Hire Slowly, Fire Fast
"Hire fast, fire fast" sounds bold, but it gambles with people's lives. Why the more humane, harder standard — hire slowly, fire fast — builds stronger teams.
Over peanuts and beer.
I had a beer with a friend whose company was rotten to the core. A month later he was a different man — one new leader had cancelled every change programme and simply held a line. On why culture is cultivated, not announced.
Nobody had an answer
I joined a community group that met, discussed, minuted and solved precisely nothing. On the one question that fixed it — and the three that follow — none of which needs a single new tool.
Malcolm knew everything
I once worked with a man who was an expert at everything and had done none of it. On why most training leaves people knowing more and doing exactly the same — and what actually changes behaviour.
I believe you have my stapler
A specialist lost the whole room in seven Japanese words. On a plainer instruction: staple yourself to a piece of work, follow it through the building, and map what actually happens — not what's meant to.
Notes Are for Thinking
Good note-taking is not about recording the past. It is a tool for thinking in the present — shaping attention, learning, and judgment as work unfolds.
Nice notebook, shame about the method
Why every productivity system — a bullet journal, a to-do list, a huge platform — is just a container and rules.
Mr Freaking Furious
In 2006 a stranger at a conference told me how much he hated his life — his job, his boss, probably the sandwiches. On the difference between succeeding and thriving, and why thriving is something you choose rather than something that accumulates.
As warm as a cuddly toy
Why real effectiveness lives in the tension between the value you create and the relationships you create it through.
Listening is the greatest compliment - a case for active listening at work
Watch an adult listen to a small child — the turned body, the long pauses, the full attention — then watch the same adults listen to each other at work. We know how to do this. A guide to winning it back, and to the power of being fully heard.
The meeting that ate the morning
I ask every workshop the same question: has anyone here ever sat in a truly effective meeting? The hands mostly stay down. On why meetings are ineffective by design, the few honest choices that fix them — and one meeting that ate a whole morning.
Be surprised less often
Seasoned people aren't cleverer — they're better oriented. They see what's forming while others are still reacting. On awareness as a practice, weak signals, and why so much of experience is really just earlier sight.