Dave Kline

Invisible

Advisor

MGMT Accelerator

We help managers rapidly develop into trusted leaders by teaching the art & science of management. 

This 4-week program consistents of eight 90-minute modules where I share the tactics I learned leading high-performing teams for 25 years. During each session, we tailor those insights together to build your personalized management system together. 

You'll learn alongside ~50 peers and become part of an expert community of more than 300 alums.

Co-Founder

SkillScouter

A seismic shift is underway in how, where, when, and from whom people can learn. There’s never been more content available to anyone with a computer, tablet, or smartphone. But finding the most valuable courses for your specific needs is a burden. 

We hope our in-depth reviews make it easier for you to stop searching and start building.

Owner

Bridgewater Associates

Responsible for department strategy and operations with a focus executive search, succession planning and development.

Co-Head Of Department - Recruiting

Lead the build out of a new department responsible providing an independent assessment of management and operational issues to the Board and CEOs; my specialization was primarily Talent Management.

Co-Head of Department - Core Management

Responsible for implementing the redesign of a 200+ person department responsible for the oversight, training and evaluation of management across the firm. Lead the day-to-day operations including strategic planning and talent management.

Chief Operating Officer - Core Management

Chief Operating Officer - Research Department

Deputy Chief Operating Officer - Research Department

Chief Operating Officer - Research Data

Moody's Analytics

Managing Director - Product Strategy & Marketing

Moody's Investors Service

VP - Sr. Product Strategist

Columbia University

Project Manager

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Consultant

Training leaders on the playbook for leading high-performance teams. Entrepreneur | Writer | Speaker | Coach | 185K+ Social Media followers.

My background (by the numbers):

1: Year as a solopreneur: my portfolio includes an online course & career site (SkillScouter), plus a cohort-based management training course, The MGMT Accelerator.

2: Decades leading high-impact teams in asset management (Bridgewater), consulting (PwC) & financial services (Moody's Analytics).
 
14: Cohorts of early-career leaders that I've taught at multiple companies.
 
37: Number of direct reports I inherited in my 20's after a global restructuring.
 
100: Managers I recruited, onboarded & mentored at Bridgewater Associates.
 
250: Group diagnostic sessions I facilitated to solve complex problems & train the teams while doing it.
 
1,000: Performance evaluations delivered with grace and respect for stars and terminations alike.

37,500: My community across Twitter & LinkedIn interested in management tactics & leadership lessons
 
385,000,000: My team's top revenue year at Moody's.

We created the MGMT Accelerator to help managers rapidly develop into trusted leaders by combining the art & science of management. 

This 4-week program consistents of eight 90-minute modules where I share the tactics I learned leading high-performing teams for 25 years. During each session, we tailor those insights together to build your personalized management system together. 

You'll learn alongside ~50 peers and become part of an expert community of more than 300 alums.

In my decade working with leaders at Bridgewater, I constantly found myself giving the same advice, "If you want to succeed, you need to stop working so hard." They were blind to a counterintuitive truth: 

They didn't need to work harder. They needed to work differently.  

Like top athletes who enter slumps, the challenge occurs when they tense up and lose the fluidity that makes them succeed. They "squeeze the bat" too tightly, altering their swing. With every miss, the tension grows.

These executives were in a similar situation. They were making an outsized effort, but effort wasn't the problem. And so they spiraled. 

To help them regain their mojo, we focused on one question: 

"Am I climbing the right hill?"

A good friend and CEO I work with always tells his team, "Only play games you're uniquely suited to win." But what are those ingredients? 

From my experience:
- Genuine passion for the mission
- Authentic connection to the team 
- Unique combination of capabilities
- Deep understanding of the moment

Often, the struggle emerges when one of these falls out of alignment—and isolating which one makes the solution clearer. 

- Mission? Find a new one. 
- Team? Manufacture ways to connect. 
- Capabilities? Find mentorship and get training.
- Understanding? Reexamine your POV with smart people.

