At the beginning of this year, I burned out. From the outside, it would have been easy to connect that burnout to the event immediately preceding it: I lost my job during a large organizational downsizing. Cause. Effect. A clean, understandable story. Except that was not the whole story. The job loss was the final blow, but the injuries had accumulated across several years and several workplaces. I had moved from one difficult environment into another without giving myself enough time to...

How to create goals that belong to people and decide whether to influence, stay, or leave A development goal can be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound while containing no curiosity, courage, ownership, or life. We have become very good at helping people write goals that look alive from a distance. The language is polished. The milestones are visible. The deadline exists. The goal has been approved by a manager and entered into the correct system. It stands there like a...

How leaders can take AI risk seriously without turning uncertainty into prophecy This week, I heard that artificial intelligence would destroy humanity within ten years. Not might. Not could. Would. The statement arrived with the force of a dragon’s roar. It was frightening, absolute, and almost impossible to hold at a healthy distance, especially after listening to The Daily describe AI systems apparently outsmarting the people who created them. But when a dragon sounds the alarm, our...