Tag: Culture
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What If Your Job Could Be Anything You Wanted?
At some point in your working life, you’ve probably heard, or even said yourself, “That’s not my job.” Perhaps you’ve encountered or deployed the more polished and weaponized version: “That’s not really in my job description.” In conventional workplaces, these phrases sound reasonable on the surface. People have responsibilities outlined in their job descriptions, and…
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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…
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The Science of Collaboration: Why Working Together Makes Us Healthier, Sharper, and More Successful
There’s a reason we feel better after a really good team meeting, the kind where ideas click into place, and everyone walks away energized instead of drained. It turns out that feeling isn’t just anecdotal. A growing body of research shows that collaboration, when done intentionally, goes beyond making work more pleasant. It also makes…
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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…
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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…
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Building Infrastructure for Self-Managing Organizations
I’ll be honest, I’m spread thin right now. Building infrastructure for self-managing organizations across multiple channels and services centered around my recent book, Organizing for Impact, is definitely a lot. Some days it feels like too much, like I’m trying to gain visibility and traction with seven different things at once, and doing none of…
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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…
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The Year-End Goals That Can Actually Wait
December arrives, and suddenly everything feels urgent. Projects that have been progressing steadily for months now “must” be completed by December 31st. Teams work unsustainably to hit arbitrary year-end targets. We know intellectually that January 1st is just another day. Nothing fundamental changes when the calendar flips. Yet we feel compelled to close everything out,…
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Challenging the Dehumanizing Language of Corporate Workplaces
“We need to leverage our human capital more effectively.” This is the kind of phrase that gets thrown around in corporate meetings all the time. It sounds professional and strategic, like the way leaders are supposed to talk about getting more from their teams. But listen to it again. Leverage our human capital. We’re talking…
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Why Good Leaders Unknowingly Create Toxic Workplaces
A recent Monster survey revealed that 80 percent of American workers now describe their work environments as toxic workplaces, up from 67 percent just a year ago. Even more alarming, 93 percent say their employers aren’t supporting their mental health needs, and more than half would consider quitting over workplace toxicity. These numbers are staggering.…