing more conscious, empathetic and inspired leaders for the 5 percent of you who hold those formal positions. For the other folks, the ones I call ‘the 95 percent,’ I intend to empower you to participate in reimagining a workplace that supports the needs of not only our families, but our communities, our civilization, and our planet.”

78.  dictionary, it’s very clear. I will read for you. This is managing: The process of dealing with or controlling things or people. Organizing and coordinating activities to achieve specific goals through planning, organizing, and overseeing resources."

79.  guiding, directing, or influencing others through a common vision or goal. Inspiring and motivating people to achieve something greater than themselves. So the skills are: vision, influence, empathy, and risk-taking."

80.  "Gallup poll from 2015 said only 18 percent of leaders—and they’re using “leaders” and “managers” interchangeably—are considered good at leading. I’ve often reflected on how few leaders I’ve had who were really strong."

81.  Call it control, call it respect. Now we’re getting into what’s actually missing. Integrity is missing. Respect is missing. Honesty, transparency. All the reasons why things break and stop working. Because we have not insisted that either one of these individuals, whether they’re a manager or a leader, have these as cornerstones of their being, of who they are. This, to me, is the biggest problem."

82.  March explained that leaders need t

83.  to be able to cast a vision that is so compelling we want to follow it, and to be able to build systems that deliver on that vision. I want everyone to want to cast incredibly complex and beautiful visions."

84.  Their people loved them, there was mutual respect and trust, and their teams got great shit done on time. And I’m contradicting my own theory. They were not compliant. They worked from commitment, not to compliance. They"

85.  manager’s focus is on the execution, but not in the absence of an awareness of the vision. Right? So they have to interpret the vision every damn day to figure out, Okay, well, what does this mean to me now? What does that mean for the team? How do I connect their work with this vision?

86.  Right. Maybe they did what’s on that CV, or maybe they’re taking credit for something their team did. An accomplishment may deserve to be on your résumé, but I still want to hear about how it got done."

87.  One place where the hard boundaries between plumbing and poetry are disappearing in this environment is within sales functions. Highly relational salespeople who have been successful at building trust and providing services that are then delivered inside highly operational systems of customization, integration, and delivery are finding themselves in new territory. I’m no longer calling you and saying, “Hey, I need four cooling systems for my new facility—what model do you recommend and when can your team deliver?” I’m calling you now and saying, “Shit. Here’s what we’re trying to do. I have no idea what we need, and I’m under pressure to get it done now.” In every example I’ve seen"

88.  "Regardless of your industry, there will be no successful outcome here without both plumbing and poetry. Everyone will need to understand and contribute to both relational and operational excellence."

89.  "short, operational excellence determines whether an organization will or will not deliver against their poetic and bold visions. Without trust, relationship, and poetry, the plumbing is irrelevant. Most experienced leaders have developed some level of confidence in leading operational teams by narrowing the expectations of people and teams to technical rigor, accountability, standardization, and compliance. But if we want them to solve big, fast-moving problems, we need to develop and encourage new types of creative and design thinking. In addition to their logical and analytic expertise, people need the freedom and the courage to play with wildly implausible ideas. This means working from a place of agency and self-belief."

90.  creative and design thinking. In addition to their logical and analytic expertise, people need the freedom and the courage to play with wildly implausible ideas. 

91.  they were coached on how their outcomes were related to bigger strategies, and they were clear about the operational parameters of the projects (cost and consequences).