Helping PE-backed leaders become world-class operators | Creator of the Sands Performance Assessment | Father of 5

I help PE-backed leaders quickly grow their team, scale their business, and delight their investors through better leadership.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve developed a smart, intuitive coaching program that’s helped hundreds of CEOs build healthier, higher-performing teams.

The secret? High Growth Leadership builds the five core skills every fast-scaling leader needs:

Prioritization – Know what matters. Ignore what doesn’t.
Execution – Get the right stuff done. On time. Every time.
Mindset – Build the resilience to lead under pressure.
Trust – Become the leader people rely on.
Teamwork – Collaborate better. Multiply results.

I love this work but, to be honest, I never thought I’d be on this journey.

For much of my early career I worked in management consulting, helping senior execs navigate complex strategy and growth challenges. The work was high-profile, but I saw too many smart leaders quietly struggling, stretched thin, unclear on priorities, and disconnected from the people who mattered most.

That disconnect became my obsession.

After getting married, I realized that being a jet-setting consultant wasn’t aligned with my #1 priority: to be a great husband and (eventually) father. That’s what led me to coaching, and later, to creating the Sands Performance Assessment.

Most assessments help you describe people. This one helps you understand them.

You'll discover what drives your team's behavior so you can coach, support, and lead them more effectively.

This isn’t another DISC, MBTI, or simple personality test. This tool pinpoints:

- What matters to each person
- What kind of feedback they respond to
- What drives their best work
- What creates trust and what breaks it

That insight helps leaders improve performance, deepen connections, and build alignment at scale.

Whether I’m coaching 1:1 or working with full exec teams, my goal is the same:
Help leaders lead in a healthy, sustainable way.

If you want to lead with more clarity, or you’re looking for a scalable tool to build better teams, let’s connect.

1️⃣ Subscribe to my newsletter:
Over 4,000 CEOs and Senior Executives get practical tips to improve leadership.
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2️⃣ Get the Sands Values-Based Assessment
Buy the tool top execs use to uncover what builds trust, drives performance, and improves alignment across PE-backed teams. (coming soon!)

3️⃣ Apply for Coaching
Join my 8-week executive coaching program for leaders ready to transform how they live and lead.
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If you have questions about what I offer, DM me or email info@sandsleadership.com

Most senior leaders expect their team to perform like elite athletes.

But the training provided is amateur, at best. 

Image credit to my friend Kobi Omenaka

In sports, the playbook is obvious:

Train more than you compete.
Recover on purpose.
Review performance and adjust.

That’s how championships are won and performance becomes predictable instead of accidental.

In most workplaces, it’s the opposite.

High performers get promoted because they execute well.
Then the job changes overnight.

Suddenly they’re expected to:

• Lead teams instead of contributing
• Make judgment calls with incomplete info
• Manage conflict and emotion
• Translate strategy into execution
• Deliver predictability under pressure

All while performing every single day.

Almost no practice. No warm-ups. No recovery. No coaching.
Just: “Congrats — here’s a team. Go.”

It’s not a talent problem.
It’s a training problem.

The higher you go, the more expensive that gap becomes:

• Burnout
• Turnover
• Decision drag
• Frozen execution
• Culture drift

Elite athletes would never survive a schedule like that.
But leaders are expected to — indefinitely.

The ones who sustain high performance treat leadership like a craft, not an innate trait.

They build reps into their work week:

• Asking for feedback and acting on it
• Reviewing decisions instead of sprinting past them
• Training core skills (self-awareness, prioritization, trust)
• Protecting recovery so judgment stays sharp

When leaders work this way, consistency improves.
Execution speeds up.
People stay longer.
Teams perform higher.

If you’re not sure where to start, I built a quick diagnostic for this.

The Executive Health Quiz highlights where you’re strong,
and gives you a personalized roadmap on where you need some more training.

Free here: bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

Curious — what kind of training do leaders actually get in your org on?

➕ Follow Ben Sands for practical leadership insights.
♻️ Repost this to challenge how your organization thinks about performance and development.
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Ben Sands

You’re the CEO. The company President. The Managing Director of the firm. You're a values-driven leader who knows that the success of your organization depends on the ability to execute.

It’s not enough to simply have a great product or a grand strategy…you need to be able to make progress against your most important goals, every day. You need to be able to solve the most critical problems, challenges, and opportunities facing the business.

