Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

A deadline doesn’t care whether a team is still forming. A customer crisis won’t pause while people work through conflict. Critical initiatives can’t always wait for trust, routines and shared rhythm to develop.

That’s the tension leaders face: teams need time to become cohesive, but the business needs results now.

Bruce Tuckman’s model of forming, storming, norming and performing reflects a natural progression: people come together, work through differences, establish norms and eventually perform as a cohesive team.

But what happens when the business can’t afford to wait?

That’s when leadership matters most.

Stephen R. Covey’s principle of the Speed of Trust offers a practical answer. Trust doesn’t eliminate team development, but it can accelerate it. When trust is high, communication moves faster, decisions require less friction and people spend less time protecting themselves or questioning motives.

Leaders build trust by keeping commitments, extending trust appropriately, speaking honestly, listening carefully and aligning actions with values. They also clarify expectations, practice accountability and give people confidence to contribute before every relationship or routine is fully established.

Cohesion doesn’t come from time alone. It comes when people rally around a common purpose, understand what success requires, respect one another’s contributions and commit to something larger than themselves.

Effective leaders accelerate that process by clarifying three things: where we’re going, what we need from one another, and how we’ll hold ourselves accountable.

Trust is not merely a result of cohesion. It is one of the fastest ways to create it.

When people trust the leader, they engage more readily. When they trust one another, they speak candidly, challenge assumptions and ask for help. When they trust the process, they can move forward without having every uncertainty resolved.

Differences of opinion are inevitable. Healthy debate is essential. But when the mission is clear and trust is present, disagreement strengthens decisions instead of slowing progress.

The best teams don’t need to think, work or solve problems the same way. They need to align on the outcome, communicate openly and trust one another enough to move forward together.

Sometimes, the pressure of a meaningful challenge brings a team together. But pressure alone is not enough. Leaders must use it to create shared commitments, honor promises and model the behaviors they expect from others.

We may not have time to move naturally through every stage of team development. But we can intentionally create the conditions for people to unite, contribute and perform when it matters most.

So here’s my takeaways for the week:

•Build trust early

•Keep commitments

•Extend trust wisely

•Address issues directly

•Make the mission clear

A group of talented individuals can deliver work. A cohesive team can deliver results under pressure. A high-trust team can do both faster.

Don’t wait for cohesion to emerge. Lead in a way that creates it.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

With even the best succession plans, things don’t always go exactly the way we thought they would.

And when leadership changes in an organization, one thing is certain: there will be transition.

The question is what happens next.

Handled well, transition can become transformation. Handled poorly, it can create uncertainty, frustration and momentum in the wrong direction.

So what can leaders do to improve the odds that a transition becomes a positive transformation?

Three ideas come to mind from three leadership thinkers I respect.

Peter Drucker reminds us that succession isn’t ultimately about replacing a person. It’s about preparing the organization to succeed beyond that person.

Ken Blanchard teaches us that leadership has to be situational. During transition, people don’t all need the same thing. Some need direction. Some need reassurance. Others need the freedom to lead.

Patrick Lencioni puts a premium on organizational health and a cohesive leadership team. During change, trust, healthy conflict and alignment matter even more. When leaders are pulling in the same direction, organizations are better equipped to navigate uncertainty.

As I enter the 9th inning of my full-time professional career, I’ve been fortunate to leverage some of my own transformational experiences. I’ve been entrusted to support leaders, leadership teams and companies as they navigate their future and find success amidst the endless challenges that come their way.

The combination of personalities, leadership styles, situations and opportunities is incredibly exciting. And when a transition becomes something bigger—when people, teams and organizations emerge stronger—the outcome is as rewarding as it gets.

Transition is inevitable.

Transformation is a choice.

Here comes the next stampede!

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Anne and I attend a local church that brings a guest speaker in occasionally by the name Ryan Leak. He is inspiring; so articulate, so passionate, so good! Each time we hear him speak, we leave church after laughing, smiling, squeezing each other’s hand because he lands a point that we know exactly what he’s saying.

Podcasts are a great way to learn and Oprah has transferred media preference from daytime TV to podcasts and she brought Ryan on set to talk about How to work with complicated people, his latest book.

