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Most workplaces have that person who loses their temper when the pressure hits. And you typically hear the predictable line that follows: “That’s just how he is.” “That’s just her style.” That is BS. When emotional outbursts go unchecked, they shape the culture, slow the pace of work, and complicates decisions that should be straightforward. It can also derail your career if you happen to be the one having these outbursts. Repeated outbursts are behavior, not personality. Per

When leaders tell me they brought in training and nothing changed afterward, I often know why before they finish explaining. They bought a canned program built for a broad audience, not for the realities their organization is dealing with. It may have looked promising on paper, but it did not resonate because it did not reflect the participants lived experience. And even if it had, behavior does not shift unless the root cause is addressed and people are held to the changes t

Many organizations have a succession plan on paper, but the plan often looks more complete than it really is. It may include charts and names in future roles, yet when you look at it closely, it does not prepare the business for real turnover or mitigate risk. You can usually tell when a plan is not grounded in reality. Some plans rely on the same person as the successor for several roles. Others include people who have no interest in the job. Short‑term stop gaps get labeled

Leaders hear a lot about removing ego from leadership. It sounds noble, but it does not match real life. Every leader relies on ego. It protects identity, keeps you oriented when the pressure rises, and helps you move through hard moments. The goal is not to eliminate ego, but to understand when it supports your leadership and when it interferes with it. Leadership puts you in situations where your capability, your credibility, and your sense of control feel exposed. That is

What Breaking Points Look Like Breaking points are part of being human. Every person has a limit where the load begins to wear them down. We reach it after being stretched too far for too long. It shows in different ways. A quick answer replaces a thoughtful one because bandwidth is gone. Frustration leaks into tone. Anger sits closer to the surface. Reaction starts to override judgment. Tone tightens. Decisions come faster than they should. Listening drops off. The leader is

I did something stupid. Really stupid. And I knew better. It started like any normal day. I was getting ready to hop on my horse for our daily ride. I wanted to do some pole work as part of his conditioning, so I tossed his reins over his head and went to set a few poles in place. Mistake. Big mistake. He dropped his head to grab some grass at the edge of the arena. The reins hit the ground, and he stepped right into them. When he lifted his head, his front leg was caught. He

Have you ever left a meeting and thought, we talked about this action, but who is actually doing it? If that detail isn’t nailed down, the ripple effects can spread through a team faster than people realize. Unclear ownership is a pattern that shows up in all kinds of organizations, and while it creates real problems, it’s also one of the easiest ones to fix. What unclear ownership looks like Deadlines slip because everyone is working on something, but no one is accountable f

I see chronic urgency more than almost any other pattern across organizations. It shows up in corporate environments, matrixed teams, nonprofits, professional services, and anywhere leaders feel pressure to treat everything as priority number one, so they look responsive and high performing. It also shows up when people have multiple managers with conflicting priorities and unclear decision rights. The source varies, but the symptoms are consistent and the impact is almost al

Last week, we talked about the rescuing pattern. This week we are looking at another one that shows up just as often: over-functioning. Over‑functioning employees and leaders take on more work, responsibilities, or control than is reasonable. This is often at the expense of their own well-being and team development. It’s not about working hard; it’s about over-thinking and over-doing in ways that can be harmful. We aren’t talking about that last sprint to get a project ov

Rescuing is a pattern seen in leaders across industries and team sizes. It is quiet, subtle, and usually comes from a good place. But rescuing may be the reason you keep taking on work that is not yours. How rescuing usually begins Most rescuing does not look dramatic. It looks like: Answering a question someone could answer themselves Stepping in because it’s faster, rather than coaching through it Fixing something to prevent stress or to avoid conflict Smoothing over a mist

You’ve addressed this before. Maybe not this exact situation — but something close. Same type of problem, same outcome. And here you are again. That’s a pattern, not a one-off. Patterns are asking you to look at what’s underneath. Event → Pattern → System Most leaders are excellent at handling events. Something happens, you deal with it, and you keep things moving. In fast environments, reacting quickly is part of the job. You don’t get much space to pause. The problem is whe

Most leadership conversations focus on behaviors: communicate clearly, coach effectively, stay calm, make good decisions. But when pressure hits, behavior is the last thing the brain is thinking about. Under pressure, the brain shifts into survival mode — and survival mode doesn’t care about leadership training. If leaders don’t understand what’s happening internally, they default to old habits. Not because they want to, but because their brain is doing exactly what it’s desi

Most leaders don’t struggle because they lack skills. They struggle because the skills they do have disappear the moment pressure hits. You’ve probably seen it: A supervisor who communicates clearly in training suddenly becomes short, reactive, or vague when the pace picks up. A manager who practices coaching techniques in workshops reverts to directive, top‑down instructions when timelines tighten. A leader who knows how to de‑escalate conflict ends up escalating it instead.

There’s a saying in the horse world I’ve always appreciated: “Act like you have 15 minutes and it will take all day. Act like you have all day and it will take 15 minutes.” People think it’s about patience. It’s not. It’s about what happens to your emotional state when you approach something like it needs to be done fast — and what happens to your effectiveness when it doesn’t go the way you expected. When you go into a situation thinking, “I need this wrapped up in 15 minute

If you’ve ever sat through a leadership class and thought, “Can we skip the emotional intelligence part and just get to the checklist?” — you’re not alone. Most leaders I work with want the behaviors, the tools, the scripts, and the practical steps they can use tomorrow. And I get it. Time is tight. Production demands don’t slow down so you can sit in a classroom. But here’s the problem: When you cut the self‑assessment and emotional intelligence work, you’re removing the wir

Culture isn’t a values poster or an HR program. It’s the everyday system that determines how work actually gets done. When routines fail, the plant tells you in rework minutes, overtime spikes, safety incidents, and the decisions people make when no one’s watching. Those aren’t just feelings — they’re measurable signals you can act on. What your day‑to‑day operations are telling you about culture Look at the recurring problems — the same rework, the same overtime spikes, the

My latest read is Leading with Wisdom: Sage Advice from 100 Experts by Jann E. Freed. After countless hours of interviews with 100+ thought leaders and senior leaders in award‑winning organizations, she identified eight leadership practices that consistently show up. One of them — “living your legacy” — stuck with me because it’s something leaders can actually use when the pressure is on. It starts with two steps. First: define the legacy you want to leave. What lasting impac

You hear a lot about mindset these days. Scarcity vs. abundance. Closed vs. open. Fixed vs. growth. And while I agree that a growth mindset is foundational to resilience and leading through tough moments, I think we’ve oversimplified the rest. Most of the mindsets we talk about aren’t personality traits. They’re situational tools. And leaders are at their best when they know how to choose the mindset that fits the moment. Mindsets are not values or character traits – they’re

In manufacturing, the pace is fast and the pressure is real. When something goes wrong, it’s easy for frustration to spill over. Most leaders don’t intend to embarrass someone publicly — they’re trying to correct an issue before it affects safety, quality, or output. But when a leader reacts in the moment, raises their voice, or calls someone out in front of others, the impact is rarely what they intend. It doesn’t reinforce standards. It reduces communication, weakens trust,

Most supervisors aren’t struggling because they lack commitment. They’re struggling because the work is constant. The pace, the interruptions, and the production demands often push leaders toward managing tasks instead of leading people. When that becomes the norm, communication thins out, small issues grow, and teams lose connection. There is a simple, research‑supported habit that helps leaders stay present without adding another meeting or initiative: a 10‑minute daily che