Category: Leadership

The Stretch Paradox: Why Safety Enables Greater Challenge

The greatest challenges require the greatest safety. Great leaders understand this paradox: the more psychological safety you create, the more difficult challenges your team will tackle. Here's the framework that makes it work.

Eudaimonia: Human Flourishing vs. Happiness in Modern Leadership

Most leaders chase happiness and end up empty. Ancient wisdom reveals why: they're pursuing the wrong goal. Eudaimonia, human flourishing, transforms everything about how you lead and why it matters.

The Conversation Paradox: Why Most Meetings Kill Ideas Instead of Creating Them

Your meetings aren't just boring. They're killing the ideas that could transform your company. Ancient Greek wisdom about questions reveals why most conversations extract information instead of developing breakthrough thinking.

The One-on-One Revolution: Leadership Through Structured Dialogue

Most one-on-ones are glorified status updates disguised as leadership development. The DIALOGUE method transforms individual conversations into systematic leadership multiplication, creating leaders who create more leaders through structured excellence.

The Team Leader Transformation: Why Organizational Change Isn't About Size

Companies obsess over team size while ignoring the fundamental truth: transformation happens at the leader level, not the team level. Size is a symptom, leadership is the cause.

The Duty Doctrine: When Circumstances Change But Mission Remains

Your circumstances will change. Your duty will not. Discover how ancient Stoic wisdom provides unwavering guidance for modern leaders when everything else shifts.

The Problem Solver's Paradox: How Winners Create Value Through Solutions

The most indispensable people aren't those who avoid problems, they're those who actively seek them out and solve them effectively. Here's the framework for building that rare and valuable skill.

Building AI-First Teams: The Leadership Transformation

The future belongs to leaders who can build teams that don't just use AI tools, but think AI-first. This requires a fundamental transformation in how we hire, develop, and structure technical teams.

The Metanoia Moment: When Disruption Demands Fundamental Thinking Shifts

The phone book to Google transition was about efficiency. The Google to ChatGPT shift is about quality of understanding. That's the difference between incremental improvement and categorical transformation, and it requires metanoia.

AI Fluency: The New Technical Literacy

Just as literacy transformed society, AI fluency is becoming the fundamental skill that separates those who thrive from those who struggle in the modern workplace. It's not about coding, it's about thinking.

Creating Environments for Excellence: The SPACE Model

Excellence isn't just about individual character, it's about creating environments where excellence becomes natural, inevitable, and sustainable for everyone. Here's how leaders architect the conditions for human flourishing.

Arete: Why Excellence is a Way of Being, Not Achieving

The Greeks understood something we've forgotten: excellence isn't something you achieve, it's something you become. This fundamental shift changes everything about how you approach work, leadership, and life.

The Validation Trap: Why Seeking Approval Kills Excellence

The most liberating realization: those people you're trying to win over aren't worth winning over. Energy spent seeking approval is energy not spent building excellence. Time to break free from the validation trap.

The Information Trap: Why Knowledge Without Action Is Just Entertainment

You don't need another course. You need to start doing. The journey itself holds every lesson you need to learn. The internet gave us infinite information and infinite excuses.

The Fear-Excellence Connection: Why Fear Is Excellence's Companion, Not Its Enemy

The self-help industry got fear completely wrong. Every person operating at excellence has learned to dance with fear, not defeat it. Fear isn't your enemy, it's your compass pointing toward what matters most.

The Disney Churro Effect: Why Context Kills Quality Judgment

Your 5-star vacation restaurant would get 2 stars at home. Context isn't an excuse for mediocrity, it's a test of your standards. The Disney Churro Effect is killing your judgment, and you don't even know it's happening.

Creating Environments for Excellence: The Ultimate Leadership Leverage

Most leaders try to control people. Great leaders design environments. Here's why environmental design is the ultimate leadership leverage and how to create conditions where excellence becomes inevitable.

The Freedom Paradox: Why Real Independence Is Terrifying

The social media mythology of entrepreneurship sells a comfortable lie: that anyone can bet on themselves and become a millionaire working a few hours per week. The reality is far more terrifying, and far more rewarding for those with the courage to accept it.

The Mind Forge: Why Your Mental State Determines Your Reality

Your mind is either your forge or your prison. The Stoics knew what modern neuroscience confirms: mental state determines reality. Here's how to forge mental excellence through the Four Furnaces framework.

Phronesis: The Lost Art of Practical Wisdom

The ancient Greeks had a word for the leadership skill we desperately need today: phronesis. It's not about having all the answers, it's about acting wisely when you don't.

