Imagine your job is to push a heavy rock from one side of a field to the other. Under ideal conditions, pushing that rock is challenging, but doable. Then when you get about a third of the way across the field, the rock suddenly stops moving. You push a little
Have you ever wondered how your team members can be so incredibly brilliant and resourceful in some situations but also be totally surprised to hear that bug reports go in GitHub instead of Asana now (even though you’ve talked about it in three meetings, updated the bug reporting documentation,
What’s the point of reporting bugs? Devs just ignore them anyway . . . That was the gist of a conversation I had with one of my project managers when I led a support division. He and his team managed the process for making sure customer reported bugs were addressed consistently. He
You got where you are by working hard. You set a goal, and then you followed through. You put in the extra effort. You pushed through resistance. You figured things out when they weren’t clear. And it worked. It worked so well that “try harder” became your default strategy.
Nine months into my first official leadership role, I got devastating feedback from my lead: evidently my team members and peer leads said I was defensive and intimidating and the one I’ll never forget— “responded to their input with thinly veiled contempt.” I was flabbergasted, angry and confused. Most
Many leaders avoid accountability conversations because they don’t want to hurt their team’s feelings—or because they’re painfully aware of their own imperfections. But avoiding accountability doesn’t build psychological safety; it quietly erodes trust, fuels resentment, and leads to burnout. This a
One of the benefits of working on a team is more eyes means more opportunities to find problems (and solutions) fast. But what if your team members don’t default to sharing information? That’s frustrating–but luckily also preventable. These three shifts can help. Pay attention to your reaction
We’ve all been there. You’re giving feedback to a colleague who keeps steering the conversation to how your behavior is the real problem. Your spouse is annoyed (again) about the dishes, seemingly blind to all the ways you keep the household running. Your kid is melting down because
If your team is passionate, conflict is inevitable. But with the right tools, you can manage hot emotions at work without burning bridges—or yourself.
Blame is a bit like junk food. It feels satisfying for a second, especially when we’re hurt, disappointed, or scrambling to make sense of what just went wrong. But it rarely leaves us better off—and often makes things harder in the long run. We think we’re holding
Stop forcing constant productivity. A seasonal work cycle—planning, action, harvest, and rest—can help you achieve better results with less burnout. Learn how mission-driven leaders are using nature’s rhythms to work smarter and lead more sustainably.
When we talk about power, we usually think about people who take too much. But what about the moments when we give ours away?