Almost is not enough

We celebrate participation. We reward effort. We count the hours. But the scoreboard doesn’t care how long we sat at the desk. In sport, we recognize almost immediately. The double fault. The goal was scored in the wrong net. The finalist who never got off the...

Accountability needs a definition

Everyone agrees on accountability. You need it to create action and attain results. Nobody agrees on what it means. That’s the problem right there. The founder says it means results. The manager says it means effort. The team member says it means showing up....

La passegiata

Italians figured out something we forgot. Every evening, in every piazza, they walk. No agenda. No podcast. No deliverable. Just movement and presence and the occasional gelato. La passeggiata. The ritual stroll. We call it inefficient. They call it essential. The...

The comfortable illusion of knowing

I’ve watched it happen more times than I can count. An individual reads a book. A good one. Finds the insight that unlocks something. And then stops there. There’s a seductive feeling that comes with the click of understanding. It feels like an arrival. It...

Roots or ruin

I walked through a small hill town in Umbria recently. Narrow stone streets, a church that has stood since the 12th century, a butcher whose family has occupied the same shop for four generations. Nobody needed to explain the culture. It was present in every detail....