Notice that none of these answers involved more effort. 

Smart will almost always beat hard. 
Hard and smart will make you irreplaceable. 

Did this resonate? Please hit repost ♻️ and share. 
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17 painful (but avoidable) lessons most leaders learn the hard way: 

📌 The time to fire a toxic employee is the first time you utter the phrase "toxic employee."

📌 Never compromise character for credentials when hiring. 

📌 Your belief in people often dictates their success. Once you've decided someone is broken, you can never unsee it. Once you've decided they're a star, it will be hard for them to fail. 

📌 Happiness is a decision, not a destination.

📌 Consistent, logical feedback leads to adjustments. 
Erratic, emotional feedback leads to exits.

📌 Your work isn't going anywhere. But you only get 18 summers with your kids. Hang a massive memory on each one. 

📌 Perfection kills more teams than mistakes. 

📌 There's a vast chasm between what we want and what we'll do to get it. Success is found by the few who bridge the gap.

📌 No one will ever exceed your secret expectations. 

📌 Feedback is the accelerant to building lasting trust. 
Clear is more kind than quiet.

📌 The truth is never easy. But avoiding it is always harder.

📌 Saying "No" is hard, but the benefits accrue immediately. 
Saying "Yes" is easy, but the consequences never end.

📌 It doesn't matter what you say. 
It only matters what they hear. 

📌 Those who succeed don't defer action until they're confident. 
They build confidence by taking action despite their fear.

📌 Everyone is an A-player in the right context. If that's not the setup you have to offer, help them find a game they're uniquely suited to win. 

📌 They'll never say it, but your boss wants you to manage them.

📌 Leaders are made, not born. Three skills anyone can access: 
- Enthusiasm
- Empathy
- Effort
Mastering all three will put you in the Top 10%. 

📌 Leading is lonely. 
But it doesn't have to be. Join our next cohort on April 30th, and you'll build a better system for leading with 50 highly engaged leaders. 

MgmtAccelerator.com

See why our alums say it's worth 25x what they paid.

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17 Common But Avoidable Leadership Lessons

Culture isn't beers, bean bags, and benefits. 

Culture is the behaviors that drive high-performing teams.

Chris Donnelly nails the 12 key traits in his insightful graphic.

Leadership expert Peter Drucker famously said,
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." 

Because strategy without aligned behaviors isn't a business. 
It's just an idea. 

And culture is not something you work on occasionally. 
It's how you and your team show up every day.

- In every email.
- In every meeting. 
- In every interaction.

So here are the 12 Green Flags 
For Great Company Culture: 

1. Performance Driven 
Focus on value and impact, not face time. 

2. Clear Vision
Repeat it until they can finish your sentence.  

3. Embraces Failure
Celebrate good mistakes as learning. Eradicate the bad mistakes. 

4. Values Your Time
Ruthlessly prune useless meetings, inefficient processes, and bad clients.

5. Shows Empathy
Only hire people who are comfortable operating on the far side of the fair.

6. Adapts to Change
Make "continuous improvement" the expectation at every level.

7. Open Communication
Empower your team with the info they need to make quality decisions. 

8. Corrects Bad Behavior
You set the floor of your culture with everything you tolerate. 

9. Empowers Hard Work
The path to exceeding expectations is clear and generously rewarded. 

10. Accepts Disagreement
Inspire healthy debate. Require it to result in mutual commitment. 

11. Value Driven
The behaviors are about winning, not virtue-signaling.

12. Encourages Diversity
Diversity isn't hitting a quota. It's a competitive advantage.

Culture isn't a poster on the wall. 
Culture is everything you celebrate minus everything you tolerate.

You set the tone as a leader. "What you do is who you are." 
And what you do is what your team becomes.

Build the team culture you'd want to be a part of.

Steal this sheet today. 
Your team will thank you. 

What's your biggest culture green flag? 
Let me know in the comments ⬇️

♻️ Repost this so your network can build high-performing team cultures.

And follow Dave Kline for more!

