Writing and reflection

Essays and reflections

Coffee first. Clarity second.

Most of these essays began the same way: with a cup of coffee and a question that wouldn’t leave me alone.

I write to think: to slow down ideas before they turn into advice and to examine leadership where it becomes complicated, under pressure, during transitions, and in moments that do not fit neatly into frameworks.

These essays are not definitive conclusions. They are structured reflections.

From the notebook

Featured essays

The hero leader is a scalability bug

I used to believe that the best leaders were indispensable. It took me a while to see how easily indispensability can become a bottleneck.

Three oversized white rabbit sculptures outside a bookshop

The disappearing common ground

I’ve watched AI turn rough ideas into polished specifications, working prototypes, and substantial code before the rest of the team enters the conversation. The artifact may look finished while the shared understanding underneath it is still catching up.

An old two-button electrical switch labeled in Hungarian

Dirty hands, full hands

I keep meeting engineering leaders who step into delivery because they can solve the immediate problem faster than anyone else. The rescue works, but the leadership work that might prevent the next one keeps waiting.

A gloved hand placing food on a restaurant plate

There’s a new sheriff in town — The workforce orchestrator

I once helped redesign a workflow that scaled the work but quietly separated it from the knowledge needed to guide it. AI makes such redesigns more powerful — and raises the stakes of deciding where judgment, learning, and accountability still belong.

A seated Buddha statue among flowers and trees

Keeping up is killing your thinking

I used to think free time was just poorly optimized time. Eventually, I realized that my mind did not need more useful input; it needed enough empty space to think.

A wooden sign reading Sentier d’interprétation

#define productivity

AI has made it remarkably cheap to produce more code, documents, slides, and synthetic optimism. When output becomes cheap, leaders need to become much more precise about what productivity — and value — actually mean.

More writing

Most essays are first published on Substack.

Follow on Substack

If one of these essays puts words to something you’re dealing with, we may have something useful to talk about.

Contact