Leadership18 min read
Deliberate Practice for Leaders: Why Experience Doesn't Make You Better
Deliberate practice is the only reliable way to develop leadership skills. Why years of experience isn't enough, how to practise, and where to start.
Library
Articles
Essays and notes on coaching, leadership, and the conversations that shape teams.
Book SummariesCoachingLeadershipOrganisational DesignNewsletterBook CollectionsReal Talk StudioRoleplayAgileSystems Thinking & ComplexityHabitsProduct ManagementEmotionsFacilitationPersonal ProductivityHabits ProgramSelf-CareTeam CoachingChange AgentsCharityCurated InsightsClubhouseDaoKanbanMentoringMetaverseRetrospectives
Real Talk Studio6 min read
New Manager Training: The Conversations Nobody Prepares You For
Most new manager training teaches models, not conversations. Here are the conversations every first-time manager actually faces in year one, and how to practise them, from someone who builds conversation simulations for a living.
Real Talk Studio8 min read
10 Difficult Conversation Scenarios for Managers (From Someone Who Builds Them for a Living)
Ten realistic difficult conversation scenarios for managers, with what people get wrong and what good sounds like, drawn from real practice sessions on an AI roleplay platform.
Real Talk Studio6 min read
Crucial Conversations Training: What Works, What Doesn't, and How to Actually Practise
An honest comparison of crucial conversations training options: the official course, workshops, peer practice and AI simulation, from a practitioner who builds conversation training for a living.
Real Talk Studio7 min read
Sales Role Play Scenarios That Actually Prepare Reps (Not the Cringe Kind)
Why sales role play in team meetings fails, what a real practice scenario needs, and five worked sales role play scenarios you can run this week, from a founder who builds sales simulations.
Real Talk Studio7 min read
AI Roleplay Training: What It Is, What It's Good At, and Where It Fails
A founder's honest guide to AI roleplay training: how conversation simulation works, where it beats traditional role play, where it still falls short, and how to evaluate platforms.
Real Talk Studio7 min read
How to Tell an Employee They're Being Made Redundant (A Practical, Humane Guide)
A practical guide to the redundancy conversation: the script structure, the sentence managers avoid, what to say to the wider team, and how to prepare, from someone who builds redundancy conversation simulations.
Book Summaries7 min read
Summary: The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher
The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher is a practical playbook for hard conversations. I use the techniques already. If you liked Crucial Conversations but wanted someone to tell you what to say in the next thirty seconds, start here.
Book Summaries6 min read
Summary: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg is a classic four-step language for saying the hard thing without attack. Observation, feeling, need, request. Simple. I still skip the first step most days.
Book Summaries6 min read
Summary: Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen
Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen is the missing half of Difficult Conversations. Most books teach you how to give feedback. This one teaches you how to hear it without flinching, arguing, or quietly dying inside.
Book Summaries6 min read
Summary: Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton
Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton is still the negotiation book every leader is quietly quoting. Separate people from the problem. Focus on interests, not positions. Know your BATNA before you walk in.
Book Summaries6 min read
Summary: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
The Culture Map by Erin Meyer is the book I wish I’d had before my first global programme. Eight scales that explain why your 'clear' email landed as rude, and their 'polite' silence was a no.