- - - - 

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Our goal isn't to have perfect employees dependent on us as leaders. 

Our goal is to develop confident employees who operate independently. 

The only way I've found to do that: 

- Give them responsibility
- Give them support
- Give them space

Often, in our effort to help, we accidentally rob them of one of these. 

My best move for avoiding this trap? 

Always lead with questions.

If you found this helpful, please repost ♻️ and follow Dave Kline for more.

Image of a post from Dave Kline encouraging leaders to empower their teams by leading with questions. 

11 Common But Entirely Avoidable Career-Limiting Mistakes:

📌 Staying Quiet in Meetings

Myth: Only chime in if you have something productive to say.

Reality: Challenge yourself to have something productive to say. If you don't, ask an insightful question.


📌 Saying Yes to Everything

Myth: You'll be appreciated for being a team player.

Reality: You'll be forgotten as the person buried under work everyone else was clever enough to avoid.


📌 Never Taking The $h!t Work

Myth: You just said not to say Yes to everything!

Reality: Strategically take work that a) is painful for your boss and b) is exceedingly easy for you (think ChatGPT and Excel models).


📌 Working on Your Weakness

Myth: Improving your weaknesses will make you a more well-rounded & valued asset.

Reality: Know your superpower and do everything possible to get into a role that values it. Aligned uniqueness gets outsized rewards.


📌 Eating Lunch Alone at Your Desk

Myth: It looks like you're working harder.

Reality: You don't want to work for someone who tracks desk time, and you just passed on 200 connections you could have made.


📌 Undervaluing Your Brand

Myth: You're early in your career and have no brand.

Reality: Brands are intentional, grown over years, and enhanced or diminished with every interaction. 

Figure out -> What do you want to be known for next?


📌 Skipping Optional Events

Myth: No one will notice.

Reality: No one will notice you. These are often the memory-making moments that forge friendships. And even if they're not, these are low-stakes moments to connect with senior leaders personally.


📌 Not Being The Talent

Myth: We're an inclusive organization where all jobs are important. 

Reality: Until a downturn. Then, you're quickly expendable if you're outside the engine that makes the company money. 


📌 First In The Office. Last Out.

Myth: Beat your boss into the office and never leave before them.

Reality: Impact is more important than effort. And you're likely diminishing your impact if you never recharge. Work like a Lion (sprinting and resting), not a Cow (constantly grazing).


📌 Settling for Slow Growth 

Myth: You have to pay your dues like everyone else.

Reality: Find a scaling startup or the growing part of a larger business where opportunity outpaces the talent. Be the gap filler.


📌 Being Too Agreeable

Myth: Your boss doesn't want the headache of hearing why you think they're wrong.

Reality: Any manager worth a damn wants to be surrounded by professionals willing to speak truth to power. If that's not your boss, they're not worthy of your talent.

⬇️⬇️⬇️

Want proven tactics to stand out as a leader? 
Subscribe to my MGMT Playbook.

https://mgmt.beehiiv.com

You'll also get 50+ working templates and management playbooks for free. 

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Leadership explained:

3 simple ideas that separate great leaders from mediocre managers. 


1️⃣ Why hire for character? 

Because people rarely change at the pace of business. And especially not on dimensions that shape their identity. 

You can teach them the next great AI prompt. But you don't have time to teach them integrity, empathy, or ownership. 

📌 Tip: Know your non-negotiable values and screen for them early. 


2️⃣ Why train for capability? 

Capabilities are abilities applied to your specific context, which means context matters. A lot.

Even at the highest levels, you can't simply flip them to the keys. They need to understand your culture, your history, and your strategy. Have them watch before the run. 

📌 Tip: Codify your culture and ensure it's part of a rigorous onboarding.


3️⃣ Why reward for change? 

As the late Charlie Munger said, "Show me the incentive, and I will show you the outcome."

And every business is in the game of positive change. Solve a customer problem more effectively than anyone else, and you win. 

