This is one of the harder workplace skills to develop. Everyone has one. Not everyone admits it. At work, people present themselves as focused on team success, customer satisfaction, or company growth. But if you watch closely, you’ll notice something… Basic Concept #68: Reading Hidden Agendas
I learned this lesson during a heated debate about our next-generation technology platform when everyone wanted me to pick a side immediately. Our company was planning a major technology modernization, and two competing approaches had emerged. The development team strongly… Basic Concept #30: Smart People Keep Optionality
There’s the org chart. And then there’s what actually happens. You’ll notice it if you’ve been in a system long enough. There are people who don’t sit at the top but still shift direction. They don’t sign the big decisions… Basic Concept #29: Some People Move Without Needing Rank
Ownership sounds good on paper. Everyone agrees it matters. But in practice, it’s one of the biggest sources of confusion in teams and projects. Why? Because ownership gets shared, split, or blurred. Then everyone acts surprised when it breaks down.… Basic Concept #25: There Can Only Be One Owner
Not every objection is what it seems. Sometimes the person speaking isn’t the source, they’re the mouthpiece. You present your plan. It sounds solid. Then someone says: “I wonder how this affects our roadmap…” or “I’m not sure operations has… Basic Concept #20: The Three Musketeers (Proxy Objections)
Not all meetings are what they seem. At some point in your career, you realize a strange thing: not all meetings are what they seem. You think you’re invited to discuss, contribute, help solve a problem. You’ve prepared notes, thought… Basic Concept #18: The meeting is not for you…
I learned this lesson during what should have been my most successful technical presentation ever. I was proposing a complete infrastructure modernization that would save the company significant costs while improving system performance and reliability. After months of analysis, I… Basic Concept #27: Don’t Try to Win the Room. Win the Hallway.
“We gave it our best shot. The team worked incredibly hard. Everyone put in long hours. We tried everything we could think of. You can’t fault the effort.” And then the project fails anyway. The deadline gets missed. The client… Basic Concept #26: Real Leaders Own Outcomes, Not Just Effort
You’re walking into the meeting thinking: “Sarah’s going to push back on the budget. Tom will want more time for research. The CFO is going to ask about ROI. If I can get marketing to support this, finance will probably… Basic Concept #16: Don’t Forecast the Room. Set Your Scenarios.
You see the problem clearly. The solution is obvious. But when you try to implement change, nothing moves. People nod in meetings, agree with your logic, then continue doing exactly what they were doing before. Here’s what you’re missing: you’re… Basic Concept #28: Influence Upstream, Align Downstream