Lead From Here

Everyone's learning prompt engineering. Almost nobody's learning the skill that actually matters: judgment. In this episode, I break down why prompt skills have a short shelf life, why the best prompt won't save you if you don't know what good looks like, and how to develop the thinking that AI can't replace. I cover: - Why prompt engineering is a skill with an expiration date - The difference bet...

Skip levels aren't about gathering intel. They're about building trust two levels down - and that trust compounds over time. If your only goal is information extraction, people will figure it out fast. In this episode, I break down how to run skip levels that build relationships instead of eroding them, the questions that actually unlock honesty, and why the trust you build now pays off in moments...

Hard isn't the problem. Avoiding it is. Here's how leaders get this wrong - in both directions. Somewhere along the way, we started treating discomfort like a warning sign instead of evidence that we're doing something that matters. In this episode, I break down why hard is part of the job, how to calibrate the push for your team, and what to do when someone's struggling not because they're weak -...

Your 1:1s are either keeping people or pushing them out the door. Here's how to make those 30 minutes actually count. Most managers treat 1:1s like status updates. Meanwhile, their direct reports are deciding whether to stay or start job searching. In this episode, I break down what separates the 1:1 that builds loyalty from the one that drives people away. I cover: Why status updates don't belong...

Transparency can backfire. Here's how to know when honesty helps - and when it makes everything worse. Everyone tells leaders to be transparent. But there's a line between building trust and creating anxiety, and most leaders don't know where it is. In this episode, I break down the transparency trap - why oversharing often serves you more than your team, and how to be honest without dumping chaos...

Everyone's chasing AI fluency. The leaders who'll win are the ones doubling down on what AI can't do. AI can generate answers faster than you ever will, but it can't tell you if that answer is right for this moment, this team, this context. The more AI handles routine work, the more your value shifts to judgment, trust, and genuine human connection. In this episode, I break down why the scarcest r...

Your high performers don't want to be managed. They want autonomy, flexibility, and to be left alone. But you still need to develop them, give feedback, and keep them engaged. Here's the new playbook. In this episode, I break down why high performers resist management, what they actually need from you, and how to keep your best people challenged without driving them away. I cover:- Why "leave me a...

Your team is drowning in Slack messages, all-hands recordings, and update emails. They're more informed than ever and somehow still confused. Here's why more communication is making things worse - and what actually creates clarity. In this episode, I break down why over-communicating backfires, the real test for whether your communication is working, and how to say less while being understood more...

Your company pivoted again. Your team is exhausted from whiplash. The problem isn't change. It's constant change without recovery time. And when you try to rally the troops, they see through it. They know this is the fourth pivot this year. Your enthusiasm feels dishonest. Here's what I learned: you may not be able to control the strategy. But you can control how your team experiences the chaos. Y...

You're not just looking for a job. You're mourning an identity, a team, a future you thought you had. I don't see enough people talking about this. Everyone gives you tactics. Update your resume. Optimize LinkedIn. Network harder. But nobody acknowledges you're grieving while doing all of it. And when you skip the grief, it leaks out sideways. You perform confidence in interviews you don't feel. Y...

To maintain a clear mind and make the best decisions daily, it's essential to avoid the doom loop. This involves recognizing negative thought patterns and breaking free from them to foster a more positive and productive mindset.

I haven't posted in a while. Not because I had nothing to say, but because I felt like I was missing the plot. Leadership content (including mine) was teaching the same 2015 playbook. But the world of work has fundamentally changed. So I took a step back to rethink what actually matters in 2025.Then I got laid off after almost 9 years leading engineering teams. While it sucks to lose the job you l...

Difficult conversations are the worst part of leadership, but they are also the most important conversations you will have in your career. It's imperative that you do your best to make the conversation as effective and helpful as possible to the person on the receiving end. That sounds pretty straightforward, but what about when things go wrong? Whether it's the persons final conversation before b...

I received an email from a leader that was asking how he could "fix his team". They are struggling with missing deadlines, complaining/fighting, poor quality and just generally not running as efficiently as he would like. In that email he also let me know how he approaches the team and it involves, "not showing any weaknesses" and "putting up a strong front at all time". From the information I hav...

Integrity is a word people throw around a great deal. A good number of those people that utilize don't live the definition which is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. The foundation of the channel's thesis is to have healthy, effective teams over a long period of time, you need to build that team on a foundation of trust and empathy. To build trust, you have to be hone...

Every single person on this planet fails at some point in their life, most of us, at many points. I personally fell short last week and missed a video upload on Friday. My lack of preparedness allowed life to get in the way. I have switched up my game plan to adjust for it going forward and will do better. The failure got me thinking, what are the most important things to do in the middle of failu...

I am sure you have heard the saying "It takes a village". Most people use it in reference to raising kids, but the concept applies in countless other scenarios, like, leadership. Leadership is not a solo venture. In the last few weeks I have noticed how much I rely on my peers in leadership, looking back it's been a big part of my leadership growth. Whether it's getting feedback on tone, talking t...

Start with Understanding Your Why as a Leader: https://youtu.be/ehqKBdENcDI Your why isn't just something you write down in a notebook or hang on a wall. It's to be used, every single day in your interactions. No one is perfect, you will have bad days and say things you wish you could take back. I can think of a bunch of times that I wish I could take back what I said...but it's all a good learnin...

Money isn't the key to happiness, once you have hit a certain level of security. So if you chase money, without a strong why, then you can put yourself in a bad spot. In this video, I talk about my own why, why it's important to have a why and how you can evaluate your why, year over year. I hope this was helpful! Thanks for being here! Take care! -------------------------------------------------...

Too often I hear people say the reason they want to get into leadership is the money. You will always be paid your worth to the company you work for, even if it's your own. The key is to understand that regardless of your title, finding something you are good at and can find passion in, will ultimately lead you down the path of the money you desire. Being a leader won't make you lots of money, esp...

In previous videos we have talked about the importance of using data to Lead. Whether that is to make the case for more resources, for someone to get promoted/fired or to make a case for a pivot in strategy...Data is the key to unlocking the things you need. What I see happen a lot with Leaders, is they decide to start creating metrics or monitoring performance and the first thing they think of is...

Always remember to push yourself, but never forget to take care of yourself. The best way to do that is to make sure that you take time to rest and recover. These two things aren't talked about enough in today's culture (although it's getting better), they are an afterthought more often than not. I am here today to remind you, that you can't pour from an empty bucket. I heard that on the Diary of...

After 7 episodes in a row of Time Management and talking through all the ways to build the perfect plan and schedule, all while being super effective. The reality is, that these are all incredible things to strive for and I would highly recommend pushing yourself to embrace these things as often as possible...but you also have to be realistic with what you can handle in a given day or week. Too of...

Now that we have covered the top 5 time management techniques, I wanted to wrap up this series by talking you through how I manage my own time on a daily basis. This will be as detailed as I can make it without giving away information I am not allowed to. As I worked my way through those 5 time management techniques, I found that there were bits and pieces of each that I thought were very useful....

The last concept we are going to cover is the Pareto Principle (AKA the 80/20 rule). I don't remember when I first heard about it, but I do remember not quiet understanding the rule the first time I did. After listening to Ali Abdaal (https://www.youtube.com/@aliabdaal) and Jim Kwik (https://www.youtube.com/@JimKwik) talk about it more in-depth, I started to get a better understanding of it and ho...