📌 Tip: Tie performance bonuses to impact, not just effort. 


High-character people with a shared mission chasing compelling rewards are pretty hard to beat. 

For more playbooks on leading high-performing teams follow Dave Kline.

And if you want help becoming the leader you'd follow, the next session of my MGMT Accelerator kicks off on April 30th. 

Last year, Shopify canceled 322,000 hours of meetings. 
That's 37 years of meetings!
And yet...

We're all still suffering through low-energy, no-agenda, missing-attendee marathons where most people are distractedly multitasking.

Could we please just get the basics right?  

Of course, knowing them and applying them are very different things. 

The most basic: Respect.

And treating everyone's time and attention as a valuable resource is the best way to show them respect. 

We also need...

📌 Purpose - What is the singular reason we are meeting? 
Your test: This meeting is a win if what's true when we end? 
Hint: "Riff on a bunch of ideas" would not hit the mark. 

📌 Roles - Why is each person in that meeting? 
Your test: Will the outcome be worse without this person? 
Hint: "To observe" can be done via recordings and transcripts.

📌 Pre-reads - What shared context can be provided in advance? 
Your test: Is everyone starting from the same fact base? 
Hint: "No materials" typically means no visualization. 

📌 Facilitated - When should tangents be explored versus redirected? 
Your test: Will this topic change our objective or alter the outcome? 
Hint: Calibrate using decision criticality and topic maturity. 

📌 Follow-ups - Who is going to do what by when?  
Your test: The meeting is not over if you can't answer that question. 
Hint: "If it's not written, it's not real." Send it, or it never happened. 

Nothing above is ground-breaking. But look back on your meetings the last few weeks and ask yourself how often you went five for five. 

So I'll repeat it: 

Knowing the basics and applying them are very different things. 

Once consistently nailing the basics, it's time to shoot higher. 

If you want my blueprint for doing exactly that:
Subscribe to my free MGMT Playbook.

https://lnkd.in/emcNkiGe

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Courage is not pretending you have no fear. 

It's taking action despite fear.

Fear has played a vital role in our survival. 

It also plays tricks on us, using the same emotion to save us from emotional and psychological harm. 

But...

Fear does not care if the danger is real or imagined. 
Fear does not consider the reward side of risk. 
Fear does not calculate probabilities. 

Fear simply screams: Run!

And when it does, we have a choice: 
- Get going, or
- Get curious

Because it's rarely a tiger hiding on the other side of fear. 

It's the hard but necessary conversation we keep putting off. 
It's the role we need to grow into but resist fully embracing. 
It's the dream we keep private for fear it might come true. 

We allow the obstacle to block our path. 
When the obstacle is the way. 

The next time fear creeps in, say, "Thanks for the guidance." 
And do it anyway.

If you found this helpful, please repost ♻️ and follow Dave Kline for more.

And please check out Janis Ozolins' feed for more brilliant visuals.

Two years ago, I published a post that changed my life.

I wrote a simple playbook about Delegation: 

- What should you delegate?
- When should you delegate?
- How should you delegate?

I hoped a handful of my 3,000 followers would make it to the end. 

I hoped that a handful of that handful would be willing to bet $750 so that I could teach them a few useful things about management. 

Even 5-10 leaders signing up would be signal enough to justify building it. 

Stupidly, my application had 10 questions. I wanted to know as much as I could about these leaders. I hadn't considered how much friction I was building into the system. 

I scratched out the basic playbook I'd developed over two decades, hit publish, and went to bed. 

The next morning, I opened Twitter and saw an unusual "20+" on my notifications. With 3,000 followers, 20 likes was a "viral" post for me. 

Somehow, this one had 5,000 likes. Wtf?

I quickly switched over to the application survey...152 completed applications. 

- I can still picture my old office. 
- I can see myself blinking a few extra times. 
- I can remember excitedly calling down to my wife, "Mar...!?!"

And it wasn't 152 anonymous Twitter accounts. 

