Checklists Keep Raining On My Head
Good leaders learn to pay attention to both. They use systems. They value accountability. They track progress. And they refuse to let tools, timelines, or task lists become more authoritative than human reality.
Your Name Comes Off the Website. Then What?
For most of your career, your phone hasn't stopped ringing. You're the person who knows where the bodies are buried. The one who gets the 7am text when something goes sideways. The institutional memory on two legs. In conversations with leaders nearing the end of...
The Mess Is the Method
Leading a small organization means you rarely have the luxury of waiting for perfect conditions.
Staying focused in uncertain times
How do I help my team stay focused when there's so much uncertainty? What Matters in a Crisis Something happens when the world goes sideways: leaders start questioning everything...including themselves. In my working life, it feels like we've lurched from crisis to...
Learning the Feel of It
On stewardship, habits, and freeing yourself to lead
Why Stress Makes Leaders Forget What They Know
You've Been Training for This For the last few weeks, I've been having a similar conversation with leaders—the same conversation I'm having with myself. We're forgetting what we've already been through. Why We Can't See What We Know Here's what's happening: When we're...
Caps for Sale: On Wearing Too Many Hats and Living to Tell About It
For leaders, this translates simply: the goal isn’t to wear fewer caps (at least not yet). The goal is to know which cap you’re wearing right now, and choose it on purpose.
Checking the Levels
How often do you balance your checkbook? I pop into Quicken almost daily — at least during the work week. I've found that staying on top of our transactions in small batches is far less overwhelming than letting them accumulate for a week or two at a time. And truth...
Struggling to create a Succession Plan?
Jump-Start Your Succession Plan: Create an Emergency Management Plan Are you having trouble figuring out your succession plan? You're not alone. Most leaders I work with get stuck in the same spiral of questions: Who will replace me? Who will replace them? Do we even...
