Too many people apply for jobs as if the act of applying itself deserves a reward. They send out resumes like confetti, hoping one lands in the right hand, on the right day, in the right mood. And when it doesn’t, they assume it’s luck, timing, or the system. But let’s be honest - it’s usually … [Read more...]
The Seduction of Talent
Leadership is a constant exercise in judgment, but few judgments are as seductive - and as potentially costly - as the judgment of talent. We like to believe that talent reveals itself instantly, that brilliance is self-evident. We tell ourselves that a clever presentation, a polished resume, or … [Read more...]
Where Leadership Lands
There comes a point in every leader’s journey when the interview isn’t really an interview anymore. It’s a conversation between two worlds - yours and theirs - trying to see if they can coexist. The questions stop being about competence. They start being about chemistry. Because by the time you … [Read more...]
When I Realized Merit Wasn’t the Currency
My first employer was the kind of place any young graduate would dream of working at. Prestigious name, big glass offices, a brand that carried weight at every dinner table. It was the sort of job that made parents proud and LinkedIn bios glow. The truth though, as I discovered within nine … [Read more...]
The Illusion of Fractional Leadership
There’s a growing romance in business circles around the idea of “fractional” leadership - a head of marketing who works two days a week, a product lead who divides their time across three ventures, or a strategy executive who parachutes in for a few hours of wisdom and then disappears into the next … [Read more...]
The Difference Between Making and Designing
There comes a point in every creative person’s journey when instinct stops being enough. You can have the eye, the talent, the intuition, and even the charm of good taste, but without structure, intention, and reflection, all of that brilliance remains suspended in chance. It might work today, … [Read more...]
The Illusion of Career Planning
I often tell my students that trying to plan your entire career is one of the biggest mistakes smart people make. It feels responsible, even intelligent, to map it all out - the next job, the next city, the next milestone. We’re taught that clarity comes from certainty. But in reality, clarity comes … [Read more...]
The Game Is Won in the Mind Before It Is Won on the Field
No matter how dazzling your game, if you don’t win the match, it doesn’t count for much. Sports, like life and leadership, remind us that brilliance without results can be entertaining, even memorable, but it is not defining. The scoreboard has the final say. The crowd may rise to applaud a … [Read more...]
The Seduction of Habit
Most of what we do in life is not the result of conscious choice. It is not because we have carefully thought it through, weighed the alternatives, or acted with deliberate conviction. It is simply habit. The way we tie our shoes, the way we check our phones, the way we respond in meetings, even … [Read more...]