Rachel Cooke

PA Pressure Creates Diamonds—or Learned Helplessness

Pressure Creates Diamonds—or Learned Helplessness

Pressure has the power to create both. Diamonds and mortal wounds.

PA Standing Still Is Breaking More Teams Than Change Ever Will

Standing Still Is Breaking More Teams Than Change Ever Will

Do you see the metaphor coming a mile away? Yep the workplace. It feels like that jungle right now. Lonely. Death-defying. Full of unconquerable traps

PA When Leaders Admit Uncertainty, Teams Respond With Stronger Engagement and Trust

When Leaders Admit Uncertainty, Teams Respond With Stronger Engagement and Trust

Where catastrophe is imminent. And the president reads the speech he's been handed. Designed to inspire confidence and calm in the American people.

PA Real Change Starts Small: Leadership Actions That Fix Overload and Inaction

Real Change Starts Small: Leadership Actions That Fix Overload and Inaction

Work is hurting these days. We see it. We feel it. We know at least some of what needs to change. So… why isn't sh*t changing?

PA Too Many Priorities? Nest Them Like Russian Dolls and Watch Clarity Appear

Too Many Priorities? Nest Them Like Russian Dolls and Watch Clarity Appear

I raise the too-many-priorities issue and get vigorous head nods all around. But when I ask the team to generate a list of these too-many priorities?

PA Stepping Outside To Untangle Dysfunction in Teams

Stepping Outside To Untangle Dysfunction in Teams

And I tell them we can only untangle the mess from the outside in. And here are some ways to approach this.

PA “Who’s Accountable?” Is the Wrong Question—and That’s the Problem

“Who’s Accountable?” Is the Wrong Question—and That’s the Problem

And most essentially, they infuse the psychological safety that lets their team actually live in the yellow.

PA Speed Without Structure Is Just Chaos

Speed Without Structure Is Just Chaos

Pure speed and agility. But really, it’s structure moving fast. Speed without structure isn't agility. It's just panic with better marketing.

PA Stop Leading Like a Tour Guide: Why Today’s Teams Need Expedition Leaders

Stop Leading Like a Tour Guide: Why Today’s Teams Need Expedition Leaders

Yet too many leaders today are striving to embody the same certainty and authority Linda carried with her.

PA The Permission You’re Waiting for Isn’t Coming

The Permission You’re Waiting for Isn’t Coming

Leaders exhausting themselves trying to fix everything. Teams waiting for solutions from above. And nobody asking the question that could change everything

PA Work Isn’t Working: How We Lost the Second Place — And How To Build It Back

Work Isn’t Working: How We Lost the Second Place — And How To Build It Back

There was always the coffee. But it was never about the coffee. It was about the place. Their place. With their people.

PA Why Great Leaders Don’t Wait for the Right Decision—They Commit To Making It Right

Why Great Leaders Don’t Wait for the Right Decision—They Commit To Making It Right

So how am I working with teams here? Well, beyond playing dinner-table games, here's how I’m approaching this

PA Counting Macros, Missing the Point: A Leadership Lesson in Disguise

Counting Macros, Missing the Point: A Leadership Lesson in Disguise

Ironically, I find myself leaning more toward packaged foods and away from whole ones because the former are easier to measure.

PA Why Breaking the Container Is Holding You Back

Why Breaking the Container Is Holding You Back

We've been treating these as trade-offs - priorities to juggle. Push for results, people burn out. Focus on engagement, results suffer.

PA Wellness Isn’t a Benefit—It’s a Way of Working

Wellness Isn’t a Benefit—It’s a Way of Working

It's about how the work is organized. And when you fix the organization, both wellness and performance improve.

PA Stop Slowing Down Your Team: How Context-First Collaboration Changes Everything

Stop Slowing Down Your Team: How Context-First Collaboration Changes Everything

Happens when people can surface what they see, test it against what others are seeing, and build a shared view that’s strong enough to guide the work

PA The Power of a Team Reset: Reignite Focus, Energy, and Results

The Power of a Team Reset: Reignite Focus, Energy, and Results

PA Doing More With Less: The Sustainable Strategy That Actually Works

Doing More With Less: The Sustainable Strategy That Actually Works

Expectations are expanding, budgets are shrinking, and headcount is frozen. And do more with less is thing we’re all being asked to do

PA What the Chicken (and Your Burnout) Might Really Be Chasing

What the Chicken (and Your Burnout) Might Really Be Chasing

For some, maybe adventure. Another may want the cardio. Still another saw the ice cream truck. #burnout

PA Break the Loop: A 5-Minute Reset That Gets Teams Unstuck

Break the Loop: A 5-Minute Reset That Gets Teams Unstuck

Asking clients to step out of the container with me is one of those instances. It’s a little bit of mind trickery. But it creates a shift. #advisors

PA Time To Burn Down What We Know About Burnout

Time To Burn Down What We Know About Burnout

Into assumptions that it’s a volume problem. And the solution, therefore, is to dial back the work. Lighter loads, more PTO, fewer meetings. #burnout

PA How to Untangle Team Dysfunction & Necklaces

How to Untangle Team Dysfunction & Necklaces

And I tell them we can only untangle the mess from the outside in. And here are some ways to approach this. #inclusion

PA How To Keep Engagement High When Priorities Shift

How To Keep Engagement High When Priorities Shift

So… anyone else feeling beaten over the head by dire stats on employee engagement? Like, we get it—it’s tanked. Badly. #inclusion

PA Storytelling: The Secret Weapon of Effective Leadership

Storytelling: The Secret Weapon of Effective Leadership

When we open things up and invite them into the story? We co-create an ending that is so much better. #inclusion

PA From the Start: How Co-Creation Fosters Robust Innovations

From the Start: How Co-Creation Fosters Robust Innovations

We talk a lot about collaboration today. Which is largely about decision rights or handoffs or consensus-management that really just slows us down.

PA How Leaders Can Revitalize and Reactivate the Workplace

How Leaders Can Revitalize and Reactivate the Workplace

The workplace, and our collective experience of it, could surely use a tune-up. We know it. But we’re doing it wrong. We need a fresh approach. #work

PA Decision Rights: The Challenge Without the Real Problem

Decision Rights: The Challenge Without the Real Problem

Become conversations about thoughtfully designed organizations. And these conversations get us further faster.

PA 5 Levers to Pull When Change Must be Embedded QUICKLY

5 Levers to Pull When Change Must be Embedded QUICKLY

How to Embed Change Quickly

PA How Do You Achieve Flawless Execution?

How Do You Achieve Flawless Execution?