Challenge to Lead: Build Stronger Teams. Scale Smarter.

Don’t insult your people by blowing smoke. They will respect you more for speaking true. The key is to reframe the perspective in a way that challenges them to still excel even in tough situations.

Our job as leaders is to see around corners, anticipate what’s coming in the future, and adapt, to receive it in the best way possible.

PSA: A message from your socially conscious friends. Communication skills are a SKILL. Not an inherent talent. Let’s put the introvert and extrovert labels aside and talk about social politeness. In this season of social obligations and opportunities, there is a right and wrong way to conversate. #ChallengeToLead

As my friend recently said, “there’s a time for learning and there’s a time for earning.” Let’s talk about the first as it leads into the second. And let’s talk about making space for creativity. In my eyes there are 2 kinds of creativity - for your soul and for your future. Sometimes it satisfies both! #ChallengeToLead

Asking for feedback is hard. Assuming you know everything or can figure it all out on your own is foolhardy. Unfortunately that’s the position we people with a bit of knowledge find ourselves in. In high school you go through freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. Sophomore loosely translates as “wise fool”. It’s near the beginning of the journey - just enough knowledge to make you dangerou...

Oh the people are so delightful but too much time together makes us fightful And since we don’t want an angry show Let it go let it go let it go! (That was not my best poetry 🙂) Every year 7F puts on these epic multi-day events and one of the things the show runners drill into our heads is energy management. No one knows where you’re at energy wise, and it’s your job to recognize the signs and fi...

Every year we help open up the family Christmas tree farm in Massachusetts. It’s a beautiful way to kick off the season. From a business perspective, there are some really cool things to see. Know who your leaders are. Set up a succession plan. Let your people focus in the area where they do best and don’t ask them to do all the things. Take time to train the next generation. #ChallengeToLead

Tactical Wednesday: grow up your next leaders. Think strategically about your organization and who you can empower to handle certain things. The goal is to slowly offload pieces of your role so you can focus on overseeing the objective and not the tactics. *includes stories of fiesty middle schoolers* #ChallengeToLead

How much do global economics matter to most leaders? #ChallengeToLead

During this season, get your kids out and spending time with people. Yes, they'd rather be home alone on their devices. Just like they'd rather have candy every meal of the day, not brush their teeth, never exercise, or spend time studying or learning. It's our job to protect all of their health, and mental health is linked to having healthy relationships with other people, and having a sense of b...

Accountability is my jam. Through the years I’ve realized that the trick is knowing what phase someone is in. There are 3. 1. I want to change but don’t know where to start. 2. I know where to start but not ready to commit to the effort and discomfort of change. 3. I am ready to commit and nervous/excited about the outcome. A lot of people are in the 2nd category. That used to make me really irrit...

It’s that time of year where we cleanup and reset! The problem is, the figurative house is a mess and we don’t know where to start and maybe we are a little overwhelmed. I use a version of the scrum method to jolt myself out of that place. This episode gives 3 quick steps to be reenergized in an hour or less!

“You are responsible for the energy you bring to this space.” Don’t let the dark and cold of the season make a darkness in your thoughts and words.  Cultivate the light within. #ChallengeToLead

Impatient leaders are the best.  They get things done.  They make things happen.  It’s the reason they have gotten to where they are.  It’s also the thing that will keep us from being more than a one man show. How many times have you assigned a task, decided it’s not happening fast enough, and then done it yourself?  (For me, that’s probably thousands of times.). What happ...

Many high performing leaders will tell you (if you ask) that they do what they do for their families. If that’s you, then make sure you show up with the right energy when you’re not working. How do you walk in the door?  How do you talk to them when you leave for the day? If your job sucks all the energy from your life such that you have nothing left for them, then your actions are basically...

Studies posit that our happiness has a default set point that we return to over time - regardless of the circumstances in our life.  What if the same is true for our anxiety/stress levels??  And if so, what can you do to change that set point? Ps - here is more info on that first point… https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/hedonic-treadmill/ #ChallengeToLead

There are many resources around you that can be a life raft if you feel like your business ship is sinking. But first you have to deploy them!

Today's recording is a reflection on a video I did 5 years ago detailing where my team was at.  The best part about being a leader is being passionate about the future and brining other people on the journey.  But sometimes it's worthwhile to stop and see how often your dreams are right, and what you learned from the outcome. #challengetolead

Why is it so hard to make friends as an adult?  Why can you live in a place for 20 years and still think that your best relationships happened where you grew up?  Or never at all? I think the secret is in our calendars… #ChallengeToLead

“Jesus, I surrender myself to you. Take care of everything.” I heard this prayer at Bible study yesterday. It’s called the Surrender Novena. And I thought - Take care of everything? Take care of EVERYTHING!?!? But what would I do if I didn’t worry about all the outcomes constantly? That’s really asking a heck of a lot from me to trust someone else to take care of everything. As I sat in silence wi...

Doing things for the first time… does it ever get less intimidating?  And doing hard things… does it ever get less stressful? Today I had to do something both difficult (psychologically) and something new and difficult (process wise).  It sucked.  But I did it, and I did it early in the day before I could chicken out… #ChallengeToLead

“Whatever truth you seek, you will find it.” I heard this comment today and it stopped me cold.  The speaker was talking about a $1M hole he had gotten into in his construction business.  At the end, he didn’t want to trust his gut that his partner was shady, he wanted so hard to be right that he sought out anything and everything that would prove his gut wrong.  Spoiler alert - it...

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” This week has been full of inspiration. From Bill Allen ’s talk about tending to the soil of your life if you want to harvest good fruit, hearing the story of Tyler Jensen ’s son Dawson doing his first BRRRR at 11 years old,...

Memories are crap. Emotions are fleeting. The story you tell yourself - over and over and over - is your reality.

Being the lighthouse means that you are strong in your foundation, consistent in your light, and that the people you are serving having some motivation of their own. Being the tugboat means you are putting out extreme effort to move something much bigger than yourself.