Roberto Ferraro

How micromanagement can suffocate creativity: it's not about font size.

What is micromanagement? Chieh Huang defines it as the following:

Micromanagement is taking great, wonderful, imaginative people, bringing them into an organization, and then crushing their souls by telling them what font size to use.😓

The feeling of not having control over our jobs can bring us much more fatigue than the work itself.

So, what is the source of micromanagement? 🔍

We start at the very bottom when we get hired. Doing work.

And if we're really good at doing the work, the reward is more work.

We do more work, and if we're really good at it, we start managing people doing it.

And at that moment, we start to lose control over the output of our job. And we may overreact by micromanaging.

Chieh argues that there is only one solution to micromanagement: trusting your employees to fulfill their roles.🤝

Illustration by me 😊

Extract by a Ted Talk from Chieh Huang. Link to the complete sources in the first comment 👇

#management #micromanagemnt #trust

One must-read for this week on leadership and management: “How to grow a culture by design versus culture by chance” by Gustavo Razzetti. 🌱
 
Culture plays a significant role in predicting employee performance and overall business success. 📈
 
A study by Glassdoor shows that companies with a strong culture outperform the S&P500 index. These organizations were intentionally focused on cultivating their culture.
 
Gustavo argues why organizations need to grow their culture by design, not just chance, and why culture design is not rigid but a collaborative, iterative, and organic approach. ⭐
 
Illustration by me 😊
 
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And my top pick on innovation and personal development:
 
➡️ Innovation: “Big tech’s biggest bets”
 
➡️ Personal development: “Fixed vs. growth: two basic mindsets that shape our lives.”
 
One book:
 
➡️  “Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life” by Jennifer Aaker, Naomi Bagdonas.
 
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All the links and more in this week’s newsletter edition in the first comment 👇
 
Each week, I check hundreds of sources on personal development, leadership, management, technology, and innovation.
 
Do you want to pique your curiosity? 💡
 
#personaldevelopment #innovation #leadership

Trust as the foundation for team performance 🤝

In his 2002 book, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,“ Author Patrick Lencioni identifies five common team performance problems.

🛡️ Absence of Trust: team members consumed with self-protection or undermining peers lose focus on collective goals.

When trust is present, they are open and vulnerable with the group, enabling them to dedicate their energy to the work.

😱 Fear of Conflict: over-politeness and withheld opinions hamper the team's progress.

Productive conflict, grounded in trust, encourages challenging and improving ideas without resorting to personal attacks or destructive arguments.

🤔 Lack of commitment: hesitation in decision-making leads to missed opportunities.

Without robust debate, individuals may not fully engage with team decisions, affecting overall commitment.

🗣️ Avoidance of team accountability: A lack of mutual accountability can lead to unaddressed mistakes and substandard performance. Supporting struggling team members is essential to achieve team goals.

🎯Inattention to team results: Focusing on personal agendas or superficial team image undermines the team's primary objectives.

The collective goal should always take precedence over individual interests or external perceptions.

The book presents these dysfunctions in an entertaining “management fable“ format, illustrating how a skilled leader can overcome these challenges.

Illustration by me 😊 inspired by Maite Piedrabuena Solé. Thanks Maite for recommending the book!

Extract from an article by Mind Tools. Link to the complete sources in the first comment 👇

#management #leadership #dysfunctions

The science of habits: how small changes lead to big results 💪
 
Ten visuals on this essential topic, illustrated by me 😊
 
What’s your favorite? Mine is number eight. 🖼️
 
#personaldevelopment #habits #change

10 visuals on personal development and growth 🎨💡

Not too little, not too much: the stress sweet spot for optimal performance 🌟

🔵 Too little stress can lead to boredom and depression.

🔴 Too much stress can cause anxiety, burnout, and poor health.

🟢 However, the appropriate “acute stress“ level can enhance brain function, leading to better performance and health. “Acute stress“ is short-lived, not chronic, intense stress. The research found that it primes the brain for improved performance and engagement.

Additionally, placing ourselves in stressful situations can contribute to “good stress“ compared to when it's imposed on us, offering less control and agency.

Illustration by me 😊 inspired by the brilliant Hannah Wilson.

Extract from an article by University of California, Berkeley. Link to the complete sources in the first comment 👇

#personaldevelopment #stress #performance

I recently listened to this audiobook for the fourth time. 📖

And every time I do, I still enjoy it and notice different things.

“The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and your children will be glad that you did)” from Philippa Perry is my go-to recommendation as a parenting read.

What is fantastic about it is that many of the ideas apply to all relationships, not only with our kids.

🛠️ One of those is the idea of “repair.”

We all make mistakes.

Instead of focusing on doing it all perfectly and punishing ourselves for not complying with that perfection, Philippa suggests a healthier approach.

“Repair” is what matters. First, we should recognize what triggers us, do something about it, and apologize to the person we hurt.

