It’s been more than three years since my last installment of “10 Business Haikus”.

Which means I’ve been overdue for a weekly dose with less words and more meaning.

I love haikus because they force clarity. 

Just 17 syllables total — 5-7-5 — which means there’s nowhere for jargon to hide.

Sometimes the sharpest truth about leadership, culture, fear, AI, change, or courage can fit inside three short lines.

So here we go again…

10 BUSINESS HAIKUS

#10

I’m HI over AI. HI = Human Intelligence. AI can inform, optimize, and automate — but it still can’t truly feel. And in business, motion comes from emotion. Rational tells. Irrational sells. Smart may win attention, but heart still wins trust.

#9

Safe ideas remain the scariest ideas of all. With a bad idea you know right away to turn the ship around. But a safe idea is often an undetected assassin (built from consensus) that kills you slowly. By the time you realize what’s going on, it’s too late. Most companies don’t die from bad ideas; they die protecting slow killers. 

#8

You cannot spell “relationshIPs” without IP. The way you treat people, follow through, show up, listen, care, and build trust becomes your real long-term currency. If every interaction is transactional, your value depreciates fast. But when you genuinely invest in people and relationships, your IP becomes priceless.

#7

A company can’t move faster than its clarity. If leadership is cloudy, the culture will get stuck in the storm.

#6

We all built resilience during the pandemic. That muscle helped us survive. But courage is a different muscle entirely — less reaction, more “take action”. Both matter — but eventually, leaders need to stop playing defense and throw some heat.

#5

Leadership can feel isolating because the weight of decisions eventually lands on one desk. Leadership can feel isolating because the weight of decisions eventually lands on one desk. But as they say pressure is a privilege. If you don’t grab the wheel, something else will. Drifting with the crowd, avoiding ownership, or letting circumstance steer the ship is far more dangerous.

#4

You can walk into a culture of fear and feel the heaviness immediately — the silence, the hesitation, the energy drain. You can also walk into a culture of courage and feel the opposite: lightness, momentum, belief, and buzz. Fear breeds fear. Courage breeds courage. The leader sets the emotional weather pattern whether they realize it or not. Create the condition where courage becomes contagious.

#3

I’ve never been great at just talking the talk. I’ve had to walk the idea — even when it’s been uncomfortable, uncertain, or full of mistakes. There’s nothing more painful than wondering if you had something meaningful in you, but never finding out because fear, anxiety, or inaction kept you parked. Take a cut. Shoot your shot. Test. Tinker. Then leap again.

#2

Take notice if Corporate America has turned into Comfort America. Complacency has a funny way of disguising itself while quietly becoming a concerning prison. I’ve walked into organizations — and seasons of life — where people were no longer growing, risking, or speaking honestly… just protecting comfort at all costs. That’s the danger zone. Stuck. Scared. Stale. Or safe. The cage rarely locks overnight — it gets built one avoided risk at a time.

#1

The courageous path is not for everyone. Everybody wishes courage worked like an express train. It doesn’t. Courage is more like a local train — built slowly, stop by stop, choice by choice. Are you ready for the journey at hand? All aboard!