The Manager’s Compass
Welcome to the practice of Leadership Cartography™. Each post maps the terrain of modern leadership. Helping you navigate challenges, build confidence, and lead with steadiness.
In an AI world, judgment is your edge. Cartography builds it.
New here? Take the Explorer and discover which terrain you navigate best.
When Performance No Longer Protects You: The New Reality Every Employee Needs to Understand
The silent contract is dead. Modern layoffs are rarely about individual performance; they are structural, financial, and ratio driven. You can be a top performer and still be cut. Performance can improve your reputation, but it no longer protects your job. If you agree, you need a new map built on option security, legibility, and AI-resilience. Stability comes from readiness, not loyalty.
How to Set Boundaries as a Manager When You Can't Say No
Heart Managers become the team's safety net by leading with empathy—but often end up burnt out when they can't set boundaries. Learn how to reclaim your energy while preserving the relationships that matter most.
Stop the Spin: The Precision Manager’s 10-Minute Map to Fix a Stalled Project
When your project stalls and every conversation stays vague, you don't need better communication—you need better questions. The 3×3 Clarity Map gives you nine specific questions to cut through noise and restore execution in ten minutes.
The End of the Manufacturing Age: And the Identities We Built Inside It
The manufacturing age taught us to equate productivity with identity. AI is exposing the limits of that model. This is not the collapse of human value — it’s the return to it.
Why Most Leadership Development Keeps You Lost (And What Actually Works)
You've taken the assessments. Read the books. Hired the coach. But you still feel like you're performing leadership instead of practicing it. Here's what I've learned after 25 years: The leadership development industry has been solving the wrong problem. We've been asking "What should leaders do?" when we should ask "Who are you when you lead?" There are five distinct navigation pathways—Heart, Support, Purpose, Together, Precision—and understanding yours changes everything.
How to Fire Someone: The Step-by-Step Guide for Managers
Termination conversations are one of the hardest responsibilities of management. Most managers delay, over-explain, or let guilt turn a necessary conversation into something cruel. The problem isn't that you care—it's that no one taught you how to do this with clarity. Here's your step-by-step guide to conducting termination conversations that preserve dignity for everyone involved.
