The StoryBank

Send us Fan Mail The other day, my wife forwarded me an ad for a phone-locking device. You put your phone inside and it stays locked for a set time. There are plenty of them online. Her message said, "You might want to use this." A few months ago, I had bought myself a basic feature phone to use post office hours. That experiment didn’t work. So when I saw the phone-locking device ad, I smiled. I also felt a little guilty. I know how much time I spend on my phone, and I've always put it dow...

Send us Fan Mail There’s a particular kind of competitor that can be very intimidating. They have more money, more people, better technology, a bigger brand, and access to expertise you can't afford So the natural conclusion is: how do we compete with that? Perhaps that’s the wrong question. Because resources determine how much you can deploy. They don’t necessarily determine how quickly you can learn. A smaller team can try something on Monday, discover it doesn’t work on Tuesday, c...

Send us Fan Mail Stories At Work is back with our Saturday stories. The StoryWorks Academy Cohort 1 is sold out. Next cohort starts on 10th January 2027. Some seats in that too are taken. Reach out if you want in. In 2005, Robert Kaplan and David Norton, writing about a 15 year study observed that on average, 95% of a company's employees were unaware of, or do not understand, its strategy. If employees are unaware of the strategy, they surely cannot help the organisation implement it e...

Send us Fan Mail Many years ago, an electric utility ran a simple experiment. It started telling households how their electricity use compared to their neighbours’ average. It worked. Heavy users cut back. But something unexpected happened as well. Households already using less energy than their neighbours saw the same comparison and started using more. If everyone around you is using more, then why hold back? The solution to the “boomerang” problem turned out to be almost embarrassingly s...

Send us Fan Mail Like all of you, I have driven through a roundabout a thousand times. One rule makes it work: the driver entering gives way to traffic already moving inside. No stop sign, no one directing you. Just smoother, safer flow. Smoother, in fact, than four traffic lights at a crossroad. I never thought a roundabout could hold the answer to how we tackle Shadow AI. Today's story says otherwise. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https...