Resources

Articles

• A Smarter Way to Network — Rob Cross and Robert Thomas ↗

  Harvard Business Review article by Rob Cross and Robert Thomas outlining how high performers cultivate diverse, energising networks rather than transactional ones. Provides a diagnostic and practical steps for building strategic relationships.

• Building a Culture of Experimentation — Stefan Thomke ↗

  Stefan Thomke's HBR article on how Booking.com runs thousands of experiments and what leaders must do to scale that mindset. A blueprint for embedding experimentation into management practice.

• Capacity Planning: Strategy, Process & Tools — Atlassian ↗

  Atlassian's guide covers practical techniques for forecasting team capacity and balancing workload against demand. A useful operational primer for managers learning to match people and time to priorities.

• Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Overprescribing Goal Setting — Lisa Ordóñez, Maurice Schweitzer, Adam Galinsky, Max Bazerman ↗

  A Harvard Business School working paper examining when goal setting fails and produces unintended consequences. Critical reading for managers to understand the nuances and risks of poorly designed goals.

• High-Performing Teams Need Psychological Safety. Here's How to Create It — Laura Delizonna ↗

  A practical Harvard Business Review guide offering six concrete actions managers can take to build psychological safety, from approaching conflict as a collaborator to replacing blame with curiosity. Short, actionable, and grounded in research.

• How to Build Resilience in Midlife — Tara Parker-Pope ↗

  A practical NYT guide synthesizing research on resilience-building habits, including reframing, social connection, and self-compassion. Useful for leaders looking for evidence-based techniques to apply day to day.

• How to Coach Employees (Harvard Business Review) — Herminia Ibarra and Anne Scoular ↗

  Herminia Ibarra and Anne Scoular argue that modern leaders must move from command-and-control to a coaching style, and outline the GROW model and other practical techniques. A concise, evidence-based primer.

• How to Give Feedback People Can Actually Use — Harvard Business Review ↗

  An HBR article outlining how to deliver feedback that drives behavior change rather than defensiveness. Critical for addressing underperformance early in a way employees can act on.

• How to Handle Difficult Conversations at Work — Rebecca Knight ↗

  A concise HBR guide with specific tactics for preparing for, opening, and navigating tense workplace discussions. Includes do's and don'ts plus a sample script managers can adapt.

• How to Hire — First Round Review ↗

  First Round Review's deep, tactical essay drawn from hundreds of interviews with top startup operators. Covers sourcing, interview loops, closing, and culture fit with concrete examples.

• How to Hold People Accountable — Ron Carucci ↗

  An HBR article that reframes accountability from punishment to a forward-looking conversation about commitments and capabilities. Offers concrete tactics managers can apply immediately.

• How to Make Your One-on-Ones with Employees More Productive — Rebecca Knight ↗

  Rebecca Knight's HBR guide synthesises expert advice into concrete practices: frequency, agenda-setting, what to discuss, and what to avoid. A quick, credible primer for any manager wanting to level up their cadence.

• How to Manage Stakeholders' Conflicting Priorities — Ron Ashkenas & Brook Manville ↗

  An HBR article offering tactical approaches when stakeholders pull you in different directions. Helpful for middle managers balancing executives, peers, and customers.

• How to Master a New Skill — Amy Gallo ↗

  This HBR piece offers a practical framework for deliberate practice and ongoing mastery — essential for managers who need to keep their domain expertise sharp. Short, actionable, and grounded in research on expertise development.

• How to Prioritize Your Company's Projects — Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez ↗

  A practical HBR article on building a prioritization framework that aligns project portfolios with strategic goals. Useful for managers deciding where to direct people and budget across competing initiatives.

• How to Set Goals You'll Actually Achieve — Harvard Business Review ↗

  A Harvard Business Review article summarizing research-backed strategies for goal achievement, including specificity, commitment, and progress tracking. Useful for managers refining how they frame and communicate team objectives.

• How to Set Up a New Employee for Success — Rebecca Knight ↗

  A practical HBR guide covering concrete tactics managers can use in a new hire's first weeks, from clarifying expectations to facilitating introductions. Excellent tactical companion to more strategic onboarding frameworks.

• Leadership That Gets Results — Daniel Goleman ↗

  Daniel Goleman's landmark HBR article identifies six distinct leadership styles and shows how the most effective leaders fluidly switch between them based on context. Essential reading for understanding situational flexibility.

• Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail — John P. Kotter ↗

  Kotter's classic HBR article distils the most common reasons change initiatives stall. A quick, high-impact read for any manager about to lead or support a change programme.

• On Being A Senior Engineer — John Allspaw ↗

  John Allspaw's classic essay defines what mature technical expertise looks like in practice — humility, mentorship, and raising the quality of others' work. It's a foundational read for anyone using their craft to elevate a team.

• Onboarding Isn't Enough — Mark Byford, Michael D. Watkins, and Lena Triantogiannis ↗

  This Harvard Business Review article argues that traditional onboarding falls short and managers must focus on integration, stakeholder connections, and cultural alignment. It offers practical guidance for managers responsible for setting up new joiners for long-term success.

• Silo Busting: How to Execute on the Promise of Customer Focus — Ranjay Gulati ↗

  This Harvard Business Review article by Ranjay Gulati offers a framework for breaking down organizational silos to deliver better customer outcomes. It's a foundational read for managers trying to foster collaboration across functional boundaries.

• Stakeholder Analysis: Winning Support for Your Projects — MindTools ↗

  A concise, practical guide to identifying stakeholders, mapping their power and interest, and tailoring your communication strategy. Includes the widely used power/interest grid template.

