5 Found Principles by Toa Heftiba on UnsplashLenny is Great - and with well over a million subscribers it seems that I might not be the only person that has come to that conclusion. The thing about him is his guests, their openness and their different way of thinking. Take ‘Elena’ on his latest Podcast. Listen to it. This is why … Elena is head of growth at Loveable, a company that in just one year since launch has a $200 million ARR and employs just 100 people.

Photo By geralt (pixabay.com)Towards the end of last year I had a few questions about my latest rant against org charts. I mean, we all hate them - but it would appear that some think I’ve ‘turned it up to 11’ (RIP Rob Reiner). They aren’t wrong - because I think the problem requires to be turned up to eleven. It’s louder. Why Most People Think Org Charts Are No GoodThey Don’t Match Reality

There’s a disclaimer you see everywhere in investment materials: “Past performance is not an indication of future results.” … It's a hedge (pun intended) against the assumption that ‘if it happened yesterday, it happens tomorrow’ because yesterday's consistency isn't tomorrow's guarantee. Photo by Meriç Dağlı on Unsplash(SIDENOTE: Has NYPD always had a branch next door to The Nasdaq? Sure seems convenient - and possibly appropriate?)1 In tech we don’t have such a disclaimer.

Most organisations are optimised for a world that no longer exists - built for control and standardisation and competing in one that demands responsiveness and fluidity. You can’t patch engagement onto record; the invisible architecture has to shift, and that requires the same structured thinking that got you here, just pointed differently. I published 8 new pages about this over the weekend - but what follows is a more playful approach to the framework.

Not yet subscribed? There’s a button for that. Subscribe now Photo by Andy Newton on UnsplashAnd then it happened Ooh, and then it happened Ooh, and then it happened Ooh, and then it happened 💬 Holland Dozier and Holland (‘H-D-H’ to their friends.) If you have been following along (and if not - why not?) since the early days of People First, my work in Structured Thought and more recently, the consolidation into PHI⑊PIN then this is for you.

Human By Design is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a subscriber. I’ve been doing this every year since 2019 - which means that this is my 8th rodeo. (My previous words are here.) After eight years of ‘three words’, you’d think I’d have this all figured out by now. BUT - Intentional | Inspired | Impactful ? To be honest - not as much as it could have been.

Not yet subscribed? There’s a button for that. Subscribe now In yesterday’s newsletter I wrote ‘coherence is the new moat’ and that you arrive at coherence through careful and repeated Structured Thought. But knowing that isn’t the same as building it. Today I want to talk about where you actually begin. Not with tools. Not with software. With thinking. Detail from The Full Picture by Alina Grubnyak on UnsplashHere’s what nobody wants to hear: the moment you start to operationalise ‘coherence’, you discover how much of your understanding lives only in your head.

My Substack is themed on the idea of ‘People First’. Photo by Alina Grubnyak on UnsplashI even used to call it that. Subscribe now It means; People ahead of corporations People ahead of technology We don’t reject either, it’s just that people are the priority.

The same can be said for Systems of Record.This is the first of a two part issue. If you already know our history and are more interested in where we are going - then the next newsletter is for you. ‘They’ have their CRM. Where’s my VRM?1Before you get too excited - sorry this is not about that - but - the question has been my North Star for a couple of decades.

BUT If you don’t know where you are going, any road will do.Part two of a two part article. If you want to know what part one was all about, well - that’s why we have hyperlinks. The World Is Sensing It.Over the past few days, a series of articles filtered to the top of my feeds, all talking about different aspects of this same structural gap that in turn coalesced around 4 questions.

My podcast launches next week and this week was more than a little hectic, so sharing an unpublished story from Travels Without Charlie. “You’re a long way from home,” I said looking at the man I’d just overheard talking. “Not really,” he said. “I live just around the corner.” … looking me straight in the eyes and smiling right back. We both laughed. He knew what I was talking about.