At ConantLeadership, we\u2019re committed to\u00a0<\/span>lifelong learning and continuous improvement.\u00a0<\/span>In\u00a0<\/span>service to your leadership growth<\/span>, in each month\u2019s \u2018Leadership That Works\u2019<\/em>\u00a0 newsletter we curate a digest of resources from around the web to<\/span>:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You can subscribe to our newsletter here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Want to work with us to lift your or your team\u2019s leadership to new heights?<\/span>\u00a0Drop us a line<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>talk to Emma Anthony, our Director of Leadership Programs<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n In this edition of the <\/span><\/strong>Leadership That Works Newsletter: <\/strong>The power of\u00a0optimism, why you should commit to \u2018personal learning,\u2019 how to manage yourself, the practice of following your interest, tips for doing \u2018hard better,\u2019 and more.<\/span><\/p>\n In\u00a0this month\u2019s LinkedIn LIVE discussion<\/a>\u00a0between\u00a0Doug Conant<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lucy Brazier OBE<\/a>, the panelists discussed three key themes:<\/span><\/span> This conversation<\/a> is important for: A new feature in our newsletter where we highlight a few resources that our Founder & CEO,\u00a0Doug Conant<\/a>, has recently found insightful and\/or inspiring.<\/span><\/p>\n 1.<\/span>\u00a0ARTICLE: \u201cWhy Decency in Leadership Is a Competitive Advantage<\/a>\u201d by Bill Boulding<\/span><\/strong> 2.VIDEO:\u00a0Kara Lawson \u2013 \u2018Do Hard Better<\/a>\u2018<\/strong> 3. Three Things I\u2019m Grateful For<\/strong> 1. The opportunity to spend time with my family. What about you?\u00a0What are you grateful for this year?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dick Van Dyke, a beloved cultural icon and star of classic Hollywood-produced TV and movies, is about to turn 100 years old, a milestone achievement. In\u00a0this\u00a0New York Times Well\u00a0<\/em>newsletter<\/span><\/a>, he shares his secrets for longevity, many of which can also be found in his new book,\u00a0100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist\u2019s Guide to a Happy Life<\/span>. While some of his tips for prolonging lifespan are common sense health advice (e.g., staying active and maintaining strong social connections), two of his tips are relevant to leadership too as they hold insights for making work and life more meaningful.<\/p>\n 1. Van Dyke stays positive and commits to \u201cplayfulness<\/span><\/strong>,\u201d which he says \u201cgives you a sense of fun and freedom.\u201d Research also shows that staying upbeat and finding playful \u201clevity\u201d in the everyday reduces stress and boosts wellness.<\/p>\n 2. Van Dyke says \u201cyes\u201d to things as often as he can<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0and doesn\u2019t try to battle against a changing world. He says, \u201cYou do really have to keep your mind open as you get older, especially to new ideas,\u201d an attitude that keeps his brain nimble, helps him stay present in the here-and-now, and remain ever-adaptable to the future. Get the full story\u00a0here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n **For more on the power of positive thinking,\u00a0explore this conversation between Jon Gordon and Doug Conant\u00a0<\/a>about how optimism is often a key ingredient to leadership success.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n In\u00a0this\u00a0Harvard Business Review<\/em>\u00a0interview with Poul Weihrauch<\/span><\/a>, CEO of Mars, he imparts an abundance of leadership wisdom on topics like positive social impact, sustainability, and more. One of the hidden gems in the interview is found in response to a question about innovation; Weihrauch shares a simple but counterintuitive answer for how to drive creativity and avoid \u201cgetting trapped by legacy thinking.\u201d The key, he says, is \u201cpersonal learning.\u201d<\/p>\n Says Weihrauch: \u201cI think if you go back and study what really constitutes the most important elements of leadership, the most important is personal learning.\u201d He continues, \u201cYou need high curiosity. So it\u2019s incredibly important, as a leader, that you are curious about the world, that you\u2019re curious about people, that you can engage with people and get the best out of people, and that you make sure that you have your tap on a lot of things in society and see where change is coming and going.\u201d If you\u2019re really committed to innovating, Weihrauch\u2019s top piece of advice is to \u201cover-invest in personal learning, both on the content side, and as importantly, on personal development and leadership development.