Each week, I come across dozens of articles and think pieces. Most are fine. Some don’t just quite land with me. But a handful? Those stop me in my tracks. They make me think differently, challenge an assumption I didn’t know I had, or give me language for something I’ve been feeling but couldn’t quite name.
This isn’t a comprehensive roundup of “the most important news” or some curated list. It’s just honest. These are the pieces that hit me this week, the ones I bookmarked, commented on or liked, and shared with colleagues. Most are about leadership, teams, and how we show up at work. A few aren’t. But they all mattered.
If even one of these lands for you the way it did for me, that’s a win.
In no particular order, here’s what caught my attention this week:
1. Performance Management in the Age of Algorithms Series: Part II
How Social Systems, Psychological Contracts, and Market Tolerance Shape Algorithmic Evaluation
By: The Future of Work, Designed and Colby Kennedy Nesbitt
What it’s about: Performance management isn't just about accurate data, it's a social system built on trust, relationships, and unwritten agreements between employees and employers, and AI can easily break that psychological contract if we're not careful. The real risk isn't that AI gets the numbers wrong, but that it misses the organizational context (like bad incentives or competing priorities) and blames individuals for system-level failures, which kills legitimacy faster than any technical error ever could.
2. Rethinking Time Management: How Leaders Should Use Vision as a Filter
A simple reframe to stop reacting and align focus with purpose and goals.
What it’s about: You can't manage time, but you can manage what you say yes to. And the best filter for deciding what deserves your attention is your vision, not what feels urgent or what other people assume you'll do. When you let your vision guide your choices instead of reacting to every request that lands in your inbox, you stop being busy and start being intentional about work that actually matters.
3. The Most Dangerous Word In Leadership
It isn’t “quit” or “fail” or “lost”. The most dangerous word in leadership is not what you think.
By: Jeff Matlow
What it’s about: The word "they" is quietly destroying your company culture because it's a permission slip to avoid accountability and create an us-versus-them divide that kills collaboration, productivity, and trust. The real fix isn't just swapping "they" for "we", it's defining who "we" are as a team, then having the courage to move from "they missed the deadline" to "we missed it" to "I changed requirements without communicating clearly."
4. When “Resistance” Isn’t Resistance
What Employee Sabotage Tells Us About AI, Organizational Justice, and AI Angst
By: The Future of Work, Designed (Got two on the list this week!)
What it’s about: When employees resist AI tools or use unauthorized shadow systems, it's not rebellion or technophobia, it's a predictable response to feeling excluded, disrespected, or treated unfairly in how AI is being rolled out, creating what researchers call "AI Angst." The organizations getting AI adoption right aren't just investing in training; they're designing around fairness and trust by involving employees early, communicating honestly about risks and benefits, and treating people as co-designers instead of passive end users who just need to "trust the process."
5. How the Best Leaders Normalize Not Knowing
What it’s about: Organizations that normalize saying "I don't know" make better decisions because admitting uncertainty creates space for learning, collaboration, and pursuing actual accuracy instead of ego-driven bluffing. The best leaders start discussions by exploring what isn't known first which establishes a baseline of uncertainty that signals it's safe to admit gaps in knowledge, turning every unknown into a launchpad for discovery rather than something to hide or fake your way through.
6. Greed is Good: Why I’m Betting Everything on People in an AI-First World
Why Generosity, Gratitude and Human Relationships Are the Framework All of Our Creator Businesses Need Most in 2026
By: John Brewton
What it’s about: While everyone's panicking about AI taking white-collar jobs, the John is going all-in on teaching people to build small, one-person businesses, betting that in an AI-first world, the real competitive edge isn't credentials or technical skills, but human relationships, generosity, and the ability to create genuine value around your expertise. The shift from social-graph platforms (where follower count mattered) to interest-graph algorithms (where engagement and niche relevance win) means you don't need a massive audience anymore, you just need to help people, build trust, and go deep on what you actually care about.
7. What If Leaders Acted More Like Gardeners?
Six Lessons Leaders Can Learn From Gardeners
By: Bruce Temkin
What it’s about: Organizations don't behave like fixed structures you can engineer, they're living systems that adapt, remember how they're treated, and drift based on everyday habits and conditions, not just formal design. Leaders need to stop trying to control outcomes like engineers and start thinking like gardeners: preparing the right conditions, pulling the weeds that drain energy, watering priorities consistently through daily actions, and giving change time to take root before expecting results to show up in the numbers.
8. Why Revenue Growth Alone Can Be Misleading
Learn how to separate price and volume effects so you can make better business decisions.
What it’s about: When a sales manager brags about a 20% revenue increase but costs have jumped 40%, the real question isn't whether sales grew, it's how they grew: through selling more units (volume) or through price changes like aggressive discounting. Price-volume analysis breaks down revenue growth into these two components, revealing whether "success" is actually sustainable or just heavy discounting that destroys profitability while pumping up vanity metrics. Without separating these levers, you're just guessing instead of making informed decisions.
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