Hi Reader! Without false modesty — I know my stuff. Executive roles, HR transformations, team architecture, leadership coaching. I’ve spent 15 years helping organizations build cultures that actually move the needle on revenue, costs, and performance. That’s my domain, and I’m confident in it. But running and growing my own business? Still learning. From every valuable source I can find. Just like Jeremy’s award-winning book, Your Business Growth Playbook: Breakthrough Strategies to Scale...
1 day ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader! "I'm not a creative person."I hear this a lot from the leaders I work with. Smart, experienced, capable people — who have somehow decided that creativity is a trait they weren't given.And I get it. Most of us grew up being sorted: the artistic kids and everyone else. If you couldn't draw, you were filed under "not creative," and that was that.But the more I learn about creativity, the more I realize that it has nothing to do with drawing. (or at least drawing is just one side of...
3 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader! I have some news to share — and I felt really grateful and emotional when I got it. My book CLICKING has been honored with the Outstanding Literary Achievement Award from the International Impact Book Awards 2026 in the Leadership – People Management & Team Leadership category. When I wrote this book, I was thinking about one specific person: the leader who is doing too much, carrying too much, and wondering why the team still can't run without them. The one who genuinely cares...
7 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader! According to MIT's State of AI in Business 2025 report, 80% of organizations are already using AI. And yet 95% are getting zero return on investment. I've been sitting with that number since November, when I started interviewing HR executives to understand what's actually happening inside organizations navigating AI transformation. Fifteen-plus conversations later — leaders across tech, financial services, healthcare, payroll, insurance, organizations from 150 to 220,000 employees...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader! When I started as a manager, I loved it when people agreed with me. Oh no, I wasn't arrogant. At least, I didn't think so at the time. For me, it felt like confirmation. Like I was reading the room correctly, making good calls, earning trust. Then, a leadership program for a bank I'd invested real time and energy in failed. And in the aftermath, I found out that several people on my team had seen it coming. They'd had concerns. Real ones. And they hadn't said a word — because they...
21 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, What is the most important leadership job right now? In my work with leaders, helping them build strong, engaged teams, I came to the conclusion that the most important leadership job today is to decrease complexity. Not accelerating adoption. Not even increasing capability. But reducing the noise. I was reminded of this in a recent conversation with Martin Beischl, VP of People and Culture, on the Built by People Leaders podcast. He shared his personal approach: "AI implemented in...
28 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, A lawyer in Australia recently thought they'd cracked the code on AI safety. They used Claude AI to research case law. Then—because one AI wasn't enough—they "validated" everything with Microsoft Copilot. Belt and braces. Double-checking. The responsible thing to do. Then they confidently submitted their brief to federal court. All case citations? Completely fabricated. None of them existed. Justice Arran Gerrard was… not amused. He referred the lawyer to the Legal Practice Board...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, A team is no longer just a group of humans sitting in one office. It may include people working across locations, some meeting in person, some never meeting at all, and increasingly, AI agents participating in research, drafting, analysis, coordination, or execution. That changes the leadership question from "How do I manage people?" to "How do I manage a system of humans and AI working together?" In my recent conversation on The Tech Leaders Playbook, I made a simple point: what...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Daria’s here. This email is more personal than usual. With the conflict affecting so many countries in the Middle East, it's hard to stick to original plans. We're experiencing pressure psychologically, wrapped in missile alerts — you don't know when they will come, and you need to drop everything and go to the shelter. That could happen in the middle of writing this newsletter, in the middle of a workshop planned two months ago, or at night. It's psychologically and physically...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read