The Foundry

Founders say they want feedback, then ask the one question that guarantees fluff: “What do you think?” It’s usually a request for approval disguised as openness.

This post introduces the No-First Feedback Rule — lead with the “no” — and shows how specific questions produce actionable insight instead of vague validation.

Performance reviews reveal a deeper habit: outsourcing our worth. When we seek judgment, every comment becomes a verdict, and we stop learning.

This post reframes feedback as information, introduces “retake your pen,” and shows what it looks like to hold your own standard while still seeking insight.

Leaders think teams resist change. More often, teams resist changing without an accepted reason. If the “why” isn’t real, urgency is fake, and execution stalls.

This post shows how to make the status quo unacceptable, how loss aversion shapes buy-in, and a simple test to confirm your team is truly aligned.

Teams can agree on goals and still collide. The issue is rarely the priorities themselves, but the silent weighting behind them.

Using Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations as a lens, this post shows why “agreement isn’t alignment,” and how to uncover the decision criteria that drive conflict.

Last week: “don’t” language can push teams into fear and caution. This week: sometimes “don’t” is the most responsible word a leader can use.

When the cost of error is high, boundaries create safety, speed, and focus. The right “no” turns confusion into execution.

A single phrase can flip a team from confident to cautious. “Don’t screw this up” narrows focus to failure; “make this simple and clear” directs attention to the action that wins.

This post breaks down the avoidance frame, why it shows up under pressure, and how leaders can replace it with performance language.

Halloween fear is fun because it’s safe. Real fear isn’t, because it has consequences.

From a tennis backhand to starting a business, the lesson is the same: fear confuses “different” with “dangerous.” Progress comes from leaning in incrementally, building tolerance one rep at a time.