- We had new leaders...and CEOs.
- We had small companies...and Google, Zapier, UiPath, and Visa.
- We had 4 continents. Dozens of industries. A wide range of manager titles.

We had...A BUSINESS. 

We had talked about owning our own business for 20+ years. We kept waiting for the right idea. We kept building a cushion. We kept dreaming because it was safer than doing. 

Flash forward two years. 

Marsden and I have run this program more than 20 times with nearly 1,000 leaders. I coach a handful of CEOs. I get paid to speak in front of hundreds of leaders. The flywheel is picking up momentum. 

And all because I hit submit.

The lesson for me (and perhaps for a few of you): 

Our aspirations deserve action. 

What is one step you can take today? 

If you found this helpful, please repost ♻️ and follow Dave Kline for more insights on becoming a high-velocity leader. 

PS - If you're curious, I'll link the original Delegation post in the comments.

This cheat sheet remains undefeated.

If you're struggling to drive meaningful change, find the missing element. 

❌ Vision - Ever tried to make a spur-of-the-moment dinner plan with 20 people? That's how a team with no vision feels every day. 

❌ Skills - Remember the first time you cracked open an advanced math textbook? Sheer terror for many. Hire the skills or ensure there's training. 

❌ Incentives - The 2nd Friday in January is Quitter's Day. Because change is hard. The reward for changing needs to exceed the cost of standing still. 

❌ Resources - IG has reels of survivalists making shelters in the wild. Life isn't IG. We require reasonable resources to make meaningful changes.

❌ Plan - Plans are preemptive communication. Teams with no communication will sensibly arrive at 1,000 different conclusions. 

The one thing missing from this model: Feedback. 

You can start with all of these aligned, but any of these factors can become insufficient as change happens. 

Change isn't a "set it and forget it" process. 
It's a delicate dance of regular adjustments and rapid iteration.

This is why leading is hard. But we do what's hard. 
Because behind hard is where real impact hides. 

What more management cheat sheets like this? 
📌 Subscribe for free to my weekly newsletter:

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You'll get dozens of templates and 50+ practical playbooks. 

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If someone on your team is struggling to improve: Show. Don't Tell. 

Here's a straightforward way AI makes this possible. 

I was working with an Executive. Let's call him "Tim."

Tim has consistently gotten feedback that he's a terrible listener. 

As a result, he's struggled to build trust with his team.

High turnover. Underwhelming results. 

In our first session, I could tell he hadn't really accepted the feedback. 

"People say I don't listen, but we meet all the time." 

"My door is always open. People just need to walk in." 

Notice that these are subtle deflections and redirections. 

I asked if we could agree on a metric that might indicate active listening. 

"If someone is listening well, they're probably talking less," he suggested. 

Bingo. 

"Have our meetings been a good indication of your listening?" I asked. 

"Absolutely!"

So I pulled up the AI transcript from our previous session...

He talked 72% of the time.

"No. That can't be. Is that really what I'm like?"

With that last sentence, I knew we had finally broken through. 

We call them blindspots for a reason. 

But one of the most practical ways we can use AI today is as a mirror. 

Something impractical to measure two years ago is now ready instantly. 

How are you becoming an AI-accelerated leader?

♻️ Repost this to your network to help other leaders start using AI well. 
And follow Dave Kline for more content like this.

📌 Want 6 more practical AI tips to help you lead? 
Try my free newsletter, The MGMT Playbook.
Join 26,000+ leaders and subscribe here: 

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You'll get 50+ high-signal leadership playbooks and templates.

Avoid these 5 common 1:1 meeting mistakes:

❌ Canceling on your best people

I get it. We have more to do than hours in a day, so we triage to focus on what's urgent. We know our best people have us covered, so we nudge their 1:1 to next week. 

But nothing says "you're not important," quite like removing the one meeting each week that's about supporting them. 

❌ Keeping a safe distance

Read the common wisdom about management, and it'll steer you clear of personal topics. I'm sorry, this just isn't human. 

