The High Five! Episode 46 - Enough with the user manuals
It started with a text on a day off and turned into a whole conversation about burnout, boundaries, and why everyone seems one notification away from snapping. This week, Brett and Greg dig into the limits of "mental load," share a few real-world stress responses, and then turn their attention to a new workplace trend that's doing more harm than good: personal user manuals.
If your onboarding doc reads like a dating profile, we’ve got some thoughts.
The Huddle
The 1:1 Playbook is live! We finally launched the thing—and it's better than we imagined. It’s our most complete guide yet for making 1:1s less awkward and more impactful.
The Review
Greg’s latest opinion column, Enough with the personal user manuals, critiques the growing trend of workplace "user guides." Sure, they’re well-intentioned. But when they replace actual conversation, they can short-circuit trust, reinforce power dynamics, and turn human connection into a checklist.
This week, we unpack:
- What actually makes people feel seen and understood at work
- How trust gets built (and broken) in remote teams
- The hidden cost of replacing relationships with documentation
- What leaders can do instead
The Ask
Buy our new 1:1 playbook and immediately improve your leadership! Seriously—if you run 1:1s, this is the manual you wish you had.
The Hit List
What we’re reading, writing, watching, and listening to this week:
Listening: The Logical Song (cover by The Greystones) — A bunch of talented kids bring fresh magic to this Supertramp classic. Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves — Grammy gold, and the emotional balm we needed this week.
Watching: My Darling Clementine — Greg went full Criterion cowboy and he’s not wrong. A slow burn that hits. The Long Way Round — Ewan McGregor + motorcycles + aging adventure = Brett’s current comfort TV.
Reading: Abundance by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson — Smart, hopeful, grounded. This one’s sneaky good.
Writing: Project management is a leadership role. Start acting like it.
The Deep Cut 003: Adventure on
The High Five
This week’s high five goes to: the sweet, sweet thrill of launching a digital product. We made a thing. We put a price on it. We hit publish. That’s worth celebrating.