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3 Leadership Tools to Improve Communication & Performance

3 Leadership Tools to Improve Communication & Performance

“For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.” – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing The leaders I coach have all the right stuff. They’re smart, driven, and can articulate a clear vision of how their company should operate. But those same success factors are a breeding ground for overconfidence, blindspots, and cognitive biases that […]

Is a “Need to be Liked” Undermining Your Ability to Lead?

Is a “Need to be Liked” Undermining Your Ability to Lead?

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” – Lao Tzu We all want to be liked by others. Some psychologists believe the desire to be liked begins at birth when we are dependent on caregivers to survive. Others take an evolutionary perspective and point out how being part of […]

3 Steps to a More Accountable Team

3 Steps to a More Accountable Team

In a perfect world, your staff would complete their work on time, more proactively communicate problems and potential obstacles, and produce more predictable results. They would be more accountable. But right here, right now in the real world, projects are late and over budget, customer promises remain unfulfilled, and careless mistakes cost time and money. […]

10x Your Results with These Mental Models

10x Your Results with These Mental Models

“Everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.” – Patrick Rothfuss My wife Keri and I are huge bourbon fans. This past spring, after unsuccessful previous attempts, we were finally able to secure reservations to visit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail […]

4 Strategies to Minimize Disruptive Turnover

4 Strategies to Minimize Disruptive Turnover

“Fortune favors the prepared mind.” — Louis Pasteur Paul “Bear” Bryant was arguably the best American football coach of all time. During his 25-year career at the University of Alabama, he won six national championships and 14 Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles. When asked about the key to his success, Bryant spoke just three words: “Expect the […]

The 3 Invisible Challenges of Choice

The 3 Invisible Challenges of Choice

“Everything in your life is a reflection of a choice you have made. If you want a different result, make a different choice.” — Unknown Life is all about choice. Think deeply about any aspect of your life—your job, your wellness, your relationships—and you’ll find you’ve chosen to be where you are. Each day, you’re […]

The 1 Leadership Superpower You Need

The 1 Leadership Superpower You Need

Each of us has a vision of an ideal version of ourselves. Your ideal self may be an accomplished, respected leader -or- a difference maker for people in need -or- a CEO building a revolutionary company brick by brick. Yet there are days when you can’t fix a simple problem, or you feel more like […]

4 Ways to Avoid Mediocrity in Your Organization

4 Ways to Avoid Mediocrity in Your Organization

“Beware the lollipop of mediocrity. Lick it once and you’ll suck forever.” – Brian Wilson, founding member of The Beach Boys Have you ever watched The Weakest Link? It’s a television game show where contestants answer a series of questions, then vote to remove the lowest-performing person. Each round concludes with the show’s host coldly […]

How to Coach Your Team with Less Effort and More Impact

How to Coach Your Team with Less Effort and More Impact

“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” — Harvey S. Firestone You cannot scale your firm without scalable structures, including people and the ability to increasingly delegate to them. Yet more frequently than we care to admit, as leaders and managers, we all face this classic dilemma: Should I do […]

When Team Dysfunction Isn’t Really Dysfunction

When Team Dysfunction Isn’t Really Dysfunction

“If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.” — Patrick Lencioni In 1964, United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said: “…I know it when I see it…” (regarding “hard-core” pornography). The same […]

3 Ways to Improve Financial Literacy Throughout Your Firm

3 Ways to Improve Financial Literacy Throughout Your Firm

Let’s talk about money. Regardless of your Core Purpose, Mission, or societal aspirations, business is about money. It’s the fuel that (hopefully) enables the achievement of those things and more. It’s also the return for entrepreneurs and others who accept risk as they contribute to an organization’s success. If only it was that simple! Now […]

