Stop Managing. Start Enchanting March’s Leadership Wake-Up The video explores a profound perspective on leadership, emphasizing that effective leadership goes beyond technical skills and strategic planning—what the speaker refers to as “plumbing”—and deeply involves emotional connection and meaning, or “poetry.” Drawing from the ideas of James March, the speaker illustrates leadership as a dual function: the tangible, structural aspects necessary for organizational functioning, and the intangible, emotional elements that foster belonging, purpose, and resilience. The narrative stresses that while plumbing (rules, budgets, plans) is essential and measurable, poetry (stories, rituals, shared values) is what truly motivates people, especially during times of uncertainty and crisis. Leadership is not about having all the answers or fixing problems mechanically but about making people feel seen, understood, and united around a meaningful purpose. Highlights 🌟 Leadership is more about feeling and connection than just fixing problems and managing tasks. 🏠 “Plumbing” represents the technical, structural aspects of leadership, while “poetry” symbolizes emotional connection and shared meaning. 📖 Storytelling is a powerful leadership tool that helps people understand why their work matters. 🎉 Small rituals create belonging and community, turning groups into true teams. 🤝 Authentic presence and vulnerability build trust more effectively than polished perfection. 🎓 Traditional leadership training neglects emotional and spiritual intelligence, focusing too much on technical skills. 🔑 Leadership success should be measured by culture and trust-building, not just hitting targets. Key Insights 💡 Leadership’s Dual Nature: Plumbing and Poetry Leadership involves a balance between tangible systems (“plumbing”) and intangible emotional connections (“poetry”). While plumbing includes strategic plans, budgets, and rules necessary for operational success, poetry deals with stories, shared values, and emotions that inspire and unify people. Ignoring either aspect risks dysfunction—too much plumbing leads to sterile, mechanical leadership, while too much poetry without structure results in chaos. Effective leaders master both, recognizing that emotional engagement fuels resilience and sustained effort. 🔥 Emotional Connection as the Core Motivator Humans are fundamentally emotional beings wired for story and connection. When faced with difficulties or fatigue, clear instructions alone are insufficient motivation. Instead, a compelling narrative that explains the purpose behind the work provides the vital “why” that fuels perseverance. This insight shifts leadership from command-and-control to inspiring shared purpose, especially valuable during uncertainty and crisis. It underscores that leadership is about cultivating hope and meaning, not just managing tasks. 🛠️ The Necessity of Practical Emotional Leadership Skills Contrary to the belief that emotional leadership is innate or mysterious, the speaker emphasizes that skills like storytelling, designing rituals, and showing authentic presence are learnable and practical. This democratizes leadership, making it accessible beyond charismatic personalities. Training leaders to tell simple, heartfelt stories about real people, to create rituals that reinforce values, and to be candid and vulnerable fosters stronger connection and trust within teams. These skills, when practiced, transform organizational culture. 🎭 Authenticity Over Perfection for Trust Building The video highlights a critical insight that people do not trust polished, perfect leaders but instead resonate with those who reveal their true selves, including imperfections and doubts. Authentic presence invites connection and psychological safety, allowing leaders to model vulnerability and build deeper relationships. This challenges traditional leadership norms that prioritize image management and emotional control, advocating for a more human-centered approach. 📚 Leadership Development Must Integrate Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence Current leadership training programs disproportionately emphasize technical capabilities such as project management and financial analysis, neglecting the cultivation of emotional and spiritual intelligence. The speaker argues this imbalance is a costly mistake, as the ability to create meaning, inspire, and build community is equally critical. Integrating storytelling workshops, deep listening practices, and values exploration into leadership development is necessary to produce leaders who can navigate complexity with empathy and vision.

Abstract: James March distinguished between leadership as "plumbing"—the rational work of plans, structures, and controls—and leadership as "poetry"—the imaginative work of meaning-making, emotion, and beauty. Contrary to conventional leadership scholarship emphasizing measurable outcomes, March argued that leaders' poetic impact on human experience and meaning exceeds their ability to execute instrumental change. This article synthesizes March's framework with contemporary organizational research to examine why leaders' symbolic and emotional influence often proves more durable than their structural interventions. Drawing on evidence from meaning-making research, organizational symbolism studies, and practitioner accounts across healthcare, technology, and public sectors, we explore how leaders shape collective imagination, ritual, and aspiration—even when tangible outcomes remain elusive. The analysis offers three forward-looking capabilities for twenty-first-century leadership: aesthetic consciousness, symbolic stewardship, and poetic resilience. Organizations seeking sustainable impact may benefit more from cultivating leaders' capacity for beauty and meaning than from optimizing their technical execution.

In this HCI Webinar, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Jennifer Carlson about the role of apprenticeships in preparing the future workforce. Jennifer Carlson serves as the CEO of Apprenti. Apprenti is a non-profit, apprenticeship intermediary and workforce consulting organization that delivers a secondary pipeline of tech talent to address U.S. domestic digital skills shortages. A former business leader with AIG, Progressive and adjunct professor at Seattle University, Jennifer also serves on the Tech Councils of North America (TECNA) foundation board, and as an Advisory Board Member - Apprenticeships for America.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Jennifer Carlson about the role of apprenticeships in preparing the future workforce. Jennifer Carlson serves as the CEO of Apprenti. Apprenti is a non-profit, apprenticeship intermediary and workforce consulting organization that delivers a secondary pipeline of tech talent to address U.S. domestic digital skills shortages. A former business leader with AIG, Progressive and adjunct professor at Seattle University, Jennifer also serves on the Tech Councils of North America (TECNA) foundation board, and as an Advisory Board Member - Apprenticeships for America. Check out all of the podcasts in the HCI Podcast Network (https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/HCI) !

