Behind the scenes at the magic kingdom
November 16, 2022
We don’t need it to be all doom and gloom. But what does it mean when there’s no longer space to talk about what’s working and what isn’t?
World's Best Newsletter Archive
What to do when you’re all out of puffins
October 19, 2022
The bullshit is supposed to be in service of something. Ideally, say, work that you’re proud of, whose impact matters to you, and which allows you to live a life you enjoy.
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.
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.
Not quite out of office
December 1, 2021
We know that rest is transformative. We can point to periods of downtime in our lives as the places when we got to clarity. Where we had space. Space to breathe, and to take stock.
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.
If there’s light at the end of the tunnel, why is it still so dark?
January 27, 2021
Maybe this is you and maybe it isn’t. But if you’re leading a team, understand that many of your people are doing this. And if so, here are some things you can do to help.
Has your eye stopped twitching yet?
December 30, 2020
Thank you for 2020. Thank you for forwarding our stuff, and writing us to tell us when it hit. We’re trying to make work better for people because we think it’s possible and worthy and important.
The waiting is the hardest part
July 29, 2020
To run the tapes is to review past performance – yours or someone else’s – to see what you can learn from it. To run, and re-run, the metaphorical or literal video tape.
Checkmate in five moves
July 15, 2020
For those of you who see yourself in the 40% and falling camp, though, it’s time to see it for what it is. If it’s genuinely changeable and you have the energy and the commitment to change it, we’re rooting for you. If it’s not changeable, though. Well.
This is nothing like mat leave
May 6, 2020
8 weeks ago things here in Toronto started to shut down. And if they’d only shut down for a week or two, maybe we all could have gone back to what it was. But it’s been two months. You’re different than you were. We all are.
The end of the beginning
April 22, 2020
Your ability, your team’s ability, your organization’s ability to survive a crisis like this starts when you accept it for what it is.
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