What we carry into a room shapes what becomes possible inside it. Joy, play, and pleasure are not distractions from serious work—they may be part of what makes our best work possible. The post Let’s Get Carried Away appeared first on Matterco.co .
Red teams, pre-mortems, and Devil’s Advocate exercises can help teams uncover what they would rather avoid. But their real value lies in creating temporary cover for candour—and revealing whether leaders are prepared to hear the same truth once the role-play ends. The post The Useful Opponent appeared first on Matterco.co .
We all carry an invisible mirror into work. It shapes who we hire, promote, trust, and overlook. Drawing on psychology, leadership, and one familiar fairy tale, this essay explores how our hidden assumptions quietly influence the people around us. The post Who’s the Fairest One? appeared first on Matterco.co .
What if the most effective leadership isn’t about pushing harder but about creating the right conditions for people to succeed? Using Buckminster Fuller’s trim tab metaphor, Steven Morris explores why leaders should diagnose capability, motivation, and autonomy before increasing pressure. A practical reflection on how small changes in leadership can produce meaningful, lasting results. The post…
We know more about public figures, athletes, and online personalities than we do about many of the people around us. As loneliness, division, and disengagement continue to rise, leaders face a challenge that goes beyond performance and productivity. The ability to be fully present with another human being may be more important than ever. The post The 26% Problem appeared first on Matterco.co .
What if feeling stuck or lost is not a failure, but a threshold? Steven Morris explores the uneasy, necessary space between endings and beginnings — where the old story has completed, and the new one has not yet fully arrived. The post Between “No Longer This” and “Not Yet That” appeared first on Matterco.co .
A promising acquisition. Strong data. Board approval. Yet something felt wrong. In this essay, I explore why the most important leadership question may not be whether a decision is right, but what definition of "good" it serves. The post Good for What? appeared first on Matterco.co .
What makes an essay endure? Looking back over the past few years, these are the pieces readers returned to most often. Together, they reveal recurring themes of trust, culture, character, pressure, kindness, and the deeper responsibilities of leadership. The post Best of… Essays. appeared first on Matterco.co .
The longer we lead, the easier it becomes to mistake our role for our identity. In this reflection, Steven Morris explores how titles, achievements, and professional labels can quietly shape our sense of self—and why the strongest leaders are often those willing to look beyond them. Leadership becomes more effective when we stop protecting an identity and start seeing clearly again. The post…
The best leaders I’ve worked with are never done becoming. They read beyond business. They sit with discomfort. They search for wisdom in poetry, psychology, spirituality, biography, and the quiet questions that shape a meaningful life. This volume explores books that challenge how we think about leadership, humanity, reciprocity, and the inner work required to lead well. The post Non-Business…