3 Winning Leadership Moves from Serial Entrepreneurs Ajay Kori and Jeff Sheely

3 Winning Leadership Moves from Serial Entrepreneurs Ajay Kori and Jeff Sheely

I recently met serial entrepreneurs Ajay (pronounced “Ahh-Jay”) Kori and Jeff Sheely, founders of the scaling success story UrbanStems, Allay Lamp, and several other emerging ventures. The duo became friends while attending Duke University and, after starting their careers independently, came together to create UrbanStems. Their entrepreneurial rise to success with UrbanStems has been classic: […]

5 Winning Moves to Create an Enduring Culture

5 Winning Moves to Create an Enduring Culture

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” — Peter Drucker Whether deliberate or not, whether you realize it or not, your organization has a culture. But has your culture evolved by default or by your choosing? Does it contribute to or hinder your prospects for growth? Does it help you attract and retain top talent? Does it […]

3 Reasons “Good” People Aren’t RIGHT for Your Organization

3 Reasons “Good” People Aren’t RIGHT for Your Organization

The most important question in business is and will forever be “WHO?” Here’s why: The best idea, strategy, and plan on the planet doesn’t yield a thing without the right people in place to execute and make it happen. Although this sounds straightforward and logical, the process of identifying the right “seats” (roles) and then […]

5 Big Moves to Raise Expectations & Performance

5 Big Moves to Raise Expectations & Performance

“High expectations are the key to everything.” – Sam Walton Although you’ve probably heard the phrase, “you get what you expect,” have you truly integrated high- and continually bar-raising expectations into your leadership style? Here’s why this is such a critical attribute for growth-minded leaders: Expectations of ourselves and others exert a profound impact on […]

Get Your Fish Out of the Tree: 3 Ways to Get Capable People in the Right Roles to Grow Your Firm

Get Your Fish Out of the Tree: 3 Ways to Get Capable People in the Right Roles to Grow Your Firm

“It’s more important to do big things well than to do the small things perfectly.” –Ray Dalio As leaders, we pride ourselves on being resourceful, agile, and generally fast-moving. Much of the time, this is an admirable trait that yields decent results. On the other hand, there are moments when the fast or easy or […]

4 Sources of Organizational Callus and How to Avoid Them

4 Sources of Organizational Callus and How to Avoid Them

I recently taught a masterclass on Building a Culture of Accountability for The Growth Faculty, Australia’s leading live leadership events production company. During the Q&A session, a participant asked how to make matrixed organizations more accountable. My answer was short and to the point: “You don’t,” which is why I’m not a fan of matrixed structures. But […]

3 Ways to Avoid Attention Hijackers

3 Ways to Avoid Attention Hijackers

Enjoying these newsletters? Join my Substack Community for more exclusivecontent and insights, plus FREE access to livevirtual Coaching Gymnasiums and other events. Have you ever experienced this? A friend mentions their intention to buy a certain type of car and then – suddenly – you see that specific car everywhere. This isn’t magic, but a matter […]

4 Surprising & Productive Questions for Leaders

4 Surprising & Productive Questions for Leaders

“The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids! They ask questions and have a sense of wonder. They have curiosity. ‘Who, what, where, why, when, and how!’ They never stop asking questions, and I never stop asking questions, just like a five year old.” – Sylvia Earle, Marine Biologist, Explorer, Author, and Lecturer […]

4 Hard Leadership Lessons from the Trenches of 2021

4 Hard Leadership Lessons from the Trenches of 2021

There is great value in pausing to reflect, lest yesterday’s hard-earned lessons become lost in the noise of today’s challenge. In my client meeting rhythms, the opening pulse check ritual is a series of questions answered individually by each executive in the room, with a three-minute time limit to ensure brevity and reflection on the […]

3 Ways Leadership and Management Are Totally Different

3 Ways Leadership and Management Are Totally Different

Leading and managing are distinct roles, each critical to your organization’s health, that require different skills and capabilities. Yet all too often, I see well-intentioned entrepreneurs, CEOs, and their executive teams blend them and unknowingly slow their progress. I recently spoke with a CEO (I’ll call Sarah) who was disappointed and frustrated with her HR […]

