The Energy Edge

Every week, I share one science-backed idea that helps technology leaders stress less, get more done, and lead with clarity. 5-minute read. Real research. Real experience. No fluff.

Somewhere right now, a person is paying good money to sit in a quiet room and stare at a wall. It's marketed as a dopamine detox retreat. The pitch is that modern life fried your brain with too much input, so the cure is a weekend of nothing. No phone, no talking, and sometimes no food. Reset th...

Aug 24, 2026

How to drop straight into flow (EE 123)

We have a cabin by Kings Canyon National Park called The Be Well Retreat. It's our happy place. The fire pit is where we gather to drink coffee and start our day. It's where we relax and wrap up our day, watching the sun set and the night come alive. The fire is where we gather to celebrate, r...

Aug 17, 2026

The Energy Edge Book Launch Party (EE 122)

There is a turtle on my dash named Crush. Crush is small, wooden, and ridiculous. Crush's one job is to fly off the dashboard when I take a corner too fast, so I remember to slow down. Crush is great at their job. I need Crush because my default setting is next. Finish one thing, start the nex...

Aug 03, 2026

Cortisol is not the problem, your calendar is (EE 121)

It was day four of a security incident response and I was toast. I couldn't sleep and my body wasn't responding well. I felt the weight of the company on my shoulders. The stress was accumulating. I felt a chronic buzz in my body like electrical wires in a storm. The only thing that made me fe...

Jul 27, 2026

95% of managers get this wrong (EE 120)

A Harvard professor asked 669 managers a simple question "what motivates your people most?" They had five options to rank. Recognition. Incentives. Clear goals. Interpersonal support. Making progress in their work. Most managers put recognition first. They ranked progress dead last. Only 35 ...

Jul 20, 2026

BCG's mandatory night off (EE 119)

In 2007, Boston Consulting Group had a problem. Consultants were quitting because the hours had spun out of control. So the head of the Boston office called in a Harvard professor. Dr. Leslie Perlow's experiment sounded crazy at first, risking service delivery and careers. One team of consulta...

Jul 13, 2026

Shopify deleted 12,000 meetings (EE 118)

In January 2023, Shopify erased every recurring meeting from every calendar. All at once. On purpose. They called it the calendar purge. A bot swept through the company overnight and deleted roughly 12,000 events. Every recurring meeting with three or more people, gone. Then came the new rules...

Jul 06, 2026

Who you are outlasts what you want (EE 117)

I used to be goal-driven. Now I run on a set of identities, and I get more done with less friction. Father's Day was awesome. I got to watch our younger son lead on the volleyball court at a big tournament. Later on that night, we watched fun videos of them when they were toddlers. They wanted t...

Jun 29, 2026

Do the math on what you love (EE 116)

My head is pounding. I had climbed from the ocean to 12,000 feet too fast, and the altitude has a grip on my skull. My legs stopped arguing hours ago and move on their own. My pack drags at my hips. I stopped sweating and I need water. It's day three of a backcountry trip and I am twenty mile...

Jun 22, 2026

Your Brain Needs to Celebrate (EE 115)

I hit send on the final manuscript of my first book last week. Not perfect, but good. I needed to ship it. I feel good about the work now but last December I was banging my head against this book. The words came but I was struggling with something. The self-doubt had two repeating phrases "Thi...

Jun 08, 2026

ENERGY EDGE 114: Letting your brain idle

A one hour drive turned into six. By the end, I was grateful for it. I dropped my son at the Vancouver train station and started the drive to Whistler, normally a leisurely one hour drive. I stopped for a hike to a waterfall on the way and jumped back on the highway. Fifteen minutes later, the...

Jun 01, 2026

ENERGY EDGE 113: Inoculate yourself from work stress

The gun goes off in three minutes. I'm at the start line of a 5K on a warm May morning. There are hundreds of people around me. Some are stretching. Some are staring at their watches. The energy is fun and nervous. I'm just standing there, breathing. I've been building toward this for six mont...

May 26, 2026

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The Energy Edge

Every week, I share one science-backed idea that helps technology leaders stress less, get more done, and lead with clarity. 5-minute read. Real research. Real experience. No fluff.

The Energy Edge

Every week, I share one science-backed idea that helps technology leaders stress less, get more done, and lead with clarity. 5-minute read. Real research. Real experience. No fluff.

The Energy Edge

Every week, I share one science-backed idea that helps technology leaders stress less, get more done, and lead with clarity. 5-minute read. Real research. Real experience. No fluff.

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