Day-to-day management in a polycrisis
October 18, 2023
Yours can be a team where people’s humanity has space to coexist with, and even outrank, their productivity. It’s worth building that. We’re all going to need it.
World's Best Newsletter Archive
Is anyone ever ready for leadership?
August 23, 2023
One of the best, most leveraged, most impactful things you can do as a leader is to grow new, excellent leaders.
Who gets Humperdinck?
November 2, 2022
For many bosses, it’s clear that the more you look and talk and vibe like Elon, the more permission you’ll get to be capricious and abusive and cynical.
You don’t want to drink that
August 10, 2022
Threats. Dismissiveness. Burnout. Micromanagement. Yelling. Every bad boss behaviour is going to come out of the woodwork in the next few months.
The buzzing noise from the hotel closet
July 13, 2022
Just because we go on vacation doesn’t mean the organization stops.
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.
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?
You can’t seize the moment with your hands full
October 6, 2021
Today, our second book comes out. It’s an ender chest. It is a full year of these newsletters, from the first lockdown to the anniversary of those lockdowns. It is a place to put down some of what the past 18 months have felt like.
Fundamentally, this is a story about power
May 5, 2021
The short answer is no. The Basecamp stuff isn’t some evil genius strategy playing out according to plan.
Fire me if you have to
April 21, 2021
When people write the bumper stickers about management versus leadership, this is what they mean. The willingness to make the hard call, to do the unpopular thing, not from a place of taking big swings.
Who tells you no?
January 13, 2021
If bobblehead leadership is what’s rewarded in your org, that’s what you’ll get.
Evidence-based hope
December 2, 2020
We talk about power head on. And what it means to be the people who control how work feels. What an awesome responsibility it is. And what happens when leaders fall short. We don’t let them pretend it away. We sit in the discomfort of the thing. And that’s where our hope comes from.
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