The Authority of Example: Leading Without Position

The most influential people don't have the biggest titles. They have something more powerful, the authority of example. Here's how to lead through character, not position.

Andreia: Courage in the Age of Fear

The Greeks had a word for the kind of courage we desperately need today: andreia. It's not about being fearless, it's about being fear-full and acting anyway.

Between Trapezes: Navigating AI Uncertainty with Ancient Wisdom

In the moment between letting go of one trapeze and grasping the next, there's a space where everything depends on trust, timing, and practical wisdom. For leaders navigating AI transformation, this moment isn't a crisis, it's where excellence is forged.

Breaking Through: How Resistance Shapes Your Transformation

Every breakthrough begins with a breakdown. Resistance isn't blocking your transformation, it's forging it.

The Long Way Back

The mountain had other plans. What started as a simple run became a journey back to who I've always been—buried under survival, responsibility, and the slow drift of adulthood.

Stop Chasing Balance. Start Chasing the Edge.

Everyone wants greatness until they realize what it demands. The edge isn't found in comfort, it's in the obsession, discipline, and relentless focus that transforms potential into reality.

The Return Is the Resistance

It's not about the run or the miles. It's about returning to the place where your resolve gets sharpened, your personal forge where growth happens through resistance.

Broken Windows Don't Fix Themselves. Neither Do Broken Coders.

You're in the file. You see the broken code. If you walk past it without fixing it, you're not just part of the problem, you are the problem.

The Fire That Forges Me

Pain is not punishment. It's preparation. Whether you're a fighter or a leader, how you respond to resistance defines your growth and impact on others.

Choose Your Circle Wisely: The Key to Unlocking Greatness and Momentum

The people around you influence your mindset, shape your habits, and often determine your trajectory. And the right ones don't just support you—they sharpen you, steady you, and accelerate you.

The Silent Burden: Fueling Leadership's Lonely Flame

In the quiet hours when decisions weigh heaviest, leadership can feel like a solitary journey. But it's in these moments that both leaders and their teams can transform pressure into power. Here's how to keep the flame alive.

The Faux-Aligned Manipulator: When Theater Replaces Execution

They're relentlessly positive. They say yes to everything. They talk about collaboration constantly. But underneath the performance, real execution never happens.

Guard the Circle: Why Leaders Must Invite Dissent to Stay Effective

In fast-moving tech cultures, dissent feels like friction. And friction feels like delay. But a team that agrees too easily is already halfway to failure.

Protect Your Spark: Beat the Idea Assassins

Your best ideas are vulnerable to creativity hit jobs. Learn to guard your spark, select the right team, and keep innovation flowing despite the critics.

Unleashing Innovation: A Leader's Guide to First Principles Thinking

First principles thinking strips away the bullshit and starts with what's undeniably true. It's how leaders transform organizations and build the future.

The Discipline of Arete: Trust the Work, Not the Moment

Frustration comes when we judge ourselves by a single moment. But true growth—true excellence—comes from trusting the work, not the moment.

Climbing Through: Leadership Forged in the Struggle

Most teams are trained to dodge the mess—great leaders dive in. True leadership is built in the climb, not at the summit.

Leadership is Jazz: Set the Tempo, Let the Band Play

The best leaders don't micromanage every note—they create the groove and let their team play. Here's how to lead with rhythm, trust, and improvisation.

The Reset Walk: Train for Gratitude Before the Grind Breaks You

Most people wait for struggle to humble them. The best train for it. The Reset Walk is a simple practice to build resilience before stress takes over.

Speed Without Direction is Wasted Energy

Speed isn't the goal—winning is. Learn how the fastest teams avoid wasted motion by solving the right problem before they execute.

Playing the Hand You're Dealt: Decision-Making with Imperfect Info

Leadership is a high-stakes game where the cards are rarely all face-up. Learn how to read the room, filter the noise, and make winning decisions.

The Path to Excellence and Fulfillment: Areté and Eudaimonia in Modern Life

True success isn't about external achievements—it's about mastering yourself. Learn how to integrate Areté and Eudaimonia into your daily life for deep fulfillment.

Ripples of Ruin or Reward: Why Great Leaders Master the Long Game

Every decision creates ripple effects. Learn how to see beyond the immediate impact and think like a master strategist to build long-term success.

How to Know If a Team Has Stopped Creating Tech Debt

Tech debt isn't just about cleanup—it's about discipline. If a team is still making the same mistakes, they're not solving the problem, just hitting reset.

Stop Complaining About Technical Debt If You Keep Creating More

Cleaning up old messes is meaningless if you're still making new ones. The best teams don't ask for permission to fix tech debt—they stop creating it in the first place.

