Basic Concept #68: Reading Hidden Agendas
This is one of the harder workplace skills to develop. Everyone has one. Not everyone admits it. At work, people present themselves…
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Basic Concept #30: Smart People Keep Optionality
I learned this lesson during a heated debate about our next-generation technology platform when everyone wanted me to pick a side immediately….
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Basic Concept #29: Some People Move Without Needing Rank
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…
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Basic Concept #25: There Can Only Be One Owner
Ownership sounds good on paper. Everyone agrees it matters. But in practice, it’s one of the biggest sources of confusion in teams…
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Basic Concept #20: The Three Musketeers (Proxy Objections)
Not every objection is what it seems. Sometimes the person speaking isn’t the source, they’re the mouthpiece. You present your plan. It…
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Basic Concept #18: The meeting is not for you…
Not all meetings are what they seem. At some point in your career, you realize a strange thing: not all meetings are…
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Basic Concept #27: Don’t Try to Win the Room. Win the Hallway.
I learned this lesson during what should have been my most successful technical presentation ever. I was proposing a complete infrastructure modernization…
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Basic Concept #26: Real Leaders Own Outcomes, Not Just Effort
“We gave it our best shot. The team worked incredibly hard. Everyone put in long hours. We tried everything we could think…
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Basic Concept #16: Don’t Forecast the Room. Set Your Scenarios.
You’re walking into the meeting thinking: “Sarah’s going to push back on the budget. Tom will want more time for research. The…
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Basic Concept #28: Influence Upstream, Align Downstream
You see the problem clearly. The solution is obvious. But when you try to implement change, nothing moves. People nod in meetings,…