https://gain-intelligence.com/blog.html Short articles on how leaders and their teams behave under pressure, what the research says, and what you can do about it this week.en-gb https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-narcissists-look-like-great-leaders.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-narcissists-look-like-great-leaders.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000You 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-psychopathic-traits-fast-tracked.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-psychopathic-traits-fast-tracked.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000In 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-machiavellianism-calculating-colleague.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-machiavellianism-calculating-colleague.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000The calculating colleague tends to rise. Their team partly sees through it. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-employees-arent-lazy.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-employees-arent-lazy.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000You 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-pushing-harder-wont-change-their-mind.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-pushing-harder-wont-change-their-mind.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000You 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-we-say-we-dont-trust-ai.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-we-say-we-dont-trust-ai.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000You 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-your-team-agrees-with-you.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-your-team-agrees-with-you.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000Everyone 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-nice-people-make-bad-deals.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-nice-people-make-bad-deals.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000You 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-stressed-leaders-get-defensive.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-stressed-leaders-get-defensive.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000You 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-thinking-longer-decisions-worse.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-thinking-longer-decisions-worse.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000You 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. https://gain-intelligence.com/blog-forty-seven-seconds-focus.htmlhttps://gain-intelligence.com/blog-forty-seven-seconds-focus.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000You 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.