The Second Job
In October 2017 I became the boss. Nobody told me the job was two jobs.
By subject.
Each idea with the piece that is its home. Open “More on this” for the others that carry it. Every idea is defined on Key Concepts.
What reality is.
The frames that describe the world before any leader enters it.
Claim Your Power
The Machine doesn’t take your power. It buys it, pays above market, and you feel good about the deal.
- Authority Is Not Power Essay, May 2026. Published as Leadership Without Ego.
The Machine
The Machine is not evil. It is doing what it was built to do.
- The Machine Model of Work and Why It Still Refuses to Die Essay, Apr 2026. Its home.
- The Board Meeting That Changed How I See Leadership Field Note, Mar 2026
- There Is No Ghost in the Machine Field Note, Jul 2026
The Forest
You can run a machine or grow a forest. They reward different leaders.
- The Forest Essay, Mar 2026. Its home.
- Smokey Bear Field Note, Apr 2026
- The Actor, the Director, the Editor, the Producer Essay, Apr 2026
The Field
In us. Around us. Bearing down on us.
- The Thick of It Essay, Jun 2026. Minted here.
- The Weight of It Essay, Jun 2026
Institutional Gravity
No one exerts it. Everyone transmits it.
- The Thick of It Essay, Jun 2026. Its home.
- These Odd Ideas Field Note, Jun 2026
- What Your Team Has Stopped Seeing Field Note, Jul 2026
- How I Became Domesticated Field Note, Mar 2026. Named here.
Everything Is Harder Than It Needs to Be
The ones who stopped are not tired. They are comfortable.
- The Thick of It Essay, Jun 2026. Minted here.
What happened to you.
The experience of reaching the top has its own name: The Apex.
The account of domestication. Written as mirrors, not warnings.
The Domestication of Leaders
The system doesn’t need to break you. It only needs to reward the parts of you that are easiest to control.
- The Domestication of Leaders Essay, Apr 2026. The cornerstone.
- The Board Meeting That Changed How I See Leadership Field Note, Mar 2026
- The Founder’s Dilemma Is Really About Domestication Field Note, Mar 2026
- I Will Become Richer Essay, May 2026
The Four Horsemen of Domestication
You were domesticated by the carrot, not the stick.
- The Only One in the Room Essay, Jun 2026. Minted here.
Isolation
You were each other’s evidence.
- The Only One in the Room Essay, Jun 2026. Its home.
- The Item That Never Makes the Agenda Field Note, Jul 2026. At team scale.
- The Loneliness of Authority Essay, Jul 2026
Editing
Domestication installs the ego. Editing maintains it.
- The Approved Version Field Note, Jun 2026. Its home.
- The Workshop Was a Waste of Time Field Note, Jul 2026
- Authority Is Not Power Essay, May 2026
The Half Life
The danger is not failure. The danger is half a life.
- Recognise. Refuse. Reclaim. Essay, May 2026. Its home.
- The Machine Doesn’t Stay at Work Field Note, May 2026
The Weight
You carry what you’ve done.
- The Weight of It Essay, Jun 2026. Its home.
Breeding Executives for Tameness
Promotion criteria are breeding programmes. They select for what feels safe.
- The Fox Experiment Field Note, Apr 2026. Its home.
- The Battery Hen in the Boardroom Essay, Jun 2026
The Machine Doesn’t Stay at Work
The Machine doesn’t clock off.
- The Machine Doesn’t Stay at Work Field Note, May 2026. Its home.
What you do.
The moves out. A withdrawal of editing, not a programme.
The Three Moves
Recognise domestication. Refuse editing. Reclaim wildness.
- Recognise. Refuse. Reclaim. Essay, May 2026. Its home.
- The Machine Doesn’t Stay at Work Field Note, May 2026. Off the clock.
- The Item That Never Makes the Agenda Field Note, Jul 2026. At team scale.
Becoming Less Edited
Becoming the kind of person who is harder to edit.
- You Don’t Need to Get Wet Field Note, Apr 2026. Its home.
- Wild Leadership FAQ Field Note, Mar 2026
The Hardest Question About Work
If they cannot, that is your Tuesday morning.