At the same time that we take off the pressure for us to be perfect, we model a healthier approach for the people we love.

Of course, this is not an excuse to indulge in whatever inconvenient behavior because “all that matters is the repair.”

Here is a collection of illustrations I did, inspired by the book, each with a quote from the author. 😊
 
What’s your favorite? Mine is number five. 🖼️
 
#relationships #personaldevelopment #parenting

Do you enjoy conflict?

If you're like most people, the answer is probably "no", and I'm no different.

But what if we reframed conflict as an opportunity?

The metaphor of "Putting the fish on the table" is a way to start to enjoy difficult conversations, to go through the mess of cleaning the fish, before the great dish dinner at the end of the day.

Over and over, when someone asks me for a book on leadership, “Hostage at the table” from George Kohlrieser is my go-to recommendation. And I always send it over to my new newsletter subscribers.

I listened to the book many times, each time noticing something different.

This book changed my view on so many things about conflict and relationships. Here are sixteen illustrations from the book, and the amazing quotes that inspired them.

You won't regret investing the time!

The best combination for me 😉

Three easy components to improve your energy.

For three years, I did something incredibly stupid, in hindsight 😉
 
Every morning at 6:30 AM I copied and pasted data from my social media posts into a Notion database.
 
It was a dull, boring task in which I spent five hours every single month.
 
180 hours of my life gone, spent on a task a machine should be doing.
 
A few months ago, I decided to finally fix it. I got into the “AI agents hype” and thought, "I'll use an AI agent to browse the web like me and fill in the data!"
 
I went all in and spent 14 hours straight coding, and tinkered with open-source code, cloud databases, and how to make AI agents work.
 
It cost me about €5 in API credits.. and my entire weekend.
 
Then, it failed spectacularly. The bot just couldn't log in or convince websites it wasn't a robot, because of the cookies.
 
After stepping away and resting, I realized I was trying to use a hammer to crack a nut.
 
A few weeks after that, I tried again with a "boring" approach: no fancy AI, no complex agents.
 
I used simple API connections to pull the data, and a script to drop it into Notion.
 
And it worked perfectly!! Watching the data pour in automatically for the first time was pure joy.
 
I felt like I'd just won back five hours of my life every single month.
 
What was my biggest learning? It wasn't coding, it was the reminder that the shiniest new tool isn't always the right one, and that simple solutions work best.
 
Sometimes, the best solution is the one that's been sitting there all along, waiting for you to stop overcomplicating things.
 
And yes, I learned a lot about coding too 😁
 
What's that one repetitive task you keep doing manually, knowing deep down there's a simpler way to solve it?

What’s the one thing that went wrong today?

Easy to answer, right? Now, what are three things that went well?

If that second question is harder, you are just a human like me 😅

Even if I have an amazing day, my brain will focus on the one thing that went wrong: a comment that did not land well in a meeting, or a task I forgot.

This is a feature by default, not a bug. Our brains are fantastic problem-finders and hardwired to scan for danger.

It’s how our ancestors evolved and survived, but in 2025, it keeps us from enjoying life if we allow it.

This negativity bias often clouds my vision. I am incredibly lucky: I’m healthy, I have two amazing kids, and I live in a place I love.

And still, my mind often remembers only what went wrong, was missing, or stressful in a day, and keeps thinking about it.

So, a few years ago, I started a simple ritual that helped me to see the full picture of my days.

Every night, I write down three things I’m grateful for, one win from the day (big or small), and one thing I struggled with.

Giving space to the struggle is important for me, since it’s not forced positivity, it’s instead allowing the good stuff equal (or more) airtime.

It’s how I override my brain’s default settings, manually training my attention to notice that even on the tough days, there is progress and moments of joy.

What’s one small win you had today?

We often exaggerate the fear of something going wrong when facing a change, while we underestimate the upside of what could go right.

80% of major companies are tracking their employees' activity, according to a stat.

I felt sad when I read it, thinking how it's just another form of micromanagement, a digital one.

It only creates distrust, anxiety, and makes people worry about keeping their Teams status green or red, instead of focusing on solving problems.

What happens when people know they are being watched? They start “performing”, jiggling the mouse, typing nonsense, opening and closing documents, instead of doing the valuable work they were hired for.

If you look into google search, the term “mouse jiggler” started to be used in 2020, after the pandemic sent us all working from home.

This kind of stuff pushes us to try to look busy instead of doing real work.

On the bright side this data could also be useful, for example to detect burnout patterns or find our most productive time.

But that can only be true in a culture of trust, where data is a tool for everyone to improve, and not a weapon for the manager.

And yes I guess there are also a few people who might take advantage of the company, and to avoid these outliers, everyone has to pay.

Is it possible for employee monitoring to ever be a tool for empowerment, or is it always a tool for control?