Modern workplaces increasingly reward visibility (“restaurateur” roles) over deep work (“chef” roles), especially during turbulent times. If AI-driven disruption and organisational thrashing favour those who are present and highly visible, what should deep workers do?

The larger the company, the harder it is for them to express dissent, especially under authoritarian regimes. If employees expect their C-suite to be their protest comrades, they’re likely to be disappointed. Our employers cannot be vehicles for our activism.

In teams, no one is, or should be, indispensable.

Don’t give into AI FOMO. Board the train at your preferred station.

It takes a special discipline to push back against novelty and embrace routine, boring solutions. That discipline, however, can lead to surprising efficiency.

It’s OK to say “No” to incoming work if you deliver high-quality outputs, communicate proactively, and meet your deadlines. The bargain is as simple as that.

Too often, we say an instinctive “Yes” to every new idea and every new request for our time. To be productive, I argue that our default response must instead be a strategic “No”.

Volunteerism at work can do more harm than good. I believe that employees should steer clear of it, when possible.

Sabbatical policies can benefit both employers and employees. But these extended leave arrangements need careful design and inspection.

Tech proliferates into our lives with the promise of improving communication and giving us access to information. But it’s also left us more disconnected and busier than ever. In this post, I reflect on my years growing up and whether a subtractive approach to using tech, may lead to a more enriching outcomes in life and at work.

We wrongly apologise for switching off from work or work related communication, when we have enough reason to do so. Such apologies undermine our professional contracts and set us back in our attempts to achieve work-life balance.

For remote workers the boundaries between work and life can often feel blurred. In this article I discuss seven strategies to achieve work life balance.

In today’s post, I want to address four sets of factors that’ll affect your team’s productivity and happiness. As a leader, you’ll to address these factors using your judgement, experience and vision. Your choices will influence your new async agile team’s behaviour.