How to Conquer Your Irrational Self

How to Conquer Your Irrational Self

Do you consider yourself a rational thinker? Chances are, assuming you are reasonably sane, your answer is “yes.” You may even find it a bit odd that I asked! And you’re not alone: We humans believe ourselves to be rational creatures. But the assumption that you in particular—and humans in general—are inherently rational is incorrect. […]

3 Things to Radically Rethink in Your Business

3 Things to Radically Rethink in Your Business

When was the last time you radically rethought and changed something within your business? To be clear, I’m not referring to incremental improvement, the addition of a new capability, or any other change that wouldn’t fit the definition of “radical.” As painful or potentially challenging as this may seem, every organization must periodically apply radical rethinking to itself […]

Use These 4 Disciplines to Communicate with Impact

Use These 4 Disciplines to Communicate with Impact

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it took place.” – George Bernard Shaw Think about the last time a miscommunication negatively impacted you, your team, and/or your firm. Odds are, it happened within the past few business days, if not the past 24 hours. Whether in terms of time, money, reputation, […]

Leadership Is Hard––Use These Four Strategies to Overcome Adversity

Leadership Is Hard — Use These Four Strategies to Overcome Adversity

Think about the most significant achievement in your life and how you made it happen. Was it easy, or was it hard? Chances are, it was hard (or even extremely hard!), which is likely what made the achievement significant to you. Hard things tend to be worthwhile. Really hard things can be epic! Yet, I’ve heard plenty […]

5 Steps to Achieve Lasting Change More Quickly with Less Effort

5 Steps to Achieve Lasting Change More Quickly with Less Effort

Although the words “change” and “leadership” go hand-in-hand, and every performance improvement is itself a change, very few leaders know much about the process of change. The stakes here are high, as failed change and/or improvement initiatives are frustrating, costly, and energy-depleting for everyone involved! In search of a sustainable solution, I recently took a deep dive […]

5 Crippling Consequences of Exponential Growth and How to Avoid Them

5 Crippling Consequences of Exponential Growth and How to Avoid Them

“Growth is painful. Change is painful. But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong.” — N. R. Narayana Murthy ================================================================ “The yucca plant was dying,” my client Liz said. “Pressure from the root ball caused the pot to burst because it literally didn’t have any more room to grow. Now […]

Five Leadership Behaviors that Create Independent and Empowered Employees

Five Leadership Behaviors that Create Independent and Empowered Employees

Can you imagine how great it would be if your employees were more independent, more proactive, better decision makers, and did the “right things” more often without needing much guidance? These easy-to-list, challenging-to-achieve attributes eliminate countless leadership headaches and benefit any organization in multiple ways. They’re also required if your aspirations include elevating your leadership […]

8 Spring Cleaning Hacks to Refresh, Refocus, and Reenergize Your Leadership

You’re excited. You’re about to leave on your first real away-from-home vacation since 2019, before the pandemic. Tickets in hand and visions of a white sandy beach, aquamarine water, and exotic cocktails dancing in your head, you board the airplane and take your seat. Moments later, the captain’s voice confidently comes over the intercom. “Welcome […]

4 Leadership Strategies to Eliminate Excuse-Making

4 Leadership Strategies to Eliminate Excuse-Making

Accountability for results is a perennial challenge for business leaders worldwide. It’s costly and frustrating––not only for shareholders and leaders, but also for top-performing employees who see underperformance in others tolerated and often rewarded. Excuse-making is a common symptom of low accountability. But beware: the excuses I’m referring to aren’t always obvious like the adult […]

Stop Waiting for the Next Win: 3 Strategies to Advance Your Firm Right Now

Stop Waiting for the Next Win: 3 Strategies to Advance Your Firm Right Now

“We need to get our sales floor some kind of win,” the Chief Revenue Officer said hopefully. It was our last sales leadership team meeting of 2020, and she was focused on their pandemic-afflicted lead flow, still down approximately 25 percent from a year earlier. Fewer leads meant fewer conversations with prospective clients. Fewer conversations […]

