Psychological Safety - Lisa D. Foster, Leadership Coaching & Training

A smoking tire as a symbol of leadership friction

The Hidden Cost of Leadership Friction (And Why It Rarely Shows Up in Metrics)

January 28, 2026

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 that crowd out quality. Priorities like speed, meeting deadlines, office politics, or surface-level agreement can quietly shift attention from excellence to compliance. The impacts become…

woman contemplating feedback signals leaders miss

The Feedback Signals You’re Missing as a Leader (And Why They Matter More at Senior Levels)

January 23, 2026

Decision Making Under Pressure

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 signal and made a decision that nearly cost me my company—and what I learned that helped me grow further. I remember announcing the decision and…

leader wondeing why leadership stops working at scale

Why Leadership Stops Working Even When You’re Doing Everything Right

January 21, 2026

Motivation and a Culture of Performance

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 to doubling again. Yet he was increasingly frustrated. Mistakes were creeping in, and his team didn’t seem as committed as he was. As the organization…

Six Leadership Styles—and How They Affect Team Performance

January 20, 2026

Trust and Building Teams

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 them, even when intentions are good. Think of leadership as a toolkit. Leaders with limited tools tend to overuse the same approach—often at the expense…

paper airplanes as a metaphonr for the value of leadership skills banner

The Business Value of Strong Leadership

January 14, 2026

Motivation and a Culture of Performance

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 their own work to deliver. What separates effective leaders from struggling ones is not effort or authority—it’s how well their teams perform. Organizations don’t just…

blind spot in the mirror as an image of self-awareness in leadership

Why Self-Awareness in Leadership Is Harder to Build Than Most People Expect

January 8, 2026

Confidence and Managing Yourself

If experience automatically produced self-awareness in leadership, leading would get easier every year. But many capable, experienced leaders find the opposite happens. They work harder. They carry more responsibility. And yet certain problems keep resurfacing—miscommunication, friction, disengagement, decisions that don’t land as intended. This isn’t a lack of intelligence or effort.It’s a misunderstanding of how self-awareness in leadership actually works. Key Takeaways: Why Even Smart, Experienced Leaders Still Miss Things The Two Types of Self-Awareness Leaders Need Self-awareness in leadership…