Writing
Most of what I write about, I got wrong first.
Twenty years of running teams, ranges and markets, and what it taught me about how senior roles actually work.
You're blocking
One of my senior merchants told me the blocker was me. What had to be in place for him to say it.
Where do you go to have a bad idea?
The more senior you get, the fewer places there are to say an unfinished thought out loud.
The room stopped listening in the first half hour
For two seasons we presented the range in the wrong order. The fix was not the range.
Who do you talk to when everyone is affected?
The more senior you get, the fewer people you can think out loud with. The list gets shorter.
For the first six weeks, you will think you are not doing enough
Why stepping in to save three weeks keeps the role exactly where it is.
You are borrowing time from November
Clearing the calendar after summer never holds. Moving who decides does.
What August actually shows us
Two weeks away shows you how decisions really move through the business, and which ones only move when you do.
The pressure came entirely from me
Four weeks away, the business was fine. The pressure to check in came from somewhere else.
The Sunday read
One piece a week, in your inbox on Sunday evening.