Author: The HuPerson Project
The Nature of Time in the Game of Business
In sports, duration gives shape to the way a game is played. A game ends when the clock runs out, when the final set is played, or when a specific point total is reached. Tennis runs on sets. Soccer on halves. Basketball on quarters. Even golf has its own temporal architecture, measured through a fixed […]
Game On: Are You Clear About the Game You’ve Agreed to Play?
It’s not uncommon to think of business as a game. Consider this reflection from an influential leader: “Business is a game, the greatest game in the world if you know how to play it.” – Thomas J. Watson, early IBM leader In any game, there are agreements to participate. We make countless agreements each day […]
Rebranding from Meaning and Awareness
Rebranding is often understood as a shift in image or message, yet at its best, it is a movement of meaning. It begins with purpose, the why that gives a company coherence, and unfolds through awareness. When rebranding arises from meaning and mission, it becomes less about strategy and more about evolution. The work is to […]
From Strategy to a New View of Map-Making: Rethinking How Leaders Navigate Change
When the Map No Longer Matches the Territory When COVID hit, business stopped almost overnight. Dining rooms closed, doors locked, and an entire way of operating became impossible. At that moment, it was clear: we were not in Kansas anymore. As the CEO of a regional restaurant group, I watched 40 percent of our business […]
Sensitivity and AI: Investing Attention Where It Matters Most
A New Currency of Business Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how we work. It scans data, drafts reports, manages tasks, and suggests creative ideas. Many, many organizations are investing in AI. Yet a deeper question emerges: Where are we investing human attention? In the rush to adopt AI, some companies treat employee attention as a cost […]
When Complexity Calls: Expanding Leadership at the Edge of the Known
A decision under smoke The call came during wildfire season. Smoke had spread into several worksites, and air quality dropped to levels considered unsafe for human health. The expected course of action was clear: carry on as usual, maintain operations, absorb the cost later if necessary. Faced with the decision, Jill Taylor, as CEO of […]
Innovation and the Walls of the City
The achiever brain naturally wants to safeguard its domain so that success can continue indefinitely. As a result, we’ve created a heavily guarded virtual wall around the city of business. Inside those walls, companies often treat innovation as something to manage. A division is carved out, R&D is siloed, and the rest of the enterprise […]
When “File Not Found” Becomes a Leadership Asset
Across industries, executives are naming the same experience: the playbooks they once relied on no longer fit. AI and automation are moving quickly, financial pressures remain volatile, and risks seem to arrive in clusters rather than one at a time. Many leaders describe a quiet sense of “file not found”—that moment when the system searches […]
Scaling With Meaning
The pressure to grow is everywhere. Leaders are told to scale faster, expand further, and multiply what they already have—or risk being left behind. The narrative is often about numbers: 10x growth, market share, valuations. Yet scaling for its own sake can be fragile. A strategy that looks promising today may unravel tomorrow when the […]
Seeing Patterns We’ve Never Seen Before
When faced with challenge, most of us instinctively search for patterns. How did this happen? Where have I seen this before? Our brains are wired to connect new experiences to old ones. For thousands of years, that worked—because life didn’t change much. Today, it’s different. The patterns emerging now are often unprecedented. The pandemic and […]
The Meeting Before the Meeting
A CEO once told me the most important part of leadership wasn’t what happened in the boardroom. It was the meeting before the meeting—the one you have with yourself. Before stepping into the room, she had already prepared. She had reflected on why she was there, what her role was calling from her, and the […]
Business as Usual Has Rewired Our Brains
The 21st-century workplace didn’t emerge in isolation — it’s the latest step in a long redesign of how humans live and think. From forager to farmer, farmer to factory worker, factory to information worker, each leap reshaped our brain’s wiring. Neuroplasticity allowed us to adapt, though often in ways that left us further from our […]