writing
The problems leaders and owners have, and don't yet have words for
I write for New Zealand business owners and leaders. Strategy, alignment, how businesses really run, and what AI is actually changing. New pieces go out in my LinkedIn newsletter.
Core articles
Genetically Engineered for a Fast-Changing World
How does a leadership team stay aligned when the route keeps changing?
Business used to be a track race. Now it's orienteering, and everyone needs to be reading the same map.
Read itLeaders: When Are You Coaching, Mentoring or Consulting?
What's the difference between coaching, mentoring and consulting?
Five tools in one leader's toolbox, and why AI makes knowing the difference matter more.
Read itElephants Are Big, But Hard to See
Why do leadership teams avoid the real conversation, and what happens when they stop?
When a business outgrows some of its people, and why avoiding that conversation isn't kind.
Read itNot My Monkey (Not My Circus?)
and why the leader who rescues everyone might be the reason they keep needing rescuing!
The monkeys that jump onto a leader's shoulder, and why rescuing your team keeps them needing rescue.
Read itThree Degrees Off: How to Run a Strategy Day That Doesn't Drift
and why a strategy day is only as good as the corrections that follow it!
Why strategic plans fail a degree at a time, and how to run a strategy day people act on afterwards.
Read itLearn, Unlearn, Relearn
Why do good strategies stall when a leadership team's thinking is out of date?
The picture in each leader's head, and why unlearning is a team sport.
Read itCrashing Through Brick Walls
Why does a growing business stall, and how do you get through it?
Why growth stalls at predictable points, and what it takes to get through.
Read itA Weird Menagerie of Misfits
Why do so many business owners have ADHD or dyslexia, and what does it mean for how they lead?
Dyslexia, ADHD and the owners who think differently: the superpowers and the shadow side.
Read itListen
podcast · NZ Business Owners · Ep 356 · 21 Sep 2023 · 48 min
Lonely at the Top: The Silent Struggle Only Business Owners Know
A conversation on the NZ Business Owners podcast about the side of running a business nobody else sees: carrying the big decisions on your own, and what actually helps.
More articles
Three Years, Then Three Months
Why one good alignment session no longer lasts, and what happens when people and systems don't move with the owner.
Six Months and a Blank Page
The process manual that never gets started, and what it says about getting knowledge out of an owner's head.
You Have to Be a Good Rooster
Trust as the price of being helped, from Outward Bound to restarting a room of business owners.
The Business Still Lives in Your Head
The ten-second decisions only the owner can make, and why that's the real constraint.
What Are You Actually Putting In There?
What business owners type into AI tools, and where it goes.
Fluent and Wrong
AI answers that sound great and are rubbish, and why.
The Shift That Really Matters
Why the shift that matters is in how you see your business, not in your tools.
The Layer Cake
Using AI to out-compete, not just to keep up.
The Photocopier Trap
Doing the old work faster versus doing different work.
Act Before Clarity Arrives
Why waiting for certainty is the riskier move.
What If AI Does Take Out White-Collar Workers in Auckland?
The second-order effects for New Zealand business owners if AI hits white-collar jobs.