When Rick Keyes was asked to take charge during a period where Meijer found profits falling, his response was to flatly declare that profits in the short term might need to be driven-down even further to make the organizational and cultural changes that the business needed. As part of our Executive Circle Leadership series, Rick Keyes explained why such a tightly-knit, family-run business was willing to trust him to move the organization forward with such a bold plan.

Daredevil Dreamers are a special type of individual. They learn to activate and walk in their dreams to achieve growth and progress in ways that daydreamers find difficult. Learn how to develop a Daredevil mentality.

High-stress environments are becoming the new norm for executive leadership. According to a recent Robert Half Management Resources survey, 66 percent of chief financial officers said it was more challenging to be a company leader today than it was five years ago.

Negative environments kill thousands of great ideas every minute—ideas your company needs to stay competitive. Your leaders and managers are the ones who choose to cultivate a creative workplace environment or to stifle new ideas before they can grow. So what are your managers doing to cultivate the creative instincts of your employees? Here are 7 ways leaders can intentionally cultivate the kind of creative culture where ideas flow freely.

People will do what their leaders do. If your leaders want dedicated, thoughtful, productive people on their team, they must model those characteristics. If the leaders in your company are not walking the walk they ask of their team members, people will quickly realize they are not authentic. Trust will decline, taking influence and productivity with it.

68% of your employees may not want to be there. According to Gallup, only 32% of employees are engaged in the American workplace. Worldwide, it’s even worse: 87% of employees are disengaged at significant levels. The leaders and managers in your company clearly face an uphill climb to build more productive teams.