Doctor's Note

A mix of essays and commentary about design, innovation, technology, society, coaching, personal and leadership development. Since 1996.

Servant Leadership or Burnout Martydom?

Servant Leadership or Burnout Martydom?

The idea of “servant leadership” is quite popular, but in my design leadership coaching I often see this ending up as martyrdom and burnout. In this …

Developing presence and confidence in leadership

Developing presence and confidence in leadership

What do David Byrne, David Bowie and Beyoncé, all have in common? They’ve all used a persona to help them step into the energy of performing and give them …

How To Use An Experience Portfolio To Plan Your Career

How To Use An Experience Portfolio To Plan Your Career

Roles and titles are abstractions from the actual day-to-day work activities you do, but it’s easy to get caught in the trap of climbing a title ladder …

How rules set you free to give great feedback

How rules set you free to give great feedback

Rather than being constraints how can rules set you and your teams free? How can this help you give great feedback and raise the quality of design work from …

Understanding Your Thinking & Communication Style

Understanding Your Thinking & Communication Style

A classic human bias is to assume everybody else thinks the way we do, but of course they do not. Understanding your thinking style and how you manage that when …

Presenting your portfolio and yourself for interviews

Presenting your portfolio and yourself for interviews

When people will present their portfolios of work, they often forget the most important thing, which is the storytelling about themselves. Every week I spend my …

Why does quitting your job make it more enjoyable?

Why does quitting your job make it more enjoyable?

Why do people have the best days of their jobs when they’ve just quit? And what can it tell us about how we relate to work? Every week I spend my days …