He talks about four strategies to work with complicated people. Ultimately, the first three sound good until he debunks them and settles on the real strategy, which is you; the reader, the learner, the wanna be … are complicated.

As a leader, you set the tone. The number one thing that determines if you show up as complicated or not, is (drum roll) … attitude. You don’t “Match the energy”, you “Set the standard”. Choose how you are going to be and be deliberate about it.

What might you take away from this short peek in the mirror coupled with some sage advice?

Ryan says, “Hope.”

If you are stuck, if you think your code of conduct comes from your zip code and your household “where I’m from” and somehow dictates where you’re going … there is hope.

You can decide your code.

You can choose your attitude.

You can be part of effective collaboration and help create a workplace you actually love coming to.

As a leader, that is the opportunity – and the responsibility. Create an environment where people look forward to Monday morning because of how they are treated, how they work together, and how they feel about the people around them.

People are complicated. Leaders are complicated. Expect complicated.

But don’t use it as an excuse.

Choose your attitude. Set the standard. Be deliberate about who you are going to be.

Expect complicated — and choose not to be.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I found a new leadership book that does an exceptional job in short, digestible chapters, describing how to lead in today’s environment.

Author Gifford Thomas wrote The Blueprint of Leadership: Strategies For A New Era: Build Trust, Inspire Teams and Achieve Extraordinary Results

It is absolutely worth the read.

Starting out with a quote from John Maxwell, “Everything rises on falls on leadership.”, Thomas whets the appetite with a quick story about Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO.

“…if your culture is toxic and your leaders are ineffective, your potential is already capped.”

Other great lines that stick out:

•”True leadership is not defined by a title, a corner office or the authority to command. It’s fundamentally defined by one measurable outcome; growth. If your presence, mentorship, and guidance fail to cultivate development in the people around you, then you simply can’t call yourself a leader.”

•”In the strategic boardroom, discussions often center on market share, innovation pipelines, and quarterly profits. Yet, one of the most significant -and often underestimated factors impacting a company’s long-term financial health is the cost of losing good employees”

•”Effective collaboration is no longer just about putting knowledgeable people in a room; it is about creating a “People-First” ecosystem where those individuals feel safe enough to be brilliant.”

Leadership creates the environment. Culture determines what happens inside that environment. And the people in that environment ultimately determine what an organization can accomplish.

We spend a tremendous amount of time building business plans, strategic plans and financial forecasts. But perhaps we should spend just as much time building the leadership blueprint that allows those plans to become reality.

Are the people around you growing?

Do they feel valued enough to stay?

Do they feel safe enough to challenge an idea, speak up or bring their best thinking to the table?

Those aren’t soft questions. They are leadership questions—and increasingly, business questions.

Every leader leaves a blueprint behind. The question is whether the people who follow us will be stronger, more capable and more confident because we were part of their journey.

That seems like a pretty good measure of leadership to me.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team. It’s Friday.

Twenty-five years ago today, we suffered a great tragedy as a country. The kind where most of us remember distinctly where we were when the news broke. The country stopped in its tracks as terror took its toll, and the stories rolled in.

I’ve spent enough time in New York to see the site, visit the museum, watch One World Trade Center rise, see the rebuilding of the transportation infrastructure, walk around the Memorial Pools—and read the signs everywhere:

Never Forget.

I was in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, at the Greenbrier, having dinner with multiple industry icons and their spouses for a special event. The wine had been poured, and one of our tablemates prefaced his toast with a story about his son, a first responder in New York when the towers fell.

His son shared how, after a grueling period of sifting and searching, a group of responders assembled to break bread and toast those they had lost.

It was an old toast:

To lying, cheating, stealing and drinking.

If you’re going to lie, lie to save a friend.
If you’re going to cheat, cheat death.
If you’re going to steal, steal a heart.
And if you must drink, raise a glass with me.

So, as we reflect today—and if you imbibe and reflect—remember the toast.

Raise a glass.

And never forget.

Have a blessed weekend.

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Some weeks remind you that leadership would be a lot easier if people weren’t involved.

