The Memo: The leadership issue

We all need an updated guide to leading through change.

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To modern workers everywhere, Every week when I write or edit an essay with the above salutation, I briefly wonder if I, in fact, am a modern worker. I mean, I pretty much keep my own hours, I regularly communicate on a workplace messaging app with colleagues around the globe, I don't hide the fact that I've got a kid and a needy puppy, and I've adjusted pretty easily to working remotely. But there are a lot of features of the modern workplace that took me some time to get comfortable with. The idea that anyone would tell their boss that they were thinking about taking a job somewhere else, or needing more time for their side gig (or that they even had a side gig), were pretty foreign concepts to me. And debating the boss in public, not as an act of self-sabotage but as an everyday means of achieving the best work product possible, well, I just wasn't brought up that way. And that's just it. What I finally came to realize was that the old norms I observed and absorbed in the 20-plus years I've been working weren't the right way, they were just the way things were at the time I landed in the labor force. Of course the norms I'm encountering 20 years later as a manager are new! And in some cases, I must admit, they're a marked improvement over the way things used to be. This week's Quartz field guide is an updated guide for managers and a contemporary playbook for leading through change. It draws on the valuable insights that contributors to Quartz at Work have shared in the past year or so about managing people with compassion while leading them to achieve more. You'll pick up some new ideas that serve both of these goals, in articles featuring: New rules for managers who are ready to buck conventional wisdom Thoughtful tips for managing people in a pandemic and its aftermath Practical advice for managers who are serious about inclusion and diversity Timeless management strategies every leader should know Of course, all of these pieces read differently to me now in the wake of former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh's tragic death on Nov. 27. Talk about a leader who was ready to buck conventional wisdom. At 46, Hsieh was a year older than I am, but he seemed to need no time at all to adjust to modern workplace norms—perhaps because he was too busy creating them himself. Hsieh's legacy as a leader is captured beautifully in two pieces this week on Quartz at Work, one from Aimee Groth, who wrote a book about his vision and offers a personal remembrance of her subject, and one from Sarah Todd, who considered the lessons of his ambitious goal of making people happy at work. Our condolences to Hsieh's family, friends, and colleagues.—Heather Landy Five things we learned this week How to manage remote workers when their productivity dips. Forget about "above and beyond" already. Don't worry about the carbon footprint of your emails. Experts explain why your messages are not really moving the needle. Workaholic Asia is trying out the four-day work week. There are experiments underway in both the public and private sectors. Amazon is leapfrogging the world's largest employers. Its historic levels of hiring will likely move it up the global rankings from fifth to third. Janet Yellen is a master in the art of consensus. Her leadership style is all about listening.

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30-second case study In the 1986 World Cup, Argentina had a good team but no superstars aside from Diego Maradona. That would be enough, though. Maradona led his teammates—who were willing to run and work for him, but did not have the ability themselves to create game-winning moments—to tournament victory. It is still the only World Cup in history in which a single player was so dominant. At the time, Maradona was playing his club soccer in southern Italy, for the unfashionable and unsuccessful Napoli. Naples was then one of Europe's poorest cities, and constantly insulted by wealthier northerners, who still call Neapolitans "thieves" and "dirty" when their teams face each other. Napoli had never won an Italian championship and, like Argentina, had no superstars. But with Maradona, the team captured the only two titles in its history, before the player and the city's reputation descended once again into the depths of drugs and organized crime. The takeaway: A team is a complex structure, with unseen dynamics, constantly changing rhythms, and a plan that may or may not work. It is, for example, dangerous when a star teammate decides they're no longer interested, and it may not be the best idea to hire a genius in the first place. In his steep 1990s decline, Maradona possibly exemplified both these theories. But between 1986 and 1990, he was operating at an extraordinary level that made ordinary players around him far better, and still stood out as the star of the team. Who else has achieved this? Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen, and Pele played on the greatest Brazilian team of all time. Serena Williams and Muhammad Ali operated alone. Maradona was a brilliant athlete. But it was his capacity to elevate his teammates that may have been his true leadership genius. An upcoming workshop The last Quartz at Work (from home) workshop of 2020 is nearly upon us. Join us next Thursday, Dec. 10, at 11am US eastern time, for tips on how to effectively manage workplace conflict. Dian Killian, an expert in workplace communication, self-management, and conflict resolution, will share some preventative and practical tools you can use for managing and supporting workplace conflict in remote settings, particularly during difficult times. She will share practical advice on how you can improve your conflict management skills and resolve conflict that goes awry. Register here Words of wisdom

"[At most companies,] there's the org chart on paper, and then the one that is exactly how the company operates for real, and then there's the org chart that it would like to have in order to operate more efficiently. … [With Holacracy] the idea is to process tensions so that the three org charts are pretty close together."—Tony Hsieh in 2013 on the elegant theory behind holacracy, the avant-garde and controversial management system he brought to Zappos.

ICYMI "We don't want to have every conversation with your team ending up with you sharing really deep, personal things. But I think showing glimpses of that is vital." Our recent workshop on leading teams through tension featured the advice of Uncharted CEO Banks Benitez, Sylvain Labs founder Alain Sylvain, Qualtrics EVP Jay Choi, and MullenLowe Group UK's head of people, Siobhan Brunwin. Missed it? Don't fret. Quartz members can access the recording right here.

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You got The Memo! Our best wishes for a productive and creative day. Please send any workplace news, comments, World Cup factoids, and Yellen meeting notes to work@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. This week's edition of The Memo was produced by Heather Landy, Sarah Todd, and Hasit Shah.

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