My (mostly) weekly thoughts on leadership, high performance, wellbeing and more.

Have a read through, or you can see a complete index here

I hate mouse jigglers

People are buying mouse jiggler devices to fake being busy. That's a leadership failure, not a productivity hack. Explore why the machine metaphor of steady-state output is destroying real work, and why human pace with its natural ebbs and flows is not a flaw to be fixed but a reality to be respected.

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Leadership, Recovery and Sustainability Madeleine Shaw Leadership, Recovery and Sustainability Madeleine Shaw

Your open door is a trap

The "open door" policy sounds enlightened but has two failure modes: the people who are too intimidated to use it, and the people who overuse it. Neither group is prioritising your impact. Why structured access beats open access, and how replacing the open door metaphor with a designed system makes you more available for what matters, not less.

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5 ways to keep your cool when someone is angry at you

Sometimes pushing back can be particularly challenging when a stakeholder is angry and/or powerful. It requires a delicate balance between maintaining the relationship and respecting your own limits. Here are 5 strategies that you can use to push back effectively in these difficult situations.

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