INTHEBLACK February / March 2026 - Magazine - Page 13
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CPA Australia
VIDEO
Fear-based CEOs versus trustbased leaders: Who actually wins?
MIT Sloan Management Review: Fear-based CEOs versus trust-based leaders: Who actually wins?
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MIT Sloan Management Review
columnist Brian Elliott examines why
fear-based, command-and-control
style leadership is failing. He shows
how intimidation stifles AI adoption
and hampers talent retention. On the
other hand, he says trust-based,
human-centred leadership fosters
psychological safety, experimentation,
collaboration and high performance.
Leaders who take this approach set
clear goals and outcomes, encourage
teamwork over competition and place
trust in employees. The key takeaway:
fear may enforce compliance, but trust
drives real results.
Watch the video
PODCAST
ARTICLE
REPORT
An economy built on
speculation
Stop overloading the wrong
part of your brain at work
Green procurement playbook
What do non-fungible token (NFT)
investors and post-American
Revolutionary War land barons have in
common? Speculation. This episode of
The Wall Street Journal’s What’s News
podcast highlights risky bets that have
shaped the US economy. Digital artist
Beeple calls his US$69 million NFT
sale a “bubble”, a view supported
by the market’s crash in recent years.
The episode also discusses Robert
Morris, a US founding father who
speculated on land in the late 1700s
and ended up in debtor’s prison.
It is an interesting spotlight on how
risky, yet sometimes lucrative,
speculation has fuelled some of the
United States’ greatest achievements.
Many leaders end their days feeling
drained because they overuse their
prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain
responsible for focus, planning and
decision-making. Writing for Harvard
Business Review, people development
expert Amy Brann notes this area tires
quickly and is vulnerable to overload
and stress. To protect mental energy, she
suggests tips such as adding “buffers”
to your calendar, labelling meetings
according to their objective (like “focus”
for decision-making or “reflect” for
learning) and running an “input audit”
to track the volume of platforms,
requests and messages handled by
teams. While aimed at leaders, these are
important lessons for anyone in today’s
always-on, noise-filled world.
Listen to the podcast
Read the article
CEOs face mounting pressure to
deliver strong financial results while
meeting climate and sustainability
goals. With Scope 3 emissions often
representing more than 90 per cent
of a company’s carbon footprint, this
playbook from the World Economic
Forum and Kearney positions
procurement as a critical driver of
decarbonisation and long-term value.
It collates insights from 100 global
leaders and introduces an assessment
tool for organisations to identify priority
areas for improvement. It also outlines
eight building blocks, from supplier
engagement to governance, that can
help them embed sustainability into
their procurement strategy.
Read the report
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