The Power of Conflict: Fuel for Greatness or Sign of Dysfunction?

Great teams don't avoid conflict—they process it efficiently. The key to success isn't eliminating conflict, but resolving it quickly and productively.

If AI Isn't Making You Uncomfortable, You're Not Using It Enough

The biggest AI problem right now? A lack of imagination. The chatbot era was training wheels—it's time to take them off. If AI isn't rewiring how you think, you're not using it enough.

AI-Native Development: The Next Evolution is Here

AI isn't coming. It's here. The teams that master AI-native development now will define the future of product delivery. Learn how to navigate this shift and accelerate your team.

You're More Ready Than You Think: How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome as a New Software Engineer

Struggling with imposter syndrome as a new software engineer? Learn why you're more ready than you think, and how to build confidence through action and learning.

Arete & Eudaimonia: The Cornerstone Philosophy of Excellence

The path to true excellence isn't found in quick fixes or surface, level achievements. It's discovered through the ancient wisdom of arete and eudaimonia, principles that have guided the greatest minds for over 2,000 years.

Flipping the Switch: How to Turn On and Off Your Abilities

Discover the art of mental switching - how to activate and deactivate different aspects of your personality and skills to excel in various contexts.

Reasons vs. Excuses in Software Development: The Key to Personal Responsibility and Team Success

Dive into the world of personal responsibility and team success in software development by distinguishing between reasons and excuses. Explore the vital role of accountability, examine real-world examples, and uncover five effective strategies designed to help you and your team conquer excuses and take command of your professional journey.

Boost Your Productivity with Three Daily Habits

Discover three game-changing daily habits that can significantly boost your productivity and help you achieve more in both your professional and personal life.

Three Aspects of Product Management You Need to Master

Product managers need to be proficient in three key areas: technical skills, data analysis, and empathy for customers. Neglecting any one of these areas can lead to difficulties in successfully managing a product. However, a well-rounded product manager who excels in all three areas can drive success by delivering innovative products that meet customer needs, are technically sound, and supported by data-driven decision-making.

Balance is a Great Way to Be Mediocre

Explore why the pursuit of perfect balance might be holding you back, and learn how embracing strategic imbalance can lead to extraordinary results.

Greatness Only Competes with Itself

Learn why the path to greatness lies in competing with yourself rather than others, and how this mindset can transform your personal and professional growth.

Finding Time for Innovation

Discover practical approaches to balance daily responsibilities with innovation initiatives, ensuring your organization stays competitive and forward-thinking.

The Importance of the Enforcer and Nurturer in a Team Dynamic

Explore the crucial roles of enforcers and nurturers in team dynamics, and discover how their complementary strengths create high-performing teams.

Fulfill Your Destiny by Performing Under Pressure

Discover how to harness pressure as a catalyst for growth and achievement, turning challenging situations into opportunities for success.

How a Sense of Humor Helps Us Deal with Criticism

Learn why maintaining a sense of humor is crucial for processing criticism constructively and using it as a tool for personal growth.

Ten Biographies Worth Reading

Explore a curated selection of biographies that provide powerful lessons in leadership, resilience, and success through the lives of remarkable individuals.

Push Mind Past Body Reality

Discover how to train your mind to overcome physical barriers and unlock your true potential through mental conditioning.

Visualizing Accountability

Discover practical approaches to make accountability visible and actionable within your team and organization.

Company Changes Every Time It Doubles in Size

Learn about the critical changes and challenges organizations face during different growth stages, particularly when doubling in size.

Product Organizations and the Most Important Work

Discover how high-performing product organizations balance team autonomy with organizational alignment to consistently deliver the most impactful work.

Pushing Too Hard Too Early

Understand the risks of pushing too hard too early, and discover how to pace yourself for long-term success.

What Are You Willing to Sacrifice to Get an Edge?

Discover how strategic sacrifices can give you the edge you need to excel in your personal and professional life.

BUDs and Sports: Radically Different Than Software

Explore how software development differs from intense physical training programs, and what we can learn from these contrasts.

Mind Stops Before the Body Does

Discover why your mind often gives up before your body does, and how to overcome these mental barriers to achieve more.

Who You Surround Yourself With Matters

Discover the profound impact of your social connections on your personal and professional development.

Environment Aids in Skill Acquisition

Discover the importance of creating the right environment for effective learning and skill development.

Autonomy vs Performance

Learn how to strike the right balance between giving teams autonomy while maintaining high performance standards.

Embracing the Suck

Discover how accepting and working through challenging situations can lead to significant personal and professional growth.

