Most design leaders stop designing when they level up. Executive strategy replaces hands-on work. It's seen as a natural progression - even necessary. I never made that choice. Here's why staying in the work while leading at the executive level isn't a contradiction - it's an advantage.

Competition is an illusion. Stop watching what others are doing and start understanding what makes you impossible to replicate. The companies that win aren't competing - they're serving their customers with simple honesty about what they uniquely offer.

First week back and you're already drowning. Same backlog, same meetings, same approach that missed the mark last year. Leadership expects breakthrough results, but you're stuck firefighting. Here's how to break free and deliver the innovation they're demanding.

I don't write code. Never really have. And yet, I've led massive digital transformations for platforms I can't debug and industries I’d never known. Turns out, the specific technology never mattered. Vision matters. Strategy matters. Understanding people matters. More and more, that's all it takes.

After months of writing about your challenges - the strategic fog, the fires, the weight of leadership - I realized I've never really shared what I actually do day-to-day. What strategic design looks like when it's fully activated. How it solves those problems we're always talking about. Let’s get into the weeds.

Resources approved. Team assembled. Timeline set. So why does that clear vision suddenly feel impossibly vague? This week, our field notes explore the gap between winning budgets and shipping results, and how to bridge it through strategic design.

Packed calendars. Exhausted teams. Sacred ceremonies that stopped working years ago. You don't need a whole new process - you need a few key improvements. Small shifts like meaningful agendas, cameras-on culture, and listening to customers unlock efficiency without blowing up what's working.

Everyone in your organization has deep expertise - honest, accurate, worth protecting. And it's holding your business back. Often stepping beyond the biggest fire is the key to success, but it can be impossible to see from inside the flames.

As a kid, I'd watch leaders telling everyone what to do and think: what are YOU doing? That question never left. Today's reality - smaller teams, tighter budgets, bigger challenges - leaves no room for managers who only manage. The leaders who shaped me stayed engaged, asked questions, got their hands dirty. That's how I cultivate teams that ship.

Another strategy deck delivered. Your team nods. Meeting ends. And everyone's still wondering what you're actually building next. The research is thorough, the analysis compelling—but decisions? Those got left at the door. Sound familiar? There's a reason this pattern keeps repeating, and a way to break it.

Most leaders accumulate titles and teams but never actually recognize the opportunity they have. They hit numbers but don't build legacies. Here's what changes when you stop managing and start actually leading people.

Your team executes brilliantly. Your metrics stay flat. You can't add resources. You can't work harder. Leadership wants innovation anyway. Here's how to reallocate capacity to discover what actually moves the needle - without blowing up delivery.

Executive leadership announces ambitious OKRs, and everyone looks to you. You're expected to deliver results, but the vision is unclear and your strategy is dated. Your teams are working overtime, yet the numbers aren't cooperating. When strategic foundation is missing, here's what actually needs to change.

Modern leadership demands more than mastery of one skill. The leaders who thrive aren’t specialists - they’re integrators who align disciplines, accelerate progress, and build resilient teams. Here’s why breadth is not dilution, but the true edge.

The world feels chaotic, political divisions insurmountable. Yet we coordinate brilliantly with colleagues with whom we may disagree fundamentally. We've mastered systematic empathy for corporate goals. What if we applied the same frameworks to our divided communities?

Sitting in chemotherapy, I started collaborating with ChatGPT on an app idea. What happened next changed how I work forever - and led to founding meNOTme, a transparent AI platform solving content creation exhaustion.

This year's performance hasn't met expectations. Looking forward to Q4, you know something needs to change. Without strategic foundation, you're betting significant resources on what might matter, hoping your investments pay off. Is your Q4 planning hopeful or confident?

Your team is shipping fast and working hard - but the results aren’t moving. Conversion is flat, trust is slipping, and no one can quite name why. If you’ve got the people but still aren’t seeing impact, the problem isn’t execution. It’s strategic design direction.

You climbed the funding mountain and reached the plateau. Resources secured and vision validated. But now every decision feels equally urgent, every path looks promising, and your team is waiting for direction. The vision that won stakeholders over feels clear and impossibly vague at once.

While executives celebrate AI implementation, most teams barely touch these tools beyond mandatory demos. The gap between AI champions and everyone else reveals uncomfortable truths about adoption barriers that aren't solved by mandates or enthusiasm. Smart organizations ask different questions.