The Drama Is Real. It Isn't The Whole Story. Watch an executive get defensive in a steering committee. Someone asks a direct question about the go-live date, and the sponsor's jaw tightens, the voice sharpens, the justification arrives before the question has finished...
Incompetence in the Executive Suite We rarely use the word incompetence for executives. It sounds too blunt for people with the right titles, the right degrees, the right number of years behind their name. So we find softer words instead — bandwidth, style,...
You Trained the Tradesperson. You Never Trained the System User. A tradesperson cannot pick up a tool on day one and start using it at will. They are trained on it. Assessed on it. Reassessed on a cycle, to confirm the skill hasn't decayed. Certified against a...
Our brains were built to follow patterns. Then somewhere along the way we convinced ourselves we're running on free will and conscious control. Most of the time we're not. We're following the groove. This is worth sitting with if you're a leader trying to change your...
Foundations Most of the suffering in our lives — personal and professional — traces back to one thing. Not bad luck. Not the wrong partner, the wrong product, the wrong market. It traces back to a lack of effort or resources spent building the foundations before we...
The Four Levels Every Project Sponsor Is Actually Responsible For Most sponsors think the job is to approve the business case, then watch the RAG status until go-live. That's Level 1. It's also the smallest part of the job. I've sat on both sides of enough ERP...
M = f(t). Meaning Is a Function of Time. I wrote that down before I wrote anything else, because it's the whole argument in four characters. Meaning is not fixed. It moves with time. And most of the conflict I see leaders carry — with their staff, their kids, their...
Comparison is the fool's tool. And most of us are fools. Not occasionally. Not on our worst days. As a default setting. The mind reaches for comparison the way a hand reaches for a railing — automatically, without being asked to. Here is the first thing worth...