Leadership

The Lone Wolf: Misunderstood or Misaligned?

In today’s business culture, collaboration is treated as the gold standard. We idolize team players, prioritize consensus, and treat solo work as a red flag. But that perspective isn’t always right. Not every meaningful contribution comes from group efforts. Some of the most important breakthroughs, elegant systems, and high-leverage solutions come from individuals working alone, without distraction. These “Lone wolves” aren’t anti-collaborative, they are just built differently. And when you learn to recognize and support …

Read moreThe Lone Wolf: Misunderstood or Misaligned?

Stop Automating Broken Processes

One of the biggest mistakes I see in digital projects? Teams rushing to automate business processes without first asking whether those processes make any sense to begin with. Just because something exists doesn’t mean it’s worth preserving. If a process is slow, unclear, or stitched together with manual workarounds, automating it won’t solve the problem — it’ll lock it in. You’ll make the mess go faster, not better. A Real Example In a former company, …

Read moreStop Automating Broken Processes

What Jiro Dreams of Sushi Teaches Us About Leadership, Craft, and High-Performing Teams

If The Bear revealed the raw energy and emotional complexity of teamwork under fire, Jiro Dreams of Sushi presents a quieter but no less powerful portrait of leadership. Jiro Ono’s Tokyo-based sushi restaurant, run with monastic precision, stands as one of the most revered kitchens in the world — and also one of the most instructive case studies for corporate leaders. In Jiro’s world, there are no performance reviews, OKRs, or corporate retreats. Yet his team consistently delivers at …

Read moreWhat Jiro Dreams of Sushi Teaches Us About Leadership, Craft, and High-Performing Teams

Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater? Maybe You Should.

We’ve all heard it: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” In business, this phrase is often deployed as a caution against overcorrection. It urges us to preserve the core while cleaning up the mess around it. Fair enough, except when the core itself is the problem. The phrase assumes there’s a precious “baby” worth saving. But what if there isn’t? Or what if the effort to preserve it is what’s anchoring your organization to outdated …

Read moreThrowing the Baby Out with the Bathwater? Maybe You Should.

10 Things Cobra Kai Teaches Us About Leadership and Focus

Leadership lessons don’t always come from boardrooms or business books. Sometimes, they strike hardest from an unexpected place—like a karate dojo. Cobra Kai, the modern continuation of The Karate Kid saga, is packed with drama, action, and yes, deeply relevant insights on leadership and focus. Just as The Bear showed us what kitchen chaos reveals about team dynamics, Cobra Kai brings clarity on how leaders rise, fall, and evolve under pressure. Here are ten principles every leader can take from the mat …

Read more10 Things Cobra Kai Teaches Us About Leadership and Focus

Pushing Through: The Leadership Muscle No One Talks About (But Everyone Needs)

Every business hits friction. Sometimes that friction is healthy; it creates checks, balance, and rigor. But too often, friction becomes inertia—slowing progress through convoluted processes, outdated systems, unclear ownership, or quiet resistance from those who’ve grown comfortable. That’s when pushing through matters most. Pushing through is a leadership muscle. It’s not soft power. It’s not charisma. It’s not consensus-building. It’s the ability to get meaningful things done—especially when the odds are stacked against you. And let’s …

Read morePushing Through: The Leadership Muscle No One Talks About (But Everyone Needs)

What The Bear Taught Me About Leadership, Teamwork, and Mastery

At first glance, The Bear might seem like just another gritty kitchen drama—but beneath the loudness, noise and stress is one of the best explorations of leadership, teamwork, and the pursuit of excellence I’ve seen on screen. Whether you’re running a fine-dining restaurant or leading a tech team, the same ingredients show up: relentless attention to detail, a culture of trust, and the unglamorous but vital effort behind every great outcome. As someone who works in a …

Read moreWhat The Bear Taught Me About Leadership, Teamwork, and Mastery

Group Decision-Making: The Good, The Bad, and How to Do It Right

Group decision-making is a double-edged sword. When managed well, it leads to better ideas, stronger buy-in, and fewer blind spots. When done poorly, it results in endless debates, analysis paralysis, and wasted time. As more people get involved, decision quality initially improves—until a tipping point where diminishing returns and inefficiencies kick in. So how do we strike the right balance? Let’s explore the good, the bad, and the practical solutions to improve decision-making in everyday …

Read moreGroup Decision-Making: The Good, The Bad, and How to Do It Right

Enterprise Complexity / Ambiguity

I came across this visual just recently, and it has quickly become my favorite visual to depict organizational complexity and ambiguity. If you are like many of us, who have had to deal with that, then you know the countless hours spent debating about things. Everyone has their interpretation, and everyone has their opinions. Then one fine day someone says enough, and decides to dig deeper to really find out what the truth is. They …

Read moreEnterprise Complexity / Ambiguity

Thinking and Doing

Steve Jobs on the intersection of thinking and doing: “My observation is that the doers are the major thinkers. The people that really create the things that change this industry are both the thinker and doer in one person. And if we really go back and we examine, you know, did Leonardo have a guy off to the side that was thinking five years out in the future what he would paint or the technology he …

Read moreThinking and Doing

+ more posts