Seth Kahan

Enterprise First

One of the most difficult transitions in leadership is moving from representing your function to serving the enterprise. Most managers are rewarded for protecting resources, advancing priorities, and advocating for the needs of their teams. Those behaviors are valuable. In fact, they are often essential. The challenge arises when every leader is doing a good […]

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Engagement Is the Key

One of the most common mistakes in leadership and change is treating the plan as the work. Plans, timelines, and project management matter, but they are support processes. Engagement is the skeleton key that opens the door to change. I have watched teams spend weeks refining milestones, dependencies, status reports, and implementation schedules while giving

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Lesson in a Jazz Cellar

Last night Laura, Gabe and I squeezed into Riv38, a tiny Paris jazz club tucked into a vaulted 13th century cellar. Sitting shoulder to shoulder with strangers while musicians, Ludovic Ernault & Simon Martineau, improvised just a few feet away. I found myself slowing down enough to savor the music. Some of the most meaningful moments

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Long Nights, Big Dreams

Last week we celebrated my daughter’s 23rd birthday by taking her to her favorite restaurant, DC Vegan, just off DuPont Circle in the city. And tonight, she’s experimenting with coffee, preparing for an all-nighter as she studies for two finals tomorrow. One week you are celebrating a milestone over birthday cake. The next, you are

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Innovation Summit

Just wrapped up an energizing 1-day Innovation Summit with the team at the College of American Pathologists (CAP) in Chicago. You could literally feel the organization leaning into something bigger. The Innovation Team did the heavy lifting. They designed and delivered a thoughtful, well-run experience that brought together leaders from across the organization to engage the whole

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Paris Conversations

I’ll be in Paris May 14–22, and I’m opening up a small number of informal conversations while I’m there. Over the past two decades, I’ve had the privilege of working with leaders tackling large-scale, system-level challenges across sectors. What continues to interest me most is this: how do we mobilize meaningful change across an ecosystem,

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Chasing Impact

I passed a cluster of candles in a restaurant recently and felt myself settle a bit, touched by an ancient response. The light was warm. It was more than a decoration for me. It was an attempt to change how people would feel in that space, shifting toward inner peace and reflection in a very

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