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Newsletter #67: Stress Test Your Strategy Before It Fails
Sue Mysko
June 05, 2025
SCALE UP Newsletter #67
Welcome to Scale Up, the smarter way to grow with fractional executives.
In this edition:
🚦PODCAST: Stress Test Your Strategy Before It Fails
💡 What Does Vulnerability Mean for Leaders?
👩🏻💼 How To: Become a Capable and Caring “Badass”
Let’s dive right in. 👇🏼
PODCAST: Stress Test Your Strategy Before It Fails
In this episode of HBR On Strategy, Arjan Singh, a consultant and professor at Southern Methodist University, talks about how most teams and organizations don’t take scenario planning far enough. He says that using a more structured approach, like the one the military uses, can help leaders see how their strategies and plans would stand up to competitors, changes in the market, and unexpected problems.
Ask Sanyin: What Does Vulnerability Mean for Leaders?
Uncertainty in business makes both leaders and employees feel anxious. Ignoring the problem won’t make it—or people’s feelings—go away, says Sanyin Siang, a CEO coach and writer for MIT SMR. Teams need their leaders to recognize their worries, be honest about what’s going on, and reassure them that they’ll tackle the challenges together. This kind of approach helps build trust and connection, which gives team members the strength to get through tough times.
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How To Make Every Day So Fun You Don’t Even Have Time To Scroll
This video gives tips on how to cut down on mindless phone scrolling. It suggests making plans, spending time outside, hanging out with others, and focusing on good habits or personal goals. It offers simple, practical ideas to help you stay busy and productive.
How do you stop yourself from doom-scrolling when you’re not sure what else to do?
Merit-Based Management Demands DEI
A lot of people who criticize DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs think they get in the way of hiring the best person for the job. But research shows the opposite: DEI efforts help create a truly fair system at work. These programs can help companies find more qualified candidates and make hiring and promotions fairer for everyone.
How To: Become a Capable and Caring “Badass”
As if dealing with things like mansplaining and “he-peating” wasn’t tough enough, women in leadership roles often struggle to get the respect they deserve.
In her new book, Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve, Fragale—a professor at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School—shares down-to-earth advice from organizational psychology to help women show they’re both skilled and caring.
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