It started with a text on a day off and turned into a whole conversation about burnout, boundaries, and why everyone seems one notification away from snapping. This week, Brett and Greg dig into the limits of "mental load," share a few real-world stress responses, and then turn their attention to a new workplace trend that's doing more harm than good: personal user manuals.

If your onboarding doc reads like a dating profile, we’ve got some thoughts.

The Huddle

The 1:1 Playbook is live! We finally launched the thing—and it's better than we imagined. It’s our most complete guide yet for making 1:1s less awkward and more impactful.

The Review

Greg’s latest opinion column, Enough with the personal user manuals, critiques the growing trend of workplace "user guides." Sure, they’re well-intentioned. But when they replace actual conversation, they can short-circuit trust, reinforce power dynamics, and turn human connection into a checklist.

This week, we unpack:

What actually makes people feel seen and understood at work
How trust gets built (and broken) in remote teams
The hidden cost of replacing relationships with documentation
What leaders can do instead

The Ask

Buy our new 1:1 playbook and immediately improve your leadership! Seriously—if you run 1:1s, this is the manual you wish you had.

Buy the 1:1 Playbook

The Hit List

What we’re reading, writing, watching, and listening to this week:

Listening: The Logical Song (cover by The Greystones) — A bunch of talented kids bring fresh magic to this Supertramp classic. Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves — Grammy gold, and the emotional balm we needed this week.

Watching: My Darling Clementine — Greg went full Criterion cowboy and he’s not wrong. A slow burn that hits. The Long Way Round — Ewan McGregor + motorcycles + aging adventure = Brett’s current comfort TV.

Reading: Abundance by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson — Smart, hopeful, grounded. This one’s sneaky good.

Writing: Project management is a leadership role. Start acting like it.

The Deep Cut 003: Adventure on

The High Five

This week’s high five goes to: the sweet, sweet thrill of launching a digital product. We made a thing. We put a price on it. We hit publish. That’s worth celebrating.

Episode 46 - Enough with the user manuals