10 Questions To Ask Ourselves Every Week to Continue Improving

Are you looking to make self-improvements in your life? These 10 questions can help guide your reflection and introspection to better understand your values, strengths, weaknesses, and goals. From identifying what led to your biggest achievements to examining your responses to challenges, these questions can help you better understand yourself and your path towards personal growth. Take a moment to ask yourself these questions and discover what you can learn about yourself and your journey to self-improvement.

My Daily Standup Is Keeping Me from Being Awesome

Discover why traditional daily standups might be holding your team back, and how to make them more effective.

7 Tips For Getting Value Out of Networking Events

If you are an introvert like me the last thing you want to do is spend time "networking". Even if you are an extrovert your time is valuable and just mingling isn't going to cut the mustard if you want to get any kind of meaningful results. So what is the best strategy when attending an event with intention of networking?

Path to Immediate and Unanimous Team Decisions

The Decider Protocol is the fastest path to get immediate and unanimous team decisions.

The Difference Between Influence and Manipulation

The difference between influence and manipulation can be pretty subtle. However, the outcomes they produce can massive. How are they different to you?

What is the Difference Between Scrum vs Kanban?

I see a lot of new teams search endlessly for the best process for to use. They tend to ask what is best for us? Which usually devolves into Scrum vs Kanban. I am firm believer in experiencing them to understand, but one could argue you have to start somewhere. For those seeking here is a very brief quick side by side view.

How Do You Define Your Bootedness

Using metaphors to describe being booted with the Core Protocols.

How to Plan Software : Six Ways to Improve Your Scrum Planning Meeting

Six ways to improve your scrum planning meeting.

How To Run A Lean Coffee

Quick tutorial on how to run a lean coffee.

Gangplank Connecting Citizens

The future we want has to be created by us. Creating the Arizona we want.

Creating The Arizona We Want

The future we want has to be created by us. Creating the Arizona we want.

Scrum Burndown Chart Hack

Scrum burndown using a pipe cleaner.

Don't Make Your Retrospectives Confusing

If explaining an activity in a retrospective takes more than a minute or two it probably isn't very effective. Don't fall into the trap of making things too complex. Activities shouldn't be complicated they should be fluid. Giving participants too many options and being unclear with instructions makes it difficult to fluid with sharing thoughts.

Retrospectives. When Facilitating. Facilitate. Don't Participate.

As a ScrumMaster when you are "running" a retrospective it is easy to fall into the trap of actively participating in it. It is extremely difficult to do this well (if not impossible), because your role should be as a facilitator not a participant. The minute you start participating you are no longer neutral and severely impact your ability to effectively facilitate.

Estimates Are Evil!

A young man was bitten by a pitbull when he was 10. Ever since then every time he has noticed a pitbull it is barking, snarling and threatening to him. He is now 35. He believes that pitbull's are a vicious breed and that they should not be family pets.

Should Senior Developers Pair Program?

I am a proponent of pairing (not just for programming). Anytime I introduce it to a new team I get a number of objections. The most prominent is that pairing slows me down (because I am so awesome and everyone else sucks so bad).

Transform a Relationship, Be Fully Present

People need to be understood that they matter. We are wired to belong. It doesn't matter if it is your spouse, child, employee or coworker every relationship you wish to maintain requires your attention. Most people consider attention to be measured in time. Time is in short supply and high demand in our connected and fast paced world.

Observations, What Is In a Name?

Names are funny. Tone and inflection can make all the difference. Most people don't even bother correcting people when their name is said incorrectly. Close enough is good enough. However, sometimes people get their name so wrong they don't even go by their own name.

5 Ways to Tell if Your DevOps Relationship is Failing You

Going to cross-functional teams for product delivery is always interesting, but DevOps seems to be particularly loaded in it's meaning. How to tell if your DevOps relationship is failing you?

Organizing for Collaboration and Innovation through Policy, Innovation by Design

Talking to science educators about collaboration. How can we better organize and enact polity that leads to greater innovation.

Hierarchy of Reading

Abraham Maslow made the concept of hierarchies of progression in systems popular via his work on a hierarchy of needs. Here is a theory about the hierarchy of different types of readers.

15 Things You Should Teach Your Kids To Prepare Them For the Future

Be the best parent you can. Prepare your children for the future.

10 Steps for Planning a Great Event

Planning events is difficult. The hardest part is starting. Here is a quick 10 step guide to get you planning for that perfect event you have been dreaming about.

