Leadership Mindset 2.0

A lot of smart leaders sit in high-level meetings and say almost nothing. They tell themselves they are being thoughtful. They are actually hiding, and most of them do not know it. SPOT THE HIDING YOU DID NOT KNOW WAS HIDING Most leaders think hiding looks like silence. It actually looks like humility, deference, giving people options, testing the room before you speak. You will walk away able to...

A managing director I coached cancelled his entire day of appointments to serve a client on-site, convinced he was protecting his already-stretched team. When he told them what he had done, they were furious. Guilt Is Not Virtue – It Is a Sign Your Identity Needs to Catch Up The guilt you feel when you delegate, when you leave space in your calendar, or when you let someone else handle something y...

One of the most common things I hear from leaders is this: "I'm struggling to lead someone on my team because they know so much more about this subject than I do." I hear it from new managers. I hear it from senior executives. And every time, I have to tell them the same thing - that's not a leadership problem. That's a leadership fallacy. The higher you go, the more you will be leading people who...

If you've been trying to become a more strategic leader by making small, steady changes, this episode is going to stop you in your tracks. Most leaders think the shift from doer to leader is a gradual one. Read the right books, adjust a few habits, pick up some new skills. But that approach isn't just slow, it's the wrong model entirely. Real identity change doesn't work that way, and until you un...

A leader in my private community walked into a meeting with her most senior executive, presentation fully prepared. He looked at it and told her to put it away. Just talk to me. She froze. And in that moment, she missed an opportunity she didn't even know was there. That moment happens to leaders every day. The good news is it's completely fixable once you understand what senior leaders are actual...

A Navy SEAL said something to me once about leadership that I have never forgotten. He told me if his general ever showed up on the front line while bullets were flying, he would physically tackle him and drag him to the back. Not because the general couldn't handle it. Because the general was the only one who could see the whole battlefield. And if he went down, everyone was lost. That is your te...

A business owner came up to me after a presentation. After five years of huge growth, they’ve levelled off. He told me: "I realized the bottleneck was me. I come from sales and I am still out there selling. But they do not need me to sell anymore. They need me to lead. And honestly I do not know what that means." That is the most honest thing a leader can say. And it is exactly what this mastercla...

A leader in one of my APAC coaching sessions asked me what to do when someone rolls their eyes at him mid-meeting. My answer surprised him. Your Body Knows Before Your Brain Does When something needs to be addressed in a room, your nervous system will tell you first — a tightening in the chest, a tension in the shoulders, a twinge you have learned to ignore. Mindfulness is not a wellness concept....

Members of my private community asked me two questions that I know a lot of you are sitting with: What daily habits actually improve your leadership? And how do you truly switch off from work at the end of the day? The answer to both comes down to the same thing: rewiring. All psychology is, at its core, rewiring old beliefs and patterns into new ones. And the good news is you can start doing it i...

You've landed the board position — now what? In Part 2 of this masterclass, Russell Dalgleish and Michael break down what separates a high-performing board from a dysfunctional one, and how to make sure your involvement counts. In this episode you'll discover: -How to spot a toxic board before you join one — the behaviours Russell watches for that tell him everything he needs to know -What board m...

What if five words could fundamentally change how you show up as a leader — and how your entire team shows up with you? In this episode executive coach R. Michael Anderson breaks down one of the most deceptively simple — and brutally honest — questions in leadership: Are you 100% in? Most leaders think they're fully committed...but they're not. There's a world of difference between 99.9% and 100%,...

Do you want to join a board - but not sure where to start? In Part 1 of this masterclass, Michael sits down with Russell Dalgleish, one of the UK's most experienced board strategists, to demystify how boards really work and how you get a seat at the table. In this episode you'll discover: -The difference between a Board of Directors and a Board of Advisors — which one you actually need, and why ge...

When someone on your team shuts down in a big meeting, or a client suddenly gets cold, or a colleague comes at you with arrogance and aggression, what is actually happening? And more importantly, what do you do about it? In this second part of the Ego and Authentic Self series, I am going to show you how to read what is really going on with the people around you and how to use that awareness to be...

