A Series of Sorts – wherein I trace the unexpected connections between my writings on management, leadership, chaos, and time, revealing a common thread about working with natural patterns rather than against them, and how reflection becomes the pathway to deeper understanding.
Clock Time or Craft Time? How Quality Finds Its Own Pace – wherein I explore the tension between mechanical time management and organic work rhythms, examining how our relationship with time fundamentally shapes work quality and revealing why the fastest path isn’t always the most effective route to excellence.
Decoding ‘What For’: Understanding What Really Drives Us – wherein I explore the distinction between motivation and motives in the workplace, challenging traditional views of employee motivation while proposing a more nuanced approach focused on understanding the complex interplay of personal, professional, and transcendent drives that shape human behavior at work.
Embracing Chaos: A Leadership Evolution – wherein I challenge traditional views of chaos as something to control, exploring instead how accepting uncertainty and internal disorder might be the key to more authentic and effective leadership.
Managing in Prose, Leading in Poetry: A Shift in Perspective – wherein I explore the delicate balance between management’s mechanical precision and leadership’s poetic fluidity, using the metaphors of engines and sails to understand how structure and adaptability can coexist in organizational leadership.
The Craft of Management: Beyond Metrics and Methods – wherein I explore how managing people remains more craft than science, requiring wisdom that no algorithm can replicate.
Notes on Craft from a Montreal Winter – wherein I stumble upon a florist’s artful dance with winter-wrapped blooms, each careful layer telling tales of craft over commerce.
Those who are quiet – an homage
The power of ‘What For?’ Questions: Rethinking Conversation – You’re asking the wrong question—and it’s holding you back.
Effective Time Management for Leaders: Beyond ‘Keep It Brief’ – Stop watching the clock and start reading the room. Here’s how successful managers balance depth with efficiency.
Learning from others: Reimagining professional development – Every conversation is an unwritten curriculum—if we’re brave enough to read it.
The Problem with “Leading by Example”: Rethinking Exemplarity as Being an Original – Leadership isn’t about setting a model for others to copy. It’s about being an original—sparking uniqueness over imitation.
Precise Critiques, Vague Praise: Fixing the Feedback Imbalance – Why is it that when things go wrong, we get detailed feedback – but when things go right, it’s reduced to a hollow “good job”?
Communicating is not talking at people, it’s co-responding
We all think we’re great drivers
When in doubt, draw a distinction
One more time: How do I lead by example?
The job candidate selection process is a fail. Try this.
On paid employment, work, craft, and spare time
Keep track of what really matters