"Living Leadership" is a concept that emphasizes leadership as a dynamic and evolving practice, rather than a static set of skills or traits. It involves a continuous process of learning, adapting, and responding to the ever-changing challenges and opportunities in both personal and professional contexts. Living Leadership recognizes that effective leaders are not only knowledgeable and skilled but also capable of growth, resilience, and a willingness to evolve in response to new circumstances. This approach to leadership encourages leaders to be proactive, open-minded, and self-aware, fostering a mindset of ongoing personal development and improvement. It involves staying attuned to the needs of the team or organization, promoting collaboration, and embracing change as a natural part of the leadership journey. Living Leadership aligns with the idea that leadership is a journey rather than a destination, and it places a strong emphasis on continuous self-reflection and learning to enhance leadership effectiveness. To be considered a great leader you must be humble, intuitive, dynamic, collaborative, and grounded in here-and-now emotional intelligence. Long gone are the days of "do-as-I-say", command and control management. Some still cling to these tactics, but there companies are not growing with the ever-changing market and they struggle to innovate and compete. To thrive in business, you must have a strong and talented leadership team in place who are committed and focused. They must be well balanced, cohesive and aligned as a collective group to the vision and the values of the company. As their leader it is your responsibility to ensure that you understand the people who are executing the company's vision. The success and health of the company will not only be determined by the people making the decisions, but will greatly be impacted by how they lead, so it is imperative that you are focused on their development and their message. I've been in leadership, one way or the other, for over 30 years and have seen first hand the 360 degree value of a well run team. I have witnessed chaos and mutiny but have also been a part of expansion acquisitions with smooth transitions and a budget in the black. I've lead my own teams with vision and a spirit of collaboration, and I know what makes a well-oiled machine. It's not enough to have the right talent in the right seat. The team must be aligned to the vision, mission and purpose of the company~Period. Every person should be hearing the same message from you and know exactly what the expectations are. You should be listening to them as well and empowering them to do the job they were hired for and giving them the tools and the accountability to do it. This is culture. Your own development should directly affect your team, and hopefully, they think that's a good thing! As you are growing, so is your influence. I would encourage you to pay forward the gesture and invest the same into them. Live Your Leadership! To further our Call to Action Mission, you are invited to enjoy the Living Leadership Library. A carefully curated and created collection of resources to help you be a better leader inside and out. #leadershipisinfluence

We all have dreams of achieving something meaningful. Of leaving our mark and making a difference. But very few ever believe we possess what it takes to accomplish anything truly extraordinary. We think those who do great things must be special in ways we can never attain. The key is not just seeing your inner greatness, but fully expecting it. Legendary leaders help others envision their highest selves. Martin Luther King didn’t just have a dream, he believed everyone could live that dream. Gandhi saw India’s freedom in every citizen’s eyes before they saw it themselves. Great leaders ignite greatness in others by believing it already exists within them. This starts with believing in your own limitless potential. But potential means nothing until passion is added. Passion provides the relentless energy to push boundaries and redefine what’s achievable. It’s the pilot light for turning potential into performance. FDR said “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” When you marry potential with passion, fulfillment naturally follows. But passion alone is not enough either. The key ingredient is execution through action. Without persistent action, passion for achievement quickly fades. Sustained effort focused like a laser turns aspiration into reality. Effort enables passion to catch fire so potential energy gets released. Small consistent actions create an exponential impact over time. This is why the most successful leaders focus on daily progress through disciplined execution. The formula is simple: Potential + Passion + Execution. But nothing complex is ever easy. Living to your full potential requires extraordinary persistence in overcoming obstacles, disappointments, self-limitations, and doubts from others. It means silencing your inner critic and developing emotional resilience when you stumble or get pushed back down. But resilient people always get back up. They expect greatness from themselves regardless of circumstances or odds. Your potential mixed with passion will drive you. Consistent execution will take you to heights unimagined. By committing fully to your own development and believing unequivocally in your latent talents, you honor both yourself and those who will someday follow your lead. Excellence always starts from within. Leadership begins by seeing just how bright your light can shine. Believe it, live it, achieve it. That is your calling.

Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said, “The most important thing is that you care more about your players than about yourself.” He believed that truly great leaders must care more deeply about others than themselves or their own success. Like all selfless acts, this is easier said than done. As leaders, our natural instincts often push us to think about our own needs first - getting credit for wins, avoiding blame for losses, gaining influence and rewards. The sacrifice comes in reversing this mindset completely - working tirelessly to advance others instead of ourselves. I’ve witnessed how this sacrifice transforms leaders. A VP at a Fortune 500 tech company made it his personal mission to spotlight his engineers’ breakthroughs in company meetings. He passed up chances to speak in order to give them the stage. Within a year, his division’s retention skyrocketed. The more credit he gave, the more his team produced. The same dynamic holds in my friend Debbie’s nonprofit. As executive director, she insists her program leaders represent the organization at community events while she supports behind the scenes. “It’s about showcasing their good work,” she told me, “not having my name in lights.” Making this sacrifice reframes your purpose as a leader. The team’s success becomes your success. Their growth feeds your growth. Billionaire investor and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio calls this “getting power by giving it away.” The more you empower others, the more power you gain. Of course, sacrifice also means swallowing your pride when things go wrong under your watch. Resist making excuses or blaming individuals. Own mistakes openly and talk about team-wide accountability. Will you reap personal rewards by putting others first? Maybe, maybe not. But the rewards for your team will be endless. Their trust, loyalty and performance will continue to compound over time. So silence that little voice always worrying about your own interests, no matter the cost. Lead from the mindset that empowering your people is the ultimate power. That’s the sacrifice that changes everything.

Listening seems easy. After all, it just requires keeping quiet while someone else talks, right? Not so fast. True active listening involves much more than resting your ears. It demands full focus, engaged body language, paraphrasing, reflective questions, and restraint from quick judgments. Mastering the art of active listening is how leaders gain deeper understanding. Like a detective, attentive listening picks up subtle clues from tone, word choice, cadence and emphasis. Combined, these cues reveal more than just stated facts. They disclose intentions, motivations, doubts and needs - the unspoken context that shapes meaning. As marketing executive Seth Godin puts it, “Great listening is not only the ability to hear what someone says, it’s also listening to what they don’t say.” Consider how Sherlock Holmes stories portray this idea. Through astute observation of tiny details - an ink stain or tobacco scent - the master detective makes brilliant deductions about suspects. Leaders play a similar role. By tuning into subtle vocal cues and reading between the lines, they uncover insights to guide better decisions. Take pauses and hesitations. Like clues at a crime scene, they signal areas of discomfort or concealment. Gently exploring these lulls often exposes crucial issues or concerns not directly voiced. What’s unsaid becomes as enlightening as what’s said. Of course, listening well goes beyond just hearing words accurately. Like a sports coach reviewing game tape, leaders must replay conversations to pick up themes and discern needs. Reflective listening techniques like summarizing discussions (“Let me make sure I understand...”) or paraphrasing viewpoints (“It sounds like you feel...”) demonstrate true comprehension. In the end, listening evokes meaning. And meaning inspires change. When team members know their leader has truly listened, doors unlock to greater commitment, innovation and care. But that only happens after leaders tune in completely - not just to statements but intentions, not just to facts but feelings. As management guru Peter Drucker put it, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” Are you really listening?

The alarm clock blares, jolting us awake. We fumble to hit snooze, desperate for a few more minutes of sleep. But deep down, we know it’s time to get up and start the day. As leaders, we need a different kind of wake-up call – one that shakes us from complacency and spurs us to realize our full potential. Let this newsletter be your wake-up call to become the leader you’ve always aspired to be. The time is now. Hitting the snooze button on your personal growth and denying your team the leadership they deserve helps no one. We all have room to grow. Even the best leaders started from humble beginnings, fueled by a burning desire to make a difference. With hard work and an open mind, they transformed into the giants whose shoulders we stand on today. You have that same potential within you, waiting to be unleashed. Your leadership journey starts with a single step – paying attention to the subtle signs that it’s time for positive change. Maybe you snap at your team more often lately or avoid new challenges that push you outside your comfort zone. Perhaps you’ve lost the spark that made work exciting. These signals act like a blaring alarm, telling you it’s time to recharge your leadership. Heed the call by reigniting your curiosity. Immerse yourself in books, podcasts, courses – whatever fuels your inspiration. Seek out mentors and coaches who challenge your assumptions. Ask bold questions and listen intently for answers. Most importantly, redouble your commitment to consistent self-improvement. Like an athlete training for the Olympics, view every day as a chance to expand your leadership abilities. Small wins accumulate into massive transformation over time. The wake-up call is sounding. How will you respond? Hitting snooze is no longer an option. Your team and organization are counting on you to rise up, shake off complacency, and unleash the inspirational leadership we know lives within you. The time for change is now. How will you answer the call?

