Who this post is for: Leaders whose organization has grown beyond where culture takes care of itself, and who now need to become explicit about the behaviors they want to see lived. TL;DR: * Lived behaviors, not stated values, shape culture * Most organizations build their behaviors from similar values (customer

In previous posts, we looked at the operating system elements that can get you out of the reactive firefighting often found in growing organizations: operating rhythm, goals, and KPIs. This article is different. It is not about mechanics. It is about what I consider the shared foundation of the systems

In a previous post, effective goals, we looked at how to drive change. But focusing on change alone is not enough. Whether you are managing your personal life, a small team, or a whole company, you are always dealing with two distinct states: Run: the repeatable core of what you

Many leaders (especially in rapidly growing organizations) are trapped in a reactive loop: they spend 60 hours a week fighting fires, only to realize on Friday evening that the "important but not urgent" work – people, strategy, priorities – did not get a single minute of attention. This is not

I am regularly surprised by how few people have clear goals for themselves or their team. When you ask, most say, "yes, of course we have goals." But if you dig deeper, things quickly become vague. Effective goals are one of the fastest ways to get an individual,

As shared in my previous post on the "coordination headwind", things get harder when your organization grows. It becomes slower. Focus (and even agreement) on what really matters declines. Things stop fitting together, and people start saying "them" instead of "we" when talking about

Who this post is for: Anyone who senses that their organization has gotten slower, more political, and less fun as it grew, and wants to understand why that is happening. TL;DR: * As companies scale, four dynamics compound into the "coordination headwind": weaker focus, less alignment, more friction,

Who this post is for: Leaders whose organization has grown past the point where coordination took care of itself, and who sense things slowing down without an obvious cause. TL;DR: * When companies grow, they tend to slow down: decisions take longer, priorities blur, people start saying "them"