INSIGHTS FOR GROWTH

Most leaders spend 40–60% of their time below their altitude — not because they can’t delegate, but because the work below feels productive. One question sorts the calendar: does this require me?

How often do you think about your dentist? Only when you need them. There is a leader in every organization who is someone else’s dentist. Brilliant at one thing. Invisible at everything else. Not excluded — just not thought of.

Leaders often get promoted without preparation. When your old job feels easier than management, you're likely spending too much time on it.

Most leaders in a reorg are focused on getting information. The best ones are focused on having conversations. Two conversations specifically — one with their team as a whole, one with the individuals they can’t afford to lose. Both require intentionality. Neither happens by accident.

Your team is not watching the org chart right now. They’re watching you. How you handle uncertainty — whether you go quiet or stay visible, whether you project anxiety or steadiness — is the culture you’re building in real time. The signal you send during a reorg is the one they carry forward.

There’s a kind of gardener who can’t resist pulling up plants to check the roots. The checking kills the growth. Leadership works the same way.

He went on vacation for two weeks. His team handled 90%. The 10% they couldn’t? That was the most useful data he’d gotten in months.

Here’s a simple diagnostic for your leadership: take two weeks completely off. What breaks? That’s not a badge of honor. That’s a gap.

Every time you say “here’s what I’d do,” you’re solving this problem AND guaranteeing they’ll bring you the next one.

Leaders love to say “my door is always open.” But an always-open door can create a line, not a team.

You know what happens when you use GPS every day? You follow the blue line but never learn the route. That’s what happens when leaders jump in to fix everything.

A client said something that stopped me: “I think I’ve been afraid that if I stop being needed, I’ll stop mattering.” That’s the truth underneath everything this week. The dentist trap. The fixer identity. The rescue missions. The inability to build the bench. It’s not about delegation or time management. It’s about identity. Being the person who always has the answer is how a lot of leaders know they matter. But the leaders who matter most are the ones whose teams don’t n

Leaders caught in the expertise trap rescue underperformers and handle work that belongs elsewhere. Break the codependency pattern with 4 tools.

You can’t develop your team while you’re on the mound throwing every pitch. The day there’s an obvious answer to who would run your team — that’s the day your cage door opens.

She spent every Friday afternoon rescuing her underperformers’ work. I told her the word wasn’t delegation. It was codependency. That hit different.

He was the person who could fix anything. The firefighter. The fixer. Everyone depended on him. And he could not figure out why he kept getting passed over for VP. The answer was hiding in plain sight.

He was the person everyone depended on. The firefighter. The fixer. And he could not figure out why he kept getting passed over. The answer was hiding in plain sight.

Perfectionism masks itself as excellence. 3 tools interrupt the pattern: the Identity Update, the 80% Rule, and the Permission Audit.

You're spending 40 to 60 percent of your time on work below your level. Use the Altitude Dial, W-Questions Test, and Need to Know vs. Want to Know to stop.

Real delegation means letting someone struggle with something you could handle in fifteen minutes. That’s where their growth happens. And yours.