Category: Leadership
-
Your Brain on Trust and the Neuroscience of Collaboration
In my last post, “The Science of Collaboration,” I explored the research connecting intentional collaboration to measurable outcomes in wellness, productivity, and business performance. The numbers are compelling, but what I didn’t get into was why collaboration has such a profound effect on how people feel and perform. For that, we need to look at…
-
Five Leadership Tensions You’re Probably Navigating Alone
If you’ve ever felt like leadership is harder than it should be, you’re not imagining things. Most leaders I know aren’t struggling because they lack talent or dedication. They’re struggling because they’re caught between competing forces that no one ever helped them see clearly, let alone navigate. I call these leadership tensions, and after twenty-plus…
-
The Art of Collaborative Leadership: Leading and Following at the Same Time
There’s a quiet assumption baked into most of our ideas about leadership that leaders lead, and followers follow, and never the twain shall meet. You’re either at the front of the room or you’re in the seats. You’re either the one with the answers or the one with the questions. Leadership, in this view, is…
-
Where Do You Stand in the Power Equation?
Something shifts when you realize you’re standing in a power dynamic you didn’t choose. Maybe it happened this week when a policy changed at work without consultation, when a decision got handed down that affects your team but none of you had a voice in it, when you watched someone in authority dismiss concerns without…
-
Three Design Choices That Improve Workplace Wellbeing
Every year, a new wave of workplace wellbeing content rolls in, usually packaged as a trend forecast or a benefits strategy. Some of it is genuinely helpful. Some of it accidentally turns wellness into one more thing employees are expected to “manage” on their own time. What I see on the ground is simpler. When…
-
Why I Keep Fighting for People-Positive Workplaces
Every week for the past year and a half, I’ve shown up to write about something most organizations still treat as optional: creating people-positive workplaces where people can actually thrive. I published a book. I launched a Substack. I wrote blog posts exploring everything from dehumanizing corporate language to the mechanics of distributed decision-making. I’ve…
-
Looking Toward 2026: Making Friends with Uncertainty
“In these uncertain times…” How many times have we heard that phrase lately? How many times have we written it ourselves? At some point, if everything is always uncertain, the phrase loses its meaning. More importantly, it reveals that we’re not actually struggling with uncertainty itself but rather our relationship to it. We’ve been taught…
-
Stop Planning to Avoid Failure. Start Planning to Create Possibility.
Picture a planning meeting where most of the energy goes into identifying what could go wrong. People talk about risks, contingencies, and backup plans. The conversation focuses on how to protect against failure rather than what you’re trying to create. This is fear-based planning, and it’s incredibly common in organizations. While it may feel responsible…
-
How Self-Criticism Undermines Collaborative Leadership
After a difficult meeting where your decision was questioned, do you ever replay the conversation in your head with a running commentary of harsh judgments? “I should have seen that coming.” “That was a stupid thing to say.” “I can’t believe I didn’t prepare better.” This internal voice feels like accountability. It feels like holding…
-
Being Human At vs Being Human With
I was talking with a friend the other day about social media and influencer culture, and something came out of my mouth that I’ve been turning over ever since: “It seems like with social media, we spend a lot of time being human at instead of human with each other.” The more I sit with…