When Productivity Becomes the Problem: Three Actions for HR Leaders
HR leaders are confronting a visibility crisis rather than a pure productivity slump, as remote work exposed the limits of seat‑based metrics. Hybrid arrangements have shown efficiency gains, yet many firms reverted to strict return‑to‑office mandates, sparking a 13% rise in turnover. The rapid rollout of AI is amplifying existing workflow misalignments, turning urgency into an operating model and costing U.S. employers roughly $190 billion annually in burnout‑related losses. Over the next 90 days, HR must overhaul what they measure, where clarity originates, and how AI is deployed to restore sustainable performance.
The New Product Development Operating Model
The traditional product development rhythm—requirements, handoffs, quarterly releases—is rapidly fracturing as AI tools and fast‑iteration mindsets take hold. Companies like Linear, Spotify, and Anthropic’s Claude Code are championing side‑quest prototypes and outcome‑focused engineering, making wrong bets cheap. A new operating...
'Controlled Cost' Production: The Secret Weapon Keeping French TV Afloat
French television is grappling with a roughly 10% budget contraction, forcing producers to reinvent financing and production methods. A growing number of creators have adopted a "controlled‑cost" model that trims locations, crew sizes, and shooting days while leveraging tax credits...
Sales Process Design & Engineering
Founders often assume a polished product eliminates the need for a structured sales process, but neglecting sales design leads to ghosted prospects and unpredictable revenue. The article outlines five cardinal sins—blind proposals, poor qualification, premature pricing, failing to book follow‑ups,...
Let Claude Cowork Run Your Workflow: Practical Guide
Anthropic introduced Claude Cowork, a desktop‑mode AI that moves beyond answering questions to completing multi‑step knowledge‑work. By granting the model controlled access to local files, users can ask it to read, process, and output finished deliverables such as reports, spreadsheets,...
Coaching and Co-Learning — Understanding that Lean Is a Journey
The Management Brief launches a series on lean coaching and co‑learning, highlighting how mutual education between leaders and coaches drives sustainable transformation. The first episode features Marco Lopez of Dreamplace Hotels and coach Oriol Cuatrecasas, who recount a 15‑year lean...
The Founder Execution Architecture: Why Startups Lose Execution as They Scale
Founders often notice work feeling heavier as their startups scale, even though metrics remain strong. The article argues this slowdown stems from a loss of execution architecture—where decision paths lengthen, ownership blurs, and information flows break down. Rather than pushing...
Elasticity
The article frames time as an elastic resource that can be stretched through disciplined habits but never created anew. It warns that unchecked “stiffness” – attending meetings out of habit or providing unnecessary background – erodes that elasticity. By asking...
The Real Reason Innovation Dies Inside Big Companies
Corporate leaders often proclaim a culture of experimentation, yet they quietly punish teams when tests run over budget or miss targets. The reality is that genuine experiments fail about 99% of the time, a fact that clashes with traditional budget...
HR Reality Check #4: When Exit Interviews Reveal Toxicity
An exit interview with a four‑year veteran uncovered a systemic pattern of toxic behavior hidden behind strong performance metrics. The employee highlighted inconsistent rule enforcement, punitive treatment of mistakes, and a culture that rewarded overwork, especially under a high‑performing manager....
ITIL Version 5 Guiding Principles: A Practical Guide for ITSM Leaders
ITIL Version 5, launched in early 2026, re‑affirms the seven guiding principles first refined in ITIL 4. The principles—focus on value, start where you are, progress iteratively with feedback, collaborate and promote visibility, think and work holistically, keep it simple and practical, and...
Day One SSP: Closing the Gap Between Policy and Practice
Effective 6 April 2026 the UK removed the waiting period for Statutory Sick Pay, making it payable from day one. The change instantly extends eligibility to an estimated 830,000 women in low‑paid, shift‑based roles. While the legislation is clear, its impact hinges...
The Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) Playbook for 2026
Supply chain talent scarcity is driving salaries higher, rewarding CSCOs who can deliver resilience and visibility. However, 2026 brings a paradox: confidence can breed misallocation, as firms pour money into numerous resilience projects and AI tools without rigorous proof. Executives...
The Owner’s Rep Has a Scope Problem
The blog argues that traditional owner’s representation starts too late and ends too early, leaving critical pre‑development and post‑construction decisions unmanaged. It cites the BIM experience, showing that tools alone failed without accountability, and highlights that 79% of large capital...
Why Netflix Is Missing the Lesson Nike and Starbucks Just Learned.
The article argues that artificial intelligence is moving from a hardware‑focused hype phase to a productivity‑driven era, mirroring the historical rollout of electricity. Brands like Nike and Starbucks are already using AI to produce original entertainment, capture audiences, and monetize...
New Book: “Psychological Safety for Lean Leaders” — Now Available (In Progress) on Leanpub
Mark Graban announced the first three chapters of his new book, "Psychological Safety for Lean Leaders," are now available on Leanpub. The guide targets Lean practitioners, offering prescriptive actions—Model It, Encourage It, Reward It—to embed psychological safety into daily improvement...
Scale Smarter, Not Harder: Why Operations Are Slowing Your Agency Down
Agencies often mistake rapid growth for progress, but expanding client rosters flood leadership with emails, data entry, and coordination. This operational overload diverts senior talent from strategic decisions, creating bottlenecks and slowing true growth. The article argues that scaling requires...
An Interview with Warren Byrum, Strategic Sourcing at Truist Financial
Warren Byrum, senior vice president of strategic sourcing at Truist Financial, discussed how the function has shifted from a price‑focused activity to a strategic business partner that drives growth, risk management, and supplier innovation. He highlighted the expanded KPI set...
Where the Pacing Problem Becomes Visible
The POPVOX Foundation’s "Democracy on Default Settings" report surveyed 650 UK MPs’ offices and uncovered a systemic "pacing problem" where rapid technological change outstrips the capacity of parliamentary staff. Findings include vague strategic direction, minimal onboarding, fragmented technology stacks, unused...
20 Years Later: How Toyota’s Product Development Principles Are Still Core to a Lean Enterprise
The Lean Enterprise Institute podcast revisits the seminal book *The Toyota Product Development System*, highlighting how its core principles still guide modern product development. Co‑author Jim Morgan discusses the research behind Toyota’s integration of people, process, and technology and how...
Pharma’s Silent Operational Killer: Lifecycle Change Management
Pharmaceutical companies face a hidden operational crisis: managing thousands of post‑approval changes across hundreds of markets using outdated, spreadsheet‑based processes. A typical large firm evaluates about 6,000 changes annually, generating roughly 90,000 country‑level regulatory filings that can take three to...
Poor Performance Criteria Erode Employee Trust, Study Finds
McLean & Company’s new research shows that poorly designed performance criteria erode employee trust, boost voluntary turnover by 40% and raise stress levels 1.27 times. The study finds employees who understand expectations are 8.6 times more likely to be engaged, while HR...
You Can't Starve People and Then Wonder Why Nobody's Buying
Tech giants are accelerating AI‑driven layoffs, cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs while still touting growth. Executives frame reductions as efficiency, yet the displaced workers are both the companies' talent and future consumers. The article argues that shrinking incomes erode...
The Positive and Negative Ways Leaders Apply Pressure
Leaders often resort to pressure to meet deadlines, but the manner in which they apply it can dramatically affect team performance. Negative pressure—constant fire drills, unrealistic expectations, and undifferentiated urgency—quickly erodes trust and actually diminishes urgency. In contrast, positive pressure...
Building Systems That Retain Good People
Corporate chef Derek Clayton emphasizes that attitude and cultural fit outweigh pure skill when hiring restaurant staff. He advocates paid "working interviews" to assess teamwork under pressure and stresses consistent onboarding systems to streamline kitchen flow. Clayton also recommends tightening...