\u201d If you are \u201ccurious about the world, about business, about business models,\u201d that will \u201cautomatically\u201d lead you to higher ground. Get the full story\u00a0here<\/a>. (This piece may appear behind a paywall for some readers.<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n In\u00a0this edition of his\u00a0The Imperfectionist<\/em> newsletter<\/span><\/a>, Oliver Burkeman has a reminder for when you\u2019re feeling stuck with work or productivity: \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0worth asking if you\u2019ve forgotten the importance of building your days, as far as you\u2019re able, around\u00a0<\/span>what actually interests you.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>He says that while \u201cinterest\u201d might be a relatively tepid word compared to \u201cpassion\u201d or \u201cexcitement,\u201d \u201cinteresting\u201d is a practical and useful ideal: \u201cAn interesting life \u2013 interesting to you, that is, not necessarily to other people \u2013 might in fact be the highest and best goal to which any of us could aspire.\u201d And he adds, \u201cto follow the lead of interestingness is to accept that life isn\u2019t a problem to be solved, but an experience to be had. And that engaging with it as fully as possible, connecting to the\u00a0aliveness, is its ultimate point.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, Burkeman acknowledges that it\u2019s not necessarily realistic to only perform tasks you deem interesting. But he says you can implement a practice \u201cof\u00a0daring to trust your own curiosity\u201d more often and seeing where that takes you. You may find that trying to follow your interest when you can, as an operating principle, leads to more resilience too: \u201cMeaningful projects aren\u2019t always fun; life certainly isn\u2019t always easy; and the moment in history through which we\u2019re living definitely isn\u2019t calming and relaxing. But maybe it is always, or almost always, possible to find and pursue something that\u2019s truly and enliveningly\u00a0interesting\u00a0<\/em>about the place in life in which you find yourself.\u201d Get the full story\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYour life is the most important management task you will ever undertake,\u201d says author Arthur Brooks in\u00a0this\u00a0Greater Good Magazine<\/em>\u00a0interview<\/span><\/a>. This is aligned with one of the central precepts in our book,\u00a0The Blueprint:<\/span>\u00a0\u201cYour life story IS your leadership story,\u201d meaning that deeper self-knowledge is the necessary foundation to support any sky-high aspiration. Brooks explains that he views it similarly: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to leave your life up to chance.\u00a0There are lots and lots of uncertainties in life, to be sure. There is lots of risk in your life. There\u2019s a lot of unknowns in your life . . . but fundamentally, you don\u2019t have to leave the big things up to chance.\u201d To take control of the task of self-management means being more intentional about pursuing self-knowledge. Brooks further explains this need to go deeper within, \u201cYour life doesn\u2019t have to manage you. You can manage your life, but you have to know how it works, and that\u2019s the task at hand.\u201d Get the full story\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Inspired by Doug\u2019s Executive Assistant, Diana Hansen, and taught by Doug himself, a Fortune 500 CEO, this groundbreaking leadership course<\/a> teaches the same 6-step BLUEPRINT process we use to train senior executives, customized for the true engine of the C-Suite: Administrative Professionals and Executive Assistants.<\/span><\/p>\n This is leadership training powerful enough for the boardroom, but optimized for\u00a0every\u00a0room\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0in. No more gatekeeping leadership skills.\u00a0We\u2019re taking elite-tier leadership training out of the corner office and into your living room, with accessible, self-paced, online programming built for real life.<\/p>\n >>Learn more about the course<\/a><\/em> In this follow-up to our first LinkedIn Learning course,\u00a0Finding Your Leadership Purpose with Doug Conant<\/span><\/a>,<\/i>\u00a0(which has reached over 88,500 learners), join Doug in this new learning pathway as he guides you through the important work of articulating your leadership beliefs and crystallizing them into a Leadership Vocabulary that you can use to influence others more effectively.<\/p>\n Drawing from years of experience as a top executive and the president and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, Doug teaches you how to lead with authenticity, motivate people, and express your leadership vision with greater impact. Through a series of practical exercises and real-world examples, this course gives you a chance to create your own leadership vocabulary aligned with your core values and beliefs. Check out the new course\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In\u00a0<\/span>this piece<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from 2019, now newly updated for 2025, ConantLeadership Founder & CEO, Doug Conant, reflects on crucible moments from his life and career and reframes them as opportunities for learning and growth, a practice he says is central to having a \u201cgratitude mindset.