The Future Of Leadership
Leadership wisdom for CEOs and senior technology executives.
A monthly newsletter read by 1,246 leaders.
I love Richard’s leadership newsletter. He focuses on my two favourite subjects, iQ & eQ, and distils monthly nuggets that I always gobble up with great enthusiasm. Bon appétit!
Fred Pelard
Strategy trainer, consultant & facilitator
Latest newsletter:
#031: The Mental Models Paradox
- The Mental Models Paradox, ensure your mental models are building blocks to higher wisdom, not brick walls constraining your thinking
- Insights from Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building
- Reframing What it Means to be an Executive and The Road to Self-Renewal
Previous newsletters:
#030: How can an Executive Coach help you?
- Erik de Haan’s book Critical Moments in Executive Coaching, including his “window on coaching” framework
- CEO Job Description: In Reductionist Form
- Experimenting as a way to deal with uncertainty
#029: Family & Leadership
- Is it possible to lead at your best if you’re home life isn’t happy and health?
- Professor Rober Kegan’s book In Over Our Heads: Mental Demands of Modern Life, and his 10 suggestions for what’s expected of parents
- CEO and employee narcissm
#028: Executive Presence
- My latest article A fresh look at executive presence, for technology leaders
- 5 habits that make for an effective executive, from Peter Drucker’s classic The Effective Executive
- Podcast: Narcissism with Jonathan Shedler, PhD
#027: Are you on the Balcony, or the Dancefloor?
- Technical leadership vs adaptive leadership, from The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Ron Heifetz
- Leadership, and moving between the balcony and the dancefloor
- What Does “Becoming More Senior” Really Mean?
- Using Deliberate Practice to improve performance – how can you 10X your results?
#026: Is this the most disruptive period in history?
- Adaptability lessons from High Output Management, by former Intel CEO Andy Grove
- VUCA, the ‘Exponential Age’ and recency bias
- What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?
- Podcast: Tacit Knowledge, Mental Models and Accelerated Expertise, with Cedric Chin
#025: Accelerated Expertise – taking skill development to the absolute limit
- Summary of Accelerated Expertise: Training for High Proficiency in a Complex World – “take[s] the concept of skill development to the absolute limit”
- Skepticism: Why critical thinking makes you smarter
- Podcast: can internet gurus help you find certainty in an uncertain world?
#024: The Duck-Rabbit & the Polarities of Leadership
- My new article The Duck-Rabbit & the Polarities of Leadership
- Advice from The HIGH GROWTH HANDBOOK: Scaling Startups from 10-10,000 People, by Elad Gil
- The Paradoxes Of Changing Your Mind
- Podcast: Expanding leadership through polarities

#023: Time Management for Leaders, Power of Both/And Thinking
- My new article Time Management Techniques for Leaders
- Reviewing The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking, by Roger L. Martin
- Podcast: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self
#022: Are you a pessimist or optimist? How does the world really work?
- My article Executive coaching: a complete guide to finding the right coach for you
- Exploring the complexity of the global energy tranistion HOW THE WORLD REALLY WORKS: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going
- Podcasts about how to become a better listener, Where does greatness come from, and the beginner’s mind, self-actualization, and advice from your future self
#021: Most read leadership articles 2022 + startling facts from Chip War
- Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology unpacks the existential geopolitical challenges presented by production and supply chains
- The “Duck-Rabbit” and the Art of Entrepreneurship
- The Ultimate Burnout Guide: Symptoms, Causes, and Prevention
#020: A complete guide to finding the right Executive Coach
- This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends unpacks the history of cyber weapons and a global underground marketplace which allows governments and other malicious actors direct backdoor access into pretty much any system on the planet
- The Leader’s Calendar – how do CEOs allocate their time?
#019: Better manage your diary & time Unleash your complexity genius
- My article: Time management techniques for leaders
- Unleash your Complexity Genius: Growing your inner capacity to lead, discover 8 Genius Engagement Moves (GEMs) to help you navigate a complex world – noticing, breathing, moving, sleeping, experimenting, laughing, wondering, and loving
- The Case for Optimism, Becoming and Better Strategist and more…
#018: Cancer, Life, Leadership & Uncertainty – Strategy Hacks Podcast
- My appearance with my Oncologist on the Strategy Hacks podcast, discussing my journey through Stage 3 cancer and what we’ve both learned about life, leadership and decision making under uncertainty
- Summary of Talent: How To Identify Energizers, Creatives & Winners Around the World, about how to find people who will 100x your organisation
#017: Putting yourself at risk for growth & infinite progress
- Summary of The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
- The difference between coaching and therapy, and why entrepreneurs need a coach, mentor and therapist
#016: Why feedback is the lifeblood of change in a complex world.
- Summary of The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organisation, including Peter Senge’s five disciplines: personal mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, team learning and systems thinking
- Feedback, “the lifeblood of change in a complex world” and why even Winston Churchill needed it
#015: How do you navigate complex environments? Intuition & the voices in our head
#014: What is a Deliberately Developmental Organization?
#013: Emotions, Grand Transitions & Coaching for your team
#012: What is Cynefin? Do you want to lead like a Navy SEAL?
#011: The problem with TED Talks & other Leadership BS Secrets of our Success
#010: Exponential Leadership + web3 & The Future Of The Internet
#009: Capitalism Without Capital, Frameworks, Uncertainty & Talent
#008: Reading & sensemaking, 360 Feedback & WTF is the Metaverse?
#007: 10 seminal pieces of writing + talking about racism & privilege
#006: How One Business Is Opening Up Its Coaching Programme To You All
#005: Guide to remote/hybrid work + Deliberately Developmental Organisations
#004: What is the future of leadership? Our survey said…
#003: Want to be a better leader? It’s complex.
#002: The Art of Thinking & Changing Your Mind
#001: Uncertainty, Prediction, Sensemaking & Bringing down the system!