Professional essays
A Tool I Visit, Not a Place I Live
An optimist’s case for boundaries with AI
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Leadership. People. Everyday work.
Ideas for the work.
And the people in it.
A name for the patterns you recognize. A fresh way to think about the work ahead.
Workplace Wisdom, professional reflections, and stories drawn from everyday life.
The complete September 2026 collection
Thirty days.
A little more perspective.
Laws, principles, paradoxes, and mental models for thinking more clearly and leading with greater awareness.
Browse the 30 reflections September 1–30, 2026
New in professional essaysA Tool I Visit, Not a Place I Live
Read the essayNew in literary writingMurder at the Laundromat · A Christmas Morning Story
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 30
Follett’s Law of the Situation
Two people disagree about what should happen next.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 29
The Fundamental Attribution Error
Someone misses a deadline, and we call them careless.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 28
Dunbar’s Number
When an organization is small, everyone knows everyone.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 27
Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety
Imagine trying to solve every workplace problem with the same response.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 26
Amara’s Law
A new technology appears, and suddenly it is going to change everything by next Tuesday.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 25
Parkinson’s Law of Triviality
A meeting has three agenda items.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 24
The Abilene Paradox
Have you ever sat in a meeting where everyone agreed to something, even though nobody seemed particularly enthusiastic about it?
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 23
Chesterton’s Fence
You discover an old rule that seems completely unnecessary.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 21
Conway’s Law
Have you ever used a system that felt like five different departments built five different pieces and never spoke to one another?
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 19
The Peter Principle
Someone is excellent at their job, so the organization promotes them.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 18
Diffusion of Responsibility
An important task is assigned to “the team.”
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 17
The Ringelmann Effect
A project needs help, so more people are added.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 16
The Pygmalion Effect
Think about the person who trusted you with something before you were completely certain you could do it.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 15
The Law of Unintended Consequences
You solve one problem and accidentally create two new ones.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 14
Campbell’s Law
Imagine that one score determines funding, recognition, evaluation, and possibly someone’s future.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 13
Goodhart’s Law
Suppose an organization wants better customer service, so it starts measuring how quickly employees end each call.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 12
The Law of the Instrument
Give someone a hammer, and eventually every problem begins to look suspiciously like a nail.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 11
The Sunk Cost Effect
You have invested months in a project that clearly is not working.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 10
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
Have you ever heard someone explain a complicated issue with complete confidence after learning about it fifteen minutes earlier?
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 08
Occam’s Razor
You receive a short email that simply says, “Please come see me.”
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 07
Hick’s Law
Have you ever opened a menu with so many options that you forgot what you wanted to eat?
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 06
Little’s Law
Have you noticed that the more projects a team starts, the less it seems to finish?
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 05
The Law of Diminishing Returns
Have you ever worked on something long enough that each new revision somehow made it worse?
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 04
The Pareto Principle
Think about everything you did last week.
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 03
Hofstadter’s Law
Have you ever added extra time to a project because you knew it would probably take longer than expected?
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 02
The Planning Fallacy
You know that project you were certain would take one week?
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Workplace Wisdom · Day 01
Parkinson’s Law
Have you ever been given two weeks to complete something that probably required two hours?
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Literary writing
Murder at the Laundromat
A Christmas Morning Story
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Professional essays
Tools, Not Tricks
A practical productivity framework for clearer work. Simple prompts for priorities, focus, decisions, and sustainable progress.
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Professional essays
Life as Software
Versioning Ourselves for the New Year. A reflection on personal growth through updates, patches, iteration, and everyday maintenance.
Read on LinkedIn Original essay
Leadership research
Leader Personality and Behavior: Do Follower Perceptions Matter?
My doctoral dissertation examines leader personality and behavior through the perceptions of followers.
Read the dissertation Google Drive
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View the complete title index All 35 pieces
- A Tool I Visit, Not a Place I LiveProfessional essays · October 17, 2026
- Follett’s Law of the SituationWorkplace Wisdom · Day 30 · September 30, 2026
- The Fundamental Attribution ErrorWorkplace Wisdom · Day 29 · September 29, 2026
- Dunbar’s NumberWorkplace Wisdom · Day 28 · September 28, 2026
- Ashby’s Law of Requisite VarietyWorkplace Wisdom · Day 27 · September 27, 2026
- Amara’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 26 · September 26, 2026
- Parkinson’s Law of TrivialityWorkplace Wisdom · Day 25 · September 25, 2026
- The Abilene ParadoxWorkplace Wisdom · Day 24 · September 24, 2026
- Chesterton’s FenceWorkplace Wisdom · Day 23 · September 23, 2026
- Gall’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 22 · September 22, 2026
- Conway’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 21 · September 21, 2026
- Brooks’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 20 · September 20, 2026
- The Peter PrincipleWorkplace Wisdom · Day 19 · September 19, 2026
- Diffusion of ResponsibilityWorkplace Wisdom · Day 18 · September 18, 2026
- The Ringelmann EffectWorkplace Wisdom · Day 17 · September 17, 2026
- The Pygmalion EffectWorkplace Wisdom · Day 16 · September 16, 2026
- The Law of Unintended ConsequencesWorkplace Wisdom · Day 15 · September 15, 2026
- Campbell’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 14 · September 14, 2026
- Goodhart’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 13 · September 13, 2026
- The Law of the InstrumentWorkplace Wisdom · Day 12 · September 12, 2026
- The Sunk Cost EffectWorkplace Wisdom · Day 11 · September 11, 2026
- The Dunning-Kruger EffectWorkplace Wisdom · Day 10 · September 10, 2026
- Hanlon’s RazorWorkplace Wisdom · Day 09 · September 9, 2026
- Occam’s RazorWorkplace Wisdom · Day 08 · September 8, 2026
- Hick’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 07 · September 7, 2026
- Little’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 06 · September 6, 2026
- The Law of Diminishing ReturnsWorkplace Wisdom · Day 05 · September 5, 2026
- The Pareto PrincipleWorkplace Wisdom · Day 04 · September 4, 2026
- Hofstadter’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 03 · September 3, 2026
- The Planning FallacyWorkplace Wisdom · Day 02 · September 2, 2026
- Parkinson’s LawWorkplace Wisdom · Day 01 · September 1, 2026
- Murder at the Laundromat Literary writing · 2026
- Tools, Not Tricks Professional essays · December 31, 2025
- Life as Software Professional essays · December 31, 2023
- Leader Personality and Behavior: Do Follower Perceptions Matter? Leadership research · 2021
Dates reflect the original series, publication, or displayed edition year. The story and dissertation are dated by year. LinkedIn essays, the story PDF, and the dissertation open at their original sources.