Every organization I work with is asking the same two questions right now, though rarely out loud. When did we stop expecting leaders to be good people? And does it even matter, if AI can make better decisions anyway? There was a moment when we decided character and competence were separable. Aristotle would have found…
Picture a boat. Visibility is near zero. The captain can barely see the North Star. The oars don’t match, so no one is pulling with the same force or in the same direction. Below deck, the hull is taking on water. The captain is steering but the one person who knew a critical piece was…
I’ve developed a few rules for myself. I’m reliably bad at following them — that’s how I know they’re the right ones. One of them comes from attribution error theory. It sounds abstract, but in practice it’s just one question. Before I give feedback, start a hard conversation, or jump to conclusions, I try to…
One of the stranger leadership ironies: the leaders most afraid of autocracy are often the ones who create it. We taught a generation of leaders that good leaders don’t impose. Now the meeting has been going for three hours and nobody will call it. It starts with the best intentions: participation, inclusion, everyone being heard.…