In The Room
Short, sharp observations from Dan Kuss on how technically strong teams become aligned, accountable, and high-performing.
One insight. Two minutes. Once a week.
Latest from In The Room
In The Room #26 – The year hadn’t changed. The story had.
A sales team was convinced the market had changed. Then we looked at the numbers.
In The Room #25 – When everyone agrees but nobody means the same thing.
A leadership team agreed that communication was non-negotiable. Then six people gave six different definitions of it.
In The Room #24 – The Promotion Paradox.
The person who was exceptional at the work starts struggling as a leader. Usually, the organisation has misunderstood what changed.
What Is In The Room?
Most leadership problems aren't hidden.
They're visible in meetings, conversations and decisions that don't quite land the way they should.
In The Room is a weekly observation series for managers and team leaders who were promoted for technical excellence and now lead people.
Each edition is a short, two-minute read drawn from patterns Dan Kuss sees inside leadership teams across defence, engineering, education and professional services.
No management theory for the sake of it. No complicated frameworks.
Just one recognisable pattern, clearly named, and something useful to think about.
Recent observations have explored why silence in meetings isn't agreement, why unclear ownership creates the same conversation again and again, how accountability breaks down, and what happens when a high performer discovers that leadership is actually a different job.
Who It's For
In The Room is written for managers and team leaders who:
were promoted because they were good at what they did
now lead people as well as work
want greater clarity without micromanaging
care about both performance and people
recognise that the same issues keep appearing in different forms
If you've ever left a meeting wondering why everyone seemed to agree but nothing changed afterwards, you'll probably recognise these rooms.
Why Dan Started It
Dan kept seeing the same thing in very different organisations.
Brilliant people.
Committed people.
Subtle friction.
Unclear ownership.
Assumed alignment.
Conversations avoided.
The industries changed. The patterns didn't.
So In The Room became a way to share one observation each week from the leadership rooms most people never get to see.
How It Works
One insight. Two minutes. Once a week.
Subscribe and the next edition will arrive directly in your inbox.
Join In The Room
One short leadership observation each week.
No noise. Unsubscribe anytime.
If This Feels Familiar
If you read these notes and think:
“This sounds like my team.”
That’s often where a facilitated session helps.
If you’d like to explore that, you can book a short 15-minute conversation here.