Hey there.

I’ve spent the better part of the last fifteen years inside organizations thatshould have been humming but somehow kept stumbling.

The turning point was a 2013 meeting in a glass‑walled conference room where a million‑dollar “innovation portfolio” was gathering dust while real customer problems piled up. I walked out asking one question: Why is it like this?  ​

That question sent me into factories, design studios, boardrooms, and grey-market Slack channels. Everywhere I looked I found the same invisible culprits: tiny habits, incentives, and structures that quietly steer good people toward bad outcomes. I started jotting them down, testing fixes with teams, and refining what worked.

Hidden Patterns is the result.

75 bite‑sized, field‑tested patterns you can mix, match, and adapt to make work saner, faster, and a lot more human. No grand promises, just practical ways to spot what’s really going on and nudge it in a better direction.

If that sounds useful, I’d love to keep you in the loop:

  1. Drop your email below.
  2. I’ll send a short note the moment pre‑orders open (plus the occasional behind‑the‑scenes peek; no spam, ever).
  3. That’s it.

Thanks for caring about better ways of working, and for helping me get this book into the world. Talk soon!

CPJ

So what's actually in the book?

Aside from some introductory stuff (where these patterns came from, how to use them, etc.), it's all structured around rich, practical descriptions of 75 patterns. Each of these patterns is a chapter, and they're organized into five sections, roughly ranging from the most philosophical/theoretical to the most practical. Don't worry: even the deeper patterns like True Purpose (1) or Wholeness (7) have practical guides for what humans at work can actually go do to bring that specific pattern to life.

But the nifty part is how seeing this body of work as a language can unlock new ways in.

It shortens learning curves

It shifts a higher-level idea like "we want to organize in a network of entrepreneurial teams like Haier" (Pattern 13, Network of Teams) into ... "if we're going to do that, we're also going to need to think through Distributed Management (14). We'll need some way to decide on and communicate Domains, Assets & Standards (23). Teams and individuals will absolutely need to figure out Boundary Management (67)." Teams will discover these things on their own, but this book can shorten and ease that learning curve.

It highlights deeper challenges

It also can show you why some things that seem straightforward on paper, like Psychological and Structural Safety (3) are so challenging. There just aren't that many simple, practical things that you can go do tomorrow to unlock psych safety for your teams (try clicking 3 in the chart above, and filtering down to only show Foundations and Practice categories). A lot of it is deeper stuff that's harder to change, like Talent Marketplace (20) or Upward Representation (25). A lot of it is seemingly unrelated, like Continuous Experimentation (62) or Logbook (57).

It turns mandates into a movements

The language can also clear a path toward a big ambition that would make sense to shareholders, like "We want to grow without killing the planet." You might not start with True Purpose (1) or Do No Harm (6); there's probably too many headwinds around a change in that space. Instead, you can begin with something tiny and concrete, like Meeting Roles (51). Give every session a facilitator whose job includes surfacing the environmental angle, and a timekeeper who refuses to let that angle get skipped. From there, those explicit roles make it easy to use Adaptive Agenda (49). The room can reprioritize topics on the fly, ensuring climate‑impact items don’t slide to the bottom. ​The steady drumbeat of focused meetings makes Continuous Experimentation (62) possible, so you start to see smaller, lower‑risk trials on packaging, routing, or energy sources that generate real data. ​Patterns of evidence build the confidence to Do the Right Thing (26) by choosing the longer‑term, planet‑positive option even when they don't drive in-quarter results. ​With that principle in place, it’s a short hop to Do No Harm (6) by embedding “planet‑positive growth” as a non‑negotiable operating rule. ​

Isn't that easier?

Sales Copy

When you write a book, you have to write a blurb about it. This is that blurb.

Work isn't broken. It's just waiting to be designed better.

What if the key to how we structure, organize, and lead work is already at our fingertips? Beneath the surface of our organizations lie hidden patterns: structures, rituals, and decisions that shape how work flows, who holds power, and what ultimately gets done.

Drawing on insights from cutting-edge organizations, behavioral science, and real-world experimentation, Hidden Patterns uncovers the invisible systems that drive success and failure in modern workplaces. Whether you’re leading a team, redesigning an organization, or simply looking to work smarter, you’ll find the tools to navigate complexity and make meaningful change.

Inside, you’ll discover:

Packed with compelling case studies and actionable insights, Hidden Patterns is an essential guide for anyone seeking to rethink the way work happens.