From Execution to Ownership: The Shift Senior Leaders Must Make to Have Leadership Impact
As a leader you are measured by your leadership impact, not by your individual output. As your career grows, so does your leadership impact. At some point as you rise into the ranks of leadership, doing excellent work is no longer enough. Not because the work isn’t good—but because leadership is no longer measured by […]
How Early Wins Create Leadership Blind Spots: The Misleading Comfort of Past Success
The most dangerous phase of leadership is often not early struggle, but sustained success when assumptions become leadership blind spots. Leadership blind spots arise because success is reassuring. It tells leaders that their judgment is sound, their instincts are reliable, and their approach works. But at senior levels, past success can quietly become a liability. […]
The Hidden Cost of Leadership Friction (And Why It Rarely Shows Up in Metrics)
Leadership friction is the hidden drag created when leadership systems, signals, and habits make it harder for people to do their best work — even when they’re capable, committed, and trying. If leadership friction were obvious, most organizations would have fixed it by now. But it’s not. Low performance becomes normalized when leaders emphasize values […]
Why Strong Leaders Create Resistance Without Realizing It
Inadvertently, leaders create resistance when they focus too much on the work and not enough on the people doing the work. When leaders create resistance, upper management gets worried. For example, a CFO I worked with was referred to me by her CEO because employee satisfaction on her team was low and the error rate […]
The Feedback Signals You’re Missing as a Leader (And Why They Matter More at Senior Levels)
If you’re missing feedback signals as a leader, it’s a sign of your own growth. Learn to listen differently to grow more. At some point, nearly every leader misses a feedback sgnal. There was a moment when I, too, found myself missing feedback signals as a leader. Here’s a story of how I missed a […]
Why Leadership Stops Working Even When You’re Doing Everything Right
If you’re wondering why leadership stops working, consider the impact of the scale of your job. Has encouraging others replaced doing it yourself? In my clients, I see why leadership stops working pretty often. For example, a senior leader I worked with had doubled his firm’s size and revenue and could clearly see a path […]
Six Leadership Styles—and How They Affect Team Performance
Strong leaders rely on a variety of leadership styles, adapting how they lead based on context, people, and stakes. Key Takeaways about Leadership Styles Decades of leadership style research—including Daniel Goleman’s work on leadership styles and performance—show that how you lead directly affects results. Some leadership styles consistently improve engagement and outcomes. Others quietly undermine […]
From Managing People to Managing Other Leaders
When stepping into managing other leaders, most people notice that leadership starts to feel very different. Instead of managing a front line of people with less experience, you start managing other leaders who are peers or former peers. Key Takeaways for This Leadership Transition What was working before with junior personnel stops working. When leading […]
The Business Value of Strong Leadership
The Value of Strong Leadership Shows Up in Results The value of strong leadership isn’t abstract or theoretical. It shows up in faster execution, fewer mistakes, lower turnover, and teams that solve problems before they escalate. In most organizations, managers at the same level are judged on similar criteria: results. Everyone is busy. Everyone has […]