Runners sometimes talk about the loneliness of the long-distance runner. When you're training for a long race, there are miles you simply have to run on your own. No one else can log them for you. The early mornings, the steady pacing, the quiet discipline — the work of preparing ultimately belongs to the person chasing the goal. But if you’ve ever had a good training partner, you know something else too. The miles feel different when someone is running beside you. They don’t

Most organizations know how to assemble good pieces. Talented people. Clear mission. Experienced board members. Dedicated staff. On paper, it looks solid. And yet… You can have great bricks — and still feel like the wall is wobbling. You might be thinking: Why is decision-making this hard? Why do meetings feel circular? Why do we keep revisiting the same conversations? Why does every issue feel heavier than it should? When that happens, it’s tempting to swap out a brick. Blam

“A positive workplace culture is critical to organizational success.” You’ve read some version of that sentence before. Probably more than once. And it’s not wrong. But how does “positive workplace culture” actually show up on a random Tuesday morning? What does your culture look like: When someone makes a mistake? When a new idea gets proposed? When a deadline slips? When a team member challenges a senior leader? When a new employee is onboarded? That’s where culture lives.

Lately, I’ve been noticing something about relationships. In new coach training this week, the value “assume positive intent” landed differently for me as I thought about interactions I observe in my world. Around the same time, a colleague reviewing my 90-day framework pointed out that while I included “meet key stakeholders,” I hadn’t emphasized the work of deepening and sustaining those relationships. Two different settings. One consistent lesson: Relationships aren’t buil

At some point, most leaders have an uncomfortable realization: The work keeps coming, but their capacity doesn’t magically expand. That’s usually when “developing the team” slides to the bottom of the list — not because it isn’t important, but because it feels optional when everything else feels urgent. Deadlines loom. Emails pile up. The "quickest" path forward is often to just do the thing yourself. The quiet truth of leadership is this: success isn’t measured by how much y

Facilitating Meetings Without Losing the Room Running a meeting is often treated like a logistical task: set the agenda, keep time, move things along. But anyone who’s ever been in a well-run meeting knows there’s more going on than logistics alone. The conversation flows. People feel heard. Decisions feel clearer by the end than they did at the beginning. That doesn’t happen by accident. Facilitation is a form of leadership — one that often goes unnoticed when it’s done well

Most of us can picture our first day in a new role. You meet with HR. You fill out paperwork. You get a tour of the building. IT sets up your computer and email. Maybe you’re taken out to lunch by your new team. And then, at some point — usually by mid-afternoon — you find yourself staring at your screen thinking: Okay… now what? Too often, organizations treat onboarding as a series of logistics to get through rather than a system designed to set someone up for success. We

Why One-on-One Meetings Matter — and How to Make Them Useful Instead of Dreaded Ever been in a meeting where you can almost hear the collective thought: This could have been an email. For many people, that’s exactly how they feel about one-on-one meetings — and that’s a problem. When one-on-ones are done poorly, they feel like wasted time, awkward small talk or a weekly dose of micromanagement. When they’re done well, they’re one of the most effective leadership tools you hav

Stepping into a new leadership role is exciting—and more complex than it often appears from the outside. New leaders aren’t just learning a job. They’re learning people, history, culture and expectations. And when that role includes working with a board, they’re often learning two teams at the same time : the staff they lead day-to-day and the board that governs the organization. Early on, new leaders are balancing multiple dynamics at once—building trust with staff, understa

Think about the first couple of months of a new relationship. There’s a warm glow, everyone is on their best behavior and it’s easier to overlook minor annoyances—or downplay parts of yourself—because you really want things to work. Those early months feel good, but they also quietly set the stage for what comes next. Patterns form. Expectations take shape. Assumptions settle in. The first 90 days in a leadership role are like that. The difference? In leadership, there’s no s

Ownership, Leadership and What Board-Staff Roles Really Look Like When association boards start talking about hiring staff, one concern comes up again and again: “If we bring on an executive director or staff person… what exactly happens to the our  role?” Sometimes that fear shows up as: Are we giving up control? What if staff takes over? What happens to our sense of ownership? Those concerns are understandable — especially in organizations built by committed volunteer leade

Are you stepping into a new leadership role in the new year—maybe your first time leading a team… or your first time leading this  team? Are you ready? And I don’t mean: Are you good at your job? Are you hardworking? Are you the “go-to” person? I mean this: Are you ready for the fact that leading requires a completely different skill set than doing ? Too many people step into leadership thinking it’s just being a stronger, faster, more capable version of who they already were

You’ve just had the best idea in the world. So you call your team together and lay out your plan, knowing they’ll catch on to just how exciting this is and get just as fired up as you. Except, they don’t. They listen politely and smile, but avoid eye contact or any comment, hoping you won’t call on them. Worse, you see them exchanging that look—the one that says, um…why exactly is this supposed to be so great? How can they be indifferent to your idea? Why can’t they see just

This is the time of year when it feels like everyone  starts drafting their gratitude lists, even in the workplace. Teams. Partners. Colleagues. Communities. All the people who help us do the work. And leaders should  appreciate those people — deeply. But here’s something we don’t talk about enough: Leaders almost never show gratitude to the person they expect the most from. The one who’s supposed to stay steady, stay strong and keep showing up no matter what. Themselves. We’

As we head into the holiday season, we’re reminded of something we often overlook: We bring our full selves into every interaction — at home, in our friendships and absolutely in our leadership. The holidays give us a front-row seat to that truth, offering an easy example of how our emotions and reactions show up in familiar ways — like that one  question your mom always asks that instantly sets your teeth on edge, or your brother’s belief that a single word is a perfectly ac

We talk a lot about how to give  good feedback as leaders. But we don’t spend nearly as much time learning how to take  it — especially when it stings a little. Feedback can be gold or it can be noise — and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. Our instinct might be to defend, explain or quietly ignore it. But the truth is, how we receive  feedback, and what we do with it, says as much about our leadership as how we give it. This week, as we're reading through membershi

“My boss micromanages everything.” Most of us have probably said it at some point — or had it said about us. But somewhere along the way, we started using micromanagement  as a catch-all for any  kind of accountability. In fact, accountability is what turns goals into results and teams into organizations that actually deliver. It’s what keeps standards high, vision clear and work meaningful. When we confuse accountability with micromanagement, we risk lowering the bar — and o

You can have the best plan in the world — but plans don’t get in the car and drive. People do. And when one of those people has to step out of the driver’s seat — for a week, a few months or for good — what happens next tells you a lot about how ready your organization really is. Readiness and resilience aren’t just nice-to-have HR exercises. They’re leadership in motion — knowing your people, developing them intentionally and preparing them not only to handle today’s road bu

You probably think you’re objective when coaching, giving feedback, or writing a performance review. You listen. You ask curious questions. You balance challenge with support and you’re willing to have the tough conversation when it’s needed. Good. And yet — we all bring subliminal tendencies that color what we hear, remember and evaluate. Stepping back can help you spot those thinking traps before they shape outcomes. Some common thinking traps, why they matter, and practica

Establishing a vision — for your team or organization — should feel energizing. But once the excitement fades, you might find yourself wondering, Okay, now what? Good news: building a road map doesn’t have to be overwhelming. The trick is to keep it simple, focused, and collaborative. Here’s how to keep moving forward. Step 1: Get the Right People in the Room Strategic planning only works when everyone understands how their part connects to the whole. You don’t need a cast of