\u201d Get the full story\u00a0<\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In\u00a0<\/span>last month\u2019s newsletter:<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Finding your leadership vocabulary, culture starts at the top, don\u2019t get too \u2018cozy,\u2019 the DiSSS method for learning new things, and\u00a0more.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (Header photo by Daniele Franchi on Unsplash<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n
New from ConantLeadership<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/content.app-us1.com\/Y1xod\/2025\/11\/12\/d201c5eb-ef7c-456a-944d-cd4d16a627a7.jpeg\")
Video Replay: Administrative Professionals as Leaders & Strategic Partners\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/content.app-us1.com\/Y1xod\/2024\/10\/30\/25e8cee3-572f-4691-acdd-aa921e07ccf0.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nF<\/span>ounder\u2019s Corner: What\u2019s Doug Watching & Reading? <\/span><\/h3>\n
From Doug<\/strong>:\u00a0\u201c<\/span>I have been a<\/span>\u00a0student of leadership over the 50 years of my corporate leadership journey.As such, I\u2019ve been a voracious reader on the subject.Somehow,\u00a0this 2019 article<\/a>\u00a0slipped\u00a0past me. Thankfully, a participant in a recent\u00a0Blueprint Boot Camp<\/a>\u00a0shared it with me.This piece beautifully reenforces our work at ConantLeadership and, in fact, advances it by calling out \u2018decency\u2019 as a key value that naturally supports our mission of \u2018Championing Leadership That Works.\u2019Contrary to the practices of some leaders, we contend that this leadership value has never been more important than it is in the current cultural climate<\/span>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
From Dou<\/strong>g: \u201cLove\u00a0this video<\/a>\u00a0from American basketball coach Kara Lawson because it sets the table for a discussion about why we must always be working to \u2018lift our leadership to new heights\u2019 and strive for mastery in our leadership craft. It also aligns nicely with one of our key messages from\u00a0The Blueprint<\/a>, which is to \u2018Forget Perfection.\u2019 We can\u2019t wait for the \u2018perfect\u2019 moment to get started on our personal growth and development. The conditions will never be just right. We simply have to begin, take incremental steps, and keep improving, until we can \u2018do hard better.’\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
From Doug<\/strong>: \u201cIt\u2019s always a good time to reflect on what we are grateful for, but it is particularly resonant in the holiday season.\u00a0In the spirit of the season, I recommend that people write out at least three things they\u2019re grateful for as the year comes to a close. I\u2019ll go first.<\/i><\/p>\n
2. The continued engagement of the ConantLeadership community.
3. The hardworking remote ConantLeadership team who brings our suite of leadership resources and training to life every day.\u201d<\/p>\nIs Optimism the Key to a Long Life?<\/sub><\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
To Innovate, Commit to \u2018Personal Learning\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Follow Your Interest<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Manage Yourself<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
More from ConantLeadership<\/em><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/content.app-us1.com\/Y1xod\/2025\/09\/14\/fdc9ab00-7aee-4959-89e1-e9ae47189ab9.jpeg\")
Now Available: The STEPS Leadership Course for Administrative Professionals<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
>>Now through Dec. 5th use code CYBER15 for 15% off registration<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/content.app-us1.com\/Y1xod\/2025\/10\/28\/909d61b7-6971-4283-be73-6a96cb7e7d87.png\")
NEW LinkedIn Learning Course: Finding Your Leadership Vocabulary with Doug Conant<\/h3>\nLead with Gratitude<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
October\u2019s\u00a0Leadership That Works<\/em>\u00a0Newsletter<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Amy](\"https:\/\/conantleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/1512_Conant_Amy_009-200x300-1.jpg\")
About the Author:\u00a0<\/strong>Amy Federman<\/a>\u00a0is ConantLeadership\u2019s Director of Content and Editor in Chief, and co-author with Doug Conant of the WSJ bestseller, The Blueprint<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n