We spend more time with our teams than our families. Get to know your directs personally. It's a prerequisite for caring. 

❌ Getting status reports

If your entire meeting involves transmitting data that could have been an email, you're doing it wrong. 

Get them to maintain a dashboard that you can review before the meeting. Then, use the time to probe, coach, and support. 

❌ Sitting still

Want to raise the energy of this meeting? Change your environment: 

- Meet up at a high-energy coffee shop.
- Hop up and start riffing on a whiteboard. 
- Get outside and cover critical topics on a walk. 

❌ Going long

Parkinson's Law states that work will fill the space you give it. 

If your 1:1s feel drawn out, try cutting the time in half. 

-----

Now that you know what not to do, how about making 1:1s the cornerstone for leading your team? 

If you have 30 minutes tomorrow, join my free "Lightening Lesson," I'll show you the approach I honed over 20 years of leading teams. 

⚡ https://bit.ly/48Uxh63

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The 7 Deadly Sins of Mediocre Managers.

(and how to avoid them)


1. Don't Set Expectations

You probably did the job you now manage, and you take for granted the 100 lessons you have learned over time.  

Hold secret expectations: your habits = their heartache.

Tip: Align on Goals (the what) & Approach (the how)


2. Don't Delegate  

You keep your old work, but now you have a new role, too. Tasks pile on as you go under. And your team waits. 

Patiently at first. Then vocally. Then with their feet.  

Tip: Delegate before you're comfortable.


3. Don't Build Trust  

Without trust, small things (gestures, comments) have big impacts. And big things (critical feedback, unsexy assignments) are crushing.  

Tip: Lead with questions. Let them self-assess first.


4. Don't Provide Clarity  

Guess matters?  Your words, habits, and actions. Your priorities, decisions, and indecisions.  

Words matter.  But what you do is who you are.  

Tip: Act intentionally. Slow is smooth & smooth is fast.


5. Don't Act Decisively  

You should 
- Lead with curiosity and humility
- Seek data and wise counsel
But they're only valuable when used to act.

Tip: Declare your mode: "Debating" vs "Deciding"


6. Don't Hold People Accountable  

The magic formula for high-performing teams:  
- Set ambitiously high standards 
- Hire extremely talented people 
- Believe they'll achieve them 
- Challenge them directly  

Tip: Align incentives and make the scoreboard public.

7. Don't Help People Outgrow Them

Leaders know they're only as good as the people they're leading. If you cap their upside, you'll only attract talent willing to settle.

Humble & Hungry >> Accepting & Average

Tip: Build a brand as a talent accelerant. Stars will come to you.


Perhaps I committed the Sin of Omission...
Tell me which management sin I missed in the comments. 


And while this can seem overwhelming, awareness of common mistakes helps you avoid them.

Even better? A proven management system and an engaged community of peers. It's a cheat code that separates impactful leaders from mediocre managers.

Our next cohort starts April 30th.

After 8 live modules over 4 weeks, you'll have a working system to:

- Manage up w/ finesse 
- Do less & delegate more 
- Catch & fix problems early 
- Attract & develop your team

http://mgmtaccelerator.com

See why 800+ leaders said it was worth 25x what they paid.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Mediocre Managers

We're the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. 

Every week, I try to raise the average. 

Here are 5 people who made me better this week. 

Benjamin & Francis - I'm an advisor for Invisible. They've quietly trained many of the AI models you use. More impressively, they're helping companies reinvent operations using remote work, AI, and automation.  

Maya - I've never done a LinkedIn Live session. That changes next week thanks to Maya. She's been incredibly generous in supporting me since Day 1. We're going to go deep on building out a high-performing team. 

Adam - Rewind my life 3 years: I had never liked, commented, or shared a post. I was a serial lurker. Now, I regularly meet positive-sum builders from around the world. Adam is a must-follow if you're breaking into Tech.

Marco - I'm trying to keep up with AI, but it's unfolding too quickly. So I do the next best thing: I follow and connect with people who are experts. Marco's focus on bite-sized, hyper-practical examples is much needed.

