Most teams spend more time in meetings than they realize — and even more time recovering from the unproductive ones. Before you fix your meeting culture, it helps to see what’s actually going wrong. And let’s be honest: every workplace has its own collection of meeting disasters.

Few leadership moments test your integrity like a layoff. There’s no easy way to tell someone their role is being eliminated. Even when it’s necessary — a restructuring, a funding slowdown, a market shift — it leaves a mark on everyone involved. And while companies often focus on legal compliance, messaging, and PR risk, what really defines a leader in these moments is how they show up. Layoffs aren’t just about who leaves. They’re about who stays.

Every week I sit with ambitious, talented, capable leaders who—on paper—look nothing alike. A founder in Berlin. A director in Dublin. A senior executive in Singapore. A first-time people manager in New York. Different industries. Different backgrounds. Different passports and parenting stories. And yet… the same patterns emerge. High achievers don’t share a personality. They don’t share a resume. They don’t even share a temperament. What they   do   share is the ability to operate in the...