Aligned teams ship. Most teams don't.
The problem is the conversation nobody's willing to have.
The 1-2-1 is my newsletter for senior product and engineering leaders: 1 principle, 2 things top of mind, 1 question to sit with. A 2-minute read, every two weeks.
Get instant access to The Alignment Reserve.
No spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
Alignment Is the Risk Nobody Talks About
You can feel it before you can name it. The company is growing. Hiring is up. Teams are shipping. The board deck looks healthy. But something is off. Meetings take longer than they should. Decisions get revisited. Good people leave and nobody can explain why. There is a drag on
Vision to Values: The 9 Misunderstood Blocks of Aligned Teams
Most leadership teams are misaligned. And it’s not because they don’t care. It’s because no one taught them how to align the building blocks of vision, strategy, and culture with the same discipline as a well-run product org. The result? * Goals become unclear * Decisions get harder * Teams
The Systems and Tools and I Use to Run My Life and Business
Last updated: April 2025 I’ve always been fascinated by personal productivity. Not for the sake of ticking boxes, but as a means of unlocking human potential. That interest started early. While on exchange at Copenhagen Business School, I began planning the first TEDxMacquarieUniversity event. The team I was leading
1-2-1: Tasks aren't clarity
A question that keeps coming up in coaching: "How do I give my team ownership without losing control?" You hired someone for their judgement. Then you gave them a task list. 1 Principle Task lists don't develop capability. They replace it. Every task you prescribe is
1-2-1: Motivation is the last lever
Every high performer in last month's workshop could name a habit they'd been trying to build for months, but none of them had a system to protect it. Most of the leaders I coach are running at about 70% work, 20% relationships, 10% health. They know
1-2-1: Reduced friction isn’t alignment
I keep hearing the same story from product leaders: the exec review that went sideways despite months of stakeholder alignment. Your last planning meeting felt smooth. Everyone nodded. No one pushed back. And you walked out slightly uneasy without knowing why. 1 Principle Alignment is behaviour under pressure, not agreement
Subscribe
Every two weeks I send The 1-2-1: a 2-minute read on leadership and alignment. Occasionally I send longer essays too. Both land in your inbox.