Thoughts
Writing on leadership, organisations, strategy, and the work of building teams that last.
Meetings Are the Medium
Managers love to complain about meetings and keep filling their calendars with them. Andy Grove was right: meetings are not the problem, they are the work. On designing them as a tool for leverage rather than a symptom of dysfunction. Keep reading
OKRs Are Not Magic, But They Work When You Do
OKRs aren’t magic, but done right, they cut through noise, align teams, and turn ambition into measurable progress. Keep reading
Onboarding Is Leadership in Its Purest Form
The first day a new person joins your team is not an admin task. It is where trust begins, culture becomes tangible, and momentum is either built or lost. The onboarding structure I have refined across four leadership roles and two companies. Keep reading
The Calibration Gap
Most projects do not derail because of incompetence or bad intent. They derail because people assumed alignment before it existed. On the discipline of calibrating conversations in complex, cross-functional work. Keep reading
Feedback That Lands
Most feedback training focuses on giving feedback. That misses the harder half: learning to receive it without collapsing or deflecting. A practical framework for making feedback useful at both ends. Published in Venture Magazine. Keep reading
Why Transformation Fails Before It Starts
Over 80% of digital transformation initiatives fail, and the reason is rarely technology. It is loss of relevance and the inability to change behaviours and mindsets at scale. On what transformation actually requires. Keep reading
A Critical Review of Design Thinking
Design thinking is widely adopted, widely misunderstood, and frequently misapplied. It is a repeatable problem-solving process with real limits. A clear-eyed look at what it does well and where it breaks down. Keep reading
Earlier Writing
The Stinky Fish: Making the Unspeakable Speakable
Teams often know what is wrong before they are willing to say it. The Stinky Fish is a facilitation exercise designed to surface what people are avoiding. Simple, structured, and reliably uncomfortable in the right way. Keep reading
Working Agreements: How Teams Build the Rules They Actually Follow
Most teams operate on unspoken norms and then wonder why communication breaks down. Working agreements make those norms explicit, negotiated, and owned. How to build them in a way that sticks. Keep reading
Feedback at Five Levels
Feedback should be a gift, but most people were never taught how to receive it. Before learning to give better feedback, understand how to process it without defending, deflecting, or shutting down. Keep reading
Remote Retrospective Canvas
Retrospectives done well have a disproportionate impact on team performance. Done poorly, they waste everyone’s time and erode trust. A structured canvas for running retrospectives with distributed teams. Keep reading
Team Check-Ins and Check-Outs
Rituals shape culture. Check-ins and check-outs are among the simplest team practices I know, and among the most underused. How a consistent opening and closing habit builds presence, trust, and focus over time. Keep reading