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A Confused Mind Always Says “NO”
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: A confused mind says “no” because confusion makes commitment difficult. If I cannot clearly understand what I am being asked to decide, why would I say yes? “A confused mind always says no” is an idea frequently used in sales and marketing. The premise is simple: when…
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Selling is not Convincing
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal Post in two sentences: Selling is not about convincing people to see what you see. Real value is created when you offer clarity with confidence, let people decide what to do with it, and stop making your worth dependent on their agreement. Many of us have been taught that selling isn’t…
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Before Your Next Move, Seek Understanding
One of the most enduring poems in the English language, The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was inspired by a military disaster during the Crimean War. I kind of half learnt it because my eldest brother had to memorize it for a school assignment and would walk around the house reciting…
⚙️ Sensemaking in organizations, Decision-Making, Human Dynamics, Leadership & Practice, Strategic Sensemaking, Systems, Structure & RelevanceAlignment, businessleadership, BusinessStrategy, changemanagement, clarity, communication, criticalthinking, decisionmaking, diagnostics, execution, Leadership & Practice, leadershipdevelopment, leadershiplessons, management, organizationalalignment, organizationalculture, sensemaking, strategicthinking, strategy -
What truths has your organization become unable to hear?
Every organization depends on information flowing upward. Customers complain. Processes break. Risks emerge. Frontline employees notice inefficiencies long before they are likely to appear on a management report. The quality of leadership decisions is directly tied to the quality of information leaders receive. When people stop speaking honestly, reality becomes filtered. Leaders begin making decisions…
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Ideas Aren’t Solutions If Diagnosis Didn’t Come First
There’s a costly habit that shows up in businesses that are otherwise filled with smart, capable people… the reflex to move from discomfort straight into ideas. The moment something feels off, the room fills with solutions. It looks like progress because there is movement. It sounds intelligent because the ideas are often good. But beneath…
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Do You Have Customer Relationships or Hostages?
Noah Fleming shared this story about a $20M company, a top sales guy who “owned” every major client, and a president quietly panicking because this top sales guy had resigned and was taking half the revenue with him. Noah asked a simple but disarming question: Do you have customer relationships… or do you have hostages?…
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What Happens When Performance Replaces Authenticity
Somewhere along the way, many of us learn to trade truth for approval. Not because we’re weak. Not because we’re manipulative. But because we’re human – wired to belong, wired to need safety, wired to be understood. So we adjust. We soften our voice. We amplify certain traits. We mute others. We hide the parts…
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When Words Start Wars
Orem, Utah, September 10, 2025: Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, was midway through a “Prove Me Wrong” campus debate when a single rifle shot ended his life. The scene—open-air forum, microphones humming, thousands of students—could hardly have been more emblematic of his chosen medium. Only weeks earlier he’d said, “When people…
Get Clarity before the Fix
