A guided thinking exercise for being more intentional in 2026 As I wind down my 2025, I do so knowing my intentions for the year were directionally clear — and consistently guiding. Intentions and directional clarity did not dictate every decision or eliminate uncertainty. But they focused me. They helped amplify the

Adam Grant recently posted about (see it here) the 8th Habit of Highly Effective People (extending Steven Covey’s original 7 Habits) with the following observations (and an excellent graphic from Janis Ozolins): – Extended reflection without action is a form of procrastination.– Doing is a catalyst for thinking and learning.

A recurring theme in my executive coaching work recently is what I refer to as helping a leader improve their UI (user interface).  A leader’s UI is effectively how others access the leader’s individual ‘leadership operating system’, which includes their leadership capabilities, skills, qualities, etc.  (You could also think of

One place I didn’t expect to (or, maybe I hoped not to) talk about RTO (return to office) ‘stuff’ was BetterUp‘s hashtag#uplift2024, which I attended last week in San Francisco. I have personally stopped feeding the topic of RTO (though I support my thought-sharer friends who continue to do so

Back to my 6 building blocks I’ve been using across my coaching and advisory clients. In this installment, it’s the ‘𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬’ block. ‘𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬’ explores mostly what it sounds like: how one works with others in and around their work. ‘Others’ can be

With Labor Day in the US quickly approaching, I thought it timely to share the 3rd of the 6 building blocks I’ve been using and refining across my coaching and advisory work: the ‘𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤’ block. The ‘𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤’ block explores exactly

I am returning to the 6 building blocks I’ve been using and refining across my coaching and advisory clients (and, of course, with myself), focusing this time on the ‘𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤’ block. My previous post on these blocks (link in comments) focused on the

I very recently shared the 6 building blocks (link in comments) I’ve been using across my client work (and with myself), and I plan to click into each of the blocks over a few posts. I’ll start with ‘𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤’. This building block weighs a little more than the

In my desire to help simplify somewhat the work of making things better for work, workers and workplace, I have broken that work — or at least my portion of it — into six basic building blocks that I use with my clients (and myself): 1. How I work 2.

One of my favorite Seinfeld bits (from the TV show) is when Jerry goes to pick up the rental car he reserved and learns there are no cars available. Irritated, he snarkily imparts on the un-apologetic agent “You know how to take the reservation. You just don’t know how to