Tomorrow, 9:30am CT: free Leadership Lab info session on Zoom. Find out which of six leadership problems is yours. One hour. https://www.silphiumcollective.com/leadership-lab

A quality job isn't equally accessible to everyone. Gallup's 2026 study found that just 35% of women and 30% of Black workers have what it defines as a quality job.

A difficult coworker can make your day miserable. A difficult supervisor can make you reconsider your entire job. There's a difference, and there’s data supporting this.

"Good people follow through without being asked." Until you become the reminder system for everyone. A seven-day test: one shared list, one 15-minute check each week. One of six beliefs we test at our free Leadership Lab info sessions. Nov 13, Nov 19, Dec 3, Dec 15. Link in bio.

What's the part of managing people you dread most? The meeting, the conversation, the thing you keep putting off. Sunday scaries count. Tell us. It might become a Leadership Lab session. Free info sessions Nov 13, Nov 19, Dec 3, and Dec 15. https://www.silphiumcollective.com/leadership-lab

The Understory just turned one! We celebrated on Zoom with virtual candles, reflections on the past year, and everyone bringing their own dessert.

Have you ever noticed that when things are going well, you suddenly find something to worry about? A success gets followed by anxiety. A small problem becomes a big one. You start making yourself smaller.

Most managers got promoted for being good at the work. Nobody taught them how to manage. Leadership Lab is a free series from Silphium for anyone responsible for other people's work. Before it starts, we're hosting free info sessions on Zoom. Nov 13 · Nov 19 · Dec 3 · Dec 15 Link below⬇️

A leader asks, "What is this person even doing?" A team member wonders, "Does anyone know how hard I'm working?" Both are asking for visibility. But they're not asking for the same thing.

When a client says they need more visibility, I have learned to pause, take a deep breath, and resist the urge to yell, "WHAT THE #$@*% IS ANYONE HERE TALKING ABOUT?"

When a team is running on empty, the instinct is often to help people cope better. Sometimes the more useful question is: what about the way we're working is making everyone so tired?

Three things from Angela Duckworth's recent HBR piece on high achievers stuck with me. Our situation shapes us more than we realize. Burnout is often about the environment, not a personal failing. And we have more power to change our circumstances than we think.

One thing I love about a well-designed retreat is that it doesn't have to be all brainstorming, all planning, or all decision-making. A group can do different kinds of work as the conversation develops.

I spend plenty of time on Zoom. It gets the job done for a lot of things. But getting a group to make a complicated decision together is a different kind of work.

One of my favorite things about consulting is getting to watch an idea become real. Especially when the idea starts somewhere extremely unceremonious. Like a voice memo.

There is something strange about returning to a place where you used to work. The buildings are familiar. The streets are familiar. But you are not the same person who used to walk them.

One question I like to ask about a strategic plan: If this actually works, what does it make possible?

When I was burned out in a job that didn't feel culturally comfortable, I had a pretty clear picture of what Point B looked like. And weirdly, one part of it was just...more camping.

We are very attached to the idea that change happens in chapters. You are here. Then something happens. Then you become the person who lives over there.

One of my favorite questions to ask a team is: "What does this season actually give you?" Not what does it prevent you from doing. What does it make possible?

A change initiative can be perfectly reasonable and still fail because you launched it at the wrong time. The problem isn't necessarily the plan. It might be the season your team is in.

I have been thinking a lot about the stories we tell ourselves. The ones that quietly shape how we interpret criticism, conflict, relationships, and our own behavior.

A lot of the teams we work with are tired right now. Not "I need a long weekend" tired. The kind of tired that starts changing how people communicate, make decisions, and show up for one another.

A leadership ritual I have been recommending lately: Take a walk on Thursday afternoon and record a voice memo for your team. That's it. No slides. No template. No meeting.

I keep noticing the same thing with overwhelmed leadership teams: Communication starts disappearing. Not because leaders don't care. Often because they are exhausted and have 47 things competing for their attention.

A surprising amount of what gets called “poor performance” in the first few months of a job is actually a management problem. The task wasn't clear. The priority changed. Nobody explained who could make the decision.

I found an old document recently titled “Separation Agreement.” It brought me right back to the particular dread of helping a leader navigate the decision to let someone go. There is no fun version of this.

Here's the AI question I actually care about: What happens when a small, mission-driven team can access resources that used to require hours of consulting time, staff capacity, or a much bigger budget?

My feelings about AI are complicated. I’m intrigued by what it can do. I’m wary of what it can do. I’m still trying to figure out what "AIs gone rogue" actually means. A nuanced position! On the internet! How unusual.

Thinking about doing CliftonStrengths with your team? We are big fans. Silphium offers CliftonStrengths administration for teams from 4 to 100, and we can incorporate it into retreats, onboarding, team development, or whatever your organization needs right now.