Leaders grapple daily with more things to do than time allows. Endless priorities vie for attention, pulling focus in too many directions. Sound familiar? The greatest challenge leaders face is not a skill gap but an execution gap created by divided attention. As leadership expert Brian Tracy says, “Every great achievement is the result of concentrated focus on a single aim.” Like driving a car, focusing leadership requires directing attention with intention. Leaders must channel their energy deliberately, ignoring the incessant noise clamoring for notice. Success depends on concentrating effort where it matters most. The legendary coach John Wooden believed strongly in focusing on performance, not outcome. “Focus on the journey, not the destination,” he advised. “If you always strive for perfection, you will discover it along the way.” This journey mindset keeps leaders in a state of flow, immersed in the task at hand without constant comparison. They experience deep satisfaction from doing great work, not just completing it. Staying focused also means limiting interruptions. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella schedules “think weeks” to immerse himself in contemplating the future without disruption. He believes it’s “important to disconnect periodically so your brain gets time to synthesize things.” Great leaders artfully eliminate distractions, declutter obligations, and silence apps to curb fretful multitasking. This prevents mental overload so they can narrow attention to high-impact priorities. But focus is fragile. In today’s hyperconnected world, digital temptation lurks everywhere. “Distraction is the enemy of execution,” reminds leadership guru Peter Drucker. The lure of notifications must be resisted to sustain focus. Finding focus requires self-discipline, but the payoff is immense. According to researcher Anders Ericsson, mastery depends on applied, focused effort. There are no shortcuts. By steadily concentrating energy, leaders achieve bold visions through consistent execution. Like a laser, the sharper the focus, the more powerful the result. The difference between dream and destiny is concentration. The secret to leadership success is not superhuman skill but unwavering focus. The journey awaits. Where will you point your focus today?

We all have them. Blind spots, that is. Those unseen biases and beliefs lurking below the surface that skew our perceptions. Like a car’s blind spot obscuring oncoming traffic, our cognitive blind spots distort how we take in information and see the world. Left unchecked, blind spots confound our decision-making and lead us astray. But how do we shine a light on what we can’t see? It starts with humility - embracing that we likely harbor blind spots despite our best intentions. Arrogance and overconfidence keep blind spots firmly in place, while humility loosens their grip. Seeking diverse perspectives further illuminates blind spots. We need viewpoints from different backgrounds, industries, and roles to reveal our hidden assumptions. Like a mosaic coming together, varied opinions surface unconscious biases piece-by-piece. Of course, simply exposing a blind spot doesn’t remove it. That requires tracing it back to formative experiences that cemented it, then untangling the beliefs and emotions wrapped around it. Not easy work, but necessary. Blind spots also emerge through our actions. Say you promise transparency to your team yet make key decisions unilaterally. That disconnect reveals an “integrity blind spot.” Actions expose what words conceal. Finally, rigorous self-reflection - regularly examining decisions, reactions, behaviors - drags blind spots into the light. Some leaders schedule this reflection monthly, others weekly. Consistency matters most. The most admirable leaders view blind spots not as personal flaws, but as gateways to self-improvement. While our perceptions may remain stubbornly imperfect, progress lies in the pursuit. Shedding light on blind spots brightens leadership and clears the path forward. The reward? Seeing our organization and ourselves a little more clearly.

We love strategies. Leaders spend countless hours crafting detailed strategic plans to guide their organizations. These roadmaps help focus team efforts, but too often their power fades when circumstances change. That’s why leaders need to employ one simple yet unstoppable strategy that works in good times and bad: care relentlessly. Caring may seem soft, but it’s the hardest and most durable competitive advantage. Like bedrock, it provides a foundation that supports success through anything. Truly caring leaders build organizations as strong as the pyramids. Caring goes deeper than empathy or compassion. It’s fighting in the trenches alongside your team during difficult times. Encouraging them when morale is low. Making sure they have what they need to perform at their best. Caring means listening closely to customers and addressing their pain points swiftly. It’s providing top-notch service that delights. Giving people more than they expect creates loyal advocates. Caring is digging into the details. Mastering your craft through diligent practice, like a concert violinist. People can sense true expertise, and it sets you apart. Caring drives innovation. When you care fiercely about improving lives, you find creative ways to solve problems. Caring gives you permission to take risks and try new things in service of others. Caring builds trust. Being transparent about challenges while remaining confident calms nervous stakeholders. Caring leaders take responsibility without making excuses. They hold themselves accountable first. Caring transforms company culture. Recognize caring behavior publicly. Make it the core value you reward and celebrate. When people see it’s the key to success, they emulate that spirit. Care not just when it’s convenient, but when it’s hard. When competitors don’t. During crises big and small. The deepest loyalty is built through struggle together. Those relationships never break. Care selfishly about your people and mission. The rest will follow. It summons an energy and magic beyond strategy. The world needs more tireless caring. Let yours shine bright.

Take a 30 Day Action Challenge to pump up your mindset and amplify your motivation. Your career cannot just be on autopilot - YOU must steer the ship, keep provisions stocked and lead your crew. Download this document and set your dates!