THE JOURNAL

The inner work
of leadership.

Perspectives from Chaim Apsan on inner experience, executive responsibility and the choices that connect them.

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145 articles

An executive standing beside a boardroom table and looking over the city at sunset

Perspectives

Taking executive health seriously without explaining everything through physiology

5 Mar 2026 2 min read

Decisions & capital

Know what you are waiting to learn

5 Mar 2026 2 min read

Advisory perspectives

Examine the assumptions behind a capital allocation

5 Mar 2026 2 min read

Leadership

A dependable decision process under uncertainty

5 Mar 2026 2 min read

Advisory perspectives

Build trust through commitments people can rely on

5 Mar 2026 2 min read

Decisions & capital

Bring evidence, experience and consequences into the same decision

4 Mar 2026 2 min read

Executive calibration

Count preparation and follow-up in the cost of meetings

4 Mar 2026 2 min read

Advisory perspectives

Generous leadership with commitments the organization can support

3 Mar 2026 2 min read

Leadership

Letting go of a role without losing what remains valuable

3 Mar 2026 2 min read

Executive calibration

Ask a better question before deciding what the room means

3 Mar 2026 2 min read

Executive calibration

Give unfinished decisions a dependable next step

17 Feb 2026 2 min read

Leadership

Drive, fear and a considered change in the executive role

3 Feb 2026 2 min read

Decisions & capital

Using an inner boardroom to examine a real decision

3 Feb 2026 2 min read

Leadership

Turn repeated thinking into a question you can act on

3 Feb 2026 2 min read

Executive calibration

Build an executive assessment from more than one account

19 Jan 2026 2 min read

Advisory perspectives

Humility in a leader's relationship to evidence

3 Jan 2026 2 min read

Executive calibration

Leadership under tension without diagnosing the room

3 Jan 2026 2 min read

Performance under pressure

Persistence that remains open to learning

3 Jan 2026 2 min read

The inner workof leadership.

When you leave work but keep carrying the company

Plan business travel around the work you need to do on arrival

From strategy to instruction: checking the handoff

Preparing for Monday without losing Sunday evening

Caffeine timing and the executive working day

Make video meetings less demanding

A workable decision process for the first hours of a crisis

Investment decisions when market pressure rises

Give unfamiliar opportunities a fair examination

Reduce the cost of switching between unfinished tasks

Choosing executive support that fits the problem

Clarifying the demands of a new executive role

Prepare a negotiation team for difficult moments

Influence begins with understanding the work others must do

Ask what can be removed before adding another commitment

How a leader's reactions affect the next conversation

Check when experience is a reliable guide

Assess successors against the next leadership mandate

Follow the warning from first signal to decision

Test agreement before calling it consensus

Make recovery possible in the ordinary working week

Give performance feedback that leads to a usable next step

Transfer real decisions as the founder role changes

Make time and attention work together

Making executive decision quality more dependable

Making useful comparisons with executive peers

Give long-range thinking a specific question

Check your interpretation of the room

Preparing the business and the owner for a sale

Keep urgent requests from deciding the whole agenda

What gets lost before information reaches the leadership team

Rehearse for questions, not only for the script

When growth outpaces the company's operating habits

When a quick answer leaves the real question open

Delegating judgment with clear limits

Connect the dashboard to an actual decision

Decision ownership during acquisition integration

Making a proportionate commitment when caution rises

Distinguish executive accountability from constant involvement

Look at the repeated pattern of short sleep

Clarify the operating agreement between CEO and COO

Investigate a gradual change in executive effectiveness

Protect senior hiring decisions from the pressure to fill the vacancy

Make leadership disagreement specific enough to resolve

Re-examine the explanation behind a successful strategy

Make the budget explain its priorities

Turn leadership messages into usable instructions

When repeated rescue prevents others from owning the work

A sustainable return after a demanding period

Managing the practical friction of a role change

When more executive effort stops improving results

Assess candidates against the work, not familiar cues

Learning the job after a major executive role change

When a familiar instinct needs another test

Prepare for the decision behind the board presentation

What a ninety-day executive advisory plan should contain

Resolve the leadership conflict reaching your teams

When operating exceptions displace the strategy

Choosing a useful coaching engagement for an experienced executive

Prepare the decisions behind the negotiation

Review the full cost of recurring meetings

Stress and executive work: investigate before explaining

Turn an advisory assessment into a testable working plan

Delegation that survives a different way of working

An uneasy feeling about leaving: examine the actual choices

Protect preparation before a consequential decision

When coaching fits and when another kind of help is needed

Give complex decisions a shared working record

When a chosen role becomes a list of obligations

Clarifying the former owner's role after an acquisition

Credibility in the investor meeting: evidence and follow-through

Testing the assumptions in a founder's cognitive map

How to evaluate an executive performance guarantee

Responding to challenge in a board discussion

Build executive development around a real responsibility

Tiferet as a lens on ambition, caution and executive tradeoffs

Make the instruction clear enough to act on

What experience transfers to a second venture?

A purpose that changes an organizational decision

The inner work
of leadership.