The problems that, when solved, will propel the business forward. The roadblocks that, when removed, will accelerate the productivity and performance of the organization in a way that feels effortless. The opportunities that, when seized, will create the security, certainty, and confidence the organization needs to break through.

Without this ability to execute, however, your business is in 😞 trouble.

🚀 It’s Time To Level-up Your Leadership.

You’ve most likely read all the books on execution: “The Four Disciplines,” “Measure What Matters,” and “Traction,” among others… While these are all wonderful books, full of interesting data and ideas, sadly, the concepts are hard to implement and scale.

And if they’re hard to implement, you will continue to struggle to create the lasting change you and your leadership team are looking for.

The fact is that there’s a massive difference between getting your team focused on a “wildly important goal” for a quarter and creating a lasting shift in mindset and behavior that drives great outcomes year after year.

🎯 Create A Healthier, More Profitable Company In Six Weeks.

We teach leaders and their teams a simple, scalable, modern approach to strategy execution that really works…and we give you the technical support AND the coaching you need to transform your business.

The process takes just six weeks. And, even better, it won’t require you to beg, bribe, or threaten 😂anyone — your team will want to do this work.

Thanks for taking the time to get to know me better. I can’t wait to start working for you to create a healthier, higher-performing company -- a business that you love to lead. 

Getting started is easy. 

Just click here to find time to talk: https://letsmeet.io/bensands/consult.

I'll ask you a bunch of questions about you, your team, and where you want to go. Then we'll start putting a plan together to make it happen. 

There's no charge for this call with me, and I promise that you'll leave the call with more energy, clarity and confidence than you've felt in a long time.

Talk soon, 
Ben

Podcast & Content Marketing for Leaders & Founders | Podcast-powered content to grow your business and brand without burnout | Head of Growth | Digital Marketing Consultant

I help smart, driven leaders become world-class operators | Author, High Growth Leadership newsletter | Father of 5

Kgosietsile Mmoloke, MBA

Good leaders explain the vision with facts.

Great leaders sell it with a story.

At every touchpoint of a business — from your team, to the board, to customers —
your job is to reinforce a key narrative:

Where the business is.
Where it's going.
Why it's going to be great.

Strong leaders don't leave that storytelling up to chance.
They use the right framework at the right time:

STARR Method
↳ A simple structure for making results clear and credible.

• Situation: The context and stakes
• Task: The goal or problem to solve
• Action: What you did and why
• Result: What changed and what it delivered
• Reflection: What you learned and what you would repeat

SCQA Framework
↳ A clean way to explain complexity without turning into a data dump.

→ Situation: What is true today?
→ Complication: What changed or is getting in the way?
→ Question: What decision do we need to make?
→ Answer: The decision, plan, and next step.

ABT
↳ A fast narrative that keeps people tracking from problem to action.

And - Offers shared context
↓
But - The constraint, tension, or risk
↓
Therefore - What we are doing next

Monroe's Motivated Sequence
↳ A persuasion structure that moves people from interest to commitment.

• Attention: Name the moment and the stakes
• Need: Make the gap or risk clear
• Solution: Present the approach
• Visualization: Show what success looks like
• Action: Ask for the decision or commitment

Simon Sinek's Golden Circle
↳ A way to create buy-in by connecting the work to meaning.

→ Why: What we believe and why it matters.
→ How: The approach we're taking
→ What: The specific priorities and actions

I've put in exactly when to use each framework in the image below.

Save it and come back for future reference.

You don't need to be polished to tell the right story.
You just need to know exactly what your goal is, and the right way to tell it.

Which storytelling framework do you think is most important?

--------------------------

On Thursday, January 29th at 12:30 PM EST, I’m hosting a live session for senior leaders.

6 Steps to Leading a Healthy, High-Performing Team

I’ll break down:
→ A 6-step roadmap from transforming a team from good to great
→ Why strong leaders still end up with inconsistent results
→ The individual skills that actually drive team performance
→ How to create real accountability—without pressure or micromanagement

If results feel harder than they should…
If effort is high but momentum isn’t…
If execution is your focus this quarter—

This session is for you.

Sign up here: 
https://lnkd.in/eY7Tm6hQ

--------------------------

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This leadership model built a billion-dollar company.

Not hustle.
Not charisma.
Not control.

