Sports are pretty easy once the game is over. A quarterback throws an interception late in the fourth quarter and suddenly everyone becomes an expert. "He never should have thrown that pass." "How did he not see that defender?" "The right decision was obvious." It's easy to say that when you're sitting on the couch watching the replay for the third time. What makes sports interesting is that players don't get the benefit of hindsight. They have to make decisions in real time

There are certain things around the house that I convince myself might somehow fix themselves if I just leave them alone long enough. A strange noise in the basement. A cabinet door that no longer closes correctly. A tiny water spot on the ceiling that “doesn’t seem to be getting bigger.” My strategy, apparently, is optimism mixed with avoidance. And every single time, the outcome is the same. The issue eventually becomes harder, more expensive, and more frustrating to deal w

I’ve noticed something over the past year with my kids. They don't need me the same way they did when they were younger. My daughter is heading off to college soon. My oldest son is driving now. They're more independent, make own decisions, and frankly don't need much help with homework or day-to-day things. I joke that luckily I still have an 11-year-old who needs help with math homework and sports practice so I can still feel useful. Just as kids , companies grow too. And a

The other night I found myself helping my daughter apply for a summer job. Helping might not be the right word. I was suggesting edits to her answers. Rephrasing sentences. Thinking ahead to what the hiring manager might want to see. At some point she paused and said, “Dad . . . I think I’ve got it.” She was right. She probably did. But I had already stepped in too far. It made me think about something I see often in leadership. Helping is usually well-intentioned. But it can

Recently, a student asked a question in class that tied our leadership topic to their own personal world: "What do endurance athletes and successful leaders have in common?" As the discussion unfolded, one student (also a triathlete) shared how resilience, goal setting, and learning from losses show up in both worlds. She talked about how uncomfortable the training can be, and how that discomfort isn’t something to avoid but rather, something you learn to manage. Listening to

My 11-year-old came home from school with his first assignment of the new year which was to "Create a few goals for the year." And his list was exactly what you’d expect: Finish a LEGO set. Get better at Fortnite. And then one more: “I just want to keep going.” I smiled when I read it. It felt honest. It also very familiar in that I hear some version of that answer from many of the leaders I talk with. At 11, “keep going” means school, friends, and routines that mostly work

“I play dumb really well.” It’s a line I’ve used for years. It is part humbling and part true. But mostly because it reminds me of a mistake I’ve made multiple times in my career when I've heard broad direction like “Let’s be more strategic.” or “We need to show more value.” And I nodded along, convinced I knew exactly what was meant. Only to realize later that I was solving the wrong problem. Often, I wasn’t alone. Other team members walked away with different interpretatio

Most leadership teams don’t struggle to make decisions. They struggle to make decisions that stick. In a past life, I worked on a leadership team that prided ourselves on how quickly we could move forward on something. We would hash out an issue, agree, and move on before lunch. It felt efficient. Until the same issues resurfaced a few weeks later. When we dug deeper, we saw a pattern. We were making decisions within our little bubble. We rarely gathered input from others in

I’ve heard leaders describe their calendars like a loop they can’t escape: “I don’t have time to plan.” “Because I don’t plan, I spend...

During an overseas trip, I pulled into a gas station convinced I knew how to handle the situation. I had rehearsed the phrase for “fill...

"We're doing good, but not great." This year, many companies are finding themselves in a curious state. Business feels stable, but just...

My daughter's high-school summer job as pool manager isn't as much sun and fun as I expected. She recently ran into a frustrating problem...

“How was your day?” It felt like a normal question to ask one of my teenagers. But what followed was also a very normal teenage...

“Why doesn’t my leadership team come up with bold ideas? I feel like I’m always the one driving the strategy.” It’s a fair question that...

Growing up, I was on a basketball team that had an amazing player. I would watch (from the bench) as he would dominate the first half of...

At home lately, it feels as if our family is constantly on the move. Between school, work, and extracurriculars, we often find ourselves...

A few months ago, I made a new dinner recipe I was excited to try. As we were eating, I could tell something was off. My spouse kept...

When we think about what makes a great leader, we often picture qualities like confidence, decisiveness, and that ever-elusive “executive...

"How difficult can this be?" When I decided to tackle a bathroom remodel by myself, I was optimistic. Armed with DIY videos and...

I recently had a coaching experience that reminded me how assumptions can limit us as leaders. A leader I was working with had been...