November 11, 2025 Hi Reader (3-minute read) keep encouraging everyone else to reframe and rethink things from different angles. So this past week I started noticing how often leaders mistake defensiveness for conviction. How we gravitate toward black & white answers because grey areas feel unsafe. How most leadership advice keeps adding more techniques when what's actually needed is permission to subtract. None of this is all that ground-breaking. But when you bring it front-of-mind and watch...
16 days ago • 4 min read
November 11, 2025 Hi Reader (3-minute read) Three things keep coming up in conversations, in my own work, in what I'm reading. I knew they were connected somehow but I couldn't quite put my finger on how. First, why brilliant strategies keep dying between the planning and the doing. Second, why our leadership development efforts produce people who need permission instead of people who take initiative. Third, why companies and sports clubs that plaster their values all over walls seem the...
23 days ago • 4 min read
November 11, 2025 Hi Reader Part 3: From Values to an Operating System TL/DR: Culture isn't built by writing better values but by documenting actual decisions. Here's the simple process: Identify your three recurring dilemmas, capture how your best leaders resolve them, and turn those patterns into protocols everyone can follow. Start with one. Build from there. (3-minute read) An email arrived at 5pm…. "We need a culture decision. Two candidates. One has better credentials. One fits our...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
November 4, 2025 Hi Reader Part 2: Why One Operating System Isn't Enough TL/DR: Your culture gets tested in three distinct ways: Standards vs. People dilemmas, Speed vs. Quality dilemmas, and Transparency vs. Protection dilemmas. Each requires a different decision framework. Without clarity on all three, your people are guessing..and getting it wrong. (3-minute read) A performance analyst made a mistake. A big one. Because of it the wrong data went to the board. Decisions were made. Money was...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
October 28, 2025 Hi Reader TL/DR:Your values are on the wall, the website, and laminated cards. But nobody's following them. It’s not because people don't care but because abstract words can't solve real dilemmas. Culture doesn't exist until it helps people choose between two right answers. (3-minute read) Your values on the wall and on your homepage say things like "Integrity. Respect. Excellence." Last Tuesday, your head of performance heard rumours about a star player's injury. Staff are...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
October 14, 2025 Hi Reader TL/DR: The old motivational contract (authority + incentives = performance) is broken. The new one (belonging + autonomy + purpose = engagement) feels fragile and slow under performance pressure. Perhaps you don't need softer standards? Maybe you need a new system that upholds excellence while speaking a different psychological language. Here are 4 steps towards that. (3-minute read) What if your best player just walked out of a ‘feedback session’. They’re not...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
October 14, 2025 Hi Reader TL/DR: You think you're good at giving feedback because people nod and say "thanks for your thoughts." Most feedback, in reality, isn't developmental, it's just criticism with professional packaging. The gap between what leaders think feedback is and what it actually requires is costing teams their best talent and organisations their competitive edge. Ask a group of people if they are good drivers…90% answer that yes, of course, they are. Asking leaders about their...
2 months ago • 4 min read
September 26, 2025 Hi Reader Sometimes the best advice is the exact opposite of what everyone's telling you. Last week's newsletter about challenging conventional wisdom struck a nerve. The responses made one thing clear: leaders are hungry for perspectives that go against the grain of popular thinking. This week, I'm diving deeper into inverse logic. We’ll look at those moments when the smartest move is the one that feels completely backwards. When success comes from doing less, not more....
3 months ago • 3 min read
September 19, 2025 Hi Reader This week, I'm rethinking and reframing. Questioning things I thought I believed. Tl/dr: You might well be operating off a flawed operating systems of baked in assumptions. (3-minute read) You know that feeling when someone says something that makes you realise you've been thinking about something backwards? That's been my past two weeks. Three separate conversations forced me to confront assumptions I didn't even know I was making. About authenticity. About...
3 months ago • 2 min read