Servant leadership.

The visual below comes from Sir Richard Harpin, who built HomeServe into a multi-billion-dollar business by flipping the org chart upside down.

I’ve coached CEOs and senior leaders for years, and the pattern is clear:
High-performing teams don’t win because a leader does more at the top.

They win because the leader shifts from doing and controlling to serving and enabling—removing friction, developing people, and creating space for others to lead.
  
Traditional leadership looks like this:
• Talk more than you listen
• Hoard information
• Treat leadership as power
• Optimize for control
• Measure success by personal output

Servant leadership does the opposite:
• Listen first, speak last
• Share context freely
• Treat leadership as responsibility
• Optimize for team growth
• Measure success by collective results

You can usually spot a true servant leader by three traits:

Empathy
→ They notice effort and results—and use both to build momentum.

Humility
→ They share the credit, own the misses, and move on fast.

Collaboration
→ They judge success by how capable the team becomes without them.

What most people miss:
Servant leadership isn’t “soft.”
It’s systematic.

Here’s what it looks like in practice:
	1.	Spend time on the front lines to find real bottlenecks
	2.	Start every 1:1 with their agenda
	3.	Explain the why behind big decisions
	4.	Praise publicly, coach privately
	5.	Let others decide—and back them
	6.	End meetings asking, “Who needs my help next?”

This is how leaders scale people—not just results.

And it’s why companies led this way outperform over time.

If you want to understand where your leadership is strongest (and where it needs attention),
I built a quick, free quiz that gives you that snapshot.

You can take it here: bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

What does serving your team look like for you?

And for more leadership advice, sign up for my weekly newsletter High Growth Leadership,
where I share one practical tip every Saturday with 4,500+ CEOs: https://lnkd.in/eXiRx-HZ

♻️ Repost to help another leader get out of the way and lead better.
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Built a £4.1bn business | Then wrote the blueprint so others can do it too | Order it today 👇

Amy Porteous

The best leaders match the mode to the moment.

Most leaders don’t fail from lack of effort or intent.
They fail because they misread the situation.

They default to one mode; one "hat" they wear everywhere.

They coach when the room needs clarity.
They cast vision when the room needs trust.
They solve problems when the room needs ownership.

Leadership effectiveness doesn't depend on style.
It’s about context, timing, and selection.

Modern leadership environments are dynamic, cross-functional, and distributed.
You’re leading across teams, disciplines, and time horizons — often simultaneously.

One mode isn’t enough anymore.

In practice, effective leaders switch between nine — each suited for a different situation:

(Thanks to Clif Mathews for his great illustration.)

1️⃣ The Visionary
• Sets the direction and defines what winning looks like.

2️⃣ The Coach
• Develops people through questions and tasks that stretch their skills.

3️⃣ The Teacher
• Creates a shared baseline for key skills.

4️⃣ The Translator
• Turns complexity into priorities and next steps.

5️⃣ The Problem Solver
• Handles what’s urgent and prevents recurrence.

6️⃣ The Connector
• Builds trust and real cohesion across the team.

7️⃣ The Advocate
• Protects people’s time, energy, and attention.

8️⃣ The Role Model
• Sets the tone through habits and behavior.

9️⃣ The Service Leader
• Removes blockers so execution can happen.

The mistake isn’t effort or intent.
It’s assuming the same mode works in every room.

Great leaders understand context.
When the situation changes, they change their mode to meet it.

____

On Jan 29 (Thu) at 12:30pm ET, I’m running a live workshop to help senior leaders upgrade their personal operating system and habits.

We’ll cover:
→ The one skill that separates high-performing leaders from everyone else
→ My favorite execution best practices to help you create leverage and hit your goals
→ How to level up Q1 and set the pace for a massive 2026

Click here to sign up:
https://lnkd.in/eY7Tm6hQ

Which hat do you find yourself wearing most often?
--------------------------

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You're not helping by hovering.

You're holding your team back.

Thanks to Dora Vanourek for this visual.

Most micromanagement doesn't come from bad intent.

It starts as pressure to not drop the ball.
To prove you deserve the seat you're in.

And the more pressure rises, the safer it feels to cling to control.