• That Discomfort You're Feeling Is Grief — Scott Berinato (interview with David Kessler) ↗

  David Kessler's HBR interview reframes pressure and uncertainty as forms of grief and offers concrete coping practices. A short, widely-cited piece that helps managers name what they and their teams are experiencing.

• The 70-20-10 Model for Learning and Development — Center for Creative Leadership ↗

  The Center for Creative Leadership explains the influential model that 70% of development comes from on-the-job experience, 20% from others, and 10% from formal training. A useful mental model for designing development plans that go beyond courses.

• The Eisenhower Matrix: How to Prioritize Your To-Do List ↗

  A simple but powerful prioritization framework that separates urgent from important tasks. Provides practical guidance for managers who struggle to decide what deserves their attention first.

• The Feedback Fallacy — Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall ↗

  This HBR article challenges conventional wisdom on critical feedback and argues for focusing on strengths and specific moments of excellence. It's a thought-provoking counterpoint that sharpens how managers think about developmental conversations.

• The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool — Harrison Monarth ↗

  A concise Harvard Business Review article explaining why narrative is more persuasive than data alone. Useful primer for managers seeking to influence stakeholders and align teams.

• The Looking Glass: 'What should I talk about in my 1:1s?' — Will Larson ↗

  Will Larson shares a practical structure for one-to-ones from an engineering leadership perspective, including how meetings should evolve as the relationship matures. Useful for managers wanting to move beyond status updates into coaching.

• The Looking Glass: Career Conversations Framework — Lattice ↗

  Lattice's practical guide outlines how managers can structure career conversations to uncover aspirations, identify skill gaps, and create development plans. Useful for managers looking for a repeatable approach to progression discussions.

• The Making of an Expert Generalist — Vikram Mansharamani ↗

  This Harvard Business Review article explains how leaders can develop deep curiosity and pattern recognition across domains. It offers practical habits for becoming a versatile, T-shaped leader.

• The Scrum Master's Role: Removing Impediments — Scrum.org ↗

  Scrum.org's guidance on impediment removal is directly applicable to any manager, not just Scrum Masters. It provides a useful taxonomy of blocker types and tactics for resolving each, including escalation paths.

• The Surprising Power of Simply Asking Coworkers for Help — Wayne Baker ↗

  An HBR article that reframes how managers communicate requests and build collaborative dialogue. It's a quick read with insights that immediately improve day-to-day interpersonal communication.

• The Update, The Vent, and The Disaster — Michael Lopp ↗

  Michael Lopp's classic essay on the three modes every one-to-one falls into and how to recognise and respond to each. Practical, witty advice that helps managers actually listen rather than just check boxes.

• What Bosses Gain by Being Vulnerable — Emma Seppälä ↗

  This HBR article by Emma Seppälä summarizes research showing that leaders who admit uncertainty and mistakes build more trust and stronger teams. A concise, evidence-based case for why vulnerability is a strategic management capability.

• What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team — Charles Duhigg ↗

  This landmark New York Times Magazine article details Google's Project Aristotle, which found psychological safety to be the single most important factor in high-performing teams. A foundational piece for understanding why this skill matters.

• What Great Data Analysts Do — and Why Every Organization Needs Them — Cassie Kozyrkov ↗

  Cassie Kozyrkov, Google's former Chief Decision Scientist, clarifies the distinct roles of analysts, statisticians, and ML engineers. A must-read for managers who want to use data well without confusing rigor with exploration.

• What Great Listeners Actually Do — Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman ↗

  This HBR article debunks the myth that good listening means staying silent and nodding. Based on research with thousands of executives, it reframes listening as an active, two-way process that builds others up.

• What Great Managers Do Daily — Ryan Fuller and Nina Shikaloff ↗

  This Harvard Business Review article draws on Gallup research to show that top managers spend significant time clearing roadblocks and enabling their people. It offers concrete daily habits that distinguish unblockers from micromanagers.

• What Having a 'Growth Mindset' Actually Means — Carol Dweck ↗

  Carol Dweck clarifies common misconceptions about growth mindset in the workplace, including the 'false growth mindset.' Particularly valuable for managers who want to apply the concept authentically rather than superficially.

• What Is Organizational Culture? And Why Should We Care? — Michael D. Watkins ↗

  Michael Watkins synthesizes expert definitions of culture and how it actually forms in organizations. Useful grounding for managers who want to be deliberate rather than accidental about culture.

• What Makes a Leader? — Daniel Goleman ↗

  Goleman's exploration of emotional intelligence as the foundation that enables leaders to read situations and people accurately. Critical groundwork for knowing when to shift styles.

• What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It) — Tasha Eurich ↗

  A landmark Harvard Business Review article distinguishing internal from external self-awareness and debunking common myths. It provides actionable guidance on seeking honest feedback and replacing 'why' questions with 'what' questions for deeper insight.

• Why Compassion is a Better Managerial Tactic than Toughness — Emma Seppälä ↗

  This Harvard Business Review article summarizes research showing that compassionate responses to mistakes build more loyalty, trust, and performance than harsh ones. A concise, evidence-backed case for leading with care.

• Why Diversity Programs Fail — Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev ↗

  Dobbin and Kalev draw on decades of data to show which DEI interventions actually work and which backfire. Crucial reading for managers who want evidence-based approaches rather than performative initiatives.

• Your Strategy Needs a Strategy — Martin Reeves, Claire Love, and Philipp Tillmanns ↗

  This HBR article by BCG's Martin Reeves argues that different environments require fundamentally different approaches to strategy. It helps managers diagnose their context before crafting a vision, avoiding one-size-fits-all thinking.