Harmonic Architecture
Rituals / Meetings
The meetings and cadences that keep an organization synchronized — its operating heartbeat.
Writing on Rituals / Meetings
21 issues
You're in the Party Planning Business
Speed of sending isn't the same as speed of getting the thing done. Most teams optimize for the wrong one.
The offsite was the easy part
Your OKRs don't need better goals. They need an operating system.
How Productive Teams Speak Differently
Why meetings stall, updates confuse, and work doesn’t move.
Everything Should Have a Home
Why clarity is usually a containment or structure problem, not a thinking problem.
The Cost of What’s Unsaid
You can't solve what nobody says out loud, and buried problems compound.
The Work Around the Work
Administration, coordination, and surprises — and your customers won't pay for any of it.
Drive consensus, or go lone wolf?
Seven decision rights, from lone wolf to full consensus, and when each one is the right call.
The Three Questions That Reveal What's Really Going On
Most teams focus on what’s being delivered. But that’s only one-third of the picture. Here’s how to diagnose misalignment before it becomes failure.
The hard part isn’t thinking, it’s thinking around others.
Learn how to spot four social-context biases in yourself, and what to do about them.
"We're the Bosses"
Agents choose to act rather than be acted upon. Why agency is harder to grow than it looks.
Assertive Inquiry
State your own reasoning clearly and genuinely seek theirs - the active version of strong opinions loosely held.
Thinking About Haircuts Can Speed Up Your Decisions
A fast test for how much deliberation a decision actually deserves.
The Art of Performance Management (No PIPs Required!)
Managing performance without needing a formal performance improvement plan.
"Let's not get into solutioning"
The phrase "let's not get into solutioning" can have its place when used correctly, but it becomes dangerous when used incorrectly.
Nine essential behaviors to drive business transformation
As leaders we're all in the business of transformation. If we're not transforming our businesses, they're in stasis. Stasis leads to decline.
Create a culture of practice if you want performance
How do the people around you react when you mess up at work?
Are you effectively controlling the default assumption?
Being able to set the null hypothesis - the default assumption other people have - is very powerful.
A 2000 year old idea about the power of action
It's important that you take action, not just *talk* about taking action.
How to design your information diet to improve strategic outcomes
The causal chain is information diet –> thinking –> assessments –> decisions –> actions –> strategic outcomes. Be conscious of your diet!
Innovation comes from ideas having sex
Breakthroughs come from ideas meeting other ideas — which means they need other people.
You fall to the level of your systems
Goals are passive and sit in the future. Systems are the engine that actually gets you there.
The other eleven
No element fails alone. When one is out of tune the symptom usually shows up somewhere else in the ring.