Craig Calder Craig Calder

How to evict your judgement junkie

That voice in your head—the one that second-guesses, overanalyses, and shoots down every idea before it has a chance to breathe—it thinks it’s protecting you. But more often, it’s just keeping you stuck. I call this voice our judgement junkie and it needs to be evicted to allow your creativity to flourish.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Five ways to wake up creativity

Your brain has a switch—one side cranks through tasks, checks off lists, and gets things done. The other side wanders, imagines, and connects dots that don’t seem connected. Both are essential, but most of us get stuck in productivity mode, drowning in efficiency thinking and shutting off access to creative spark. The good news? You can flip the switch.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Don’t aim to get along - aim for constructive disagreement

A workplace that prioritises “getting along,” “being a team player,” and “avoiding conflict” risks making agreeability the dominant cultural trait—and risks killing innovation in the process. Disagreement isn’t the enemy. Disagreement is the spark.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Take time to savour a problem before taking a bite out of it

In a Pringles survey, 43% of consumers admitted to getting their hands stuck in a Pringles can—and they weren’t happy about it. This was a problem that needed to be solved.

The first rule of problem solving is: "Solve the right problem". But what was the problem and how did they solve it? A clue: what you believe can always change.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

How to balance perfectionism with pragmatism?

Perfectionism whispers, "Not yet. It's not ready." Pragmatism asks, "Is it good enough to move forward?"

Waiting for perfect means waiting forever. Releasing too soon means compromising impact. The magic is in the balance. Inside is three steps to balance perfection with pragmatism to get the best results.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Increase creativity by learning to dwell in ambiguity longer

Dwelling in ambiguity and uncertainty is uncomfortable. It’s tempting to rush to any answer just to escape the unknown.

But seeking premature certainty kills great ideas. The longer you sit with it, the more space you give for better solutions to emerge. This article has three ways to build up your tolerance and amplify your creativity.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

The Zone of Desirable Difficulty

Too easy, and we get bored. Too hard, and we give up. The sweet spot? It's where we succeed 85% of the time and struggle 15% researchers have found. This is the Zone of Desirable Difficulty—where real growth happens. It's the formula for entering the flow state.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Turd observing stinks

Ever been in a meeting where someone drops a problem like a grenade and steps back? No solution, no ownership—just boom. This behaviour I call turd observing and it stinks. Find out why we do this and how to fix it with three simple questions.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Initiative is a superpower

Most people spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for permission, waiting for the perfect moment, waiting to be told what to do. But the people who change things? They don’t wait. People who take initiative I call Problem Hunters. They are the most valuable in an organisation.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Judgement makes us feel better. Curiosity helps us get better

Cynicism whispers, "Why bother?" Curiosity shouts, "What if?" One closes doors, the other flings them wide open. Research shows that curiosity fuels creativity and problem-solving, while cynicism feeds inertia and disengagement. They can’t coexist. And here’s the kicker: cynicism gets louder as we age. Here’s how to break out of a cynicism cycle.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Four keys to hiring great support 

Hiring great support isn’t about filling a role—it’s about finding someone who amplifies your impact. To do that, you need to look for four essential qualities: Capability, Capacity, Influence, and Desire. Inside shows you how to use these to get the best hires to support you.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

When to trust intuition and when to dig deeper

Intuition is powerful. It’s the nudge that guides us through uncertainty, the quiet voice that whispers, “This feels right so let's do it.”  Often, we feel it in our bones—a gut reaction telling us the right path. And more often than not, it’s right. Find out how to know when to dig deeper and how.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Resistance to change isn’t incompetence, it’s mismanaged development.

Change can feel hard and scary if it's forced on us. People resist it, not because they’re lazy or incapable, but because they feel unsafe and unprepared. Resistance is fear in disguise. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. Fear of losing control. Fear of being unable to cope. The problem isn’t the resistance itself, it’s how we manage people to accept it as normal. Here’s why.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

The most common belief that holds us back (and how to fix it)

“I’m not ready yet.” It’s the excuse we give ourselves to stay comfortable. We tell ourselves we need more time, more skills, more confidence. But the truth? You’ll never feel ready. Growth is uncomfortable by design. This belief holds us back because it’s rooted in fear. Here’s how to overcome it.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Why mental models work (and how to create them)

Life throws complexity at us every day. Mental models simplify it. They’re the tools we use to make sense of the world, spot patterns, and make smarter decisions.  They work because they provide structure—a proven framework to navigate uncertainty without starting from scratch every time. Here’s how to make them work for you.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

The common misconception about perception

Perception feels like reality, but it isn’t. It’s a filter, not a fact. The common misconception? We think our view of the world is the truth. But perception is shaped by biases, experiences, and assumptions. What you see depends on where you stand. Here’s how to avoid the perception trap.

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