The C-Suite Won’t Erase Your Stress: The Deep Dive

The C-Suite Won’t Erase Your Stress May 15, 2026 This week Alex and Emily are discussing one of the most persistent and damaging beliefs in executive culture: the idea that reaching the C-Suite will finally erase the past failures, unresolved stress, and old wounds that high performers have been carrying for years. They explore why […]

The Invisible Asset Your Spreadsheet Misses: The Deep Dive

The Invisible Asset Your Spreadsheet Misses May 6, 2026 This week, Alex and Emily are discussing a concept that most executives never hear about until it’s too late, process knowledge. Drawing on Dan Wang’s book Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future and a key scene from Julien’s book Crash and [Burn] LEARN, they explore […]

The Knowledge Nobody Wrote Down

The Knowledge Nobody Wrote Down May 13, 2026 I still remember the plant tour.  We were walking the floor at “Atlas Manufacturing” in Tennessee — me, Don, Chester — doing what acquirers do. Noting the equipment. Clocking the layout. Mentally flagging the inefficiencies. Richard, the founder, was walking us through every station with the quiet pride of a man who had built something […]

Haven’t read Crash and [Burn] LEARN yet?  Try Chapter 1, on me!

Haven’t read Crash and [Burn] LEARN yet? Try Chapter 1, on me! May 6, 2026 An excerpt from Crash and [Burn] LEARN – where the story of executive burnout begins. I want to introduce you to Jason Marchand. Jason is the fictional CEO at the center of my book, Crash and [Burn] LEARN. I say […]

The Competence Illusion: Why Knowing Has Almost Nothing to Do with Doing

The Competence Illusion: Why Knowing Has Almost Nothing to Do with Doing April 29, 2026 You can explain exactly why you’re overwhelmed while still being overwhelmed. You understand precisely why your stress patterns keep repeating while continuing to repeat them. You can name every bad habit you have while being run by all of them. […]

Why Knowing Everything Changes Nothing: The Deep Dive

Why Knowing Everything Changes Nothing: The Deep Dive April 29, 2026 This week Alex and Emily are discussing Blind Spot #10 from Julien’s framework: The Competence Illusion. It’s the dangerous belief that understanding a concept is the same as embodying it, that knowing is the same as doing. They dig into the neuroscience behind why […]

Decision Fatigue: The Silent Drain on Executive Performance

Decision Fatigue: The Silent Drain on Executive Performance April 22, 2026 You’ve probably heard about Steve Jobs wearing the same black turtleneck every day, or Mark Zuckerberg’s gray t-shirt uniform. The standard explanation is that eliminating trivial decisions preserves mental energy for important ones. But here’s the thing: the real story of decision fatigue is […]

Why You Are Less Competent at 5:00 PM: The Deep Dive

Why You Are Less Competent at 5:00 PM: The Deep Dive April 22, 2026 This week Alex and Emily are discussing decision fatigue, the measurable decline in judgment quality that happens after extended decision-making. They go beyond the usual Steve Jobs wardrobe stories to explore alarming research: Israeli judges whose parole approval rates dropped from […]

Work and Life Must Coexist: Call It Balance, Call It Integration, Call It Whatever You Want

Work and Life Must Coexist: Call It Balance, Call It Integration, Call It Whatever You Want April 15, 2026 You’ve probably seen the headlines. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang works seven days a week and can’t sit through a movie without thinking about work. Zoom’s CEO declares that “work is life.” Billionaire founders brag about sleeping at […]

The Infrastructure Gap Behind Billionaire Hustle: The Deep Dive

The Infrastructure Gap Behind Billionaire Hustle: The Deep Dive April 15, 2026 This week Alex and Emily are discussing the recent wave of billionaire CEOs dismissing work-life balance, from Jensen Huang’s seven-day work weeks to declarations that “work is life.” But instead of joining the debate about terminology, they’re cutting through the noise: work and […]