AABP EP Awards 728x90

Opinion

Suzanna de Baca column graphic

On Leadership: Stop doing everything – The power of strategic prioritization

“My inbox is a war zone and my calendar a battlefield,” a CEO recently confessed to me. While we both got a chuckle out of his description, his detailed account of the relentless barrage of …

Suzanna de Baca column graphic

On Leadership: Why continuous learning is a leadership essential in the digital age

The urgency of continuous learning hit me hard recently. An entire class of MBA students awaited an assignment I’d uploaded incorrectly on the online education platform that I was still learning to use. Panicked, I …

Suzanna de Baca column graphic

On Leadership: Leading through uncertainty – A focus on people and purpose

I once led a nonprofit facing an uncertain future due to likely funding cuts. This ambiguity created a climate of anxiety and speculation for all our stakeholders. Everyone was upset and distracted by what might …

Suzanna de Baca column graphic

On Leadership: Connecting in the hybrid age – Best practices for leader communication

Earlier in my career, before the pandemic, I worked for a national financial services company with geographically dispersed colleagues. I rarely saw many of my co-workers in person, a fact that initially concerned me. However, …

Elbert web

The Elbert Files: Riverfront Plans?

Author’s note: This is my final column for the Des Moines Business Record, which has carried my musings since 2012. Beginning next month, the Elbert Files will have a new home at a sister publication,  …

Elbert web

The Elbert Files: Famous Iowa writers and fictional characters

Recent columns about famous Iowans generated several additional names, including John Wayne, born in Winterset; Gary Cooper, who attended Grinnell College; and the Everly Brothers, who launched their singing careers from Shenandoah.

Other suggestions led …

Suzanna de Baca column graphic

On Leadership: Thriving in the age of disruption

Back in my MBA days, the concept of “disruption” wasn’t exactly a household term. Our professor Clayton Christensen’s groundbreaking work, “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” which addressed disruption, was still a few years away. Technology, while exciting, …

Elbert web

The Elbert Files: Left-brain success stories

Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series about famous Iowans. Read part one on businessrecord.com. 

I wrote last week that most “famous Iowans” had to leave the state to get noticed. This …

Elbert web

The Elbert Files: Famous former Iowans

Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series about famous Iowans. Read part two in the Jan. 24 edition of the of the Business Record.

More Iowans have found fame by leaving than …

Elbert web

The Elbert Files: Assisted dying

This may not be the best time to bring up the subject of assisted dying, given the recent success of the anti-abortion movement in Iowa and other parts of the country. But the concept is …