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What Could Possibly Come From a Dot?
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: We can overlook our abilities because they feel ordinary to us. Yayoi Kusama’s dots invite us to consider what we might develop from the things we take for granted about ourselves. I discovered Yayoi Kusama today. I was drawn in by a piece of art that someone…
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Why Play Belongs in Every Well-Lived Life
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal Post in two sentences: We carefully schedule work because we know it matters, yet we often leave play, curiosity, and renewal to chance, then wonder why they disappear. A strategically aligned life isn’t just one that protects productivity, but one that intentionally makes room for the experiences that restore the person doing the…
Decision-Making, Field Notes, Human Dynamics, Leadership & Practice, Strategic Sensemaking, Systems, Structure & Relevancebuffer days, creativity, curiosity, Dan Sullivan, Decision-Making, energy management, focus days, free days, future self, habits, intentional living, Leadership & Practice, life design, Meaningful Work, personal growth, play, productivity, purpose, reflection, renewal, self development, strategic alignment, strategic coach, Strategic thinking, wellbeing, work life balance -
The Power of the Pause
The pause arrives in the middle of urgency… when the data is incomplete, the room is tense, and everyone is looking toward the person with authority as if action itself were the solution. That moment is where most organizational damage begins. This is because pressure compresses time. And when time compresses, judgment often follows. The…
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How to Let Go of ‘Singing for your Supper’
The phrase ‘singing for your supper’, is older than the modern workplace and far older than LinkedIn ambition. In medieval towns, wandering minstrels arrived with no contract and no guarantee of welcome. If they wanted to eat, they performed. A song bought a bowl of stew. A story earned bread and butter. The arrangement was…
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Hopelessness thrives on clutter… start throwing out its snacks.
Hopelessness isn’t dramatic. It doesn’t usually arrive with despair or collapse. It shows up when everything feels heavy, noisy, and vaguely unmanageable. When your space is crowded. When your mind is juggling too much. When nothing feels finished and everything feels urgent. That’s why clutter is such fertile ground for it. Clutter is not neutral.…
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How to Stop Fear from Killing Creativity
Michael Jackson never needed an introduction. By the time This Is It was announced, the world understood exactly what it meant for him to return to the stage. Not a comeback…a resurrection of genius. A promise that the greatest showman alive was about to deliver something only he could imagine. And then… it never happened.…
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You Can’t Deliver Meaning When You’re Chasing Attention
There’s a dangerous shift happening in how we create, speak, and show up.It’s subtle — almost noble at first. We call it “building visibility.” We say we’re “being consistent.” But if you peel back the layers, most of us are really just trying to be seen — at any cost. We’ve mistaken attention for connection.…
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Thought Experiment: What if I Developed a Michelin for Business
We’re familiar with Michelin as an award — revered, feared, and respected in the culinary world. But before it was a badge of honour, it was a book. And before it was a book, it was a strategy. A Roadmap, Not a Rating The Michelin Guide was born in 1900 — not in a kitchen,…
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