I can’t count on my hands the number of times I thought I was being helpful, when really, I was just being a pain in the a**. And I’m definitely not alone (I see you nodding!). I’ve spoken with senior leaders and founders who’ve been there too. They step in, not because they mean to micromanage, but because they genuinely mean to support. However, as with all things, sometimes good intentions don’t always land the way we hope. To bridge the gap, most well-meaning leaders step in for a few...
7 days ago • 3 min read
Adam Grant has a great line (18 words to be exact) that opens the door to feedback. It works really well to build trust, set the tone, and signal to the other person that this conversation is about growth, not criticism. Here’s what he says: “I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations, and I’m confident you can reach them.” It’s clear, encouraging, and surprisingly effective at disarming defensiveness. That said, if you want the message to stick, no matter who you’re...
14 days ago • 3 min read
Over the weekend, my fiancé tried on a t-shirt he had ordered (bear with me, this is going somewhere...) It was the same brand, same cut and same size he’s been wearing for years. Fresh out of the package…and it looked like a completely different shirt.He turned to me, deadpan, and said, “Is this a joke?” I'll give you one guess to see if he ordered another shirt from them. We laughed...but it also hit a nerve. That moment of disconnect between what you expect and what actually shows up is...
21 days ago • 3 min read
Before I ever ran leadership programs or worked with exec teams, I worked in hospitality. The kind where the shift started with a pre-shift and ended with your feet throbbing, but the service flowed, people moved together, and somehow, the chaos felt organized. There was this one phrase we all lived by, and it was the very first thing I learned: Full hands in, full hands out. Meaning, if you’re heading into the kitchen, grab something that's dirty.Heading back out? Don’t come...
28 days ago • 3 min read
We’ve spent a long time rewarding the loudest signals of productivity. Always being online, replying fast, working late and saying yes. Somewhere along the way, time became the measure of performance, and presence became the proxy for impact. But that’s not (and never actually has been) how great work actually happens. Great work takes clarity, space, and courage. If we only measure hustle, we miss the people who are asking smart questions, thinking deeper, and building lasting solutions. So...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
"You were so close to excellent and didn't even realize it!" That was the feedback our facilitator gave during a simple team challenge at my leadership course last week. A challenge where we had to pass three tennis balls through a group in a set sequence as fast as we could. On our first try, we got it in 35 seconds! After a few more rounds, we had proudly shaved it down to 3 seconds. We were feeling good, like we had done the best we could. Then we were told someone else had done it in 0.9...
2 months ago • 2 min read
I wasn’t a doctor, I wasn’t a medical student. I was just an ex-biology nerd with an interest in a new procedure. By all accounts, I shouldn’t have been there. But a few well-placed questions, genuine curiosity, and a conversation with the right people opened a door I never saw coming. It started with a simple conversation between two patio tables, side-by-side enjoying lunch. They happened to be in the medical field and celebrating a milestone in a colleague's career. Instead of sticking to...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Reader, you work with your team every day. You’re in meetings together. You share updates. You send emails. So they probably have a good sense of what you do, right? Not always. We recently worked with a well-known organization on understanding priorities—where they come from, how they’re set, and why work is divided the way it is. After one of the exercises, a team member turned to a colleague they work with nearly every day and said: "I’m realizing I never fully knew what you do." That...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Praise is a powerful leadership tool, Reader, but only when used wisely. It's easy to fall into what's known as the "praise trap," especially when you see stats like these: 3 in 4 workers report they’d be more productive if they received more praise. 1 in 2 workers feel underrecognized for their efforts. While these stats highlight a need for recognition, they can be misleading. They might make you feel pressured to shower your team with praise, but praise without performance can seriously...
6 months ago • 2 min read