Authority without rank
In 2023, I brought a CXO into my team to lead a significant business function. His title gave him full formal authority.
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What repetition makes easier
I have noticed that repetition does more than improve a skill. It also makes a response easier to reach.
Empathy without absorption
I have sometimes confused empathy with taking another person’s distress into myself. The impulse looks caring.
A founder is one influence on the company
On March 14, 2026, I wrote that a founder cannot hire their way out of their own flaws.
The Architecture of Certainty: Engineering the Loop
On March 11, 2026, I was examining how practice and evidence affect confidence. Confidence is not a calculated product of evidence, story, and action.
Systems Thinking
Systems thinking begins by resisting the urge to solve the problem too quickly.
The Algorithm of Fortune: Engineering Systemic Serendipity
On March 10, 2026, I was thinking about how preparation and relationships affect what we later call luck.
Small acts keep relationships alive
Relationships are often sustained through small acts. The important moments are not always large favors or long conversations.
The Learning Machine: Hardening the Ray Dalio Principles
In March 2026, I was revisiting ideas from Ray Dalio’s Principles about reflection, learning, and systems.
The Cognitive Debugger: 12 Logic Leaks
In March 2026, I noted that all-or-nothing thinking was a recurring trap for me. The broader list came from common descriptions of cognitive distortions.
The Cognitive Firewall: Architecture of the Wheel
In 1997, I moved away from the CA and CS path I had been following. That experience made me more attentive to assumptions presented as obvious.
The iceberg is a prompt, not a law
The iceberg model is useful because it interrupts the first explanation.
The Illusion of the Castle: Strategy as Scaffolding
Strategy is the art of subtraction.
Use RACI for work, DACI for decisions
RACI and DACI solve related problems, but they are not interchangeable. RACI is useful when a group needs clarity about how work will be carried out.
What a team hears under pressure
A team listens differently when something has gone wrong. The server has failed, a client has left, or a deadline has been missed.