Leadership: Teams, Change and Coaching as a Leader
Leadership as it is practiced in the seat: the leadership team that worked at the last size, accountability that does not backfire, team alignment, change leadership that holds, succession planning, delegation, and the executive offsite that has to end in decisions. Each essay gives you the questions to ask, the evidence, and a way to run it with your own team.
Leadership as it is practiced, by email: the team, accountability, alignment and the offsite, with a way to run each.
Coaching as a Leader: How to Coach Your Team, and When Not To
Coaching as a leader: what it is, how it differs from managing, a four-step conversation, 21 questions, and when to direct instead, from a former CEO.
Read the essay →Change Leadership: How a CEO Makes Organizational Change Hold
Most organizational change fails after the launch, not at it. What the CEO has to do, what middle managers need, and when to bring in a change consultant.
Does Accountability Improve Performance? What the Research Says
Accountability drives performance, but most leaders capture almost none of it. The research on why it backfires, and the three conditions that make it work.
How High-Performing Teams Actually Work
What makes high-performing teams work? The structure, trust, and leadership behaviors that unlock sustained team performance, and how to build them.
7 Questions That Boost Employee Engagement 30%
More than two-thirds of US employees aren't actively engaged at work. Seven powerful questions leaders can use to boost engagement by 30% and keep talent.
Executive Team Coaching: What It Is and When a Leadership Team Needs It
Executive team coaching works on how a leadership team decides, disagrees and follows through. The signs, how it works, and when it is not the answer.
How to Get Better at Stakeholder Management and Executive Presence as a Product Leader
Stakeholder management and executive presence for product leaders: map who decides, pre-wire the room, lead with the point, hold the number. From a former CPO.
How to Find the Best Chief Product Officer Coach: 7 Tests
How to find the best Chief Product Officer coach: what the product seat faces, what coaching can change, and seven tests for one call. From a former CPO.
How to Find the Best COO Coach: Seven Tests for One Call
How to find the best COO coach: what the seat does to a COO, what the research says coaching can change, and seven tests for one call. From a former COO.
How to Find the Best Executive Coach for General Managers
How to find the best executive coach for general managers: what the P&L seat demands, what coaching can do, and seven tests to run in one call.
How to Find the Best IT Director Coach: Seven Tests
How to find the best IT director coach: what the seat does to technology leaders, what the evidence says coaching can do, and seven tests to run in one call.
How to Find the Best VP of Engineering Coach: Seven Tests
How to find the best VP of Engineering coach: what the seat does to engineering leaders, what coaching can fix, and seven tests you can run in one call.
How to Find the Best Engineering Leadership Coach: Seven Tests
How to find the best engineering leadership coach for a director of engineering: what the seat does to you, what coaching can fix, and seven tests.
How Much Does a Strategic Planning Facilitator or Consultant Cost in 2026?
What strategic planning facilitators and consultants charge in 2026: hourly, day and project ranges, what sets the fee, who pays, and how I price.
A Strategic Planning Offsite Agenda for a Leadership Team: the Pre-Work, the Two Days, and the Template
A two-day strategy offsite agenda for a leadership team: the pre-work, three to five decisions agreed first, who is in the room, and a template.
How Much Does Executive Coaching Cost in 2026? Rates by Level, Who Pays, and How I Price
Executive coaching costs $150 to $3,500 an hour, $1,000 to $10,000 a month on retainer, and $5,000 to $60,000 per engagement in 2026. Rates by level, who pays, and how I price.
Your Digital Transformation Stalled. Here Is What I Look For.
Three failed cloud migrations, one org change that fixed it, the six causes of a stalled transformation, and what I look for in the first thirty days.
How to Run an Executive Offsite That Actually Produces Decisions
The Decision Contract method for executive offsites, leadership retreats and alignment workshops: prep, the room, the decision log, and the 30 days after.
How to Choose an Executive Coach: Six Questions to Ask
Six questions to ask an executive coach, when coaching is not worth it, and what good answers sound like. From a Nasdaq-IPO CEO who coaches CPOs, CTOs and CEOs.
Strategic Judgment Under Uncertainty: How Operators Decide When the Data Runs Out
The Reversibility Ledger: how I decide a one-way-door call when the data runs out, from an operator who now advises CEOs. Bezos, Duke, Tetlock and Marks credited.
Why Leadership Teams Fail, and How to Fix It
Have you ever felt like you’re driving a high-performance car, but someone else is holding the steering wheel? You’re heading in the right direction,...
Why “We’re a Family” Backfires at Work
Treating your company as a family sounds caring, but it backfires. Lessons from Airbnb, Netflix, and beyond on building a high-performing team culture.
Aligning Product and Engineering for Performance
Why product and engineering teams stall, and how to transform them into high performers: field-tested fixes from a leader who has run both sides.
Are You a Manager or a Leader?
Are you managing or leading? The difference impacts everything: culture, performance, and growth. Ken Gavranovic on what truly defines a leader.
Leadership Lessons from Thinkers50
In leadership thought and practice, platforms like Thinkers50 stand as pivotal gatherings where today’s foremost thinkers in management share...
Business Breakthrough 3.0 Out Now! Don't Wait, Buy Now
Business Breakthrough 3.0 has Arrived “BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH 3.0 offers practical insights to drive transformations and optimize agility, and how organizational structure...
Leaders vs Managers: What Actually Separates Them
Leadership and management aren't the same thing. What truly separates a leader from a manager, and why the difference shapes how your teams perform.
Digital Transformation, Part 3: The Three Rs
Enterprise agility comes down to three Rs. A practical operating framework for moving faster, adapting sooner, and truly running like a digital business.
Digital Transformation, Part 2: People, Process, Tech
When the numbers turn scary, the instinct is to play defense. How to operate like a true digital business and build durable enterprise agility instead.
Digital Transformation, Part 1: Why It Fails
Every company calls itself digital. Few truly operate that way. The dangerous gap between claiming to be a digital business and actually running like one.
OKRs: Measure Outcomes, Not Activity
Most companies measure activity completed, not outcomes achieved. Why that distinction is critical to success. and how to shift your teams toward outcomes.
How to Build a Risk Matrix That Cuts Downtime
How to build a risk matrix that reduces downtime, security vulnerabilities, and costly surprises: a practical routine.isk-management framework for any size company.
Code Story Podcast Interview
Ken Gavranovic on Noah Labhart's Code Story podcast: learning assembly at ten, building what became web.com, and running product at New Relic.
No-Code Doesn’t Mean No Software Engineers
Among software development and tech professionals, there’s a lot of buzz and hype around no-code platforms. No-code has enormous potential to...
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