think-piece
Retention Is a Lagging Indicator
The decision to leave is made months before the resignation. Your turnover dashboard is a history book. If you want to change retention, stop measuring it.
engagement
behavior-hack
The Yes, And Rule
Improv comedians never say "no, but." They say "yes, and." When teams adopt this single rule for brainstorming, idea volume increases and the ideas that survive are more original.
think-piece
When Autonomy Backfires
Self-determination theory says autonomy drives motivation. But research shows that without clarity on direction and boundaries, autonomy creates anxiety, decision paralysis, and worse performance.
behavior-hack
The Fresh Start Effect
People are 33% more likely to start a new habit on a Monday, the first of the month, or after a birthday. Temporal landmarks create a psychological "reset" that separates the old self from the new one.
research-drop
The Temporal Discounting Trap
People consistently choose $100 today over $120 next month. The same bias explains why teams skip strategy for urgent busywork, and why quarterly goals beat annual ones.
research-drop
The Mere Exposure Effect
Zajonc's research revealed something counterintuitive: we don't like things because we know them. We like them because we've seen them. Remote workers lose influence not from worse work, but from less visibility.
behavior-hack
The Question Nobody Asks in Exit Interviews
Most exit interviews ask "why are you leaving?" The better question: "what almost made you leave before?" It surfaces fixable problems instead of post-hoc rationalizations.
research-drop
The IKEA Effect
Harvard researchers found that people value things they helped create 63% more than identical pre-made versions. This changes how you design every employee program.
research-drop
The Peak-End Rule
People don't remember experiences as averages. They remember the peak moment and how it ended. This changes everything about how you design employee experiences.
research-drop
The 70% Rule
Managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement. Not culture. Not perks. Not mission statements. The person running the weekly standup.
research-drop
The Alignment Gap Is Growing
Mentions of misalignment in employee feedback rose 149% year over year. The problem isn't engagement. It's that people are engaged in different directions.
research-drop
The Progress Principle
Teresa Amabile analyzed 12,000 diary entries and found small wins beat everything else for motivation. Not bonuses, not praise, not strategy. Progress on meaningful work wins.