The Chris LoCurto Show

Your revenue is up this year. Are you working more hours than ever to keep it there? A big year doesn’t always mean a healthy business. The question is whether your business got healthier or just bigger. 02:23 - Six Areas to Check, Starting With Financial Health 07:08 - People, Customer, and Operational Health 11:58 - Leadership and Owner Health 14:22 - Rate Yourself and Take the Owner Dependency...

Two smart leaders can look at the exact same information and still land on opposite decisions. The hard part isn’t a lack of courage, it’s a lack of certainty. If you’re sitting on a big decision and can’t tell which way is right, this one’s for you. Key Highlights: 02:22 Write Down What You Actually Know 04:45 Make Your Assumptions Visible 07:09 Rate the Downside If You’re Wrong 11:50 Make the Ne...

You know you need help. But can you afford to hire someone yet? The real question isn't whether you can afford another person. It's whether you know what problem that person is supposed to solve. If you keep saying "I need help" but you're not sure what you'd hand off, this one's for you. (00:00) Name the Problem Before the Person (02:23) Fix the System Before You Add to It (04:48) Five Questions...

If your business disappeared tonight and you had to rebuild it tomorrow morning, would you build the same one? The problem usually isn't that your team isn't working hard enough. It's that a lot of their time, money, and energy goes into things that exist only because they've always existed. If you're spending hundreds of hours trying to make old things work a little better, this one's for you. Ke...

Your leadership team keeps solving the same problems over and over, and it's not because they're bad at solving problems. It's because they're too fast at it. In this episode, I break down why curiosity, not quick answers, is the skill your team is missing. Key Highlights: [00:00] Why Solving Problems Fast Might Be the Real Problem [02:16] How Leaders Lose Curiosity Over Time [07:06] Fires, Sympto...

Your best team members don't leave the day they resign, they leave months before that, and most leaders never see it coming. In this episode, we break down the quiet warning signs of disengagement and how to catch them before you lose someone good. Key Highlights: 00:28 Not Every Resignation Is a Leadership Failure 02:54 How a Good Team Member Slowly Checks Out 07:37 Don't Mistake Silence for Buy-...

Why are you still reminding the same employee about the same thing, week after week? It's not a discipline problem, it's an accountability gap you built without meaning to, and this episode shows you how to fix it, not with more reminders, not with micromanaging, but with real leadership. Episode Highlights: [02:23] What Your Team Is Really Watching [04:45] The Real Reason Leaders Let Things Slide...

Heather and I are digging into our marriage, our businesses, and our life, no script, no polish. We're up in Truckee taking a real vacation, and we sat down to answer some of the questions people actually want to ask us but rarely do. This one's raw and real. Timestamps: 0:02 - The Myth of the Self-Sufficient Leader  2:53 - What I Struggle With, and Why Truckee Is Our Reset  7:39 - What You Don't...

When's the last time you sat down, mapped out where you wanted to be by year's end, felt genuinely fired up about it, and then quietly stopped mentioning it by March? In this throwback episode, we're bringing back this conversation with David Horsager, business strategist and author of the national bestseller The Trust Edge, about his book The Daily Edge. David shares the 90-day quick plan that he...

This one keeps coming up in coaching calls, so we're bringing it back. The advice hasn't aged a day. If your top salesperson, your project manager, or your most trusted leader gave notice tomorrow, would your business keep running, or would it fall apart? It's not loyalty holding your company together when you catch yourself saying you "can't do this without" someone, that's fragility wearing a ni...

You built the structure, and you're still checking in on things you don't need to check on. That's not a systems problem anymore, stick with me. Key Timestamps: 00:00:38 - The Hidden Problem After You've Built the Systems 00:02:00 - Why the "System Needs More Time" Excuse Doesn't Hold Up 00:03:12 - Reason #1: Fear 00:05:56 - Reason #2: Identity 00:09:21 - Reason #3: Control Disguised as Leadership...

You've hired good people. You hold one-on-ones. You give feedback. You've even promoted the right person, and it's still all coming back to you. Before you write one more person off as "just not ready," listen to this episode. 00:00:57 – What Happens When You Disappear 00:02:51 – Why the Obvious Fixes Don't Work 00:04:25 – The Real Problem: Nothing Was Built, Not That People Can't Carry It 00:06:4...

