Graham International Consulting and Research Inc

06/23/2026

Quick tip: Block at least one hour on your calendar this week with no agenda.

Just "thinking time."

Most of us have calendars full of decisions to execute — and almost no time to figure out which decisions are actually right.

You don't need a meeting to think. But you might need to schedule it.

06/22/2026

Most progress is invisible while it's happening.

You don't notice a kid growing taller until you stand them against the wall.

You don't notice the strategy working until you look back at the numbers.

You don't notice trust building until something hard happens and the team holds.

If your work feels slow right now, that doesn't mean it isn't working.

The most important things tend to compound quietly.

06/21/2026

Hiya and hope it is well🙏🏻🤩

Happy Father’s Day and warmth and comfort to those celebrating warm memories!!!🙏🏻🤩❤️

06/19/2026

Today is Juneteenth.
In 1865 — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas were finally told they were free.
The gap between when freedom was declared and when it was lived has shaped every generation since.
Today we recognize that history. We honor the resilience of those who built lives, businesses, and communities despite it. And we acknowledge that the work of making freedom real isn't finished — in our country, in our workplaces, or in ourselves.
A meaningful day to pause.

06/18/2026

A useful angle from Deloitte's research on workforce evolution:
The chief HR officer role is shifting — but the deeper shift is that workforce planning is no longer just an HR question.
With AI, automation, and slower external hiring, every leader is now expected to think about: What work belongs to humans? What work belongs to machines? What capabilities do we need to build internally — and where don't they exist on our team yet?
This used to be a once-a-year exercise. It's becoming a constant one.

A Deloitte survey reveals how AI and human collaboration can help close talent gaps, speed upskilling, and transfer knowledge as demographic changes reshape the workforce

06/17/2026

A striking finding from McKinsey's HR Monitor 2026:
Performance management and employee development are back on leaders' agendas — but the gap between intent and reality is significant.
24% of employees report no training participation at all. More than half receive formal feedback only once a year, or not at all.
Most organizations say they value growth. Most employees don't experience it.
If "we invest in our people" is your strategy on paper, it's worth asking whether it's also your reality on the calendar.

Discover McKinsey’s latest annual HR Monitor, a comprehensive benchmark survey looking at the biggest global workforce and HR trends in 2026 and beyond.

06/16/2026

Quick tip: Before you make a big decision, sleep on it.
Not all night to overthink it. Just one night.
The version of you that decides at 9 a.m. is often clearer than the version of you that decides at 5 p.m. — even with the same information.
Tired brains say yes to things they shouldn't. Rested brains say no to things they should.

06/15/2026

Every visible success has an invisible budget.
Late nights. Hard conversations. Revisions nobody saw. Years of getting it wrong before getting it right.
The version the world sees is the surface of an iceberg.
If the work feels harder than it looks from the outside — that's not a sign you're failing. It's a sign you're doing the part that doesn't get posted.
Keep going.

06/12/2026

Friday challenge: One real conversation.

This weekend, have one conversation that isn't about logistics. Not "what time," not "who's picking up," not "did you see that email."

Just a real one. With someone you live with, someone you've been meaning to call, or someone you've sat next to at meetings and never properly met.

It doesn't have to be long. It just has to be real.

Most weeks, we communicate constantly and connect rarely. Reverse that this weekend.

06/11/2026

A useful framing from a recent HBR piece on leading under pressure:

Today's leaders are facing overlapping economic, political, technological, and social pressures. Routine decisions are quietly becoming public tests of values.

The research surfaced a few patterns from leaders who navigate this well: they communicate clearly about what's known and what isn't, they make explicit trade-offs rooted in core values, and they reduce burnout by sharing responsibility and modeling boundaries.

Mission-driven leaders face overlapping economic, political, technological, and social pressures that turn routine decisions into public tests of values and integrity. Research surfaced four patterns shaping how they navigate instability, trade-offs, trust, and emotional strain. Their responses offe...