Small talk gets a bad rap, but it’s a powerful tool for connection. It’s where common ground is discovered. It helps relationships begin—and strengthens the ones that already exist.

Leaders often spend their days solving problems. But here’s the question one client asked recently: “How can I help people solve their own problems instead?”

Many growing organizations focus intensely on hiring, but when it comes to onboarding, things get patchy. Senior leaders often admit onboarding is inconsistent—or nonexistent.

I consider myself one of the lucky people who had a really great boss for a significant part of my career. Some of our most exciting conversations focused on what my work could look like in the future.

This Meeting Could’ve Been an Email. That candle that says it all: “Smells like... this meeting could’ve been an email.” Too real. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The No A**hole Rule. Robert Sutton wrote a book about it for a reason: demeaning people do real harm—to culture, trust, and performance. Leaders who deliver toxic feedback often don’t realize the damage they cause.

“Our senior leaders are aligned. But our frontline managers—who lead our teams and clients—are inconsistent. We offer new manager training and pair them with mentors, but it’s not enough. Feedback from staff shows gaps, and we’re worried about culture and retention.”

In the office, leaders used to feel reassured by seeing people work. That was fiction—comforting, but false. Remote work just exposed how little visibility correlates with productivity.

Leaders are often pulled into conversations where the right path isn’t clear. Sometimes a decision’s already been made—but it doesn’t feel right.

It’s NFL playoff season, and we’ve all seen it: a coach frantically scanning their laminated play sheet, trying to pick the right call with 30 seconds on the clock.

Hybrid work is starting to feel normal. Tech is in place, projects are moving forward—but something’s missing. Many teams we work with describe it as “missing the feeling of family.”

I’ve spent years in the learning and development profession. One of the long-standing goals for learning designers has been to make it as easy as possible to access the right learning at the right time—in a way that feels personal.

If you’ve lost your small talk chops in recent years, you’re not alone. Physical isolation and rising social tension haven’t exactly made things easier.

Some work from the learned assumption that things will go well if everyone just does their job. If things don’t go well, it’s because some people aren’t doing their job. This includes the team’s leader, who people expect to get everyone doing their job.

Sometimes groups are working through relatively simple questions. They know how to answer these and only need less experienced facilitators to guide them along the way.

Flourishing groups work on their big questions. They don't postpone them in hopes they will answer themselves or someone at a "higher pay grade" will answer them. They know they have to take ownership of the questions that will give them the new results they most want to make possible.

Flourishing teams know the best way to leverage their greatest impact and growth opportunities is framing them as big questions. Big questions are shared interests in compelling future scenarios that teams want to make possible. They are framed in the language of Should we…? and How could we…?