February 22, 2025

High Intellect Can Be a Barrier to Learning

Here’s a paradox: The smarter a leader is, the more likely they will eventually have troubling learning. This is not because they lack the capacity to learn. Quite the contrary. Leaders with a high intellect are uniquely positioned to grasp ideas quickly and absorb complex issues with an eye toward a practical solution. But those with high intellect and aptitude sometimes become overconfident in what they know. This reduces their openness, curiosity, and inquiry, which severely limits their ability to learn. Leaders need humility to learn.

February 21, 2025

Deliver a Tough Message in the First Two Sentences

Delivering a message others don’t want to hear isn’t easy for any leader, but it comes with the territory. Good leaders deliver tough messages because it is inherent in their role as decision-makers. Decisions and actions come with consequences. It is the leader’s job to communicate those choices and outcomes even when they know they will be unpopular for those negatively impacted. If there is good advice about delivering a tough message, it goes like this: The bad news must come up front — in the first two sentences. The first sentence explains the why, and the second sentence states the action or outcome.

February 20, 2025

Saying Nothing Usually Makes Things Worse

It’s somewhat astonishing how often leaders say they stand for honesty and integrity but refuse to deliver a tough and candid message to a colleague. It’s as if they believe telling people the truth only applies if the message won’t be received poorly or defensively. Delivering a tough message to a colleague isn’t easy for anyone, but it is excruciatingly painful for some. For those who find conflict so uncomfortable as to produce anxiety, telling others what they don’t want to hear is to be avoided whenever it can be. This is a particularly damning flaw for those in the business of leading a team.

February 19, 2025

A Leader’s Job Is to Create Positivity, No Matter Where They Find Themselves

If Václav Havel could do so inside the walls of a prison, so can any leader without such draconian constraints. No matter how poisonous the workplace is, team leaders carry the antidote for their team with their decisions, rewards, behaviors, and messages. As famed motivational speaker Zig Ziglar liked to say, “Don’t let negative and toxic people rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out.”