Six Principles of Influence for Leaders

Six Principles of Influence for Leaders

Influential people make things happen. What’s more, they rarely struggle to get others to follow their lead or listen to their point of view. How effectively do you wield influence to enhance your impact as a leader? Influential leaders change the behavior of others, nudging them to do or think what they want them to, […]

Five Leadership Patterns that Accelerate Sustainable Growth

Five Leadership Patterns that Accelerate Sustainable Growth

For the past twelve years (and counting), every quarterly leadership team meeting begins with a bright spot identification exercise. Every. Single. One. I use this ritual with my coaching clients—leadership teams running high-growth small- and mid-market firms—for a number of reasons: It opens a full, intense day of strategic planning on a positive note, it […]

Six Research-Based Strategies To Improve Self-Awareness and Leadership

Six Research-Based Strategies To Improve Self-Awareness and Leadership

The first article in this 2-part series featuring Tasha Eurich explored the fundamentals of self-awareness, why it matters so much for leaders, and the two habits of highly self-aware people. Tasha is an organizational psychologist, executive coach, researcher, and the New York Times best-selling author of Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See us, […]

The Surprising Power of Self-Awareness for Leaders

The Surprising Power of Self-Awareness for Leaders

“On a good day, 80 percent of us are lying to ourselves about whether we’re lying to ourselves.” — Tasha Eurich I recently had a fascinating conversation with organizational psychologist, executive coach, researcher, and New York Times best-selling author Tasha Eurich. Her most recent book, Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See us, How […]

The Compounding Effect: 4 Leadership Behaviors That Lead to Remarkable Results

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… He who doesn’t, pays it.” –Albert Einstein It’s been said that there is no such thing as an overnight success. The same is true of failure. Your outcomes are simply the accumulation of your choices and behaviors, compounded over time. […]

No Mud, No Magic: How Serial Tech Entrepreneur Luke Cooper Found Success by Getting His Hands Dirty

No Mud, No Magic: How Serial Tech Entrepreneur Luke Cooper Found Success by Getting His Hands Dirty

I recently connected with serial tech entrepreneur Luke Cooper, who sold his mobile tech support startup Fixt to Fortune 500 firm Assurant in 2020 for an impressive eleven times revenue. Luke and I chatted about his leadership journey, how he stacked the deck to sell his business for a large multiple, some of his key […]

How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Hyper-Focus

How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Hyper-Focus

A number of years ago, I was coaching Alex (not his real name), a successful CEO in the technology sector. Alex was extremely focused on bringing in sales. He constantly feared that there wouldn’t be enough and channeled the vast majority of his energy and time into avoiding that outcome. During plentiful times—when there was […]

How to Build an Infinite Mindset: 5 Practices of Infinite-Minded Leadership

How to Build an Infinite Mindset: 5 Practices of Infinite-Minded Leadership

The first article in this series featuring Stephen Shedletzky focused on the difference between finite and infinite thinking, why that matters, and the power of an infinite mindset. Stephen is the Head of Brand Experience and Lead Igniter at Simon Sinek’s organization. The aspirations of infinite-minded organizations are “to advance a purpose, to protect people, […]

The Power of an Infinite Mindset: Are You Playing the Right Game?

The Power of an Infinite Mindset: Are You Playing the Right Game?

