The smallest overlooked detail today can become tomorrow’s biggest problem, don’t underestimate what seems minor.

Across industries, leaders are pouring time and money into building new capabilities like strategic foresight, digital fluency, and adaptive decision-making.

When I was a kid, my aunt loved to tell a story about one of the few times my father had too much to drink. He became fixated on the idea that he wanted a ham sandwich.

I’ve started having more closed-door conversations at work. Not with clients. Not with team members. With my AI.

I was recently asked to facilitate a meeting that brought together a collective of organisations who’ve been working side by side for quite a few years.

In her first role as Chief Health Information Manager at Caulfield Hospital, she was seen by many as too young and too fresh from university for the role. But she leaned in. She ignored the detractors, engaged with the system, and used the pushback she got as fuel.

In recent weeks, Queensland’s gone full tilt maroon. The Lions, the women’s Broncos, and finally, the men’s team bringing home their first NRL premiership in 19 years.

When I was 20, fresh out of university and in my first HR job, one of the senior leaders told me they liked coming to me for advice because I didn’t waffle. I gave a clear, decisive response.

The room was packed with officials and workplace delegates from the Building and Engineering Unions. There were rank-and-file and leaders, shoulder to shoulder. The all-male negotiating team who’d been in place before me, told me it had been tense, loud, and aggressive.

Doing so, soothes the discomfort of not knowing, but it creates a false sense of certainty that does not last.