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Matthew Fray

Matthew Fray

The Atlantic

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Why nobody speaks up

Employees are expected to bring bold ideas but fear career consequences if they fail. Here’s why workplace culture often suppresses creativity

07.04.2026 7

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Gen Z-ers are becoming bosses. Here's what that means for everyone else

Members of Generation Z are now in their late 20s — and they're climbing the corporate ladder with their own expectations about the workplace

05.04.2026 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Leadership lessons from Apple's legendary second act

What can we learn from Apple's incredible run over the second half of the company’s history?

31.03.2026 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

When online misogyny comes to the office

Women, who make up half of all workplace managers, are significantly more likely than men to experience microaggressions that undermine their...

24.03.2026 30

Quartz

Matthew Fray

The success trap

Businesses tend to overinvest in what already works, which can weaken adaptation over time. Success and stability can set up some organizations for...

17.03.2026 4

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Why smart companies repeat dumb mistakes

Leadership turnover, restructuring, and weak knowledge management systems can erase organizational memory, forcing companies to relearn the same...

10.03.2026 20

Quartz

Matthew Fray

The cost of being right

Discover why being right can silence teams, erode psychological safety, and quietly tank performance

03.03.2026 20

Quartz

Matthew Fray

This meeting was avoidable

Meetings are the price we pay for unclear thinking and ambiguous communication. Writing — clear, thoughtful writing — has become a leadership...

10.02.2026 3

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Employees now value work-life balance more than money

The real battle for talent might not be about remote versus in-office work anymore. Now it's about time autonomy

03.02.2026 20

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Employee satisfaction beats the market

Multiple studies show companies with happier employees deliver stronger long-term returns, proving worker morale has real financial impact

27.01.2026 3

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Middle management's hidden power

U.S. middle management job postings were about 42% lower in late 2025 than at their April 2022 peak, according to Revelio Labs.

22.01.2026 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Gen Z doesn’t want to be the boss

Gen Z is redefining promotions and leadership, as 40% of Gen Zers only want promotions if they don’t involve becoming a manager

20.01.2026 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

The job AI still can’t do

The need for the primary functions of middle managers is as strong as ever. But while middle management isn’t disappearing, it is being reinvented

13.01.2026 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

How to get promoted, according to CEOs and experts

Quiet consistency beats flashy performance: the routine, often undesirable, frequently boring behaviors that improve the lives of customers and...

06.01.2026 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

The post-holiday funk is coming. How to reset your work in 2026

It’s a predictable response to unclear priorities, depleted energy, and restarting internal systems without recalibrating them first

30.12.2025 20

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Let's talk about burnout — and what it really is

Leaders often reach for familiar explanations and fixes. But this misdiagnosis frames end-of-year burnout as seasonal laziness or a motivation gap

22.12.2025 7

Quartz

Matthew Fray

What the KPIs hide

Once a metric is used as a goal for performance, people may change their behavior to optimize for the metric itself — which often undermines the point

16.12.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

How to throw out what doesn’t work at work

One strategic, year-end maneuver to employ or fine-tune as a kind of organizational cleanse is a Keep-Kill-Change audit. Here's how it works

09.12.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Stop starting things — and start finishing them

It’s not uncommon for leaders to prioritize idea generation over follow-through. But that unintentionally normalizes incomplete work

02.12.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Give thanks — and be a better leader

Leadership Give thanks — and be a better leader Gratitude doesn’t affect only happiness. In the workplace, it affects performance, where the...

26.11.2025 20

Quartz

Matthew Fray

The most underrated power of great leaders

The difference between being one of the best leaders or one of the worst boils down to listening. Here's what managers should do

04.11.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

7 rules Bill Gates lives by at 70

The Microsoft founder is turning 70. Let’s explore some of our our favorite leadership ideas, habits, and lessons he has shared over the years

27.10.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

How to stay calm when things go wrong, according to a Navy SEAL

Leadership lessons from William McRaven, best known for his role as the Navy SEAL commander in charge of the team that took down Osama Bin Laden

21.10.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

How leaders invite criticism — and make more money

When leaders build a culture of safety, people feel empowered to communicate honestly without negative consequences. A lot of good can result from...

14.10.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Let's talk about all these co-CEOs

A great partnership doesn’t guarantee great business outcomes. Here's what to know about having two CEOs at once

07.10.2025 5

Quartz

Matthew Fray

The art of asking questions

Here's what leaders need to know about asking questions — and about being asked questions themselves

30.09.2025 9

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Numbers don't lie. Leaders use them

Leaders and managers don’t need to be data scientists, but they do need to know how to read and apply data in context

23.09.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Why workers think their boss doesn't see their value

A recent survey found that almost half of all workers don't think their bosses understand what they contribute. Here's how you can avoid that dynamic

19.09.2025 20

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Think like you own the place — and watch your career take off

The professionals who rise fastest are those who behave like stewards of the entire business and step beyond their job descriptions

16.09.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Stop waiting to praise people: Catch them doing something right and say so

Catching people in the act of doing something right and naming precisely what they did well delivers a clear and lasting learning signal

06.09.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

What putting the toilet seat down can teach us about leading people

In some regards, workplace dynamics have a lot in common with romantic relationships

02.09.2025 20

Quartz

Matthew Fray

The Invalidation Triple Threat is ruining your relationships at work and at home

An invalidation pattern is often the biggest threat to trust erosion in people’s relationships, but it disguises itself as harmless disagreement.

22.08.2025 7

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Combating expensive employee turnover with 'job embeddedness'

Employee turnover remains a persistent and frustrating problem for organizations. Here's one way to solve it

15.08.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray

Repairing relationships is the career superpower nobody talks about

The ability to navigate hard conversations successfully is a critical skill — for individuals as well as companies

14.08.2025 7

Quartz

Matthew Fray

The hidden tax on women that's costing companies millions

Invisible labor at work isn't just a fairness or culture issue. It directly affects profitability, productivity, and employee retention

23.07.2025 10

Quartz

Matthew Fray