ASML posted record sales of €32.7 billion last year. Then cut 1,700 management roles. ABN Amro announced 5,200 job cuts by 2028. Philips has been reducing layers for over a year. Globally, over 80,000 tech #jobs were cut in Q1 alone. Google removed 35% of its managers last year. None of these companies are in trouble. All of them are removing the middle. This pattern showed up in last week's Q1 2026 overview and it's shaping the current landscape so much that I wanted to do a

Early in my career, in my very first role as in-house recruiter, my manager (HRD) gave me a piece of advice I did not question for a long time: always overstate your #hiring timelines when you open a new role. Give yourself more room than you think you need. She was right, in a sense, and it worked because hiring managers stopped chasing me so aggressively (and I saved myself from a #burnout). The problem I did not see at the time: I had just learned to negotiate, not collabo

In all my years in HR, I’ve seen promotions used for the wrong reasons: to keep someone from leaving or reward long tenure that “felt right" or to make a team look stronger on paper (and the leader more successful) even when the person promoted wasn’t ready. None of this helps the employee and it certainly does not help the #team. Now, don't get me wrong - I wholeheartedly believe in development. It is one of the strongest motivators we have. It sits together with sense of pu

If you're a fractional/ interim/ consultant leader - or thinking of becoming one, then this is for you. Interim leadership role usually look like this: You’re brought in to make an impact fast, but the clock starts ticking the moment you arrive. The unspoken expectation is “deliver transformation, but don’t break anything.” That creates a strange tension: you must move decisively without the benefit of long-term trust or deep organizational context. The four biggest challenge

Every #hiring decision feels urgent. Which is why many leaders skip the first, most important question: Where should I look? Inside the...

Disclaimer: the purpose of this post is NOT to stress you out but to prepare you. You can keep reading, it's safe (and optimistic!) For...

As a leader, you make hundreds of decisions daily, both big and small. Some are quick: Should this email go out today or tomorrow? Should...

A manager wears many hats - coach, mentor, expert - but one thing they aren’t is a mind reader. Even the best leaders can’t support you...

As we approach year-end #performance reviews, many of us find ourselves in the familiar swirl of self-reflection and goal-setting. It’s...

Chances are that you're probably doing nothing wrong. The job market has stagnated over the past year or so. Just look at the statistics:...