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The Ladder and the Landscape
We’ve built plenty of ladders for careers to climb: job titles, promotion tracks, leadership pipelines: all carefully mapped rungs of...
Nate Payne
Sep 306 min read


We Don't Need Better Leaders. We Need Better Systems.
The cult of the the exceptional individual: the all-knowing CEO, the visionary founder, the charismatic leader, has distracted us for decades. But the real work is in the soil, not in the spotlight.
Nate Payne
Aug 253 min read


Why Great Leaders Don’t Chase Trust
When we talk about leadership, trust usually gets framed as a moral quality. You earn it through character. You hold it through consistency. Lose it, and everything crumbles. The framing is valid. But it’s incomplete.
Nate Payne
Jul 172 min read


The Quiet Price of Easy Answers
What history can teach us about thinking in the age of AI. Before contact, the Choctaw, like many Native nations, ran a full economy...
Nate Payne
Jun 35 min read


Shooting Long Twos in an AI World
Most companies say they’re “using AI.” Few have redrawn their playbook to match the new court.
Nate Payne
Jan 303 min read


6 Ways To Fuel Technology Innovation on a Shoestring Budget
One of the most common obstacles small business owners face when it comes to planning for technology is managing budget constraints. With...
Nate Payne
Jul 13, 20233 min read


The Power of Functional Context: What an IT Consultant and a Home-Repair Contractor Have in Common
At first glance, an IT consultant and a home-repair contractor would seem to have little in common. But the good ones, the ones you feel...
Nate Payne
Jun 23, 20233 min read


There's No Silver Bullet: Strategic Technology Adoption is the Real Magic for Business Growth
The world of business-technology is buzzing with excitement. News of rapid advancements in AI, machine learning, IoT, blockchain, 5G, and...
Nate Payne
Jun 19, 20233 min read


Price-Driven IT Decisions: Short-Term Savings, Long-Term Regret
When making technology decisions, organizations face a crucial choice—to pursue the path of wisdom or to surrender to the allure of...
Nate Payne
Jun 19, 20232 min read
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