The Updraft
Dan Korus
“Helping people think deeper, lead wiser, and rise above the noise.”
Academic punk writer on fixing the system from within. Management, leadership, EQ, and empathy—with receipts.
About
Earned authority,
not borrowed credibility.
I write about management, leadership, and the interior life of organizations — not from a podium, but from inside the machine. I have sat in the rooms where decisions get made badly, and I have figured out why. Then I wrote it down.
My background spans high-stakes project management at a national laboratory, co-founding a company, and years of competitive rowing — each domain teaching something the others couldn’t. What they share: performance under pressure, team dynamics that matter, and the cost of fuzzy thinking.
The Updraft is where I publish ideas that are too long for a thread and too honest for a business book. If you want frameworks that actually hold up and analysis that doesn’t flinch, you’re in the right place.
Background
Project Manager
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Co-Founder
Kestryl Edge — operator, builder, decision-maker
Competitive Rower
Discipline built before the desk
“Most leadership writing fails because it optimizes for comfort over accuracy. I’m not interested in comfortable.”
Featured Writing
Ideas that hold up
under scrutiny.
Fuck, Marry, Kill - Startup Success, Organizational Design, Emotional Intelligence
What matters most in the startup journey.
Active Listening Skills for Managers: What a Controlled Study Actually Found
A controlled study tested active listening against advice-giving and found clear differences in how people feel understood. Here is what that means for leaders.
Emotion Regulation for Leaders: A Clinical Tool for High-Stakes Decisions
Leaders who cannot regulate their own emotional reactions undermine trust and decision quality. A clinically validated five-step tool from DBT changes that.
Emotional Intelligence Training for Managers: Five Domains, What the Research Shows, and How to Build Them
Emotional intelligence has five measurable domains. Each one is trainable. Here is what the research says and how to build these skills in your organization.
Employee Burnout Prevention: What the Research Actually Says
Burnout is an occupational phenomenon with a 50-year research record. Understanding how it works and where it starts is the prerequisite for preventing it.
Employee Disconnection at Work: What the Research Shows and What Leaders Are Responsible For
Workplace disconnection and cynicism are distinct problems with measurable costs. Research from 204 organizations shows how leaders can reverse both.
Topics
Four territories,
one through line.
Management
The daily work of getting things done through people — without breaking them or yourself. Processes, systems, and the hidden costs of bad decisions.
ExploreLeadership
What it actually takes to move a group of people toward something hard. Direction, credibility, and the will to say the uncomfortable thing.
ExploreEmotional Intelligence
EQ isn't softness — it's precision. Reading rooms, regulating yourself under pressure, and understanding what's actually happening under the surface.
ExploreOrganizational Culture
Culture is the operating system. When it's broken, nothing else works right. What shapes it, what signals it, and how to actually change it.
ExplorePodcast
Kestryl Sessions
Long-form conversations on leadership, organizational psychology, and the systems that shape how we work. No hype. No hustle porn. Just the hard questions.
The Competence Trap: Why Smart People Get Stuck
We dig into why high-performers plateau — and why the skills that got you here are often the ones holding you back.
Reading a Room: The Science and Art of Social Attunement
What psychological research actually says about reading people — and how to develop this skill intentionally.
Why Most Feedback Fails Before It Leaves Your Mouth
The mechanics of feedback that actually changes behavior — and why most of us deliver it in exactly the wrong way.
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