Management Muse

Being good at the work is not the same as knowing how to run the business. In part two of Cindi Baldi’s conversation with Kelly Kennedy, founder of Capital Business Development and host of The Business Development Podcast, the discussion moves from podcasting as business development to the realities of entrepreneurship. They talk through the pricing mistake that sinks most new businesses, the ment...

What if the smartest business development move you could make isn't a sales call, but a microphone? In this episode, Cindi Baldi talks with Kelly Kennedy, founder of Capital Business Development and host of The Business Development Podcast, about the role podcasting can play in building trust, authority, and business relationships. From parking cars to building a 300+ episode show that's become re...

Chasing happiness directly might be one of the worst ways to find it. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin unpack why happiness is better understood as a byproduct than a destination. A lot of what shapes our happiness is either built into our baseline or fades faster than we expect. The part we can influence has less to do with perfect circumstances and more to do w...

What is more important: people or profits?  This week’s guest thinks that question is part of the problem. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi sits down with longtime HR executive and author Clark Ingram to unpack the HR myths he's spent decades dismantling. From the false binary of "people vs. profits" to the idea that zero turnover is impossible (spoiler alert: it isn't), Clark makes...

Money can buy happiness. There, we said it. But before you sprint toward a yacht, a five-star hotel, or a deeply unnecessary espresso machine, there’s some fine print. For years, the popular story was that money buys happiness only up to about $75,000. After that, more income supposedly stopped moving the happiness needle. But updated research on money, happiness, income, and well-being suggests t...

A lot of managers want employees to go the extra mile, yet they treat the relationship like a transaction. That mismatch is where trust starts to crack. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi talks with award-winning author Hanna Hasl-Kelchner about the workplace social contract: the unwritten agreement that determines whether employees lean in, pull back, or start polishing their résumés...

Your coworker probably isn’t a narcissist. They may be stubborn. They may be self-important. But “narcissist” is a big word—and Cindi and Geoff think we’re throwing it around way too easily. In this episode of Management Muse, they challenge the way we talk about narcissism at work. Cindi and Geoff separate the clinical meaning of narcissism from the management research on narcissistic traits, whe...

Nothing reveals a company’s culture faster than how it lets people go. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi talks with Collette Revere and Kim White about the importance of empathetic exits: a more intentional, humane approach to layoffs, terminations, and voluntary departures.  Too often, companies invest heavily in employee engagement while people are useful to the organization, then...

If you only read one book on motivation, you might be missing half the story. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin dig into the messy, controversial, and often misunderstood science of motivation. They explore intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, how reward systems are easy to mess up, and why popular advice often oversimplifies what actually drives people at work....

Your company might be one expired domain, missing admin login, or messy vendor contract away from a digital disaster. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi talks with Paige Wiese, founder and CEO of Tree Ring Digital, about the hidden digital weak spots that can turn into expensive chaos. From wiped computers and missing website documentation to personal email accounts and AI tools, this...

Should people at work know what everyone else makes? In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin tackle the messy science and management reality of pay transparency. Too little transparency sends employees into the rumor mill. Too much transparency can make people obsess over small differences, narrow salary bands, and reduce room for negotiation. The sweet spot? A Goldiloc...

Performance reviews eat up time, frustrate employees, and often fail to improve performance. So why are so many organizations still clinging to them? In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi talks with Collette Revere, CEO of Open 360, about why traditional performance management is overdue for the trash heap. Collette explains how the model many organizations still use dates back to World...

Real workplace problems. No prep. No easy answers. Can the consultants be stumped? In this special episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin put their management consulting instincts to the test with real workplace problems pulled from years of coaching leaders, managers, and organizations. One presents the dilemma, the other has to solve it on the spot before finding out what ac...

Your team agrees with you. They nod in meetings. And yet… nothing changes. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi sits down with Leslie Ellis, CEO of Meaningful Change Consulting, to unpack one of the most frustrating leadership challenges: when alignment in the room doesn’t translate into action. The problem isn’t as simple as individual resistance, it’s also how organizations fundamenta...

What happens when your customers don’t just change… they disappear? In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin unpack how demographic shifts are rewriting business strategy, often long before leaders realize what is happening. From aging populations and labor shortages to dropping birth rates and school closures, they explore how changes in population, behavior, and genera...

Walking away from a decade of training and a prestigious title? Most people would call that reckless. Dr. Seema Desai calls it survival. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi sits down with former dentist turned keynote speaker and author Seema Desai to explore one of leadership's most difficult questions: When do you walk away from what you built?  Seema unpacks her journey from wieldin...

What can workplace memes teach us about leadership? More than you might think. To celebrate 100 episodes of Management Muse, we have a special episode for you. The team pulled together a collection of workplace reels—from unlimited PTO policies to the trials of middle management—and challenged Cindi and Geoff to react to them live. Some are hilarious. Some are painfully accurate. And almost all of...

The biggest risk of AI isn't that it will replace us; it's that it will stunt our growth. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoff Tumlin explore the rapidly growing belief that artificial intelligence will transform, or even replace, large parts of work and leadership. They argue that this narrative misses something fundamental about how organizations actually function. From deci...

Accountability sounds straightforward…until you try to enforce it. In Part 2 of this series on Management Muse, Cindi and Geoff move from defining the boundaries of micromanagement to confronting the real challenge: what real accountability requires. They explore how leaders over-control when they’re anxious and under-coach when roles evolve. They turn to the real engine of accountability: feedbac...

There are far fewer micromanagers than you might think. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi and Geoff challenge one of the most persistent myths in leadership: that holding people accountable makes you controlling. Drawing on classic leadership and expertise research, they share a simple framework that explains why most managers pull back long before they should. Using their own pizza-making...

When the future gets blurry, people start making bad decisions. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin explore uncertainty from every angle: not just how leaders respond to it, but how they create it, how organizations amplify it, and how individuals shrink themselves because of it. From miscalibrated risk assessments to communication breakdowns, they unpack how ambigu...

If your employees could fire you… would they? This week Cindi is joined by author and CEO Dr. Keith Levick to discuss research that reveals 60% of employees would fire their boss if they could—and even more disturbingly, many would sacrifice salary, vacation, or promotions to make it happen. Why? Because too many workplaces lack psychological safety, flexibility, and real ownership. The good news?...

Habits aren’t just about willpower. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi and Geoff uncover a radical insight from behavioral science: most habits are powered by underlying anxiety. Willpower alone isn’t enough, because habits aren’t just actions, they’re emotional coping strategies. From sleep routines to workplace distractions, Cindi and Geoff break down the surprising psychology of habits a...

Endless hold music. Clunky bots. Repeating your story five times. We’ve all been there. But what if customer service didn’t have to feel like a test of patience? In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi talks with Rick DeLisi, author and lead research analyst at Glia, about the new frontline of support: AI-enhanced service that puts results over sympathies. Rick shares how smart systems now...

They never complained. They always delivered. And then one day, they were just… gone. Burnout rarely announces itself, but there are early warning signs. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin explain the three stages of burnout and why your most committed, high-performing employees are the most at risk. Instead of asking, “Are you burned out?” leaders need sharper too...