Book Briefing: ‘Hidden Patterns’ by Clay Parker-Jones
Clay Parker‑Jones, Airbnb’s head of organizational design, argues that generic best‑practice playbooks crumble when transplanted across firms. In his new book *Hidden Patterns*, he catalogs 75 bite‑sized assumptions, habits and norms that shape how teams collaborate. The text is designed...
Automation Vs. Instinct: Striking the Right Balance in Modern Treasury
Modern treasury now blends human instinct with digital intelligence, using automation to free treasurers from routine tasks while preserving strategic decision‑making. Most treasury systems can forecast cash flows but stumble at execution, prompting a shift toward connected, policy‑driven workflows that...
The Multifamily Operations Daily Huddle: The Role of Clarity in Reducing Conflict
The article argues that most conflict in multifamily property operations stems from unclear processes rather than personal issues. It highlights how vague roles, undefined timelines, and missing authority create friction that appears as personality clashes. By establishing clear service standards,...
No Agenda, No Meeting
The article highlights the hidden cost of agenda‑free meetings, noting that knowledge workers spend roughly 40% of their week in such unstructured sessions. It argues that meetings without clear goals force participants to double‑switch context, often yielding no decisions. The...
How a Maryland Nonprofit Streamlined Manual Payment Processes with Dynamics 365 Business Central and PayTrace
Blind Industries & Services of Maryland (BISM), a nonprofit serving blind and visually impaired workers, replaced its fragmented legacy systems with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and PayTrace’s Trace AR integration. The new ERP unified accounting, e‑commerce, and point‑of‑sale data,...
4 Steps that Helped Me Find My Real Revenue Ceiling.
A founder grew a digital agency to 23 employees but saw flat revenue, then cut staff to 14 and lifted revenue by nearly 50%. The breakthrough came from a four‑step bottleneck audit that identified a single decision loop—personal approvals—as the...
Shopify Productivity Tools For Sellers Who Work Across Multiple Time Zones
Shopify sellers operating across multiple time zones can eliminate costly delays by consolidating to a single store time zone and leveraging a lightweight stack of productivity tools. Recommended tools include a world‑clock widget, focus‑timer apps, proxy services for regional testing,...
Is There Anything Wrong With Having Worker Bees on My Team?
Many organizations rely on “worker bees”—employees who excel at repetitive, high‑volume tasks but show little ambition for advancement. While their reliability underpins daily operations, they often become costly as compensation rises and their skill set remains static. Leaders face a...
The Physician-in-Triage Model and Rapid Evaluation in Emergency Medicine
The physician‑in‑triage model shifts initial patient assessment from a permanent treatment room to a dedicated rapid‑evaluation area, allowing clinicians to take histories, perform exams, and order diagnostics immediately. By decoupling evaluation from bed availability, emergency departments can start the diagnostic...
The Multifamily Operations Daily Huddle: Why Psychological Safety Drives Performance
Multifamily operators are treating psychological safety as a core revenue strategy rather than a feel‑good initiative. A leasing associate’s early flag of a pricing anomaly illustrates how safe environments surface risks before they become costly line items. Leaders who meet...
NASA Elements of Engineering Excellence
NASA’s 2012 "Elements of Engineering Excellence" report identified five systemic root causes behind historic program failures, chief among them a cultural shift from hands‑on engineering to an insight‑oversight model that diluted ownership. The study also highlighted normalized deviations, over‑reliance on...
Reimagining Accounts Receivable: How Finance Teams Turn Better Integration Into Performance
Flywire has launched Integration Studio, a low‑code platform that connects ERP, CRM and accounting systems to streamline accounts receivable. The tool eliminates manual CSV imports and batch‑only updates by enabling real‑time, API‑driven data flows. Clients report an average 14‑day reduction...
