Should we be glorifying 'fail fast' leadership?

Catrina Hewitson | 01 Jul 2025

'Move fast and break things' is a seductive idea. But glorifying 'fail fastf leadership uncritically can be problematic and counter-productive.

The bird watcher's guide to hybrid work

Wayne Turmel

Taking up bird watching has got me thinking about birds, about evolution, and about what this has to do with the evolving workplace.

How can leaders rediscover their boldness?

Zana Goic Petricevic

Trapped in cycles of reactive management, bold leadership has become a victim of our relentless pursuit of security and adaptation.

Why execution capability defines business success

Muibat Ijaiya

Execution capability is an essential driver of growth. It must be led from the top, integrated into operational planning and tracked with the same rigour applied to financial reporting.

Are we still beginners learning leadership?

Wilf Blackburn

Thousands of books have been written on business leadership. But when it comes to implementing their ideas, we still seem to be at the beginning of the journey.

Legal thinking belongs at the management table

Sarah Clark

Legal thinking should be a core part of effective management. Treating it as an afterthought or a clean-up operation is when things unravel.

Pay vs benefits: What really matters to employees?

Ian Nicholas

Do employees still prioritise pay, or are other benefits are now playing an equally important role in shaping job satisfaction and loyalty?

From the archive

Morale: a moving target

Duane Dike

What we think we know about morale is probably wrong, especially the black and white notion that morale is either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Like most human feelings, morale is a moving target, which is why being sensitive to its nuances is such a key skill for leaders.

Jurgen Wolff

Summer Brainstorm

Jurgen Wolff

This summer, why not take advantage of the natural world around us to reduce your levels of stress. Bring a bit of nature indoors and take the time to really savour our good experiences as they happen.

Max McKeown

Obsess it like Beckham

Max McKeown

Apart from its potential link with the extreme reaches of perfectionism, another intriguing aspect of obsessive compulsive disorder is its connection with that bane of our lives, namely micromanagement.

Karsten Jonsen

The dream team of the future

Karsten Jonsen

Organizations are wedded to teamwork. It is just the way things are done. So managers rarely stop and question whether the way that teams operate is as effective as it might be. But are our conventional ideas about teamwork all a bit 'last century'?

Jerry Pounds

The great motivational myth: turning back the clock

Jerry Pounds

The incentive frenzy has slowly erased employee commitment to the company along with loyalty to the customer and the product. Most employees don't want these condescending programs in the first place. They want respect and just recognition and reward for a job well done.

Earlier opinion

Six female femtech leaders transforming women's health

Alix Hobbs

To mark International Women's Day, here's a look at the innovation, passion and drive of six female Femtech leaders whose work is transforming women’s health.

Welcome back to the office. it hasn't got any better

Wayne Turmel

Companies trying to get staff back into the office need to address some fundamental questions about culture, productivity and collaboration if those RTO mandates are going succeed.

Why coaching in business can fail to produce results

Clare Norman

Coaching often fails to deliver because organisations want the benefits of coaching without making the up-front investment in screening individuals for coaching readiness.

Remote working needs a unicorn

Wayne Turmel

Despite Amazon and other companies pulling the rug from under remote working, they will never be able to put the genie back in the bottle.

Inclusive strategies for hospitality managers

Stefano Battaglia

With international travel now accessible to an ever-growing proportion of the global population, in the hospitality sector, diversity can be a building block to a premium customer experience.

Garbage in, garbage out

David Livermore

Even the best AI tools display cultural bias. So without knowing how to write culturally intelligent AI prompts, it's easy to end up with content that is not quite right for your intended audience.

Five remote team new year's resolutions

Wayne Turmel

The new year is a great time to ask some fundamental questions about how your remote team works together and what needs to change.

Supporting mental health on remote and hybrid teams

Wayne Turmel

As a team leader, you need to be aware of the mental health of your team. So here are ten things to consider about creating and maintaining a healthy workplace environment.

Three key leadership skills for 2025

Tony Fournier

As technology evolves at breakneck speed, what are the leadership qualities that will be most critical in 2025?

Remote teams and common goals

Wayne Turmel

When your team isn’t physically co-located, how do you help everyone understand and stay focused on their common goals?

The great reset

Andrey Yashunky

Sometimes the only way to remove the fog clouding the future is a complete reset - in whatever form that might take.

Why remote work can be hard on trust

Wayne Turmel

Trust is critical to successful remote and hybrid work. But even with the best of intentions, doubt and suspicion can creep in.