The Cost of Human Due Diligence and Active Inaction
There is a theme that underlies the money I've turned down over the years. On some days I'm proud of it, and on others I wish I were a little less smart and a little less intuitive. My ability to rapidly see people is one of my greatest gifts. Yet there is a cost. The...
Assessing Judgment in High-Stakes People Decisions
For 14 years, I had a loving, sweet cat named Princess. She was my baby. (Even if you hate cats, stick with me on the story; there's a lesson here.) One night I went on a date, and the subject of cats came up. I told my date about Princess, and he told me that his...
When Success Makes You Doubt Your Value–Conflating Achievement with Love
"I've worked hard to be successful, and now I'm struggling with whether it is taking up too much of my identity. I feel like my strategy may be turning in on itself.""Will people like me or want to hang with me….okay, fine, love me, apart from everything I provide for...
Navigating Workplace Death: A Resource for Leaders and Teams
Over the years, I've been on the receiving end of many phone calls about death. While each personal death has its own set of struggles, workplace death is unique. It calls on leaders to make impossible calls about how to support, how to calibrate sensitivity with...
Leveraging the Existential Angst of AI for Founders & Executives
My client—a founder who'd built and sold his first business—got there first. I'd been an early adopter of AI, but he'd started using it more deeply in developing his second business. He’s optimistic and tolerant of risk, built a business at a young age, sold it, and...
When Generosity Breeds Resentment (And Quietly Destroys High Stakes Relationships)
How to Assess Experts – A Leader’s Guide
I was unconscious when he introduced me. January 2025: “This is Dr. Tricia Groff. She is a business psychologist. Her goals are to hike, run, go shopping, and attend festivals with her friends.” September 2025: 7-month surgery follow-up Tricia: "Dr. A, it’s okay if...
Satisficing & Maximizing for Leaders: Decisions + AI
It’s Monday. If you're like me, sometimes you're excited, and sometimes you want to pull the covers back over your head and stay in bed. Sometimes, it's because you didn't catch a break on the weekend, and you feel hurled into the week whether you're ready or not. At...
When Growth Means Disappointing People
"I just don't want to disappoint people," she said. I have heard this statement numerous times from leaders at all levels. What I know now is that for some of us, disappointing people feels like a hard stop, a death of sorts. Sometimes, it feels like the end of a...
Sold Your Business, Now What? Founders in Transition
“Am I wasting my life if I retire at 40?” I heard the angst in his voice, and I wanted to hug him. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard about the uncertainty and isolation of business success. I have a habit of writing about what I hear behind the scenes so that people...
“Can you still kill snakes?” I asked him. My client was transitioning from a difficult, lucrative, and “secure” career to building his own business. We had assessed his skill sets, emotional fortitude, and possible trajectories for the path forward. We are both...
Analytical and Intuitive Decision-Making for Leaders
I didn't debate the executive's dismissal of intuitive decision-making as he stated that his company uses objective standards for assessing new hires. He was proud about the metrics and noted that “we don’t put much weight on gut feelings.” I could have argued that...
Clear the Cache; Delete the Code – Recognizing the Defaults that Run You
High-Achievers, Organizations, and Websites All Run on Code I rebuilt my website. (Why would I not have someone else do it? Some people like football; some people like knitting; I like technology). Back to the point. When building websites, you add information and...
The Business Owner’s Bill of Rights
The personal rights of a business owner are rarely discussed. Business owners with high-achieving personality styles have something in common. They are very responsible and they care a lot. Sometimes the caring combined with the heightened sense of responsibility...
Dealing with a Toxic Board Member
Are you dealing with a difficult or toxic board member? It’s the person who expects his opinion and vast experience to outweigh everyone else’s voice. Or maybe the one who seems bent on creating drama and cannot be trusted to be straightforward in
Co-Founder Relationships – How to Win
He is the big picture thinker, with grand ideas, fantastic people skills, and the focus of a squirrel. She is detail-oriented, precise, and has an optimized system for…everything. She complains that she is tired of planning
How to Cope and Lead Your Team Through the Sudden Death of a Colleague
Navigating the Sudden Death of a Colleague I returned the call, expecting that the team needed me to help with an internal dilemma of some type. Instead, I learned that my client had died. There are no norms or traditions to handle the sudden death of a colleague, a...
Coping with Incompetence – Using Frustration to Fuel Your Performance
I remember a particularly frustrating brush with incompetence in my PhD program. The assignment started out as just another step in compiling
Recent Posts
The Cost of Human Due Diligence and Active Inaction
There is a theme that underlies the money I've turned down over the years. On some days I'm proud of it, and on others I wish I were a little less smart and a little less intuitive. My ability to rapidly see people is one of my greatest gifts. Yet there is a cost. The...
Assessing Judgment in High-Stakes People Decisions
For 14 years, I had a loving, sweet cat named Princess. She was my baby. (Even if you hate cats, stick with me on the story; there's a lesson here.) One night I went on a date, and the subject of cats came up. I told my date about Princess, and he told me that his...
When Success Makes You Doubt Your Value–Conflating Achievement with Love
"I've worked hard to be successful, and now I'm struggling with whether it is taking up too much of my identity. I feel like my strategy may be turning in on itself.""Will people like me or want to hang with me….okay, fine, love me, apart from everything I provide for...
Navigating Workplace Death: A Resource for Leaders and Teams
Over the years, I've been on the receiving end of many phone calls about death. While each personal death has its own set of struggles, workplace death is unique. It calls on leaders to make impossible calls about how to support, how to calibrate sensitivity with...
Leveraging the Existential Angst of AI for Founders & Executives
My client—a founder who'd built and sold his first business—got there first. I'd been an early adopter of AI, but he'd started using it more deeply in developing his second business. He’s optimistic and tolerant of risk, built a business at a young age, sold it, and...
When Generosity Breeds Resentment (And Quietly Destroys High Stakes Relationships)
How to Assess Experts – A Leader’s Guide
I was unconscious when he introduced me. January 2025: “This is Dr. Tricia Groff. She is a business psychologist. Her goals are to hike, run, go shopping, and attend festivals with her friends.” September 2025: 7-month surgery follow-up Tricia: "Dr. A, it’s okay if...