Cultivated

For many years I have kept a notebook I call my commonplace book. It is not a diary, not a planner, not a system for getting things done. It is a personal library for thinking — a place where ideas wait until they are needed.

Journaling has been a lifeline for me — not in a dramatic way, but in a quiet, steady one. It changed how I think, how I lead, and how I process the things that would otherwise carry me off course

One of the questions I am asked most often is simple: how do I become a leader? There is no single answer. But over the years I have developed fourteen principles that guide how I try to lead.

“Hire fast, fire fast” sounds efficient, but it’s often a shortcut to fear, churn, and reputational damage. A better standard is slower hiring, clearer expectations, and faster, fairer decisions when it’s not working

Learning does not happen by collecting information. It happens by turning experience into understanding. This essay outlines the personal knowledge system I use to do exactly that.

Almost every organisation now claims to be transforming its culture. Around 70 percent of those efforts deliver no meaningful change. The reason is rarely complexity — it is a misunderstanding of what culture actually is.

Hiring is one of the most expensive decisions any organisation makes — and one of the least carefully designed. It shapes culture, capability, and morale for years. It does not have to be treated as an afterthought.

The most powerful question at work — and the critical thinking discipline that makes it stick. Why clarity about the problem must come before solutions, plans, or action.

Every year organisations spend significant time and money sending people on training. Most of those people return and carry on exactly as before. This is not unusual — it is the default outcome.