Insights

Practical behavioural science for leaders

Short articles on how leaders and their teams actually behave under pressure, what the research says, and what you can do about it this week.

The dark side of leadership, part 1

Narcissists look like great leaders. The results tell a different story.

You have probably sat on the interview panel. One candidate fills the room: confident, fluent, sure of every answer, with a clear story of how they turned a business around.

7 min readDiscover more →

The dark side of leadership, part 2

Your boss probably isn't a psychopath. But the traits can help people get fast-tracked.

In part 1 of this series I looked at narcissism: the leader who looks great in the boardroom but whose results are no better than anyone else's.

6 min readDiscover more →

The dark side of leadership, part 3

The dark side of leadership, part 3: Machiavellianism

The calculating colleague tends to rise. Their team partly sees through it.

6 min readDiscover more →

Employees aren't lazy. They're disillusioned with being given pointless work.

You have probably done it. You stayed late, or gave up part of a weekend, to finish a report. You sent it on Monday morning and never heard another word.

9 min readDiscover more →

Pushing harder won't change their mind. Here's what will.

You have probably been in this meeting. You make your case. The other person pushes back, so you make it again, more firmly and with more data.

7 min readDiscover more →

We say we don't trust AI. Our behaviour says otherwise.

You may have said it yourself: "AI is useful, but I always check its work." Most leaders believe that about themselves, and most organisations have a policy that says a human reviews what the machine produces.

7 min readDiscover more →

Your team agrees with you. That should worry you.

Everyone nodded in the meeting. The decision was taken, the actions were agreed and the room moved on. Two weeks later nothing has happened, and you hear in the corridor that half the room never agreed in the first place.

6 min readDiscover more →

Nice people make bad deals. They don't have to.

You have probably said yes to something you knew was wrong. It might have been a supplier's price that was too high, a deadline your team could not meet, or a client request that crept into the scope for nothing.

6 min readDiscover more →

Stressed leaders get defensive with the wrong people. Two minutes can help.

You know the moment. The board is waiting, the numbers are not what you hoped, and your heart is already racing before you have said a word.

7 min readDiscover more →

Why thinking longer can make your decisions worse, and when to trust your gut

You have probably watched a decision drag on for weeks. Another analysis is commissioned, another meeting is held and another week is allowed to think it over.

7 min readDiscover more →

Forty-seven seconds: why your focus keeps breaking, and how to win it back

You probably know the feeling. You sit down to work on the one important thing, and an hour later you have answered emails, checked a report, glanced at the news and read three messages.

7 min readDiscover more →