The weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people. If you think traditional HR practices are stale and out of touch, you have found your People🤘

Learn how product principles and design thinking can transform your People function into a growth driver… all in the time it takes to drink your morning coffee☕

Whether you’re a PX newbie or already a pro, here you’ll find actionable tools and tactics to get full leadership buy-in and make an impact from day 1 🚀

P.S …mine’s a Cortado with oat if you’re buying 😉

The engagement problem L&D won't talk about

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Read time: 2 minutes

Hey Reader 👋🏻 Happy New Year!

Firstly, I want to kick-off the new year with a HUGE Thank you for being a reader of this newsletter, I appreciate you! 🙏

I have been writing this newsletter for 2 years now and I will never stop being overwhelmed with pride hearing how the things I share have inspired you, encouraged you, comforted you - how this newsletter and the community around it have helped you feel connected to like-minded folk around the world, and in some cases, have helped you find a passion for a profession you had begn to feel disconnected from.

I will keep writing for as long as you keep reading. 💜

That said, today’s edition isn’t a tactical and practical look at product-led PX - normal service will resume on Friday - I am treating this first edition of the year as a chance to reflect, thank, and project for the year ahead.

Thanks again for being here to share the year with me.

I don't have time ❌
This isn't a priority right now ✅

It’s been over 4 weeks since my last newsletter. Truthfully, I had planned to only take a 2 week break, but I found myself really enjoying some time away from my work, which I think we all need from time to time.

In previous years I have forced myself back into productivity mode, way before I was ready - which is a great way to set up the new year for burnout! 🫣

This time, I really leaned into what my mind and body were telling me and had a complete shut down for nearly 4 weeks over Christmas which allowed me to completely relax and enjoy the time with my family. It also gave me the time to rediscover a part of me I had deprioritised for the past 3 years - my love for running and fitness in general - but running in particular is a real passion. it feels great to be back running regularly again. 🏃‍♂️

I will prioritise time for running in 2026. Crucially, as a conscious choice.

Running isn’t something I have to do, it’s something I get to do. It’s a privilege to be have the freedom to able to structure my week to make sure I have time to run.

I can’t remember where or when - no doubt a podcast many moons ago - but I heard someone share that whenever we say “I don’t have time to do X” - we need to acknowledge that what we are actually saying is “X is not a priority right now” - and that is OK by the way.

If that decision is made for good reasons, there should be no guilt attached.

I didn’t prioritise running in the last 3 years because my children, my wife, and my business were my priorities - that meant deprioritising other areas of my life to hold space for them.

This year, I am reshuffling my priorities and intentionally making space for running. As a choice. A choice I feel really good about.

Here are my priorities for 2026, in this order:

1. My family (my children, my wife, and my parents & brothers)
2. My Health (running, sleep, nutrition)
3. My Business (SapienX, community, content)

Everything else is intentionally deprioritised. Guilt free.

Oh, and my love of speciality coffee is the red thread between them all 😆 coffee stays. Always. ☕

As you start the year, don’t bother with resolutions - we all know how that goes 👀

Statistically, 80% of New Year’s resolutions are broken by February - Instead, pick 3 things to prioritise, stack rank them, and then go about orienting your life around them.

Give yourself permission to stop doing things that don’t align with your priorities. We say yes to far too many things simply because we are "supposed to” do them, or they are expected of us, or that we don’t want to let anyone down.

An example from my own life - I will happily say no to social invitations if I don’t want to go. Sure, some people may label me “anti-social”, or call me boring etc but I couldn’t give a sh*t, honestly 😆

I would much rather spend the evening at home with my family, be in bed by 9:30pm and be up at 6am for run… Than to say yes to going out to eat crap food, get drunk, get to bed late, feel terrible the next day, not get out to run, and be less than present for my family…

If that makes me boring… I am cool with that. 😎

So, what are you saying yes to that is actively working against your true priorities? 🤔

Start saying no.

The people who actually want the best for you will totally support it.

What’s planned for SapienX in 2026 👀

After an intentionally slow start, it’s time ramp back up and I am SUPER excited for what promises to be another year of growth, connection, and community. Here’s what’s on the immediate agenda:

Business and Brand

🎨 Brand refresh: In around 6 weeks I will launch SapienX v 2.1

I think it’s 2.1.. it may be 2.2 or 2.3 by now ha! but let’s just go with 2.1 for ease 😆

Why?

2025 was a year of real clarity. I now feel confident that I know exactly what I want SapienX to be, who it is for, and the value we can create through it. Up until now, SapienX has been an extension of Luke O’Mahoney the person - It’s time for the brand to scale beyond me. It’s time for SapienX to become a market leader in Product Transformation for People Teams. It’s time to really scale a business. The new brand, visual identity, and TOV will be a reflection of this.

🚀 Core service offerings: As 2025 unfolded, 3 clear and scalable service offerings surfaced which will form the core value proposition for SapienX 2.1:

1. On-Demand Digital Learning (courses & content)
2. Live Learning Experiences (events & immersive experiences)
3. Product Operating Model Transformation (consultation, capability, projects)

The Product Transformation category can be further grouped into 3 core offerings:

1. Product Mindset & Design Fundamentals Workshops
2. Product & Design Capability Building Programmes
3. Full Product Operating Model Transformation

I feel really confident that focusing on these core offerings will allow SapienX to really enable the shift from HR to PX that has been central to SapienX from day 1 - at individual, team, and org level.

👩‍👩‍👧‍👧 Time to hire?! I am giving serious thought about when to make the first permanent hire(s) for SapienX... 😱 Right now I believe the two positions we need to hire for in H1 are:

• Digital Marketing Manager (and creator)
• Community Engagement Manager

I suspect at least one of these hires will be made in the first quarter… Let’s see 👀

Live Learning & Events

The London PX Series will happen in the first half of the year 🥳 3 highly curated experiences bringing together the best and brightest in People, Ops, and PX Design.

1. PX Live - March 20th
2. Immersive PX (Level 1) - May 11th & 12th
3. Immersive PX (Level 2) - June 8th & 9th

​Grab your tickets whilst you can - we will be starting the big external promotion push later this week (and we are already 50% sold out across all 3 events 😱)

We are considering some live experiences in the second half of the year, but as it stands, this will be our 2026 flagship live learning series.

Podcast & Video Content

🎙️ Podcast re-vamp: The PX Espresso podcast was also something I had to deprioritise in 2025 which I am going to re-prioritise in 2026… So much so, that I am turning the SapienX office into a mini podcast and content studio 👀 VERY excited to get this done - wheels already in motion, I hope to have it ready to go in 2 weeks.

This will give me the creative space to produce more solocast content as well as a place where I can invite guests to come hang out with me for the day in Leicester! 🙌🏻 Very much looking forward to some in person podcast recordings - hopefully with some of the readers of this newsletter 👀

📽️ YouTube: Along the same theme, I will also be starting a YouTube channel where I will share full video podcasts, clips, and shorts - along with stand alone insights and general musings on work and life.

AND, something else I am SUPER excited about. Monthly day-in-the-life style videos where I will show you behind the scenes of what my days look like as a father, entrepreneur, frustrated athlete, and coffee obsessive. Should be a lot of fun! 🤘🏻

There are no videos uploaded (yet) but the channel is already set up… feel free to subscribe now, I will send out a little something to the first 100 subscribers 🙏🏻 🙌🏻

Right, I think that just about brings you up to date - Back to normal in the next newsletter with insights, tips, and resource flags on how to smash HR silos, add strategic value and turn your People function into a growth driver 🚀

Have a great 2026!

I hope to see you in-person at some point in the year.

With love,

Luke ✌🏻

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