“Throughout the business world, communications are not managed right now. It’s the Wild, Wild West within organizations.”

Cassie Holmes is having what you might call a moment. The UCLA management professor and author of Happier Hour: How To Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time and Focus on What Matters Most has been landing accolades across the spectrum of leadership, lifestyle, and self-help since the book came out in late 2022. By the end of the year, Happier Hour had proven to be a hit. Amazon, Time, the Financial Times, and The Washington Post put Happier Hour on their best-of lists.

These days, workplace collaboration can feel downright broken. Here’s The Workback’s guide to getting your organization back into a collaborative groove.

“I had this immensely intuitive feeling that humans are going to be able to derive a great deal of capability from .”

Even on the best days, managing large organizations is hard, complex work. Factor in the added challenge of an external crisis—be it economic, political or even public health-related—and that complexity can quickly spiral into disastrous territory for any company–and these days, the next crisis can feel inevitable.

For collaboration to truly work, leadership can’t just watch from the sidelines. Real leaders get into the arena and participate.

“It’s a delicate balance between autonomy and social support, but the answers are there if you ask—and keep asking.”

The swirl of reasons a customer joins a brand community can be measured, stress-tested, and ranked, but there’s also maybe a less scientific-feeling reason people join a community for a brand. It’s maybe less science and a little more magic.

Experts say anyone can train their brain to be more forward-thinking. For leaders, doing so could be the difference between failing and thriving.