Michelle & Scott - I spoke at an eCommerceFuel event two weeks ago. I can't tell you how helpful a top-notch production crew is for speakers. Plus, Marsden and I are always on the lookout for high-energy husband-and-wife duos. These two check every box.

Hit follow on each of these folks. Your feed will thank me. 

If leading high-performing teams is your jam, please follow Dave Kline too.

One of the executives I coach brought up a challenge that's so common I was almost surprised when she surfaced it: "I'm noticing that our meetings suck. The energy is low. We're not making decisions. There are a lot of side conversations and gossip in chat.  There has to be a better way."

So I asked our community of 155,000 leaders to describe the best meetings they've ever attended or led. One word that kept coming up?

Cancelled.

So, instead of crafting the perfect meeting blueprint, let's give the people what they want. If Shopify can cancel 355,000 hours of meetings, how can we cut ours in half?

📌 Half as Often. Twice as Good. - Space out repeating meetings 2x. You just got back 50% of your time. But most of the meetings aren't my meetings. I can't just cancel them...

📌 Send a Delegate - One executive I work with always sends a direct report in his place. "If I'm missed, they'll call me in. And I apologize. If not, I've established that person as the expert. And they get useful exposure."

📌 Clean Slate - Delete every meeting you own. Create a minimal cadence: 1:1s with your directs + monthly business reviews + quarterly all-hands sessions. Then, only allow ad hoc meetings to solve problems or make decisions that can't be done asynchronously.

But meetings are like bamboo that just keeps growing back. 

So, you need to actively prevent bad meetings from happening. 

Here's how:

💡 Set Standards - We all know the hygiene that leads to focused, productive meetings. But unless you hold yourself and your team accountable, they aren't standards. They're just suggestions. 

💡 Control Costs - Mentally take the total compensation of each person in the meeting and divide by 2,000 hours. Nothing is more clarifying than seeing a $2,500 cost to make a $25 decision.

💡 Asynchronous Alternatives—After every meeting, ask what aspect of this problem or decision made it critical to meet rather than handle it asynchronously. When people consider this alternative, they often realize it is not only viable but better.

💡 AI Assistance - If you can't prevent the meeting for everyone, forbid observers. Send an AI Transcription tool instead. They get leverage. And your meetings get smaller, focused rooms with higher energy. Win-win.

Is this easy? No.
Is it necessary? Absolutely.

The secret they don't tell you when you become a manager:
Your job is to say No far more often than Yes. 

But that is how you make space for what matters. 
And how your team creates an impact without burning out.

And if you want more posts like this in your feed...
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In 2016, I had to completely turn around a 200-person department: transform the mission, people, and outcomes. We did it by orchestrating a "symphony." Give me 2 minutes, and I'll show you the exact playbook.

Asking one person to change is hard. Asking 200 to change simultaneously is damn near impossible. Unless they become part of something bigger than themselves. 

We were fortunate that our mission was big—to support a generational leadership transition that ruins 95% of companies in a similar position. 

But just as we know we should go to the gym and don't, a critical mission is necessary but insufficient to motivate change. 

We also needed
- The right people
- An efficient design
- A clear, compelling plan

And most importantly, we needed everyone bought in. 

That's where the "symphony" comes in. 

Why a symphony? 

Because it solves 3 of the biggest problems with large-scale change. 

📌 You need alignment. It's not what you say. It's what they hear. And the key to getting people to hear is repetition. Just when you're exhausted from saying it, they start hearing it. 

📌 You need to get people moving. Together. You can't wait for direction to flow through layers of an org. A symphony is a conductor straight to musicians. All at once. 

📌 You need to drown out the noise. We unfairly compare the safety of what we know to the danger of the unknown. Chatter, gossip, and pushback are expected. This takes away the space for it.

The key is ensuring the whole teams hear the music they're making daily. 