That appears in language and behavior:

❌ "Don't start without my approval."
❌ "Why are you still working from home?"
❌ "Why didn't you copy me on that email?"
❌ "Why didn't you just follow instructions?"
❌ "I want daily updates on your progress."
❌ "Why is this still not done?"
❌ "Why can't you just do it my way?"
❌ "This is why I have to double-check your work."
❌ "Why weren't you at your desk at 8am?"
❌ "What makes you think you're ready for this?"

Leaders don't wake up wanting to talk like this. 

But they appear from beliefs that have been formed years ago.
Left unchecked, they bleed into every interaction.

But when you work your way out of them, you start to lead with more clarity.
and your team takes on more ownership.

To reinforce trust day-to-day, start shifting your language to this:

✅ "I trust you to take initiative, no need to wait for me."
✅ "Work where you're most productive."
✅ "Share only key updates. I trust you to manage the details."
✅ "I appreciate your creativity in trying a new approach."
✅ "Keep me posted on any major developments. I'm here to help."
✅ "How's progress? Do you need any support?"
✅ "Your approach is valid, what inspired your method?"
✅ "You've got this. Let me know how I can help you succeed."
✅ "Feel free to be flexible, as long as work gets done."
✅ "I believe in your potential, let me know if you need any support."

Every time you respond instead of react, you weaken the fear response.

As fear comes out of the system, trust becomes your default.

If you what a clear snapshot of how strong your leadership foundation is,
I built a free, short quiz to make that visible.

You can take it here: bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

What's one sentence you're trying to remove from your leadership vocab?

--------------------------

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Most companies invest in the business.
High-growth ones invest in the people running it.

The best organizations do both.

They develop leaders across three domains:
1️⃣ Self
2️⃣ Team
3️⃣ Enterprise

If one area is lacking, progress slows.
When all three are strong, performance scales without heroics.

If you’re not sure where to start, focus on these five skills in each domain:

💪 Self-Leadership
How you manage yourself.

1.	Self-Awareness
↳ Know your values, patterns, and blind spots.
→ Lead intentionally, not reactively.

2.	Prioritization & Focus
↳ Know what matters most now.
→ Allocate attention to high-impact work.

3.	Time & Energy Management
↳ Manage capacity, not just hours.
→ Plan your days around energy, not urgency.

4.	Emotional Intelligence
↳ Stay composed under pressure.
→ Create space before reacting.

5.	Building Trust
↳ Do what you say you’ll do.
→ Align commitments with your actions. 

👥 Team Leadership
How you scale yourself through others.

6. Clear Communication
↳ Build shared understanding across the team.
→ Define “winning” and clarify how work connects.

7. Leading Great Meetings
↳ Turn meetings into execution engines.
→ Drive decisions and clear next steps.

8. Delegation
↳ Use projects as development opportunities.
→ Empower the team with clarity and context.

9. Delivering Feedback
↳ Clear, timely input accelerates performance.
→ Address issues early. Focus on behavior and impact.

10. Accountability
↳ Ownership without blame.
→ Make commitments visible and learn from misses.

📈 Enterprise Leadership
How to build a system that produces results without heroics.

11. Setting Strategy
↳ A few priorities guide decision-making.
→ Align teams around one meaningful goal.

12. Operational Excellence
↳ Reduce friction in how work flows.
→ Improve systems, handoffs, and accountability.

13.	Building Culture
↳ Culture is what the system rewards.
→ Reinforce standards in how work gets done.

14.	Finding & Developing Talent
↳ The right people in the right seats.
→ Hire, develop, and retain for long-term results.

15.	Delivering Predictable Performance
↳ Results shouldn't rely on heroics.
→ Install planning, execution, and review rhythms.

With this, development stops being theoretical
and produces results you can count on.

If you want help doing this — without building from scratch —
I’ve made a plug-and-play coaching program around these exact skills.

👉 DM me for details.

I'm breaking down how top leaders scale teams in a live session:

Thursday, January 29, 12:30PM EST.
Sign up below 👇

https://lnkd.in/eY7Tm6hQ

------------

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At the executive level, communication is not a soft skill.
It's strategy.

Image credit to Cicely Simpson

Most leaders do not struggle because they lack intelligence or experience.
They struggle because no one ever taught them how to communicate clearly when the stakes are high.

Under pressure, vague language creates friction.
Delayed conversations create tension.
Poorly framed messages drain energy and slow decisions.

Clear communication does the opposite.