I recently sat down with Stephen Shedletzky who leads Brand Experience and the team of Igniters for Simon Sinek’s organization. We discussed their work, Simon’s latest book, The Infinite Game, and more. So much more, in fact, that I’ll be covering the content from our conversation in two parts. In this article, we’ll focus on […]

4 Costly Decision-Making Missteps and How to Avoid Them

4 Costly Decision-Making Missteps and How to Avoid Them

As a leader, you likely spend much of your time thinking about results—financial, operational, and otherwise. But how often do you rigorously reflect on the quality of your decision-making and how to improve it over time? This is an important question because – whether you realize it or not – wherever you happen to be […]

Hidden Power of Emotions

How to Capitalize on the Hidden Power of Emotions: 3 Levers to Enhance Your Leadership

If you knew me anytime between high school and my early 40s, you would have described me as a person who was perpetually happy and optimistic. If you asked me how I was doing, I would tell you everything was “great”—even when it wasn’t. In reality, I believed sharing my emotions, especially negative ones, would […]

Is Your Leadership on Track?

Is Your Leadership on Track? Periodically Evaluate Yourself with These 7 Checkpoints

CEOs and Executives routinely ask one of two questions immediately following my coaching kickoff meeting with their team: 1. How do we stack up as leaders compared to your other clients? 2. How closely did our kickoff map to your expectations of us? Both are fantastic mechanisms to elicit feedback, insight, and specific guidance for improvement. But […]

How to Make Yourself and Your Team Indistractable

How to Make Yourself and Your Team Indistractable

I recently interviewed Nir Eyal, tech entrepreneur, former Stanford lecturer, and author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. Today, I’m sharing some of Nir’s insights on how leaders can avoid distraction in their work and in their operations to achieve better results. What […]

How to Accelerate Your Growth as a Leader (and Use Science to Do It)

How to Accelerate Your Growth as a Leader (and Use Science to Do It)

I was planning to drive my youngest son Casey to Winthrop University in South Carolina last month for the start of his freshman year. That is, until one Sunday evening about a week before we were set to leave, when he told me he wasn’t comfortable moving to campus. Casey’s concerns were understandable: Universities that […]

Debunking Leadership Myths #11 -- Everything Should Be Predictable

Debunking Leadership Myths #11 -- Everything Should Be Predictable

If you’ve followed my Debunking Leadership Myths Series, you’ve learned about ten common misconceptions that prevent CEOs and executives from unlocking their full potential and becoming the leaders they aspire to be. As a result, perhaps you’ve used some of the free tools and assessments on my website, or ordered my book, Activators: A CEO’s […]

Debunking Leadership Myths #10 -- Behavior Change Is Hard

Debunking Leadership Myths #10 -- Behavior Change Is Hard

The last article in our Debunking Leadership Myths Series challenged the misguided notion that you can—and should—leave your past behind you. If you’ve read all the articles in the series (which starts here), it’s likely that the process of challenging your beliefs required some uncomfortable self-reflection. In sharp contrast, you may find the misconception behind […]

Debunking Leadership Myths #9 -- I Can - and Should - Leave My Past Behind

Debunking Leadership Myths #9 -- I Can - and Should - Leave My Past Behind

The previous installment of the Debunking Leadership Myths Article Series unraveled the misguided perception that employees should be accountable on their own. This article delves deeper to a prevalent – and faulty – belief that causes leaders to suboptimize decision-making, prioritization, firing problem staff, getting accountability right, and more. “I can – and should – […]

Debunking Leadership Myths #8 -- My People Should Be Accountable On Their Own

Debunking Leadership Myths #8 -- My People Should Be Accountable On Their Own

The previous installment of this Debunking Leadership Myths Article Series unpacked the misguided belief that we are already surrounded by the right people. In this article, we tackle another frequent—but faulty—assumption related to people. “My people should be accountable on their own.” Almost every leader I’ve met has some degree of belief in this leadership […]

Debunking Leadership Myths #7 -- I Am Already Surrounded by the Right People

Debunking Leadership Myths #7 — I Am Already Surrounded by the Right People

The previous installment of my Debunking Leadership Myths Article Series focused on the common, yet misguided belief it’s okay to avoid actions that make us uncomfortable. Today, we tackle another frequent—but faulty—assumption: I am already surrounded by the right people. Throughout this article series, using both anecdotal and research-based evidence, we’ve established that a willingness […]

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