Your one-on-ones aren't producing what you want them to, and it's probably not the meeting's fault. I break down the three judgment questions that turn a flat status check-in into a real development conversation. 02:04 The Same Meeting Every Time 04:08 The Wrong Conclusion (Why You Think They've Plateaued) 06:43 The Real Problem: Your Questions, Not the Meeting 11:21 The Three Judgment Questions 1...

You're about to have a really hard conversation with somebody you believed in. Before you do, you need to hear this first. Let's break down why the leader you promoted isn't a bad hire, but a stalled identity shift. I also give you the exact conversation to fix it. Tune in now! Key highlights: 00:00 — The Problem: A Leader Who Seems Off 01:53 — The One-on-One That Reveals the Problem 06:26 — Why Y...

Feedback names the gap. Development builds the bridge. Accountability helps the person cross it. If you've given the same feedback to the same person four or five times this year, this episode is for you. We break down why repeating feedback louder doesn't work, and walks through the three-part "build conversation" — diagnose the gap, build the skill, create accountability — that actually helps pe...

Your manager keeps checking in before making the calls you think they should own. In this episode, I show you why the one conversation that fixes this is probably the conversation that's never happened. Key Timestamps: (00:01:33) Manager Is a Title. Authority Is a Conversation. (00:06:44) The Story: An Operations Manager Stuck in a Vacuum (00:10:55) The Three-Column Mapping Exercise (00:17:01) The...

You said it as a thought. They heard it as a decision. And now there's tension, confusion, and maybe a project that was never supposed to happen actually happening. In this episode, I'm joined by Joel Fortner to talk about one of the most overlooked leadership blind spots we see on coaching calls — the gap between how a leader communicates and how their team receives it. [00:01:27] Why Leaders Don...

You finally had the hard conversation. You were calm, you were clear, you were fair. And somehow you ended up feeling like the problem. If that's ever happened to you, this episode is for you. Timestamps: Why Anger Is the Second Emotion (00:01:32) What the Anger Actually Looks Like (00:03:13) What's Happening Underneath — The Ego's Role (00:07:41) How to Prepare Before the Conversation (00:11:56)...

You're probably one of the most caring leaders your team has ever worked for. And that might be the exact thing that's slowly costing you the most. The leaders who struggle most with accountability aren't the cold ones — they're the ones who care the most. And their empathy, the very thing that makes them exceptional to work for, is the exact thing that quietly gets in the way. In this episode, I...

Most team conflict doesn't start in the meeting room. It starts way before that — in a moment nobody caught. And by the time it surfaces, you're already managing the fallout instead of the cause. I see this on almost every single team I work with. The pattern underneath the conflict has a name: the Fear-Control Loop. And once you see it, you're going to see it everywhere. In this episode, I walk y...

You built a leadership team so the business wouldn't depend on you. So why does every decision still circle back to you? In this episode, I'm breaking down why your team keeps coming back to you — and why it's not about their capability. It's a pattern you've created, and you can change it. Time stamps: (00:01:33) You've made thinking unnecessary (00:02:29) The pattern story: my wife & daughte...

The most talented person on your team is not always the healthiest person for your culture. In this episode, I walk through why healthy leadership cultures are built on humility, coachability, ownership, and emotional safety — not just talent alone. I’ll show you how to recognize unhealthy team dynamics early, how hiring decisions shape culture, and how leaders can create environments where real g...

Leadership isn’t just about what you do. It’s about how you show up when pressure hits. In this episode, I walk you through 4 powerful leadership questions that can completely change how your team experiences you. If your team constantly waits on you, hesitates to make decisions, or feels disconnected, these questions will help you recognize what may be unintentionally happening, and how to lead d...

Burnout doesn’t usually happen overnight. For high achievers, it builds slowly through pressure, responsibility, and the belief that everything depends on them. In this episode, we unpack why so many leaders are exhausted right now, the hidden patterns that create burnout, and the leadership shifts that help build a healthier and more sustainable way to lead. Timestamps 00:08:41 – Are you the cent...

Your business isn’t stuck because it’s failing—it’s stuck because it’s functioning without improving. In this episode, I walk you through how “good enough” shows up in your leadership, and how it quietly creates dependency, inefficiency, and slow growth. I’ll give you five questions to help you raise your standards and develop a team that can think and take ownership. This is what you’ll learn: Wh...