Lead From Here

Building off of the last episode, I want to cover what happens when you hit burnout...what do you do first? The first thing you need to do is talk to someone about it, then you need to figure out your options. I won't say it's impossible to work through burnout while continuing to work full time...it's just infinitely more difficult. Who do I talk to and what options do I need to figure out? I wou...

This topic is a very important topic with regards to burnout. Limits are a very important part of life and nowhere in your life is it more crucial to understand it than in your career. It's ok to go beyond your limits to push the boundaries throughout your life. In fact, I would say that it's crucial to do so, as growth, innovation and evolution come from outside your current limits. The thing is,...

When people talk about bosses or leaders it seems to be in opposite extremes, "they are awesome!" or "they are the worst!". As you get deeper into your career, you will come across leaders that you look up, respect and feel drawn towards. That is a positive thing and will help you grow as a person and as a leader. Building a relationship with your leader can be a very beneficial thing for both of...

Fake it until you make it is something you hear a lot with regards to career moves and just generally in life. I think it's something that is important for people to do, because we rarely FEEL like we are ready for the next thing. I get the question a lot...can you fake it until you make it as a leader? It's a good question and the answer is sort of. The ways you can't EVER fake it until you make...

As a leader you are two things for your team, you are a shield and a sieve. As a shield, your job is to block out the nonsense that is happening outside the team. Frustrated customers, angry executives, drama, chaos, ambiguous information. There is nothing productive in these things...all they will do is derail, distract and ultimately impact your team negatively. Sure if a customer or executive i...

If you are new to this channel, we focus heavily on building healthy teams that have strong processes, strong relationships and a strong leadership cores that focus on finding the balance between delivery and mental health and contentment. Which makes this the topic of this episode may feel a bit counterintuitive. Sometimes you just need to pull out all the stops, process and balance to create mas...

First off, 50 episodes! Wow! Wild isn't it. That happened fast! Looking forward to the next 50 and beyond. I sincerely appreciate you being here. Storytelling is something that isn't used enough in leadership. If you ask most leaders if their people know what they are doing and why they are doing it...they would say yes...but if you ask them how do they know? Most will say that we have goals and m...

When people think about top talent, there is usually reverence for how good they are for the company. Which is usually true... Top talent is always sought out, every hire, you hope becomes a top producer. When you hire or develop a top talent, it feels like you have hit the jackpot, whatever they touch turns to gold. If you give them something, you know it's going to get done and it's going to be...

EQ is the single most important skill a leader must have. This doesn't mean you are everyones friend, that you wear your emotions on your sleeve all the time or even that you are "in touch with your softer side"...all those things are fine and good, but that isn't what EQ is. EQ is your ability to understand your emotions, using your empathy to pick up emotional cues from those around. This allows...

Leaving it all out on the field is a phrase that has been used forever on sports teams, companies and schools. It's a bit cliche for the most part, but at the core of it, the message is on point and the best way to be on a day to day basis. This place of giving it your all, is where happiness and contentment are found. It's also very individualized and depending on who you are talking to, may conj...

Trust is the foundation that a healthy and productive team culture is built upon. Fear comes with the absence of trust. If everyone is fearful, they will, as Simon Sinek points out, "Lie, hide and fake." They will be in self preservation mode, meaning that they aren't doing what is best for the company, they are doing what is best for themselves or their team. Fear will tear teams and cultures apa...

As a leader you have a lot of context into the business. With that comes the reality of you get to see and feel a lot of frustrations, annoyances and general nonsense. It's important to know that MOST of that is out of your control. As a leader, your people will feel their own levels of frustration and annoyances...and they will want you to get involved. With all these things swirling, it can feel...

Understanding distractions and where they are coming from is a very important part of leadership. The reality is that your best people get exposure to multiple parts of the company and once peopel realize how helpful they are, they just start going directly to them. It's important to know how to block your team from those distractions. The funny part of this thought experiment...sometimes you are...

When you are evaluating talent, it's important to remember that track records matter. If someone is generally a top talent, they don't just fall off without a very clear reason. What is that reason? That is up to you to understand. Too often people make a new assumption about someone based on a single situation or action. If you are pushing your teams to deliver at a high level, you are going to p...

There will come a time when your teams are struggling, they can't find stability, they are spiraling and can't pull themselves out. What do you do? The first thing you might think to try is mixing things up. Try some new things, make some changes to process or team composition or meeting cadence...I caution you not to do that. The first thing you should do is deep dive into the data. Look at team...

Cross functional collaboration is such a buzzwordy business term, I realize that. That reality is, it's the single fastest way to create real change in a company. Without a cross functional support a lot of improvements fail to launch, or launch and fail miserably...because for big initiatives to take hold, it requires that all parties involved have a say in how it's implemented. That isn't easy a...

Most leaders, were more often than not at one point or another a solid technician in their field. They were good at their job and developed opinions and best practices on how things should be done. This at the core isn't a bad thing and is a good way to connect with your people and help them build their own careers. Where this can go wrong is when a leader mistakes what they THINK is the best way...

Confidence is a slippery slope. There is a difference between confidence and arrogance. Confidence is not having the answers and being an insufferable know it all...it's about pulling all the talent you have around you to create the best possible strategy. From there, it's all about being confident and making the call...followed by helping and supporting your team/peers/leaders through the process...

This is a touchy subject, it's important to know that depending on the health of your relationship with your leader, leadership group and company...this could get you in hot water or even worse fired. It SHOULDN'T be that way, but there are a lot of companies out there where this is a reality. This isn't advice specific to your life, take it as information to making your own decision. The main key...

Whether you are a new leader or a seasoned leader, there are going to be times when things just go bad. It can mean a lot of things, but as a leader, it's important not to jump to conclusions. Most of the time, when things go bad, it's just a fluke. It's something that happened, that no one predicted, and it hurt. Whether that is a missed deadline, a failed launch or a bad strategy...they all star...

Delivering bad news as a leader is an important part of leadership. It's important because it's unavoidable and the way you deliver bad news can make or break a team. The words you use, the tone, the follow up and ownership all come together to either help or hurt the situation. When you are delivering bad news, it's important to remember empathy. Your team is hearing bad news for the first time a...

This topic is a fun one because a lot of people think Autonomy and Agency are the same thing! Spoiler alert, they aren't! Autonomy means that your leaders give you the freedom and space to execute on what they think is best way for things to work to meet their strategic goals. Agency means your leaders trust you with making the call on what is necessary to deliver on the overall goal, without havi...

Innovation is a word that is thrown around a lot and usually it's in the business setting. Don't get me wrong, innovation is important...but innovation isn't a hall pass to do whatever without oversight or guardrails. A lot of people will argue that you can't manage innovation. I think it's important to understand that there are parts of the process of innovation that should absolutely be managed....

This definitely fits into the difficult conversations category of Leadership. Essentially, if your people don't know where they are at any given time, your team isn't running as effectively as it could...and it's your fault. Your job as a leader is to coach and support your team. If someone is struggling or if someone is crushing, it's up to you to tell them! It's up to you to layout the wins or l...

A lot of people feel that chaos is just a way of life. While it is an inevitability at times, it should NEVER be a way of life. People are just less effective in extended chaos and it adds the risk of burnout to all parties involved. The reality is, extended periods of chaos a unhealthy for you, your teams and your business. It leads to poor decision making, unclear strategy and sloppy execution....