Cognitive Architecture: Where Growth Comes From Next
There’s a story in Think and Grow Rich that feels even more relevant today than it did when it was written nearly a century ago. (I wasn’t there, so I can’t prove this—but stay with me.) Napoleon Hill tells of a moment when critics tried to expose Henry Ford as unintelligent. They asked him detailed, technical questions—designed […]
The Fall of the status quo: Three Clues the Full-Time Job Was Already Broken.
The job world is a mess. Or a dumpster fire. Or in transition. Or all three. Probably all three. Let’s go to the data. U.S. hiring rates have dropped to their lowest level since 2014 (BLS JOLTS, 2024). There are 25–35% fewer job postings than two years ago (Indeed Hiring Lab, 2024). Job openings are down 1.5 million year-over-year (BLS, 2024). […]
Opportunity Has Moved. You Have to Flip New Rocks.
When I was a kid, my brothers and I spent hours in creeks. We’d wade around, roll up our jeans, and flip over rocks. Not for any grand reason. We were looking for bugs. Salamanders. Little fish. Critters. Whatever we could find. Sometimes there was nothing there. Sometimes there was something unexpected. We loved it. […]
The Full-Time Job Is Collapsing
The 40-Hour Week Is Breaking (And We All Know It) I’ve spent the past seven years working on the fractional model of work, and that’s given me a front-row seat to watch traditional full-time employment break down. Something fundamental has shifted. This isn’t the standard “the future of work is changing!” article. We’re talking about […]
What Diogenes Would Say About Fractional Work
Meet Diogenes: The Philosopher Who Moved Into a Barrel Let’s start with a scene most people have heard in fragments but never in full: Diogenes — one of the sharpest, strangest, most confrontational thinkers in ancient Greece — gave up his house, his possessions, and most of the comforts people cling to. He didn’t retreat […]
The Power of Wisdom Work
We’ve lived through a few work eras. The industrial age — machines multiplied muscle. The knowledge age — computers multiplied information. Now we’re deep in the AI age — systems that multiply intelligence. But when intelligence meets its limit — and it will, and fast — then what? What advantage do we have left? Wisdom. […]
Why are we burning out? Science and psychology have some answers.
Recent data from Forbes on burnout at work paints a dire picture: a 2025 survey shows that 66% of U.S. workers report feeling job burnout — a record high. Meanwhile, in the same period, 36% say they are more burned out now than a year ago. What was once episodic stress has become a chronic […]
The Best People You’ve Ever Had
Think about the best person you’ve ever had on your team. Was it their pedigree that made them so? Their title? Their pay? Their spotless résumé? Nope, nope, and nope. When you look back, the best ones most likely had an independent streak. That’s what made them great. They didn’t wait for politics to clear […]
You Would Go Fractional in a Nanosecond If You Could
Wait—skip spending my whole day in meetings? How could I ever leave that? The reasons to go independent—to work for yourself, make your own calls, and create your own opportunities—are longer than your arm. Daydreaming at your desk, you can imagine a life without the back-to-back meetings, office politics, the worry about being laid off […]