Two Good Leaders. Two Broken Teams.
What happens when a leadership strength becomes a liability? Picture a leader named Chris. Chris knows every team member’s birthday. He checks in regularly, asks how people are doing, and bends over backwards to make sure no one feels overlooked. When someone is struggling, Chris is the first to offer flexibility. His team loves working […]
If Leadership Feels Like a Tug-of-War, You’re Probably Doing It Right
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Earlier this summer, we headed north to my wife Bec’s family cottage to spend time with some amazing cousins visiting from the UK. The next morning, I got the call: our basement was one of many in Niagara that had flooded. My heart […]
Your Calendar Doesn’t Lie
What it reveals about the life you’re actually choosing Your calendar doesn’t reveal your intentions. It reveals your priorities. Stephen Covey’s ‘big rocks’ principle explains why… Imagine a jar representing your limited time. If you fill it first with sand and small pebbles, there won’t be enough room for the big rocks. But when you […]
Why Some Feedback Builds Culture
(And Some Destroys It) Five qualities that make challenge feel caring and encouragement feel honest. Most leaders understand that people need both challenge and encouragement. The problem is that wanting to do both and knowing how to do both are very different things. The gap between intention and daily reality in most workplace cultures is […]
Why Nice Feedback Backfires
Push with praise. That is what winning feedback cultures actually require: not one or the other, but both. Most leaders understand this in theory. What they underestimate is how rare it is in practice. After working with over 50 organizations each year, I have come to believe that Challenge AND Encouragement is one of the […]
Why Accountability Breaks Down (Even on Good Teams)
Most leaders don’t have a talent problem. They have an accountability problem. Deadlines slip. Excuses pile up. Fingers get pointed. And yet the instinct to write people off, to assume they’re lazy or disengaged, almost always misses the real issue. Accountability rarely breaks down because people don’t care. It breaks down because we haven’t clearly […]
Why Some Leaders Are Trusted (And Others Aren’t)
The four questions people subconsciously ask before they trust you. What is trust, really? One of the simplest yet accurate definitions I’ve come across is this: Trust is a confident relationship with the unknown. 1 Think about it. You trust the sun will rise tomorrow. You trust water will come out when you turn on […]
What Intentional Connection Actually Looks Like
The Empty Cafeteria at Noon Designing for Connection in a Remote World Recently, while delivering a keynote at a client’s head office, I walked past their cafeteria and stopped in my tracks. Massive space. Beautiful design. Natural light pouring in. It was 12:00 p.m. And it was completely empty. This organization went remote during the […]
The Dark Side of Comfort
I know people who wake up at 4:30 am with a smile, run 10K with a headlamp on, jump into a cold plunge, and then write a chapter of their next book—before their workday even starts. I am not one of those people. And if you are, this article probably isn’t for you. Left to […]
Most People Aren’t Waiting for Permission—They’re Waiting for Someone to Go First
More than a decade ago, after years of training and trying, I finally landed a spot in the New York City Marathon. But just 48 hours before the race, Hurricane Sandy devastated the city and the marathon was cancelled. Like thousands of other runners, I had already travelled to New York and was scrambling to […]
