September 17, 2026
Feedback is a Gift
Everybody wants feedback until they get it. Scott on asking for it before the performance review, listening without defending, and why acting on it builds trust.
Read Article →Career Advice / Hard Conversations at Work
The conversation you’re avoiding is usually the one your career is waiting on.
Asking for the raise. Pushing back on your boss. Telling someone the truth. These articles are about what to say, when to say less, and what it costs you to stay quiet.
Everybody wants feedback until they get it. Scott on asking for it before the performance review, listening without defending, and why acting on it builds trust.
Read Article →Jerry Seinfeld cuts every word that does not help the joke. Scott on why the best communicators at work find the shortest route to the point, then let the room respond.
Read Article →Subscribers keep telling Scott he writes too much. Scott on the difference between changing because something is not working and changing because you are afraid someone will not like it.
Read Article →The advice you least want to hear is usually the advice that finally forces you to move. Scott on why easy advice gives you permission to stay, and hard advice creates responsibility.
Read Article →One question flipped a client’s entire narrative in a single conversation. Scott on the reframe that works when the voice in your head knows exactly where to hurt you.
Read Article →Most people celebrate freedom once a year without asking whether they feel free in their own life. Scott on why reflection is the bridge between what happened and what comes next, and why real growth starts with telling yourself the truth.
Read Article →A pilot lands the plane safely but never tells the cabin what is happening, and chaos follows. The same failure plays out in careers every day, and the problem is rarely talent or effort. It is communication.
Read Article →Early in his career, Scott realized working in a corporate environment is a lot like learning a second language, except nobody tells you the language exists. “Let’s circle back” rarely means a follow-up is coming, and “interesting idea” usually means the idea is dead on arrival. Scott on why corporate jargon exists, how fluency sneaks up on you, and why careers are built on reading the room and understanding what is not being said.
Read Article →Scott’s go-to Chick-fil-A order comes with strong opinions about sauce rankings, but a conversation with someone who works at one surprised him: customers are rude, even at Chick-fil-A. Scott on why everyone should spend a few weeks in a customer-facing job, and why learning how to deal with people is the career skill almost nobody gets formal training on.
Read Article →Curiosity has quietly become one of the most underrated skills in business and relationships. Most people walk into conversations waiting for their turn to speak. Scott on why asking thoughtful questions opens doors talent alone never could, lowers defenses faster than almost anything, and makes you memorable in a world full of people staring at their phones.
Read Article →A Medium told Scott yesterday to lean into what feels natural and stop fighting what's coming his way. He laughed, then she pointed out 25 clients isn't a side hustle, it's a business. Scott on three years of coaching, the people who've shown up since day one, and why the feeling of being stuck usually has less to do with talent and more to do with honesty.
Read Article →In ten minutes, I built a French study tool for my son using AI. We are living in the greatest period of time, and if you're not using the tools available to you, you're being left behind.
Read Article →There's something about wanting to prove you can do it all alone that feels good in the moment, but it's usually rooted in ego, not progress. Stop grinding in silence.
Read Article →Pete Best was the original drummer for the Beatles, until one day a conversation he wasn't part of ended his career with the band. Most career pivots happen th
Read Article →A trip to Chipotle made me realize something is being lost. The ability to speak up, make eye contact, and communicate clearly is becoming rare, and that's a career problem.
Read Article →Some days the words don't come. So I look all over for something to spark the article. Then I realized, the spark is the contract you make with yourself to show up anyway.
Read Article →You don't have to be friends with your coworkers. But if you stop there, you miss the nuance of what actually makes working with people work.
Read Article →The Dude from The Big Lebowski had it right: 'That's just like your opinion, man.' We live in a world drowning in other people's opinions. Most of them shouldn'
Read Article →Stop expecting people to read your mind. We assume our boss knows we're frustrated, our partner knows we need support. Quiet resentment is a slow leak. Clarity
Read Article →We tell ourselves we'll come back to it. That email. That conversation. That project idea that could change everything. We act like there's an invisible extension on every deadline.
Read Article →There are a million reasons to say no to any opportunity. Scott Bond on finding the one reason to say yes that matters more than all the excuses combined.
Read Article →Growth comes when you are willing to say yes to things that feel uncomfortable. And there are always a million reasons to say no to something.
Read Article →When you got up this morning, did you feel proud of yourself? Scott Bond on what that question reveals, and what to do if the honest answer is no.
Read Article →Saying what you really want to say feels good for about ten minutes. Scott Bond on why checking the emotion before the delivery is the move that actually gets results.
Read Article →We assume our boss knows we're unhappy. We assume we're not ready. We write the ending before we've started. Scott Bond on how unchecked assumptions quietly derail entire careers.
Read Article →Growth doesn't knock on your door and beg to be let in. You have to open the door, even when nothing feels urgent enough to act on.
Read Article →When you constantly censor yourself, you're not just protecting your job, you're diluting your voice. The people who question your transparency are often the ones who secretly say "thank you."
Read Article →I got invited to speak at Techstars Abu Dhabi. The least important part of that story is the invite. The most important part is that I was willing to ask.
Read Article →Half the room is playing professional charades, hoping someone else asks. Scott on why saying I don't know might be the most confident move you can make at work.
Read Article →You will rent a 13,000-pound moving truck with a credit card, but you will not send one DM to a hiring manager. Scott on why fear attaches itself to your ego instead of actual danger.
Read Article →Nobody trains you for the criticism, the back-room comments, and the flat-out lies that come with any career. Scott on why thick skin is the one skill you build slowly, one uncomfortable moment at a time.
Read Article →Every big goal you want is on the other side of a wall you have been avoiding. Scott on why careers are built in the hard parts, not the easy ones, and why the wall is there to reveal what you are made of.
Read Article →The survey is rarely the problem. What happens after the survey tells you everything about a company’s culture, and after eighteen years of leading teams, Scott has seen it all: results used to promote, punish, spin, and hide.
Read Article →Scott spoke to a UW class about networking, brand, and telling your story, and one student asked him how to pick a lane among many ambitions. The answer revealed something he keeps coming back to: your career is a choose-your-own-adventure novel, and most people fail not because they pick the wrong chapter but because they stop turning pages.
Read Article →A tire bubble ignored for five months. A blowout on the highway. Sound familiar? The cost of procrastination in your career is the same, and it always shows up
Read Article →The words you repeat to yourself are not neutral. They become labels. And labels become identity. Pay attention to what you're telling yourself, it's shaping w
Read Article →In a Paris laundromat, a man with poor hygiene and stained clothes turned out to be a Harvard math professor. Everyone has a story. Every interaction is a chapt
Read Article →In chaos, most people chase the loudest voice. But the calmest person in the room is usually the one with real footing. That calm comes from lived experience, n
Read Article →One of the best learning moments in my career was realizing that nobody really cared if I missed the event, didn't show up to happy hour, or said no
Read Article →The breakthrough rarely announces itself ahead of time. Too many people surrender right before the result is ready to appear. Here's why staying one more round
Read Article →Vulnerability isn't weakness, it's your greatest strength. Learn why being real builds trust faster than perfection ever could.
Read Article →What you speak matters, not just to others, but to yourself. Too many people downplay their wins with 'I got lucky' or 'it just worked out.' That minimization
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