THE SECOND CIRCLE

Essays

Essays about humans at work — what gets in the way of performance, and what helps. A new one arrives each week from The Second Circle. Read them on Substack, or subscribe to get each one in your inbox.

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29 October 2026
Bruckner
And Herbert’s face
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22 October 2026
Visiting
At home
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15 October 2026
Arise, Sir Ashley
In praise of silliness
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9 October 2026
I Invented the Airlock
Without being asked
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1 October 2026
Words and Other Words
I read and I read and no one was there
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25 September 2026
Shutdown
What the end teaches us about the middle
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17 September 2026
Flight School
Lessons from the airport shuttle
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20 August 2026
Billy Found a Snake
And had time to tell us about it
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13 August 2026
Question Ten
What we say when we need say nothing
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6 August 2026
Five Stars?
What Uber can teach us about measurement
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9 July 2026
Extra Strawberries
And the folly of manufactured certainty
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2 July 2026
Strawberries
And the hidden economics of experience
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25 June 2026
The NTSB Report
And why understanding must precede improvement
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11 June 2026
Oh, The Agony
On thoughts, and words, and deeds
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28 May 2026
The Handshake Rule
What teams know that job descriptions don’t
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21 May 2026
Really, Gmail?
To mother, with love
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14 May 2026
Not The Post I Had Planned For Today
Really, Microsoft?
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7 May 2026
The Accidental Captain
In praise of the understudy
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30 April 2026 · Paid subscribers
Assessment Theater
On the performance of personality
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23 April 2026 · Paid subscribers
What Do People Do All Day?
And what makes the number go up?
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