Freedom Starts Between the Ears: The Two Plans You Are Carrying
Somewhere in your organisation there is a plan with your name on it. You have read it once. You could not recite it now. Most leaders carry two plans: the one they wrote and the one they run. Only one of them was ever designed, and it was not the one that decides what happens on Tuesday. How to edit a plan until it is yours, what has to survive the edit, and the three rhythms that stop it going quiet.
Sometimes it's the Right Thing to Say 'No'!
You said yes again on Tuesday. Not because you had capacity, but because the person asking outranked you, or because saying no would have taken a longer conversation than doing the work. Most advice about saying no is written for people who can. Saying no to your manager, your peer and your own team member are three different conversations, and only one of them is about the word no. The Three Directions, and what is actually available to you in each.
