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The Map

Direction and orientation — where the organisation is going and where it is now. Articles in this layer explore vision, strategy, painted pictures, and the leadership work of establishing a clear direction.

Remaining Relevant in a Changing Job Market

Remaining Relevant in a Changing Job Market

At a conference, a senior engineer told me he couldn't find a good job. Twenty minutes later, a hiring manager told me she couldn't find good people. They were both right, and they were describing the same problem from opposite sides.

Turning around a struggling team — a six-stage approach

Turning around a struggling team — a six-stage approach

Most struggling teams are not suffering from a lack of activity. They are suffering from a lack of understanding. Before you change anything, you need to see it clearly. This is the approach I have used — and coached others in — for turning around struggling teams.

A photo of a tape measure - Photo by Diana Polekhina / Unsplash

The Subtotal Button — What a Supermarket Checkout Taught Me About Metrics

In the summer of 1996, I discovered a button that paused the performance clock. Within weeks I was the fastest checkout operator in the West of Sheffield, then the company. Productivity, according to the numbers, had exploded. Cash in the bank had not.

A photo of a roller coaster with the words overlaid - Flow Beats Capacity — Every Time

Why Too Much Work Slows Everything Down

Overloaded systems are not capacity problems. They are flow problems. And the damage is almost always done upstream — in the rooms where leaders say yes to more than the funnel can finish.

A photo of a building roof with trees around it

The Painted Picture: Creating a Future Worth Doing the Work For

There is a question that sits above all the work. Not how do we work better or move faster. The question is simpler and much harder: what is all of this for? The Painted Picture is how leaders answer it — and how they create a future worth the effort.

A photo of a Ruin Bar in Budapest, Hungary

Leadership as a Chapter in a Bigger Story

Every organisation is a book being written. The question for every leader is the same: what do you want your chapter to say? On narrative, clarity, and team growth.