In this HCI Webinar, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Alexandria Agresta about why the workplace needs more fun! Disco balls. DJ decks. Dancing queens. Alexandria Agresta brings it all. As the World’s First DJing Speaker, she fuses the insight of a TED Talk with the electricity of a music festival to deliver her groundbreaking keynote, The Business Party. Her mission is simple: to spark the next wave of bold leadership and transform the workplace into a WOWplace, where possibility, creativity, and fun take center stage. Now, let’s get this party started!

Abstract: Artificial intelligence is reshaping how organizations operate, yet many enterprises approach AI adoption primarily as a technical implementation challenge. This narrow focus overlooks the profound cultural, structural, and human capital transformations that determine whether AI investments deliver value or create organizational dysfunction. This article examines why traditional leadership structures struggle to manage AI-driven change and presents evidence for establishing a Chief Innovation and Transformation Officer (CITO) role. Drawing on organizational change literature, digital transformation research, and examples from healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing sectors, we explore how CITOs bridge the gap between technical capability and organizational readiness. The analysis reveals that successful AI adoption requires dedicated executive attention to culture change, workforce reskilling, cross-functional collaboration, and the redesign of work itself—responsibilities that fall outside conventional C-suite domains yet prove critical to realizing AI's potential.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a powerful force capable of transforming industries by writing code, diagnosing diseases, and managing complex supply chains. Despite significant investments in AI technology and talent, many companies face a perplexing gap between AI’s potential and their actual ability to leverage it effectively—this is termed the “great AI divide.” The core issue is not technical but human: organizations often treat AI as a mere software upgrade, which it is not. AI fundamentally changes decision-making processes and requires a holistic, cross-functional approach that breaks down traditional silos in leadership. Existing C-suite roles—chief information officer (CIO), chief technology officer (CTO), and chief human resources officer (CHRO)—focus on fragmented aspects of AI but lack the authority and mandate to drive company-wide transformation. Highlights 🤖 AI is a transformative force, not just another software upgrade. 🏢 Traditional C-suite roles create silos that hinder AI integration. 🌉 The Chief Innovation and Transformation Officer (CITO) fills the leadership vacuum. 📖 CITO translates AI complexity into clear, actionable business strategies. 🌱 Building an AI-positive culture is key to overcoming fear and resistance. 🎓 Widespread AI fluency across the workforce is necessary for success. 📊 AI success is measured by real business outcomes, not just technical metrics. Key Insights 🤖 AI as an Active Agent of Organizational Change: Unlike traditional IT systems, AI fundamentally alters decision-making and workflows across an entire organization. This requires a mindset shift from treating AI as a passive tool to embracing it as an active partner in business transformation. Organizations that fail to recognize this face stagnation despite heavy investments. 🏢 Leadership Silos Inhibit AI Adoption: CIOs, CTOs, and CHROs each control distinct domains—technology infrastructure, product development, and talent management respectively—but none alone can drive the cross-functional change AI demands. This siloed leadership leads to fragmented efforts, duplication, and missed opportunities, underscoring the need for a unifying executive role with cross-departmental authority. 🌉 The Emergence of the Chief Innovation and Transformation Officer (CITO): The CITO is a purpose-built role designed to bridge the gap between AI technology and business value. Reporting directly to the CEO, the CITO has the mandate to coordinate AI adoption across departments, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and fostering organizational readiness. This role combines elements of business strategy, culture shaping, and technology translation. 📖 Translation as a Core Function of the CITO: The CITO acts as a translator and mediator—converting complex AI concepts into plain language accessible to all employees, aligning AI initiatives with corporate objectives, and channeling workforce feedback to technical teams. This role is critical for building trust, overcoming fear, and ensuring that AI tools empower rather than threaten employees. 🌱 Culture Change is the Foundation of AI Success: Fear and misunderstanding of AI often lead to resistance. The CITO champions a culture of curiosity and experimentation, employing practical initiatives like “AI for Everyone” workshops and publicly celebrating small wins. Such visible actions demystify AI, build trust, and foster momentum for broader adoption. 🎓 AI Fluency Must Be Widespread: Relying solely on data scientists is insufficient. The CITO implements a multi-tiered training strategy that equips most employees with basic AI literacy while providing specialists with deep technical skills. This approach ensures the entire organization can identify AI opportunities and integrate AI tools effectively into daily workflows. 📊 Measuring AI Success by Business Impact: The ultimate measure of AI initiatives is not technical accuracy or model performance but tangible improvements in efficiency, revenue, customer satisfaction, and other key business outcomes. The CITO ensures AI projects are outcome-driven and that their benefits are visible and sustainable, thus justifying ongoing investment and commitment. #CITO #AITransformation #AIReadiness #Leadership #OrganizationalChange OUTLINE: 00:00:00 - Why Tools Aren't Enough 00:01:04 - Where Traditional Roles Fall Short 00:02:28 - The Human Bridge to AI Success 00:03:55 - Culture, Skills, and Governance in Action 00:05:17 - The CITO's Impact

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Alexandria Agresta about why the workplace needs more fun! Disco balls. DJ decks. Dancing queens. Alexandria Agresta brings it all. As the World’s First DJing Speaker, she fuses the insight of a TED Talk with the electricity of a music festival to deliver her groundbreaking keynote, The Business Party. Her mission is simple: to spark the next wave of bold leadership and transform the workplace into a WOWplace, where possibility, creativity, and fun take center stage. Now, let’s get this party started! Check out all of the podcasts in the HCI Podcast Network (https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/HCI) !