Craig Calder Craig Calder

How to collaborate with AI without getting burned

AI feels confident and fast, but it doesn’t actually know anything. It guesses, it fills gaps, and if you’re not careful, it’ll hallucinate and lead you astray. To get the best results collaborating with AI, learn how to build trust working with it. Be clear in your request, don’t limit its responses too much, and always ask for real data are three strategies to use. And remember, trust is always earned, whether with people or AI.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

How use AI to make initiative your 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. Here’s how to use AI to help you become one.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

When to Zoom or not to Zoom...

Deciding whether collaboration should be in-person or virtual is a decision managers and leaders need to make multiple times each week. This post shares a simple three-question framework backed by research gives you an easy to use framework to make the right decision every time. Use it to save time, reduce unnecessary travel, and choose the right format that gets you better results faster.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Great collaboration isn’t luck, it’s built

Collaboration is becoming one of the most important skills as AI changes how businesses work. To do it well, you need three key foundations and manage three common fears that can quietly sabotage any team.

Inside are two simple strategies you can use right now to build stronger, smarter foundations for collaboration to deliver better results faster.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Does Ozempic impact our intuition?

Could appetite-suppressing drugs like Ozempic also suppress the “gut feelings” we rely on for decision-making? No one yet knows for sure. This post explores how this could impact the future choices we make and the path the problems we choose to solve take us.

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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 big problem that needed to be solved.

But what was the problem Pringles leadership chose to solve and how did they do it? A clue: what you believe can always change.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

How to avoid three common thinking traps

Ever feel stuck in your own head when big challenges hit you? This post breaks down three sneaky thinking traps that mess with your perspective and how to get out of them and back into action.

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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

How to escape the “Got a Minute?” trap

“Got a minute?” might sound harmless, but it’s how small problems become big distractions and dependency replaces initiative.

These micro-escalations drain a leader’s focus and send the message that thinking belongs elsewhere.

With the right prompts, AI helps teams explore before they escalate, building confidence and ownership instead of handing problems up.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Acronyms are efficient. Until they’re not.

Acronyms can be efficient, but they can also quietly shut people out. When we assume everyone understands the shorthand, we risk silencing fresh ideas and contributions from those too afraid to ask.

This post explores how acronyms create hidden barriers to collaboration and innovation and why clarity is the real power move in any room.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Fear loves a foggy org chart

When accountability is unclear, people shift from producing results to protecting themselves. This blog explores why ambiguity triggers anxiety, stalls momentum, and kills initiative, especially during new projects or change.

Learn how to spot the warning signs and the simple question every team should ask to create clarity, build courage, and move forward faster.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Endings create the space for new beginnings

Change starts with endings, not new beginnings. Lots of people fear change because it’s uncomfortable to walk through the space in between endings and new beginnings, called the Neutral Zone by William Bridges in his book Transitions.

But holding onto the past makes the job of transition to something new harder. Learning how to let go allows you to move forward faster towards a new beginning.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Brainstorming in the age of AI

AI is fundamentally changing brainstorming, but it can’t replace what is uniquely human about it. Which is working out what ideas matter.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Two ways to solve any problem

There are two ways to solve any problem. Change what you do, or change what you have. That's it. Focusing on these two variables makes solving problems a whole lot easier.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Switch judgement for what’s interesting

We’re trained to judge, fast. Good or bad. Right or wrong. Success or failure. But judgement slams the door on creativity.

When we label something too quickly, we stop exploring it. We don’t ask why, we don’t look closer, we just move on. But what if, instead of asking is it good or bad, we asked what’s interesting here?

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Use chaos to inspire creative ideas

Feeling stuck isn't a dead end, it's a sign that your current thinking patterns have reached their limits. Our brains are wired to filter out information, focusing only on what's deemed relevant. Inviting chaos into your thinking breaks patterns and unlocks creativity that leads to breakthroughs.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Three things I learned writing my first book

Writing Problem Hunter was a life milestone for me. It may not yet be a best seller, but that's not the point. The journey of writing and publishing a book has reshaped who I am and how I approach this short life we live. Here’s three things I learned as I wrote the book.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Three tests to make sure you solve the right problem

Most teams don’t fail because they can’t solve problems. They fail because they solve the wrong ones. We chase symptoms. We fix what’s loud. We jump to action because sitting in the unknown feels uncomfortable. Here are three tests I use to make sure I solve the right problem every time.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Reliability is a sedative for our nervous system

Do what you say you will. It sounds basic. But it's the biggest complaint people have when collaborating with others. That people let them down. Neuroscience research shows that consistency calms the brain’s threat detection system (amygdala). And that’s essential for high performing collaboration.

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Craig Calder Craig Calder

Turn in, not out

Collaboration works when we turn in, not out. When tension shows up, and it always does when we try and solve challenging problems, most people turn out. Blame the system. Blame the customer. Blame each other. It feels safer. But turning out erodes trust. Turning in builds trust.

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