“High Potential” Is Not Enough of an Answer
Organizations invest meaningfully in high-potential programs. And then, with some regularity, they find themselves a few years later with programs that feel less valuable than they should. The diagnosis I keep returning to isn't about execution failures. It's about a prior question most organizations never explicitly answer. A metaphor I've found useful: a match in this room could be fire. The same match on the moon is a stick.
The Problem with “Microlearning”
I've been in learning and development long enough to have championed terms I've since come to regret. "Microlearning" is one of them — and the regret isn't just about the term itself. It's about what the term has done to the field.
The Corrupting Power of Permission
In 2000, two economists studied what happened when a group of Israeli daycare centers introduced a fine for parents who picked up their children late. The intent was straightforward: create a financial consequence for a behavior that was causing problems, and the behavior would decrease. The opposite happened.
The Goals List Is the Wrong Place to Start
Here’s something I've said to managers so many times that it has become something close to a reflex: during year end reviews, don’t discuss with your employee how well they performed relative to their goals. The reaction is usually the same. A pause. A slightly puzzled look. And then, almost always: "But what else would I talk about?"
The Things We Don’t Say Enough
I've spent most of my career thinking about how people learn and develop — and a significant part of that time watching managers say the wrong thing at the wrong moment, often without knowing it. This isn't about scripts or communication formulas. It's about a small set of phrases that do something conventional managerial language doesn't.