Essays by Maria Galli, PhD
Six essays, written between 2024 and 2025, on what I understand about how people work and what changes them. They are where the ideas behind these programmes were first worked out, and they are more personal than anything else on this site.
A note on how I write them: my background is in experimental research, and I still care a great deal about what the evidence supports. But much of what I share here comes from somewhere else, and I try to be clear about which is which.
On the Importance of Understanding
Originally published 10 June 2025
Why no strategy survives being ungrounded in understanding, and how a principle I taught in Marketing Foundations turned out to apply to people as much as to markets.
On Our Most Powerful Navigational System (Hint: It’s Not Our Mind)
Originally published 21 June 2025
Emotions as information rather than obstacles, and the question I ask when one arrives with more force than the situation seems to warrant.
On the True Conductor of the Orchestra
Originally published 4 June 2025
Why mindset cannot override what the nervous system has decided is unsafe, and what that means for anyone trying to change a pattern by deciding to.
On Self-Presentation
Originally published 27 April 2024
What it costs to manage how we come across, and why the version of us that is managed tends to reach people less than the version that is not.
On Relationship
Originally published 1 May 2024
Why other people show us what we cannot see on our own, and why the moments that unsettle us most are usually the informative ones.
On Being Present
Originally published 2 June 2024
What actually happens to attention in the present moment, written from my own practice rather than from any research literature.
Want to explore the work behind the writing?
These essays explore many of the ideas that continue to shape my research, teaching and programmes.
If you’re interested in how I apply them in universities, business schools and organisations, you can see how I work.
You can also learn more about my research and background or book a 20-minute conversation.