Call to Volunteer at Arizona State Parks

I love Arizona. It's natural resources are one of it's greatest assets. I have been encouraging people to get out and ExploreAZ. If you didn't know our State Parks have become seriously under funded and need our help. So how can you help?

Target Sucks – Expect Less, Pay More… (and other lies)

Top 10 Ways To Become More Resilient

Resilience refers to the ability of a person to effectively cope with and recover from adversity or stress. This concept has been studied in psychology and neuroscience, and various strategies and techniques have been developed to build resilience, such as mindfulness, cognitive reframing, and social support. Building resilience can help individuals better handle life's greatest challenges and maintain their mental and emotional well-being. Here are ten ways to increase your resiliency.

Essence of Humanity is Helping Other People Feel Safe

In Andre Agassi's Open he shows the authentic and human side of himself. He talks about giving a friend named Frankie the money he needs to put his children through school. He reflects on it in the following way:

Reminding Yourself Where You Are Going

I generally keep voice memos or written journals around as outlets for my thoughts when I am not regularly able to connect with people to share what is on my mind. I try to purge them into a digital format fairly quickly to prevent clutter. I don't recall why I recorded this segment, but I ran across it today and it made me smile.

Explore AZ : August 19th – 21st : Payson, AZ

So back in 2009 I talked about starting ExploreAZ tweetups. I did get the RV out one time in 2010 shortly after that post to Catalina State Park outside of Tucson. After putting some money into the RV and getting it operational again considering starting this back up. So I have booked two trips.

AZ Commerce Authority Full of Wrong Industry

Governer Jan Brewer announced the new AZ Commerce Authority Board today. It is no surprise that it is full of Land Developers, Sports/Tourism and Manufacturing. All industries that were leaders of the OLD economy.

Rituals Help Us Form Emotional Connections

Whatever our exact ritual, the social act of eating together is important; it reunites us with our tribe. Transforming us from solitary beings to members of a group.

Brian Cole on Economic Development Strategies

Notes from Brian Cole talking about economic development strategies at from Arizona's 96th Town Hall on Building Arizona's Future: Jobs, Innovation & Competitiveness.

Joe Kalt on Arizona Economy

Notes from Joe Kalt talking about Arizona's economy from Arizona's 96th Town Hall on Building Arizona's Future: Jobs, Innovation & Competitiveness.

Flashback on Arizona's 96th Town Hall

Random notes from the Arizona's 96th Town Hall on Building Arizona's Future: Jobs, Innovation & Competitiveness.

Sometimes Team Perspective Is Needed

The benefit about working on a high performing team is that everyone expects excellence. There is always a drive that it could be better. Nail a perfect 10 and then ask how it could be an 11.

It's About People. Companies Saying Right Wage. Wrong Skill Set.

Why do we keep doing 1950 economic development? Capital first, then innovation and then people. Yet, companies wanting to be here say that it's lack of skilled people that keeps them out. What are we doing to invest in people? Keep and attract the best and brightest?

Great Service Requires Constant Attention

I am a fan of great service. When I see it exemplified I try to share it. For example, QuikTrip does a great job #winning. Another company that has always impressed me is Discount Tire. They always greet me right away. They fix my tires for free when repairable. They give me a free air check when my tires are low. All of this even on tires not purchased from them. WOW! They never give me problems when I need tires rotated or tires replaced under warranty that I did purchase from them.

You Can't Handle the Truth

A woman and her son were entering the Subway as my daughter and I were getting out of the car. My daughter uttered, "Hoochie Mama" under her breath. I chastised her for being inappropriate. Her response to me was, "Well she is." Granted the woman was probably in her late forties, had on 5 inch heels, booty shorts and next to nothing for a top with her adolescent son in tote. Sadly, my daughter was right.

Coworking Space vs Collaborative Workspace

When talking about Gangplank I always struggle to consider it to have anything to do with coworking. After doing some reading on collaborative learning vs. cooperative learning, I believe I can better articulate the difference between collaborative workspaces and coworking spaces.

Skysong: Helping Cement Phoenix as the Place for Mediocre People

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council released a report touting that Skysong actually is exceeding expectations and has been underestimated. Citing a $113 million impact which is largely calculated using salaries of people that have worked there over the last five years.

Public Universities Get a Free Pass

The University of Phoenix announced a 42% decline in enrollment with forecasts that next quarter will see another significant dip. The number one reason cited is a change in rules affecting for-profit-schools that restricts paying admission counselors based on how many students they enroll.

Opening Lines From Great Minds

It is no secret, I love books. One of my favorite things to read is autobiographies. I enjoy them because I love to hear the authors reflect back on how they got started. A glimpse of what made them who they became.