The Clapback
May 18, 2022
Anywhere your senior leaders are not giving their full-throated support to a thing, you should be prepared for a clapback.
Archives
Pretend it’s a business
May 4, 2022
Faced with an extended stay in the squishy place, a lot of execs are opting out. They are making decisions with the information they’ve got. Trading liminal for solid ground anywhere they can find it. And, for a lot of workplaces, shit is about to get real.
The laziest form of management
April 20, 2022
At the core of every boss quoting some article about kids today is a two-part management failure. First, a failure to adapt to the changing workplace. And second, a failure to listen to the feedback that they are part of the problem.
The donuts aren’t working
April 6, 2022
We’re hearing from the bosses and people and culture teams asked to implement the Bums-in-Seats directive. Even when they, themselves, are skeptical.
New York’s hottest club is Competent Management
March 23, 2022
The massive competition for talent has every HR and Talent leader running after the same ball. And the visual effect, from up here on the hill, looks a lot like Bunch Ball.
Everyone’s a great manager until they start managing
March 9, 2022
That smug satisfaction about what you would do if you were in charge? We understand the appeal.
The perks are great and the work is fine
February 23, 2022
Faced with that blandness, a lot of leaders are pushing back-to-office plans. They have nostalgia for the flavour of a packed and humming office, and feel like if people would just get back in there, it would fix things.
You only get punked when you don’t expect it
February 9, 2022
If we’re right about this prediction, the amount of energy coming at you is going to be intense. The question to ask is: do you have somewhere for that energy to go?
Okay, but what about managing up?
January 26, 2022
What’s to be done about the boss above me who doesn’t know this stuff but needs to? How do I get them to show up for me so I can show up for my own team?
Bad advice you shouldn’t take
January 12, 2022
Resignations. Competitive talent markets. The structure of the org chart. All of these things can feel bigger than you, as an individual leader trying to get things done in your organization. We get that. But be skeptical of any advice that takes them as fixed.
How to predict the future
December 29, 2021
Assumptions and predictions are two tools to get at the same thing. Both try to crystallize how you think about the world today, in case it changes. But writing down an assumption is passive, it’s descriptive. Making a prediction is active.
We didn’t build *that* Better boss
December 15, 2021
People send us the links in part because, haha, you build better bosses. Here’s the literal CEO of Better and seems like he could have used some management training. Hardy har har. But some of them also want to know, “Is this normal?” And if so, how often does this happen? And why?
Did this hit you right in the feels?
We're not sorry.
Subscribe to get the next one.