We chase certainty because it feels safe, but Daniel Kahneman showed us that this instinct, what he called the Certainty Effect, often means we sell ourselves short. Over the past 20 years, the ASX 200 rewarded those who leaned into calculated risk far more than bonds ever did. The real lesson: slowing down, grounding decisions in data, and collaborating with others can help us escape the trap of selling ourselves short.

You hear, “The issue is our software is not working,” and suddenly every solution revolves around coding updates and testing. But what if the real problem is something else entirely, persisting with an internally developed software system that can’t keep pace with external changes? Anchoring bias tricks us into solving the first thing we hear, not the right thing. Here are three questions to ask to not get fooled by it.

Breakthroughs often don’t come from playing the same old tune with the same old band. Strangers bring fresh eyes, and a willingness to explore. Structure and safety matter, but so does the unexpected voice that shifts everything. If you want bold ideas, stop rehearsing only with the usual crew, invite someone new to the session.

Not all feedback is yours to carry, much of it is just someone else’s insecurity wrapped in words. The danger is that projected criticism erodes trust, respect, and psychological safety in teams faster than almost anything else. Real leadership is knowing the difference, and choosing feedback that helps others grow instead of protecting your own fear.

Teams rarely fail because a challenge is too big, they fail when small frictions quietly grind progress to a halt. Unclear goals, poor communication, and unequal participation erode trust, respect, and psychological safety, which research shows are essential for high-performing teams. Remove friction, make space for every voice, and suddenly collaboration isn’t just easier, it accelerates results.

Fear doesn't vanish through wishful thinking, it dissolves through deliberate practice. Acclaimed psychologist Albert Bandura developed a simply practice he called Guided Mastery to help overcome our deepest fears and limiting beliefs. By finding a guide, removing excuses, and committing to small consistent steps, you can transform limiting beliefs into limitless possibilities.

There's three ways to boost our capability: learning from others, earning it through practice and repetition and discerning new ideas through reflection. Most people do the first two. But the third creates the biggest gains because it surfaces new ideas we can’t see when we just focus on doing. And research shows just 15 minutes of daily reflection can boost productivity by over 20%.

Micromanaging feels like control, but it destroys trust and respect, two foundations every team needs to thrive. When leaders step in too much, they create followers instead of owners. Accountability, not control, is what multiplies human capability and drives results. Inside are eight steps to break the micromanaging cycle.

People don’t need to win every argument, they need to know the door was open for them when the decision was made. When we feel seen, heard, and included, research shows we’re far more likely to support outcomes, even if they’re not ours. Exclusion kills trust, and without trust, decisions fall apart when it comes to executing them.

Admitting “I don’t know” isn’t weakness, it’s the foundation of trust and psychological safety. I used to think the opposite.

Research shows that humility fuels better decisions, stronger relationships, and higher-performing teams. When leaders make it safe to not know, people drop their guards and bring their best selves today and grow faster into even better versions tomorrow.

I’ve learned to judge advice by its fit to my circumstances, not by its source. We trust doctors because they're trained to diagnose and fix problems with our bodies and our bodies don’t change much. But businesses do. They evolve constantly. Markets and laws shift, processes change, skills and tech are replaced. The patient is never the same. Before you act on advice in the future, ask: How well do they know the patient? Then go check with AI!

Most of us have built our careers on a cultural myth that's becoming outdated: that working hard regardless of outcome makes us virtuous. AI is systematically handling routine tasks, creating space for people to focus on what truly matters, identifying meaningful problems and orchestrating smart solutions that blend creativity with efficiency.

The mindset shift from, "How hard are you working?" to "What difference are you making?" will open a world of new opportunities for those willing to make it.

We’ve been told distraction kills productivity, but in creative work, the right kind of distraction can be rocket fuel. Focused distractions, like walking, lifting, or switching tasks, give your subconscious space to solve problems while your conscious mind rests. Pair them with AI to capture and organise your thoughts before you step away, and you’ll return with more clarity, more energy, and bigger ideas.

Half of us are stuck in a childhood trap, trading our authentic voice for others' approval. This people-pleasing programming once kept us alive because rejection from the tribe meant death. But today, that same wiring kills potential and burns us out from the inside.

The antidote isn't becoming callous, it's becoming conscious: catching when you're managing others' emotions to calm your own anxiety, understanding feelings without fixing them, and choosing where your empathy gets invested instead of scattering it everywhere.

A growing number of companies, including Moderna and Bunq, are merging HR and IT as AI blurs the line between workforce planning and technology enablement. With 64% of senior IT leaders predicting consolidation within five years, the focus seems to be shifting to optimising workflows between human skills and AI capabilities and not optimising for each separately.

Research shows feedback can nearly double learning speed, especially when sought at around 60% completion, early enough to adjust, but refined enough to be useful.

Asking for feedback too late wastes time, reinforces flawed assumptions, and slows progress, while early feedback loops keep you agile and on track. The fastest learners aren’t perfect from the start, they’re the ones brave enough to share messy drafts and smart enough to listen.

Raising your voice might feel like leadership in the moment, but it often damages trust and kills collaboration. Research from Google’s Project Aristotle shows psychological safety, not fear, is the real driver of team performance. By recognising stress triggers, creating space between feeling and action, and using simple tension-release techniques, leaders can protect trust, keep teams engaged, and raise the performance bar without raising their voice.

Accountability doesn’t fail because it’s bad, it fails because it’s forced. When leaders push for more control, they get compliance, not commitment. The best results come from people who choose to care, not those who are pressured to perform.

The fastest way to learn AI, or any complex topic, is to prepare to teach it to others. Research from Washington University shows that expecting to teach dramatically boosts learning outcomes. In this era of rapid AI introduction into the workplace, learning with the view of sharing your newfound knowledge with others will help accelerate your growth.

Most meetings are built for updates. But what if you ran them like a musical jam session, starting with alignment, layering ideas, and riffing toward something new? A songwriting program for young people at Bondi Pavilion showed my son (and me) how structured improvisation creates magic and the same approach can unlock bold solutions in any workplace.