January 21, 2026 Hi Reader ( 4-minute read at most...and then you can get back to Instagram!) I was sat in a meeting recently. At the head of the room a sporting director was presenting recruitment analysis. Twenty or so slides worth of data. Heat maps, passing networks, progressive carries per 90 minutes etc. It looked scientific, sounded impressive and kept my attention. Then someone asked the obvious question: "So who do we sign?" Silence and then…. "Well, the data suggests several...
11 days ago • 4 min read
January 15, 2026 Hi Reader (Only a 3-minute read) I’ll put money on that there's a conversation sitting in your calendar that you keep moving. And you keep shifting it forward not because you don't know it needs to happen but you know exactly what it'll feel like when it does. You know, that queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach that sits there like a crappy holiday cocktail. Discomfort. Tension. The risk that it goes sideways. So you push it to next week. Then the week after. Meanwhile,...
17 days ago • 7 min read
January 7, 2026 Hi Reader (Only a 3-minute read) Happy New Year and all the best for 2026. I want to talk about words I keep hearing from leaders. Words to this effect: "I know what I should be doing. I've read the books. Done the courses. I understand the principles." But then the rubber hits the road and it's like they've forgotten the lot. I don’t believe these people are incompetent. But there is a massive gap between knowing leadership and doing it in ways that actually land with people....
25 days ago • 4 min read
December 29, 2025 Hi Reader (3-minute read) Ok, time to wrap up 2025 and begin to look into 2026. As challenging as 2025 was, at times, to navigate, I’ve a feeling that 2026 will be a hill with a more steep gradient. I thought that this time last year too and resolved to keep learning as much as possible from the lessons that presented and revealed themselves to me. And so, to be courteous to these important learnings, I recorded them across the year as they happened. Now, it’s time to share...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
December 9, 2025 Hi Reader (3-minute read) Everyone else is getting clicks because of it so if I can’t beat them etc etc 😏 Mo Salah has blown up and thrown out the toys. And in the last great battle of 2025 the internet's picking sides, drawing battle lines and digging trenches. (As if there’s not actually important sh1t to focus on 🤷) Meanwhile, I'm sitting here thinking about it a bit different and how often we confuse the problem. Leaders want frameworks for managing star talent meltdowns....
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
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...
2 months 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...
2 months 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...
3 months 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...
3 months ago • 4 min read