Judgment
+1
Jul 24, 2026
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6 min read
A Players, B Players, C Players
A few decades ago, I heard Bill Gates give an interview about Microsoft's success. People think Microsoft is a technology company, he said. It isn't. It's a company that hires.
Judgment
+1
Jun 13, 2026
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2 min read
Management Has a Public Relations Problem
In 1911, two men raced to become the first to reach the South Pole. Robert Falcon Scott led the British expedition. He viewed the journey as a noble test of human courage.
Judgment
+1
May 21, 2026
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3 min read
What Are You Waiting For?
Last weekend I read Waiting for Godot (pronounced “good-o”) for the first time. It’s a short play, 109 pages, that Samuel Beckett wrote in 1953. A story of two men, Vladimir and Estragon, sitting by a barren tree waiting for a man named Godot to arrive.
Judgment
+1
May 7, 2026
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4 min read
How Our Labels Become Our Identity
I have a friend who is chronically late. Not occasionally late. Structurally late. Everyone who knows her automatically assumes she’ll arrive ten to X minutes after the agreed time.
Judgment
+1
Apr 23, 2026
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4 min read
That Dirty Word: Micromanagement
I hear it more often now, which usually means a word has begun doing damage. A highly successful executive sits across from me, lowers their voice, and confesses: “Hamza, I think I’m a micromanager.”
Judgment
+1
Dec 4, 2025
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2 min read
Why We Avoid Simple Solutions
In 1847, a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis made a discovery that should have made him a hero. Instead, it destroyed him. Working in the obstetrics clinic of Vienna General Hospital, Semmelweis noticed a horrific trend.
Judgment
+1
Nov 28, 2025
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2 min read
The Abilene Paradox
It is a stifling July afternoon in Coleman, Texas. 104 degrees in the shade, and the wind is blowing dust. A family is sitting comfortably on a porch, drinking cold lemonade and playing dominoes.
Judgment
+1
Nov 21, 2025
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4 min read
Are You Self-Aware or Just Self-Absorbed?
A couple of months ago a CEO told me, “I know I’m not great with people. I’m very self-aware about that.” Then, in the next twenty minutes, he proceeded to interrupt his CFO twice, dismiss a perfectly reasonable concern from his head of sales, and check his phone while his CMO was mid-sentence.
Judgment
+1
Nov 7, 2025
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3 min read
The Only Way Leadership Quality Actually Improves
Leadership quality is the single most valuable, and least measurable, asset a company has. It’s the only one that compounds across every other dimension simultaneously.
Judgment
+1
Aug 15, 2025
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3 min read
Hiring Today: You Fool Me, I Fool You
I just spent a half hour reviewing resumes for a simple analyst position. One candidate claimed to be “fluent in leveraging cross-platform ecosystems to drive holistic value creation.”
Judgment
+1
Aug 6, 2025
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2 min read
The Myth of Authentic Leadership: Why ‘Be Yourself’ Is Often Bad Leadership
We’ve convinced ourselves that good leadership means showing up as our “authentic selves.” That vulnerability builds trust. That transparency creates connection.
Judgment
+1
Jul 30, 2025
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2 min read
Smart People, Bad Decisions, and What To Do About It
The most dangerous people in an organization aren’t the obviously incompetent ones, because they can be identified easily. The real danger is the brilliant people who make terrible decisions while sounding completely reasonable.
