Empower your leaders.

F.I.R.E.

How to be scrappy

Misunderstandings

Why C-levels, V-levels, and D-levels can't communicate.

Moral Leadership

Cultivating their courage, confidence, and esprit.

Eyes and Ears

What, Why, and definitely not How

You are not a leader by virtue of your position

You are a leader by virtue of your behaviors and qualities.

How to be trustworthy.

A short guide to integrity.

Why would they?

WIIFM isn't enough.

The Bottleneck

A diversion into the Theory of Constraints

How hierarchy helps everyone "win."

Don't worry, it's sick and twisted.

a likely story

three activities, two breakthroughs

Is it really about you?

And what happens if it isn't?

No enemies inside

How to handle questionable behavior.

Communication x Leadership: Just the takeaways

The result of this week's discussion

There’s no such thing as “no process.”

A striking discussion of recent happenings at Amazon and beyond

IT-enabled growth

What an old business meme can teach us about alignment and variety

How to be a good disappointment

The hard choices of doing less

Tension about truth

How much should you say?

Infinite loops of debate and discussion

When a leadership team struggles to make decisions

Planning with the Ideal Present

How you'd ideally behave, unburdened by the past.

What do you leave in your wake?

Going in circles? Here’s how to break the cycle.

Use complaints for good!

Empowered or disempowered?

Are you encouraging passivity?

It's time to name your game.

How orgs escape the fog of here-and-now overwhelm.

There will always be too much to do

How will you cut through the noise?

Do they trust you?

Should they?

Do you trust them?

Can you? And do they feel it?

Obedience is failure

We want active, thinking participation instead.

Time Prison

Ineffective meeting culture and what to do about it.

What is not done

Restraint is action

How much are you leaving to luck?

How to not waste the lives of those in your care.

See everything as difficult

and you will never have difficulties.

Emotion, Chance, Reason

Three forces shaping events, to study deeply.

Look with your eyes, foresee with your mind

The conditions are shifting, and you might prepare.

"Almost too good to be true."

A timeless strategic logic for the impossible problems of today.

Whim, Neglect, Order Inversion, Intent Replication

Four ways of creating an aligned workforce.

Be predictable.

Alignment starts here.

Seek alignment in four directions.

Predictability, not trust.

Alignment is the key to delegation.

Make the What and Why clear, let them handle the How.

Control is expensive.

Why leaders delegate, and no it's not just to save their own time.

Reflection is a cornerstone of learning.

Leaders engage in reflective practice to build a flexible mind.

What is THE priority?

Just one.

Focused, simple, and clear

Irreversibility

What we mean by regret.

Least Regret, Last Responsible Moment

Two principles for difficult decisions.

The Great Downsizing

...of my bookshelf.

Executive Conversations

How to get clear before action.

Alignment has a big joke

The art of focusing on one thing.

Intent is oxygen

Easier breathing for those in your care

Share Intent, Not Orders

If you want better results..

Leaders make leaders, not order-takers

If what you want is initiative.

Permission to stop it.

How to cut back on out-of-control work.

Fighting a tidal wave of possibilities

Your job is to make things clear.

Work worth doing.

Clearly stated, then translated.

Isn't that kind of messed up?

Your answers are worrisome.

priorities

why we're drowning in work

How could you possibly know if it's worth doing?

Why strategy is such an important topic.

You deserve meaning.

To understand and be understood.

Is the drama more compelling?

How a purpose deficit amplifies the small stuff.

Trust is not the answer

On the misdiagnosis of inter-team conflict.

5 Ways a Leader Creates Alignment

A spectrum of options. I wonder which is most effective?

Discouraged teams

The effects of authoritarians, micromanagers, and yes, cool bosses on their teams.

Because I'm the boss, duh

Authoritarians, Micromanagers, and Cool Bosses, all have something to learn.

How to be principled.

How principled leadership creates stability, predictability, and trust.