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Field Notes

The best leaders are always on the hunt. For insights. For wisdom. They're looking for ways to get better. Ways to make other people better.

Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.

Featured Field Notes

The Truth Is More Palatable When We Discover It For Ourselves

Evaluation, feedback, and advice that do not corroborate our thoughts about ourselves and our performance are always difficult to swallow. No matter how self-aware a person is, we cling to our perceptions and seek confirmation to validate our views. Any time criticism contradicts our view, it shakes us up. We initially resist. Could this possibly be true? If the source is credible, the soul-searching begins. How do we reconcile what we think to be true with what we have just learned? For those open to rationally considering what they have recently learned, they begin a process of guarded inquiry. They ask questions, attempt to gain more clarity, seek examples, and begin thinking about any evidence that might confirm this truth.

Why Bad Behavior Becomes a Pattern in a Relationship

Relationships are guided by a large set of unspoken rules. These rules (how candid we can be, when we can interrupt, etc.) allow the parties to interact harmoniously and productively, and without unnecessary conflict. Rules govern almost everything that happens in a relationship. Without them, the parties would be in a constant state of ambiguity or upset. Without discussion, we agree on the appropriate ways of expressing emotion, how much we should disclose to those outside of the relationship, when we should apologize, and how quickly we should respond to each other, among hundreds, if not thousands, of other rules. Most rules are assumed. Until one of the parties crosses a line.

How to Create More Buy-In

The best leaders refrain from giving people answers, decisions, or directions. They almost never tell people what they want them to do or why they should do it. Instead, they offer a view and ask others to get involved with a simple question: What do they want to do together? People get on board slow-moving trains where leaders ask them to collaborate to build a railroad. Buy-in always starts with collaboration and gains steam from the dialogue that ensues. The most skillful leaders know exactly where they want the team and organization to go, but they get there by asking others. They aren’t scared that the team will forge a different path or set a poor direction because they have planted the seed in many conversations before the idea or change fully materializes. They don’t sell or direct. They involve and collaborate. And buy-in is the result.

Why Field Notes?

While our coaching and courses go deep on the behaviors of leadership, our quick Admired Leadership Field Notes can help keep any leader on course.

At work. At home. As a partner or parent.

The Field Notes cover thoughts on the kinds of challenges common to all leaders: building relationships, making decisions, giving advice and counsel. Our Field Notes literally come from 30 years of actual notebooks!

Sign-up Bonus

Enter your email for instant access to our Admired Leadership Field Notes special guide: Fanness™—An Idea That Will Change the Way You Motivate and Inspire Others.

Inspiring others is among the highest callings of great leaders. But could there be anything you don’t know, you haven’t heard, about how to motivate and inspire?

Could there really be a universal principle that the best leaders follow? A framework that you could follow too?

There is.

Everyone who signs up for Admired Leadership Field Notes will get instant access to our special guide that describes a powerful idea we call Fanness™ (including a special 20-minute video that really brings this idea to life).

A daily email that is content-rich and nuanced at your fingertips is so rare. The nudges and reminders allow me to work on becoming a better leader every day.

— CEO National Wealth Management Company

I love this stuff. These are simple and actionable behaviors I can immediately apply to being a better coach and leader.

— Pac-12 Head Athletic Coach

A daily resource that is as engaging as it is insightful.

— Lutheran Pastor

I have to say I am really blown away by the quality of execution and the content. As an executive and a leader I have been a consumer of leadership development content my entire career. I have to say, this program is without a doubt the best content I have ever seen.

— Veteran early and growth stage CEO

The true genius is the distillation of such complex ideas that have been developed over decades into such simple nuggets. It’s deep understanding and a passion that makes the profound so digestible and simple.

— CEO and Founder, Asset Management Company

Are You Ready?

Are you ready to become an even better leader? Make Admired Leadership Field Notes part of your daily leadership routine.

Become the kind of leader who can truly make other people better.