Your team is paying a hidden tax. Not in money. In friction. In SMEs, I regularly see: • 10 to 15% time lost in unclear roles • 15% in unnecessary meetings • 5 to 10% in rework • Energy lost in silent tensions No one notices it. Because it feels normal. But over a year, this invisible productivity tax equals months of lost capacity. The good news? You do not need more people. You need: • Role clarity • Decision clarity • Conversation clarity Performance is often already funde

High performance is not intensity. It is capacity. Yesterday at PMI Lausanne, we explored how to become a Corporate Athlete Become a Corporate Athlete. Four capacities. Physical capacity- Energy and recovery Emotional capacity- Internal climate Mental capacity- Focus Purpose capacity- Meaning and persistence What resonated most? Performance is not about squeezing more hours. It is about managing energy across these four dimensions. If one is weak, the system suffers. Which ca

“We need to hire.” Maybe. But maybe not. Recently, an SME leader told me: “We are overloaded. We need two more people.” So we mapped the workflow. Here is what we found: • 18% of time in unclear meetings • 22% duplicated tasks • 3 decision loops for each approval • No clear owner for 4 key processes Hiring would have increased cost. Not clarity. After alignment work, performance increased by nearly 20%. Same people. Same budget. Different system. Hiring is sometimes necessary

AI accelerates decisions. But leaders remain accountable. AI analyzes faster. AI summarizes better. AI predicts patterns. But AI does not carry responsibility. At yesterday’s event on leading in the age of AI, one message was clear: Tools can inform judgment. They cannot replace it. AI can propose an option. A leader must choose. AI can surface risk. A leader must weigh trade-offs. AI can optimize efficiency. A leader must protect people. The more powerful the tool, the more

Performance is visible on stage. But built in silence. Yesterday at the Area D3 Toastmasters competition in Vevey, four clubs competed. Nyon. Nespeakers. Insights Advanced. International. On stage, you see confidence. What you do not see: • The rehearsals • The feedback loops • The uncomfortable refinements High performance is not charisma. It is discipline. What struck me most was this: The speakers who moved the audience most were not the most theatrical. They were the most

I once had to close my own team. Six people. Five years together. Late nights. Shared wins. Hard conversations. And then, one decision. It was one of the hardest moments of my career. Not because performance was bad. But because the system around us was shifting. That day, I learned something uncomfortable. Most companies cut people before they question alignment. Most leaders restructure before they clarify priorities. Years later, I helped a team in Latin America deploy in