Tag: Servant Leadership
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How to keep your transformation from stalling…
TLDR: We all want our product teams to be Effective, Efficient, and Engaged. But how do we keep our agile transformations from stalling out in the first place? Today, we take a proactive look at how to outsmart Larman’s Laws of Organizational Behavior, the “systemic gravity” waiting to pull you backward, so you can help…
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Volition Isn’t a Trait. It’s a Condition.
TLDR: Brooks is right that volition is the new edge in the AI age. He’s wrong that it’s a personal trait. It’s a leadership condition, which means it’s your job. Remember when AI was going to give us all a shorter workweek and a longer lunch? Funny how that turned out. Then he makes the…
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Are Your Quiet Rock Stars Feeling Invisible?
TLDR; When team members feel forced to “toot their own horn” just to be noticed, psychological safety plummets and corporate theater takes over. If you are noticing an epidemic of “CC everyone,” public channel performances, or people fighting over high-profile projects, the environment is accidentally incentivizing unhealthy self-promotion. As leaders and managers, it is our…
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Are you Sprinting, or just Running?
Are You “Sprinting” Or Just “Running?” TLDR: A Sprint without a Goal isn’t a Sprint — it’s just a random collection of tasks. If you want a team that’s focused, empowered, and actually delivering value (instead of just “checking boxes”), it’s time to stop treating your backlog like a grocery list and start planning with…
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The Balancing Act: Protecting Your Team Without Losing the Win
tldr Explore the critical leadership challenge of protecting a team’s psychological health while simultaneously holding them accountable for high-quality delivery. Watch out for the “Nurture Trap,” where over-protection leads to stagnation, and the “Delivery Delusion,” where excessive pressure causes burnout and dysfunction. Instead shoot for a “High Support, High Challenge” mindset, where accountability as an…
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From Directing to Coaching: The “Guide” Playbook
tldr; Directives are the siren song of efficiency that actually kill curiosity. If you want a team that thinks for themselves, stop giving them the answers. Today we look at how to build psychological safety, lead with questions, and start creating an environment of empowerment, today! In my last message, I talked about the Directive…
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Is your “directive” style sapping your teams innovation and effectiveness?
tldr; Directiveness feels efficient, but it’s often a “Checklist Trap” that kills curiosity and stalls growth. If you find yourself doing all the talking or approving every minor decision, you aren’t just managing—you’re dismantling your team’s potential. Explore some red-flags and warning signs, and try something new to unleash the greatness within your team.
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The “Vacation Test”: Are You Essential… or an Obstacle?
tldr; It has been suggested that I type… a lot. So, here is the short version! If you stepped away for a month, would your team thrive or dive? We often blame our teams for bottlenecks, but the hard truth is that the bottleneck is usually us. This week’s post offers a simple 4-step…
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Never be afraid
📖 “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth.” – William Faulkner It takes courage to stand up and say something that may go against the grain, or be an unpopular…
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True Leadership Is About Helping People To Grow
📖 A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” -Lao Tzu True leadership is about helping people to grow, and enabling them to succeed. By creating a clear understanding of the goal, equipping people with the tools…