What leaders can learn from the White Sox's troubles

The Chicago White Sox is major league baseball's worst team with 121 losses this season, breaking the record held by the 1962 New York Mets, but Michael Peregrine, a partner with the law firm McDermott Will & Emery, writes that the new record holds leadership lessons on effective oversight, business model management, adaptability and protecting stakeholders. "The White Sox' collapse has not only affected the players and the fans, but also the vendors and service employees around the ballpark whose livelihood depends upon healthy fan support," Peregrine writes.

Put it into practice: Ensuring diverse opinions and investment in the business can also help leaders escape the losing ways personified by the Chicago White Sox, Peregrine writes. "The White Sox have been notorious for their insularity, an unwillingness to hire executives from outside the organization."

Businesses must focus on employee engagement to gain a competitive advantage, writes Konstantinos Apostolopoulos, the founder and CEO of Fresh Biz Solutions, who recommends leaders work to ensure employees feel valued, connected, productive and supported. "Engaging leaders can turn a toxic and disengaged workplace into a thriving environment with higher levels of commitment and performance," Apostolopoulos writes.

Put it into practice: Finding ways to engage employees by making them feel valued, supported and connected can improve profits and retention, writes Apostolopoulos. "Ultimately, it is the role of leadership to create the environment needed to harness the true power of engagement."

If you're unable to remove an irritating team member, readjust your focus on their strengths and actively talk with them about those skills during one-on-ones and other meetings, asking them how they can maximize those strengths for the company, writes leadership coach Dan Rockwell. "Pour energy into potential. Support aspirations. Don't focus on flaws," Rockwell writes.

Put it into practice: Think of three strengths that your most irritating team member (or members) possess and bring them up for discussion often, Rockwell advises. In public meetings, ask others to note the strengths of problematic team members as well and highlight how their talents can help the business improve.

Leaders can improve company culture and innovation by encouraging team members to speak up about ethical dilemmas and treating workers fairly, says Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. "As a leader, the hard part is that you need to foster this without implying that the company is a democracy -- that you're going to change course if one group of employees yells loud enough," Taylor notes.

Mondelez's Sour Patch Kids brand is playing on its "First they're sour; then they're sweet" tagline by giving Generation Z the ability to input seemingly sweet work emails into the "Sour Translator" to uncover their real meaning, and receive "sweet" promotional offers for the candy. A series of spots show the tool in action and the campaign is running across social, including influencer collaborations, out of home and retail media.

With an eye on the upcoming election, Suzanne Leta from Fluence discusses how politics could have an impact on policies that have pumped billions of dollars into the renewable energy industry. Leta highlights how bipartisan support for tax credits linked to domestic manufacturing might be enough to protect those funds. Meanwhile, Leta explains how tariffs linked to batteries are practically up to the discretion of whoever occupies the White House.

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