How to Build Shop Floor Accountability Without Becoming a Micromanager
Plant managers often fear stepping away from the shop floor, fearing chaos and missed decisions. The article argues that constant check‑ins are symptoms of missing systems rather than leadership flaws. It proposes a three‑step framework—clarity, consistency, accountability—to build processes that...
Beyond the PSU Mandate
Executive compensation in the U.S. has been dominated by three‑year Performance Share Units (PSUs), driven by proxy‑advisor pressure for at least 50 % PSU allocations. In 2026, major advisors ISS and Glass Lewis are easing that rule, allowing lower PSU percentages if...
10 Workplace Pet Peeves That Undermine Productivity — And How To Deal With Them
The article outlines ten common workplace pet peeves that erode productivity, from unnecessary meetings and poor communication to office noise and resistance to new tools. It pairs each irritant with practical counter‑measures, such as agenda‑only meetings, explicit communication norms, protected...
Leading Through Complexity: Building Resilient Operations in High-Pressure Environments
Senior operations executive Nanda Kishore outlines how resilient, technology‑driven supply chains thrive in high‑pressure, volatile markets. Drawing on experience across aerospace, marine and clean‑tech, he emphasizes stabilizing delivery, building adaptable supplier ecosystems, and bridging strategy with execution. The pandemic accelerated...
The Unstoppable Business Formula
The McKinsey 7S model provides a structured framework for diagnosing and improving organizational performance by examining seven interdependent elements—Strategy, Structure, Systems, Shared Values, Style, Staff, and Skills. When these elements are aligned, companies achieve clarity, speed, and competitive advantage; misalignment...
Dear Emeka,
The author recounts hiring Emeka as head of marketing, initially expecting a stereotypical extroverted marketer but discovering an introverted thinker with a sharp sense of humor. This misalignment revealed that the true value Emeka brought—critical questioning, cultural fit, and adaptability—couldn’t...
How to Use Claude Cowork as a CHRO
Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) are overwhelmed by operational chaos, juggling scattered files, overdue reports, and urgent CEO requests. In a recent experiment, a CHRO used Claude Cowork, an Anthropic AI assistant, to organize 20 disordered HR documents, generate a...
Warren Buffett’s Best Advice on How To Read People Like A Book
Warren Buffett emphasizes that reading people hinges on character, not just competence. He starts with integrity, then examines incentives, actions, and long‑term habits to predict behavior. Buffett’s framework treats reputation as a durable data point, insisting that consistent honesty and...
This 1 Leadership Communication Skill Helps You Get Results Without Burning Out Your Team—Or Yourself
Episode 347 of Let’s Grow Leaders introduces a single communication habit—"schedule the finish"—that transforms vague requests into concrete, time‑bound commitments. By replacing terms like “ASAP” with explicit finish dates, leaders can align priorities, reduce miscommunication, and ensure work is completed...
What May (or May Not) Get University Employees Fired
A recent column outlines how university employee terminations are inconsistently applied, noting that only 10 of 28 extreme misconduct scenarios actually led to firing. It attributes this variability to leadership avoidance, tribal dynamics, vague policies, lack of documentation, and bias...
Two Sigma’s “AI-First” Internal Mandate — The Race for “Operational Alpha” In the Age of Frontier Models:
Two Sigma has issued an internal "AI‑first" mandate, requiring every employee to embed frontier AI models—especially large language models—into daily workflows. The firm calls the resulting efficiency boost "operational alpha," a systematic edge that compounds across research, engineering, compliance and...
How One Wealth Firm Cut Document Processing Time by 80 Percent
Shade Tree Advisors, a $794 million multi‑family office in New York, implemented EtonAI across three back‑office document workflows. The AI reduced custodian statement processing time by roughly 80%, dropping from over eight minutes per document to about two minutes, while maintaining...
As a Manager, when Should I Delegate Work versus Doing It Myself?
A new university communications manager is unsure whether to delegate tasks or handle them personally, especially when requests from her own manager are phrased as “can you…?”. The team’s uneven capacity—one member on sick leave, a part‑timer, a junior, and...