Weekly Posts and Insights
When Burnout and Aversion to Challenges Become the Culture
Because change is not slowing down. The organizations that survive will not be the ones with the most sophisticated complaints. They will be the ones that can still look at a challenge, gather the right people, test a better way, and move forward.
Leadership in the Age of Sarcasm, Irony, and Snark
In a culture that rewards “hot takes” and cheap certainty, leaders have to widen the room for complexity again. Not by sounding smarter, but by staying steadier. By being willing to say, calmly, “This is more complicated than it appears. We need to listen longer. Both things may partially be true. We can disagree without dehumanizing.” That kind of leadership probably won’t win the comment section. But it will build real trust in the real rooms that matter.
Taking the temperature of your organization this Spring
A good organizational assessment is not about catching people. It is about listening to the system. It helps leaders move beyond assumptions, anecdotes, and the loudest voices (or deepest pockets, influence, charm) in the room. It gives shape to what people are feeling, where alignment is breaking down, and where energy is either being created or drained. Done well, it can take the temperature, release some of the pressure, and create a healthier path forward.
Lead Within: The Art of Changing Systems Without Losing People
Most leaders eventually face the same tension: Do I spend my energy attacking the system from the outside, or changing it from the inside? This week’s Brief is about that difficult middle space, the space between idealism and pragmatism. The strongest leaders do not confuse patience with passivity, nor conviction with chaos. They learn the system they are in, understand its pressure points, and steadily move people toward a better future without losing the trust of those still living in the present one.
Lead at the Right Altitude (Stop proving. Start scaling.)
What am I still doing because it makes me feel valuable, but actually limits our growth and my effectiveness as a leader?
Most executives don’t struggle with effort. We struggle with identity. For many of us, our early career success came from outworking others, doing it ourselves, being detail obsessed and fixing what others couldn’t (or didn’t want to). Gold Star! That’s how we got here. But that same identity becomes dangerous at scale.
Status, Respect, and the 10–25 Brain: Rethinking Young Talent at Work I Season 1 Finale of Direct Application with Matt Harrington
In the Season 1 finale of Direct Application, host Matt Harrington sits down with Dr. David Yeager, bestselling author of 10–25: The Science of Motivating Young People, for a timely and practical conversation on leadership, motivation, and the future of work.
Dr. Yeager’s research challenges one of the most common — and costly — assumptions in organizations today: that young people ages 10 to 25 are inherently immature or incompetent. Instead, he reframes adolescence and early adulthood as a distinct developmental window where status, respect, belonging, and purpose are the primary drivers of engagement and performance.
Together, Matt and David explore how leaders, managers, and organizations can apply these insights directly in the workplace — without lowering standards or sacrificing results.
Getting the Most Out of Your Work Teams
A practical guide to building high-performance teams through trust, structure, shared accountability, and intentional leadership—designed for modern organizations and leaders.
Tuckman’s Team Development Wheel, Revisited — Part 3: The Norming Stage
Explore the Norming stage of Tuckman’s Team Development Model, where teams shift from conflict to cohesion and begin choosing collaboration over individuality. This post blends team-building methods with modern research on psychological safety, accountability, and shared mental models to explain how teams stabilize, strengthen trust, and build the foundation for high performance. Learn key coaching strategies for supporting autonomy, reinforcing positive norms, and guiding teams toward the Performing stage.
Tuckman’s Team Development Wheel, Revisited — Part 2: The Storming Stage
Explore the Storming stage of Tuckman’s Team Development Model and learn how teams navigate conflict, control issues, and growing pains on the path to high performance. This post offers practical strategies for leaders and coaches to guide teams through turbulence and into true collaboration.
The Team Development Wheel Revisited: The Forming Stage in Modern Teamwork
Discover how teams move through Tuckman’s Forming stage and learn practical strategies for building trust, structure, and early momentum. This post explores modern research on psychological safety, team norms, and effective coaching behaviors to help leaders accelerate team maturity and lay a strong foundation for high-performance collaboration.