- The Hardest Question About Work Field Note, May 2026. Its home.
Tight and Loose
You are in command. You are not in control.
- Tight & Loose Field Note, May 2026. Its home.
- The Loneliness of Authority Essay, Jul 2026
Don’t Be a Node
Don’t be someone else’s hell.
- A Toxic Workplace Is Not Other People Field Note, Jun 2026. Its home.
Rewilding
Rewilding starts when the editor stops.
- Recognise. Refuse. Reclaim. Essay, May 2026
Tend the Forest, Don’t Fight the Fire
Tend the forest. The fire will look after itself.
- Smokey Bear Field Note, Apr 2026. Its home.
Who you become.
These describe a person, not a method.
The Wild Only Sleeps
The wild did not die. It went quiet, and a quiet thing is easy to mistake for a dead one.
- The Battery Hen in the Boardroom Essay, Jun 2026. Its home.
Grounded Authority
Take away the title. What is left is your authority.
- The Alpha Wolf Was a Mistake Field Note, Jun 2026. Its home.
- How I Became Domesticated Field Note, Mar 2026
- The Domestication of Leaders Essay, Apr 2026. Named here.
The Wild Is Not Chaos
What looks wild from the outside is the most ordered thing in the room.
- Wild Leadership Essay, Mar 2026. The manifesto.
- The Distance Field Note, Mar 2026
Dangerous in the Right Way
Not safe. Not reckless. Dangerous in the right way.
- Wild Leadership Essay, Mar 2026
- The Battery Hen in the Boardroom Essay, Jun 2026
The philosophy, applied.
Where Wild Leadership meets a specific territory.
Actor, Director, Editor, Producer
The producer’s job cannot be delegated. To anyone. To anything.
- The Actor, the Director, the Editor, the Producer Essay, Apr 2026. Its home.
- This Is How I Create With AI Field Note, Jul 2026. The method.
- There Is No Ghost in the Machine Field Note, Jul 2026
The Nature and AI Barbell
Lean into Nature. Lean into AI. Anything between will be eaten.
- Wild Leadership in the Age of AI Essay, Mar 2026. Its home.
You Are Not a Project
You are not a project. You are a life.
- You Are Not a Project Essay, Mar 2026. Its home.
I Will Become Richer
The shareholder model is not too greedy. It is too narrow.
- I Will Become Richer Essay, May 2026. Its home.
- The Alpha Wolf Was a Mistake Field Note, Jun 2026
There Is No Wild Business
If Wild Business becomes a thing, it’s dead by Q3.
- I Want to Run a Wild Business Field Note, May 2026. Its home.
The Ghost Is the One You Become
AI never had a self to edit out. You did.
- There Is No Ghost in the Machine Field Note, Jul 2026. Its home.
All writing.
Newest first, by month.
September 2026
July 2026
- There Is No Ghost in the Machine
- This Is How I Create With AI
- The Loneliness of Authority
- What Your Team Has Stopped Seeing
- The Item That Never Makes the Agenda
- The Workshop Was a Waste of Time
June 2026
- The Only One in the Room
- The Weight of It
- The Battery Hen in the Boardroom
- These Odd Ideas
- The Approved Version
- The Thick of It
- The Alpha Wolf Was a Mistake
- A Toxic Workplace Is Not Other People
May 2026
- I Want to Run a Wild Business
- The Hardest Question About Work
- I Will Become Richer
- Authority Is Not Power
- The Machine Doesn’t Stay at Work
- Recognise. Refuse. Reclaim.
- Tight & Loose
April 2026
- Smokey Bear
- The Actor, the Director, the Editor, the Producer
- The Fox Experiment
- The Machine Model of Work and Why It Still Refuses to Die
- You Don’t Need to Get Wet
- The Domestication of Leaders
March 2026
Where to go deeper.
Key concepts, every term defined in one place.
What Wild Leadership is, and the way into the rest of the thinking.
What to read on organisations and their leaders.
A Field Note every week.
Experiences and ideas, every week. A round-up every month of thoughts, observations and things that might be useful.