This was not one of those weeks.

Anne and I took close friends to one of their favorite restaurants in the city to celebrate a memorable birthday. We were upstairs, enjoying great food and even better company, sitting fairly close to a couple at another table.

For most of their meal, they whispered, leaned toward each other and, more than once, boldly stared at me.

At first, I thought maybe I had something in my teeth. Then I realized they were trying to put a face to a voice.

Apparently, someone thought they recognized me from somewhere, and the mystery was worth considerable investigation.

It was funny.

The rest of the week was less so.

•An authority figure vacillated between praise and admonition.

•An employee pushed hard, colored well outside the lines, hid behind a local, enabling and advocating authority when it suited him and then threw a few grenades on his way out.

•I got a call from a bewildered external recruiter who shared with me that a high-caliber HR leader, who accepted an opportunity, resigned from their current role and then reconsidered well into the transition.

People are complicated.

Leadership is complicated.

And then, in the middle of all of it, a really good team did what really good teams do.

They came together.

They picked up pieces, filled gaps, communicated … and kept moving.

That may be the best definition of sustainable leadership I know:

You don’t build organizations that never get knocked off balance. You build organizations capable of finding their balance again.

That’s culture.

That’s trust.

That’s leadership.

The human condition isn’t going away.

Neither are the unexpected disruptions, difficult conversations or moments when people make things harder than they need to be.

The question is whether your team can absorb the disruption without losing its center.

Because resilience isn’t the absence of disorder.

It’s the ability to recover, reconnect and keep moving forward.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I can count on one hand the number of people who have walked a similar path ahead of me who took the time to look over their shoulder, notice I needed a hand, stopped to listen and then helped put an action plan together.

Not just a coach…

Not just a leader…

Not just a facilitator…

Not just a confidante…

A close, close friend.

Some days a sunshine pump and other days a curious collaborator.

Together, we have navigated multiple challenges:

•loneliness in the CEO chair making excruciatingly difficult decisions, realizing it probably won’t lead to sustainable success, or winning popularity contests, but you do it because it’s the right thing

•managing family dynamics that stem from extreme investment of time and talents to build something that creates momentum for thousands of families and for decades to come

•wrestling with personal choices like putting your health first because you can’t help others if you aren’t mentally sharp and physically fit

Today, we share joy and tragedy, and everything in between, with spouses who complete us.

Circumstances have changed but the relationship keeps growing.

Thank you, Clayton!

If you don’t have a mentor, I’d encourage you to search one out.

And depending on where you are in your own journey, you might consider paying it forward and becoming a mentor yourself.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

I’ve come to believe the best mentors are also willing to be mentored.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

When it comes to profanity, some will argue it’s a sign of emotional authenticity and others will contend that profane words are simply sentence enhancers. Others believe there is no place for cussing, regardless the circumstance.

A few examples:

•I grew up as a general contractor’s kid in a Christian household. We were taught early that profanity was bad. “Do not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain”. I was able to get my drivers license at 14 and was hauling gravel in a different state alongside (ahem) well-heeled operators. I heard them swear, I wanted to fit in, so I … expanded my vocabulary. I’m sure they were laughing privately wondering where this potty-mouthed kid came from.

•I worked with a Mensa-smart attorney for a while who was judicious with his word choice. We would get into a regular discussion on whatever topic after hours, winding down from an stress-filled day and he shared a tidbit about what his father had advised him regarding profanity. He would imply it was a measure of intelligence, saying, “You must not be smart enough if you cannot convey thought without the inclination to swear”.

•I was watching a quick video clip on LinkedIn yesterday where Tom Brady was explaining how his old coach, famous for saying “Do your job” would actually say, “Do your f***ing job!” Mr Brady does not strike me as a foul mouthed dude but when he used it in this instance, it represented emotional authenticity AND a sentence enhancer.

What does all of this mean?

I think profanity is like a bottle of hot sauce and you need to use it sparingly, depending on the palette of your audience. Sounds straightforward, but it’s really more subtle than most people realize.

-Some people, like family members, take extreme offense at any profanity. (I ate soap more times than I care to remember.)

