We came to think of our audience not as the new leader but as the freethinking leader. A leader who embraces a world in which the weird uniqueness of each individual is seen not as a flaw to be ground down but as a mess worth engaging with, the raw material for all healthy, ethical, thriving organizations; a leader who rejects dogma and instead seeks out evidence; who values emergent patterns above received wisdom; who thrills to the power of teams; who puts faith in findings, not philosophy; and above all, a leader who knows that the only way to make the world better tomorrow is to have the courage and the wit to face up to how it really is today.

Finally, it means creating a growth-mindset environment in which people can thrive. This involves:

• Presenting skills as learnable

• Conveying that the organization values learning and perseverance, not just ready-made genius or talent

• Giving feedback in a way that promotes learning and future success

• Presenting managers as resources for learning

In addition to seeking culture t, it is critical to hire people who can deliver on the Brand Promises and activities underpinning your strategy…

The best people to consider first are those with whom you have already worked. Culture fit can be evaluated in interviews and tests, but nothing substitutes for your own real-time observations of someone over prolonged periods of time.

The best leaders create high-performance cultures. They set demanding goals, measure results, and hold people accountable. They are change agents, constantly driving their institutions to adapt and advance faster than their competitors do.