Can’t Truss It
Do your best people trust you, or are they just tolerating you? One of the most dangerous things in leadership is mistaking silence for trust. When people do what they’re told, answer when asked, and keep the meetings moving, it can feel like alignment. But sometimes what you’re seeing isn’t trust. It’s tolerance. And tolerance […]
Don’t Believe the Hype
Why Your Retention Problem is not an HR Problem — It’s a Leadership Problem Let me tell you something I learned the hard way, in boardrooms and break rooms, on legislative floors and hospital floors: when good people start walking out the door, the first thing leaders do is look everywhere except in the mirror. […]
Who is Talking About You When You’re Not in the Room?
The Conversation Most Leaders Never Hear Several years ago, I was having a conversation with a CEO about leadership succession. We were discussing a group of highly talented executives within the organization, all of whom had impressive resumes, strong performance records, and significant leadership experience. As we worked through the discussion, something interesting happened. Whenever […]
The Invisible Executive Scorecard
What Criteria Are Being Used to Evaluate You That Nobody Told You About? The Questions Many Executives Never Think to Ask Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with leaders at nearly every level of an organization. I have worked with frontline supervisors, department directors, vice presidents, CEOs, elected officials, and senior […]
The Difference Between a Baller and a Shot Caller
Why some leaders stay valuable while others shape direction The Leadership Question Hidden in a Hip Hop Classic Years ago, Biggie and Puff opened “All About the Benjamins” with a question that hits different once you’ve spent enough time around leadership and power: “What you wanna do? Wanna be ballers? Shot callers?” Back then, most […]
Increase Your Authority Without Creating Backlash
How executive influence is granted socially before it is given formally Some of you are already carrying responsibilities far above your title. You are solving problems before other people even see them coming. You are keeping projects moving, stabilizing teams, protecting relationships, and helping senior leaders avoid mistakes they never even realize were coming their […]
The Real Reason You’re Not Going to Be The Next CEO
Let me put this in a way that probably sounds familar You’ve been doing this a long time. You’ve built a reputation. People trust you. When something matters, your name comes up. When something breaks, they call you. You’ve carried more than your share of the load, and you’ve done it without needing a spotlight. […]
The Hidden Career Risk for Leaders Who Don’t Adapt in a Changing Workplace
The Moment of Clarity I remember a moment early in my career when I realized something had shifted—and nobody told me. I was still performing.Still delivering results.Still doing everything that made me successful. But I wasn’t in the room anymore. Not physically—I still had a seat. But the real conversations?The early conversations?The ones where direction […]
When Your Team Starts Asking: “Is My Job Safe?
What leaders must do when financial pressure, layoffs, and uncertainty start creeping into the workplace I remember sitting in an executive leadership team meeting during the early months of the pandemic when our CFO said something that immediately changed the tone of the room. “If we don’t open our outpatient surgery centers and start seeing […]
When Executive Respect Isn’t Enough
The Invisible Barriers that Hold Leaders Back The First Time I Realized Respect Wasn’t Enough Early in my career, I was elected to public office. I had the title. I had credibility in my community. And I had the respect of many people in the legislature. But there was something I didn’t have yet—and I […]