Archives

Bad advice you shouldn’t take

January 12, 2022

Resignations. Competitive talent markets. The structure of the org chart. All of these things can feel bigger than you, as an individual leader trying to get things done in your organization. We get that. But be skeptical of any advice that takes them as fixed.

How to predict the future

December 29, 2021

Assumptions and predictions are two tools to get at the same thing. Both try to crystallize how you think about the world today, in case it changes. But writing down an assumption is passive, it’s descriptive. Making a prediction is active.

We didn’t build *that* Better boss

December 15, 2021

People send us the links in part because, haha, you build better bosses. Here’s the literal CEO of Better and seems like he could have used some management training. Hardy har har. But some of them also want to know, “Is this normal?” And if so, how often does this happen? And why?

Not quite out of office

December 1, 2021

We know that rest is transformative. We can point to periods of downtime in our lives as the places when we got to clarity. Where we had space. Space to breathe, and to take stock.

The cost of doing business

November 17, 2021

Every organization has costs, but there’s a lot of power in how they’re labelled. The labels people use bake in assumptions about whether those costs are internal or external. They tell you who we think should pay those costs.

Math you will actually use

November 3, 2021

Demand for management tips and tricks is at an all-time high. People looking for any balm that can soothe the dry, chaffed state of leading a team in 2021. And while there are absolutely tips and tricks and techniques that can help, the first one is the most important. And none of the tools work until you let this one in. Here it is. You can’t fight math.

The masks are off and the masks are off

October 20, 2021

We’re in the midst of a massive renegotiation of the rules of work. And the central focus of that negotiation isn’t back to office plans, or international salary parity, or vaccine mandates. It’s power.

You can’t seize the moment with your hands full

October 6, 2021

Today, our second book comes out. It’s an ender chest. It is a full year of these newsletters, from the first lockdown to the anniversary of those lockdowns. It is a place to put down some of what the past 18 months have felt like.

That rattling sound is your Q4

September 22, 2021

There’s an adage in business that any decision is better than no decision. Because even if you’re wrong, you can always make a different decision further down the road.

Just say hybrid because nobody knows

September 8, 2021

Can we get to a place where we start to reimagine the thing? Whatever the thing is that you miss, you can reinvent it without starting from zero. Pay attention to the ache of the thing that’s missing. What was important about it?

Long on empathy and short on patience

August 25, 2021

We told leaders to be empathetic. We told them to be understanding. And they are doing that. They are phenomenal about understanding the conditions for underperformance in their teams. But it’s not working…They are patient to a fault.

You can’t live in the airport

August 11, 2021

Now’s a bad time to lean on your employee’s sense of loyalty, but a good time to lean on their sense of possibility. New opportunity, high-quality networking, exposure to different ideas. That’s what people in a liminal space can actually engage with.

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