Let's make that practical: 
🔹Monday: A memo detailing the design and plan
🔹Tuesday: An all-hands to answer questions
🔹Wednesday: A case study from a team leader
🔹Thursday: A quick note highlighting a big win
🔹Friday: A loom video recapping the week's wins/losses

Keep it going the following week:
🔹Monday: Public "called shot" commitments from each team
🔹Tuesday: Share a recording of critical decision
🔹Wednesday: Testimonial from key stakeholder
🔹Thursday: Highlight another big win
🔹Friday: Level-down loop recap from one team

You get the idea. 

The key is to remember you're the conductor: 
- You can't just "tell" the change; you must "show" it.
- Call strategically on different voices. 
- Consistency is critical.

Your effort creates a drumbeat. 
Over time, the team's heartbeat synchronizes with it. 

♻️ Repost this so your network can orchestrate real change.

And follow Dave Kline for more!

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Join 25,000 people receiving my weekly newsletter with one tip, tool, or tactic for leading high-performing teams. 

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"Why would you waste your time writing online?"

I've fielded this question 100s of times. Here's my answer:

💡 Journal With Feedback

Most people understand the virtue of clarifying your thoughts by putting them in writing. The mere act of writing is worth it to me. By posting, I refine my thinking because 1000s of leaders help me see what I missed. For free.

💡 Tribes Are Global

Tribes have always formed around shared ideas. It used to be safety or access to food. Now, it's shared missions and common passions. Every time I post I'm leaving a billboard that anyone can see. Some take the exit to drop by and join the conversation. 

💡 Law of Large Numbers

5 billion connected internet users is an impossible number to comprehend. My 200,000+ followers are four hundred-thousandths of a percent of that. They also would sell out Michigan's football stadium. Twice.

💡 Real Connections

A shocking number of conversations lead to real connections, and those connections migrate from offline to real life. Because of them, my life is richer, and my business is stronger. The origin story for every friendship started with writing online. 

One of those friends is Maya. And we're having a conversation about what it takes to lead high-performing teams at 12 PM ET right here on LinkedIn. 

Sign up for free: https://lnkd.in/ezte-yE6

We'd love for a few of you to drop by and be a part of it. 

And if you can't attend, you can still join the community: 
- Please repost ♻️ this link to help others find us
- And give me a follow at Dave Kline for more

Two years ago, we had an idea. Let's build a leadership development program so good we'd want to attend. Practical. Engaging. Focused. After working with 800+ leaders, here are the 5 lessons that helped us build it:


1️⃣ Do Things That Don't Scale

What can we offer that Executive MBAs can't? 
- 1:1 coaching 
- 100% money-back guarantee
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💡Tip: Real-life experience is hard to replicate.


2️⃣ Find Aligned Partners Early

We worked with Maven from Day 1:
- Their Accelerator helped us shape the course
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💡Tip: Who can remove your biggest barrier?


3️⃣ We're Authentically Us

Early on, Marsden and I worried the husband-wife duo would undermine our credibility. However, we learned our different styles connected with a broader range of leaders. And people like her picking on me ;)

💡Tip: Let your vibe attract your tribe.


4️⃣ Ask For Guidance

We ask: "How can we make the program twice as valuable?"
- We've added modules
- We've added new templates
- We've added small group work

💡Tip: Experiment. You can always roll it back.


5️⃣ Never End The Program

We run out of modules, but we keep the convo going:
- We help leaders land jobs
- We host alumni calls
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💡Tip: Stay top of mind to be on the tip of their tongue.


If you're a leader who wants help leveling up, learn more here:

mgmtaccelerator.com

Starting April 30th, leaders from around the world will spend 12 focused hours over 4 weeks rebuilding their management systems. 

- How to coach, develop, and hire
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Space is limited (because, as we mentioned, we do things that don't scale). 

And even if now's not the time, please repost ♻️ this so the leaders who need this can find out more. 

Image of the Management Accelerator's Net Promoter Score increasing from 50% to 85% over time.

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