-Some people might privately think you are simple and fall into a stereotyped demographic where every other word is used as a sentence enhancer but it becomes so tired that people tune you out completely.

-Some people…use it in the right situation, with the right audience, to establish credibility and spice things up, just enough.

Know your audience.

Be both authentic and judicious with your word choices.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Do you recall that moment in your life when you were genuinely moved to do something that you hadn’t thought of before … or maybe you’d teased with the concept but couldn’t rationalize the actions necessary to make it happen?

Was it tied to an event or a person?

I’ve heard countless versions of someone recalling an interaction with someone that was so powerful it absolutely changed the trajectory of their life.

If you are a parent, you hope that you could have this kind of influence over the formative years of your children.

If you are a spouse, you should be spending energy identifying what you can do to be influential to continually improve your connection. To do more, to be more, to become inseparable and indispensable.

If you are a child, you may be inclined to manipulate mom & dad early to get your way but ultimately, your desire should be to demonstrate reasons why they are proud of who you’ve become, that you listened, understood, took action and accomplished…better than they could have ever imagined.

If you are a leader…

•You are not trying to create followers-that is selfish.

•You are not trying to pound your chest and assert your authority-that is hubris.

•You are not the focus of attention, on magazine covers, speaking on panels and taking credit for everything positive that’s happened in your organization-that is bullshit.

If you are an actual leader…

•You measure success by how many leaders have been created, by those you’ve influenced. Not just the immediate impact of directing and supporting your team members.  Generational impact.

•As the military asserts, leaders eat last. You don’t need to be noticed, lauded, praised or celebrated. You already made it. It’s your time to invest, pay it forward and develop generations.

•You exemplify humility and seek out where you can elevate others to reach their full potential. Set the tone and invite others to the stage. Identify the high potential/high performers and invest in them. Create a succession plan early. Push your self while you coach and pull them forward.

If you have been blessed with achievement and success, it is not meant to be hoarded for your own enjoyment. It is best when passed on, wisdom imparted.

Be that someone who inspires others to achieve what they never thought possible.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

This week I had the opportunity to experience live music several times. Different venues. Different artists. Different styles. Yet every performance reminded me of the same leadership lesson.

Anyone can play the notes.

Not everyone can make music.

A five-year-old can sit at a piano and stumble through Chopsticks. Every key is technically correct. The notes are there. The melody is recognizable.

Then someone like Beethoven composes a symphony that has stirred hearts for more than two centuries.

The difference isn’t simply talent. It’s mastery of the fundamentals.

Leadership works the same way.

Many people hold leadership titles. They conduct meetings, approve budgets, assign work, and deliver presentations. They’re playing the notes.

The leaders people willingly follow are making music.

Their teams trust them. Their words carry weight. Their organizations move with purpose. People leave conversations energized instead of exhausted.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

James Kouzes and Barry Posner, in The Leadership Challenge, identified five practices of exemplary leadership:

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart

These aren’t advanced techniques reserved for extraordinary leaders. They’re scales.

Every accomplished musician has spent countless hours practicing scales—not because audiences buy tickets to hear scales, but because mastery of the scales makes beautiful music possible.

Leadership is no different.

Model the Way… every day.

Encourage the Heart… every day.

Enable Others to Act… every day.

Practice these fundamentals until they become instinct rather than intention.

Too often we chase the next leadership hack, the newest strategy, or the latest management trend. Meanwhile, the leaders we admire are simply doing the basics with extraordinary consistency.

Great conductors don’t wave the baton harder.

Great musicians don’t memorize more notes.

They master rhythm, timing, dynamics, and harmony so completely that everyone around them wants to be part of the performance.

Leadership isn’t about making more noise.

It’s about creating something others want to join.

When you faithfully practice the fundamentals, your leadership stops sounding like someone learning Chopsticks.

It begins to feel like a symphony that people remember long after the final note.

So here’s the question I’ll leave with you:

What are you practicing today—the notes of leadership, or the music?

Because titles may get people to listen for a moment.

But leaders who master the fundamentals create a cadence others choose to follow… and together, they make music worth remembering.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric