Performance Frontiers

What if the role of a leader isn’t simply to remove barriers, but to make the right things challenging on purpose...

AI is often sold as a godsend for friction removal: do more, move faster, make work easier.

But friction isn’t inherently bad. In fact, a little friction is vital.

We’ve already learnt this lesson with our bodies. As we engineered physical effort out of daily life, we had to deliberately put it back through gyms, home workout videos, and 10,000 steps a day.

Our thinking is no different.

The effort involved in forming a view, sitting with uncertainty, testing assumptions, or debating different sides can feel inefficient. But it’s precisely where better ideas, sound judgement and human capability are born.

As AI makes a frictionless path more available and attractive, leaders must become Friction Architects.

💢 Remove the friction that obstructs good work.
💢 Protect the friction that builds capability.
💢 Design the friction that makes better work possible.

Dr Chris Rowell will explore what this looks like in practice at the Educate Plus Building Futures International Conference in Brisbane: 3rd September 2026, 3-4pm AEST.

If you work in education advancement, join us for four jam-packed days of professional development.

Otherwise, stay tuned. We’ll be sharing highlights relevant to leaders in any sector.

👉 Find out more: https://www.epbrisbane2026.org/event/f9e83764-438b-43e3-bd2d-260582421384/summary

“Great article. The fact I had a hard time focusing on the article highlights the need...”

“Good timing for me.”

Just some of the feedback we’ve received from our latest issue of Thought Frontiers, featuring a three-part series, Attention by Design.

Follow the thread of fragmentation across:
🌐 The systems shaping our attention
⚖️ The choices through which we reclaim it
🤝 The conditions leaders can design to protect it

Start with Article 1, The True Cost of the Attention Economy: performancefrontiers.com/insights

For frontiers thinking on leadership and transformation each month, sign up to Thought Frontiers: https://rb.gy/k9s4w4

The stories we tell in times of change can sync up organisations, or sink the whole ship if we’re not careful. 🔗⚓

PF’s Sarah West shares a reflection on emotional agility:

“Recently, I was deep in a coaching conversation with a leader navigating a significant organisational restructure.

She described how a colleague from a different part of the business had approached her with something said in a meeting.

This leader then connected it to a separate conversation from her own department.

Within minutes, two unrelated moments had been woven into a much bigger narrative about what was happening across the organisation.

Neither stopped to question whether the thread of truth had become tangled.

It turns out, a few leaps of logic *had* been made. This resulted in weeks of stewing, de-railed conversations, stalled plans, and a whole lot of energy spent on a complete non-issue.

I’m sure you’ve something similar play out in your own organisation.

📚 We are a storied species.

We make sense of the world through the stories we tell ourselves and the ones we share with others.

In times of change, we connect the dots, fill in gaps and interpret what we hear through our own experiences, concerns and expectations.

🔗 Sometimes those stories create shared understanding and help us move in sync.

⚓ Sometimes they fabricate alternate realities that cloud truth, weigh us down and keep us stuck.

During my certification as an Emotional Agility Practitioner earlier this year, Susan David described this pattern as getting “hooked”.

We become hooked when our own thoughts, emotions and self-narratives begin to feel like facts.

We can be hooked by other people’s narratives too.

Emotional agility asks us to pause and inquire: ⚪️What do we actually know?
⚪️What meaning have we added?
⚪️What else could be true?

These questions help us stay anchored in truth before an untested story snags us - hook, line and sinker.”

🪝 What stories are you sharing in your team, and how are you staying anchored in truth?

📸 Featured: a fantastic shot of the team at ‘s Emotional Agility Practitioner accreditation course this year!

Tomorrow at the .au VIC Conference 2026, PF’s Dr Chris Rowell will explore, “The Human Edge: Connecting, Creating, and Leading in the Age of AI.”

As AI takes on more routine tasks, the question isn’t what machines can do - it’s where humans become irreplaceable.

Chris has planned a highly interactive session to unpack the skills and qualities that actually become *more* valuable as technology advances, such as creativity, judgment, and the ability to connect.

He’ll walk through a practical framework for collaborating with AI and making smart decisions about where to invest our finite human energy for maximum impact.

If you’re at Pullman Melbourne on the Park tomorrow, come say hello! 👋

Cant make it? Stay tuned - we’ll be sharing highlights later this week.

🗓️ 2 June, 2026 | Session 2 - 10:35am | AHRI VIC Conference 2026

⁉️ Last week’s AITD Conference in Brisbane saw PF Principal .linthwaite speak to a jam-packed room on curiosity.

Many of the speakers sat with the question of what stays human as we reshape work, learning and leadership in the age of AI. Hayley explored how curiosity, and our ability to question, is one of the most important leadership capacities we have right now.

Thank you to all those who’ve already messaged to say they’re kickstarting their week with more curiosity. Our design team had prepped ASK toolkits as gifts for lucky attendees, and we’re stoked to hear they’re already being put to use!

✴️ If you missed out, we’ll be sharing highlights from the talk very soon. And you can always head to our site to pick up your own ASK cards.

Kudos to Australian Institute of Training & Development - AITD for curating such a thought-provoking three days. See you at the next one!

Learning in the workplace is being made complex by generation change. With 5 different generations coming together in the modern workforce, catering to different learning styles, experiences and needs is a challenge.

Fortunately, how we integrate learning into the way we work is evolving. Let's take a look at the tools at our disposal for more effective and inclusive learning.

Reimagining Learning for the Next Generation – The Workplace Pedagogical Revolution - Theme “When I think of the best of L&D, it’s about helping everyone find the way that they shine.” Maria Laws. “Career Development is fundamental to our employee value proposition, and learning is a key business metric.” Rajnish Borah. Global Head...