Urgency vs. Patience: The Best Leaders Learn When to Use Each

Urgency vs. Patience: The Best Leaders Learn When to Use Each

Entrepreneurs who build traction almost always skew urgent. That urgency is often what gets the company off the ground in the first place. At scale, that same instinct becomes disruptive. People struggle to understand priorities. Context switches constantly. Everything sounds like a crisis. Leaders start mistaking urgency for accountability and patience for disengagement. So founders hire someone to "balance" them. Often a COO, Chief of Staff, or operations leader who skews more patient. In theory, it's a purposeful pairing. In practice, it creates conflict.

Read More

Toxicity Isn't a Personality Problem. It's an Environmental One.

Toxicity Isn't a Personality Problem. It's an Environmental One.

Strong cultures don't eliminate toxicity entirely. They detect it early and contain it fast. They have antibodies: clear values, frequent feedback, leaders who stay engaged even under pressure. The goal isn't perfection. It's resilience. Whether a single bad apple spoils the barrel is one of the clearest indicators of leadership quality

Read More

How a CEO's ethics impacts the culture of the organization

How a CEO's ethics impacts the culture of the organization

Much of the tech talk recently is about AI, specifically ChatGPT (generating text) and Lensa AI (generating images). So, I gave ChatGPT a request to write an article on how a CEO's ethics impacts the culture of the organization. While it lacks my charm and occasional snark, nor does it include the storytelling I often do, can you tell that it was machine-generated?

Read More

Stop Hiring for Culture. It’s Harming Your Business.

Stop Hiring for Culture. It’s Harming Your Business.

How many times have you been in an interview process when someone asks the question: “Will they fit in here?” Is there an objective way to answer that? The question of fit is based on careful business choices. It’s based on emotion, and we all know hiring isn’t a decision we should make emotionally. And yet…so many business leaders do.

Read More

Gen Z Isn’t Going Away, and We Shouldn’t Want Them To

Gen Z Isn’t Going Away, and We Shouldn’t Want Them To

It’s time to stop the generation war and recognize that we’re all looking for the same thing and that our workplaces are better when they include the perspectives of all the generations. During the pandemic, people started to look at their lives differently, at their jobs differently. Employers looked at their organizations differently. And many of us have come out of the pandemic in the same, new place.

Read More

Psychological Safety Isn’t a 4-Letter Word

Psychological Safety Isn’t a 4-Letter Word

If you’ve turned your nose up at the concept of psychological safety because, frankly, you’re getting tired of trying to figure out every new buzzword, I’m encouraging you to rethink. Creating a workplace culture where people feel safe to be themselves and feel respected for their contributions is critical. You’ll lose talent if you don’t.

Read More