Career
A director at a FTSE 100 company told me last year, in a tone of genuine confession, that she felt like a fraud. She had been promoted four times in seven years. She managed a team of 60 across three countries. Her department had, under her leadership, grown its contribution
Stoicism
Stoicism, the school of philosophy developed in Athens around 300 BC and refined by Roman writers from Seneca through Marcus Aurelius, has been having a cultural moment for roughly ten years. Ryan Holiday's books have sold millions. Social media is full of Marcus Aurelius quotes on sunset backgrounds.
Personal Finance
A client of mine — Chief Product Officer at a mid-sized SaaS company, 44 years old, $420,000 in total compensation — sat down with me last March to look at his personal balance sheet. Two kids in private school. Mortgage on a four-bedroom in Zone 3 London. Leased car. Regular flights
Burnout
The standard narrative of burnout has three acts. Protagonist works too hard. Protagonist ignores warning signs. Protagonist collapses and takes six months to recover, emerging with a newfound appreciation for boundaries and yoga. The cultural version of this story frames burnout as a rest problem — too much work, insufficient recovery,
Networking
If you're reading this, there's maybe a 60% chance you've never been to a formal networking event that produced a relationship that actually mattered to your career. The standard format — nametag, plastic cup, 20 people standing around a function room hoping someone interesting will
Mentorship
The modern version of mentorship has decayed into a specific ritual: a 30-minute coffee chat, maybe quarterly, in which a senior person dispenses advice while a junior person takes notes. Both sides feel they've done the thing. The junior person gets to tell their boss they have a
Strategy
Most companies have a strategy offsite. They happen once or twice a year, they last two to three days, they're held in conference centres or rented houses, and they produce slide decks that almost nobody refers to three weeks later. The offsite industry is worth hundreds of millions
Habits
The most viewed video on YouTube with the title "5 AM Morning Routine" has about 18 million views. The presenter wakes at 04:50, meditates for 20 minutes, journals for 15, does a workout for 45, eats a specific protein breakfast, takes five supplements, reads for 30 minutes,
Performance
The UK Special Air Service selection course is one of the most punishing military selection processes in the world. Over roughly six months, candidates are subjected to sustained physical exertion, sleep deprivation, cold, hunger, and — most importantly — continuous cognitive demand under stress. The part that surprises observers: the failure rate
Decision Making
Annie Duke played professional poker for 18 years, winning more than $4 million in tournament earnings, before retiring to write and consult. Her book Thinking in Bets (2018) condenses what she learned about decision-making under uncertainty in a domain where you're forced, every hand, to distinguish between the
Decision Making
Michael Mauboussin, the strategist now at Morgan Stanley, has written about decision journals in multiple papers and talks over the last fifteen years. The research he cites, mostly from Philip Tetlock's work on forecasting and from studies of expert judgment, converges on a pattern that almost nobody in
Strategy
Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, observed in 1896 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He extended the observation to wealth distribution and then to peas in his garden (20% of the pods produced 80% of the peas). Over the century that followed,