— STORIES · INSIGHTS · PRACTICAL RESOURCES
Understand the people.
See the possibilities.
Workplaces have their formal structures. Then there are the assumptions, relationships and conversations that shape what really happens.
I explore these dynamics through my Katie Bloom fiction series, workplace insights and practical resources.
— CHOOSE YOUR STARTING POINT
Three ways of looking closer.
Stories that let us step into someone else's experience. Insights to give familiar patterns a name. And resources to help us explore what we notice.
THE STORIES
See it through Katie's eyes.
Workplace fiction about influence, resistance and the human side of change.
THE INSIGHTS
Spot the pattern.
Evergreen articles on cognitive biases, behaviour and conversations worth having.
THE RESOURCES
Work out your next step.
Practical prompts and tools are planned to help you reflect, prepare and respond.
— KATIE BLOOM · BOOK 1
Power Plays
The Adventures of Katie Bloom · A corporate fiction series.
A memo arrives. The official story sounds straightforward. Katie knows the real story will unfold elsewhere — through whispers, shifting allegiances and the conversations after the meeting.
You may recognise more of her world than you expect.
— WORTH EXPLORING
A different way to read the room.
Questions and observations that can change the way we interpret an everyday workplace situation.
COGNITIVE BIASES
When past investment clouds the next decision
Why does a decision become harder to revisit the more we've already put into it? Sometimes the investment itself changes what we're willing to see.
DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
How to question a decision without making it personal
There is a difference between challenging an idea and challenging someone's judgement. The distinction is easy to lose when the stakes are high.
HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
What might resistance be protecting?
Resistance can be inconvenient. It can also tell us something about identity, relationships, uncertainty and the things people fear losing.
— A NOTE FROM DIANE
I've always been interested in what goes unsaid.
The assumptions beneath a decision. The hesitation behind a yes. And the conversation everyone knows needs to happen but doesn't.
Thirty years working in organisational change showed me how much of working life happens beyond the plan, the chart and the official announcement. Those experiences now find their way into my fiction, essays and practical resources.
My hope is that something here helps you recognise a familiar pattern, question an assumption or see a situation differently.
— THE FULL LENGTH WRITING
Let's continue the conversation.
My website holds selected summaries. Complete essays on workplace behaviour, cognitive biases and difficult conversations lives on my Substack.
Diane Gatto
Stories, insights and practical resources exploring the human side of working life — the assumptions, unwritten rules and difficult conversations that shape what happens.
DISCOVER
STAY CONNECTED
Hear when Katie returns in Book 2, and discover new writing and resources.