When you step into a high-level role, the biggest enemy isn't the workload—it's Imposter Syndrome. You could be leading people who have been there for a long time and know more than you do. You may find yourself sitting in executive meetings wondering if you belong at the table. In the conclusion of this live coaching session with "Paul," we move from the intellectual to the psychological . We bre...

Have you ever snapped at someone on your team, avoided a hard conversation, or micromanaged a project you should have let go? That wasn't a leadership failure. That was your ego. And in this episode, I'm going to show you exactly what that means and how to fix it. Every tool I teach traces back to this one principle. Once you understand it, you will never look at your own behavior the same way aga...

Starting a new executive role is high-stakes. You have 90 days to prove your value, navigate office politics, and set a strategic vision—all while learning a new culture from scratch. In this live coaching session, I work with "Paul," a newly hired Senior VP of HR at a 5,000-person company. He is stepping into a 100-year-old organization that is successful but stuck in its ways. In Part 1 of this...

When top-tier executives come to me for coaching, their #1 request is always the same: "I want to know where my blind spots are." They know that the things holding them back aren't their obvious weaknesses—they are the invisible patterns they have accepted as "normal." Finding those blind spots requires you to challenge your current thinking. In this short, experimental episode, I am not giving yo...

Whether you are a professional coach, a consultant, an HR leader, or simply a manager trying to influence the C-suite, you need to know how to interact with people at the highest levels of an organization . Many talented professionals hold themselves back from these conversations. They assume they need more credentials or a better "model." But high-level leaders do not care about your certificatio...

Who is the one person you need to get on your side right now? There is always someone - an investor, a boss, a peer, or a difficult employee - who you need to make a decision in your favor. Most leaders try to influence people using logic. They present facts, data, and ROI. And often, they fail. Why? Because they don’t understand Leverage. In this episode, I break down the single most important ps...

"You can do everything right and still lose the candidate in the final week." The period between "Making the Offer" and "Day 1" is the danger zone. This is when candidates get cold feet, receive counter-offers from their current bosses, or simply ghost you. In Part 3 (The Finale) of our Hiring Masterclass, Michael Bailey and I wrap up with the critical final steps to lock in your A player and get...

People are watching you through a magnifying glass. As a leader, everything you do is amplified. A casual comment about "opening an office in LA" can turn into a company-wide rumor within an hour. Being five minutes late to a meeting can undermine your entire speech about "integrity." It takes months to earn respect, but only a few bad habits to lose it. In this episode, we flip the script. Instea...

"Past performance is the best predictor of future performance." Most interviews are flawed because they rely on hypothetical questions ("What would you do if...?"). A skilled candidate can fake a hypothetical answer. They cannot fake a chronological track record. In Part 2 of our Hiring Masterclass, Michael Bailey and I move from preparation to execution. We tackle the two hardest parts of the fun...

"The real job of a CEO is to go from one uncomfortable conversation to another." If you are procrastinating a phone call, letting a deadline slide, or avoiding an underperforming employee because you don't want to "rock the boat," you are not protecting the team—you are hurting them. Many leaders suffer from "Nice Guy Syndrome." We think that by avoiding conflict, we are keeping the peace. But in...

"I can't give my team any more work—they are already drowning." If you have ever said that, you are likely falling into the Martyr Trap. You try to protect your team by taking on the extra work yourself, but all you are doing is becoming the bottleneck and burning yourself out. In this Live Q&A Session, we tackle two of the most common stressors in leadership: Influence and Overwhelm. I answer...

Hiring is the most expensive gamble you make as a leader - and when you get it right, it makes everything else easier. The problem is that research shows that 46% of new hires fail within 18 months. The cost isn't just the salary—it's the lost momentum, the cultural damage, and the months it takes to fix the mistake. In this special 3-part Masterclass Series, I am joined by Michael Bailey—an exper...