Loved talking with Bree Groff today about her new book Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously). Our interview will go live this Fall, but her book just launched last week and it's a great read. It's a refreshing and thought-provoking look at how to make work more fun. More

BEWARE THE FIREFIGHTER-ARSONIST MODE Ever seen this pattern? Someone "saves the day" from problems that seem to keep happening under their watch? That's the firefighter-arsonist mode. It often isn't just a person--it's the system that includes the people. The chaos may be

If someone on your team isn’t doing what you asked, it’s easy to assume: ❌ They’re not motivated. ❌ They’re being difficult. ❌ They don’t care. But what if the issue isn’t mindset? What if it's clarity? In episode 468, James Turk put it this way: 👉 “The number one reason

We often assume the villain is power. After all, 19th-century British historian Lord Acton famously observed: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." We can find plenty of evidence to back that up. But here's something I find more relevant to those of

You can’t control your heartbeat. You can’t control your adrenaline. But you can control your breath. Here's what leadership coach Josefine Campbell shared with me: “Your breath is the only vital response you can control. It’s your way back to calm in the moment.” That moment

"THEY GAVE YOU A BABYSITTER!" One of my MBA students once laughed at the idea of project management: "I remember sitting in a meeting years ago when someone told a colleague, 'We’re going to assign a project manager to assist you,' and I thought, 'Ha! They gave you a

"Most people don’t want accurate information, they want validating information." James Clear 👉 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀' 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘂𝗽? James joined us to talk about his powerful book 𝘈𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘏𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴. Queue

KNOWING PROJECT MANAGEMENT ISN'T JUST HELPFUL. IT'S EMPOWERING. I’ll stop bragging about my MBA students soon. (Maybe.) But I’m so proud of them! So many people have misconceptions about project management. Here’s how one of our cohort members described their mindset shift:

"My main goal in life is to be respected the most by those who know me the most." Jon Harper Someone recently told me about a public figure who, from the stage, seemed full of integrity. Confident. Convincing. The real deal. But the person telling me this knew them off-stage,

Phil Wilson suggests a check-in called Best and Best. At the start of a meeting, consider asking your team to share: ✔️ One great thing happening in their work life ✔️ One great thing happening in their personal life It’s not just feel-good fluff. Phil has been doing it for

HOW MANY OPPORTUNITIES PASS US BY... ...because we didn’t ask? A raise. A stretch assignment. A referral. A shot at leading. Can asking make you look bad? Sure, if: ❌ It comes off as entitled ❌ You’ve asked before, but haven’t followed through ❌ You’re not reading the room

“I’M JUST A PEOPLE PLEASER”. IT SOUNDS HARMLESS. We say it like it’s no big deal. Like it just means we’re nice. Thoughtful. Easy to work with. But people-pleasing has an insidious cost, especially for those of us leading teams and projects. When our confidence depends on

LIFE WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE PAIN-FREE. Professional football player Ray Lewis said this: “You play with pain. You play hurt. That’s the nature of the game. That’s the nature of life.” Maybe this isn’t you... but somewhere along the way, many of us picked up a quiet assumption:

“One lesson I’ve learned is that if the job I do were easy, I wouldn’t derive so much satisfaction from it. The thrill of winning is in direct proportion to the effort I put in before." Rafael Nadal 👉What's an example of when you've seen this be true for you? I'll start: ✔️

"Today, there is no one who can intimidate me because of title or skill or fame." Estee Lauder Ever felt nervous because a senior leader was in the same meeting? Or because you were interacting with someone more experienced or well-known? Estee Lauder put it this way: "I began

"SOLITUDE IS A CONDITION OF PEACE THAT STANDS IN DIRECT OPPOSITION TO LONELINESS." Kent Nerburn Recently, I visited with an elderly person. It was a lovely conversation, but one thing they said has stayed with me: "It's the loneliness that is so hard." Loneliness is not just

Waiting for some inspiration? Here's a quote from artist Chuck Close that I need to revisit every once in a while: “The advice I like to give anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to

AN EXPERT IS SOMEONE WHO HAS COLLECTED A LOT OF SCARS. Niels Bohr’s observation reminds me that expertise is rarely glamorous: “An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.” It's not a perfect definition. But I can relate to at

Want to level up your ability to lead and deliver projects? My friend Olivia Pekny is running the PM Master Quest during the month of September. It is a daily challenge designed to build stronger problem-solving skills in just minutes a day. It’s practical, lightweight, and

WE DO NOT REMEMBER DAYS, WE REMEMBER MOMENTS. THE RICHNESS OF LIFE LIES IN MEMORIES WE HAVE FORGOTTEN. CESARE PAVESE I've been reflecting on this quote lately. What do you think Pavese was getting at? I'll start: ✔️ Most of what happens from day-to-day ends up being forgotten.