These are 11 communication frameworks I see matter most for senior leaders who want alignment, speed, and trust when it counts.

1️⃣ The Clarity Rule

Before you speak, ask: “Will this create clarity or confusion?”
If you're not sure, don't say it.

2️⃣ The Pause Protocol

Pause before responding in high emotion.
Draft your response. Sleep on it. Then decide if it still needs to be said.

3️⃣ Lead With the Headline

Start every message with your conclusion.
“Here’s what I need.” “Here’s my recommendation.” Then provide the context.

4️⃣ The 24-Hour Conflict Rule

When tension surfaces, address it within 24 hours.
The longer you wait, the harder the conversation becomes.

5️⃣ The One-Page Strategy

If you cannot explain your strategy on one page, it is not clear enough.
Keep simplifying until it cannot be misunderstood.

6️⃣ Culture Multiplier

Your team mirrors how you communicate under pressure.
Model what you want repeated.

7️⃣ Delegation by Decision Level

When you assign tasks, tell people what outcome you need.
Then give them authority to make decisions.

8️⃣ AI Assist Rule

Use AI to draft or structure your message.
Then refine it to ensure that the feeling you convey is as clear as the idea.

9️⃣ The Energy Plan

Tired leaders communicate poorly.
Manage your energy intentionally. Clear mind equals clear message.

🔟 Crisis Calm System

In a crisis, speak slower than you think you need to.
Rushed communication can fuel the very panic it's trying to calm.

1️⃣1️⃣ Room-Reading Rule

Before you speak, scan the room. Are people distracted or engaged?
Adjust your message to match the energy.

Leaders don't struggle to be heard because they lack confidence.
They struggle because their communication often lacks strategy.

When you incorporate frameworks like these into how you communicate, clarity becomes the default.

Which one of these do you wish you had learned earlier?

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Billion-Dollar Leadership Strategist for VP–C-Suite | Speaking, Executive Advisor & LeaderOS Accelerator | Building Leadership Systems That Scale Impact Without Scaling Hours | Trusted by 5 U.S. Presidents Admin.

Robin O'Callaghan

Most senior leaders miss this:

You learn to lead when the pressure's on.

Not in classrooms.
Not in workshops.
Not in books.

No, you learn when things don't go to plan.

A decision you got wrong.
A hire that didn't work out.
A crisis you didn't anticipate.

That's the test. 

And unlike school, leadership flips the order.

You don't get the lesson first.
You get the exam.

Great leaders know this.

That's how they extract learning from every outcome.

The way to do it is by asking one question:
"What must I learn from this?"

Instead of wondering,

➡️ "Who messed this up?"
➡️ "Why is this so frustrating?"
➡️ "How do we get past this quickly?"

You start to look deeper and ask:

➡️ What capability is missing?
➡️ What flawed assumption did I make?
➡️ What does this tell me about the future?

That's how you turn experience into leverage.

On Thursday, January 29th at 12:30 PM EST, I’m hosting a live session for senior leaders.

6 Steps to Leading a Healthy, High-Performing Team

I’ll break down:
→ A 6-step roadmap from transforming a team from good to great
→ Why strong leaders still end up with inconsistent results
→ The individual skills that actually drive team performance
→ How to create real accountability—without pressure or micromanagement

If results feel harder than they should…
If effort is high but momentum isn’t…
If execution is your focus this quarter—

This session is for you.

Sign up here: 
https://lnkd.in/eY7Tm6hQ
--------------------------

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High-performance teams speak a shared language.
New leaders have to learn it fast.

When you step into a new role, you don’t just inherit goals and people —
you inherit a vocabulary.

Most of it was never written down or defined during onboarding.
So people talk confidently… but mean different things.

Alignment breaks not because people disagree,
but because they think they’re agreeing when they’re not.

That’s why one of the most overlooked levers new leaders have
is not adding more jargon — it’s creating shared meaning.

Here are 10 useful terms and what they mean:

	1.	Whirlwind
↳ The urgent noise that distracts from what matters most.

	2.	Mind Trash
↳ The unspoken stories that quietly sabotage performance.

	3.	Deep Work
↳ Focused time for the hard, strategic work that drives outcomes.

	4.	Vision
↳ A description of the impact and outcomes we will create in 3 years.

	5.	Strategy
↳ The assumptions we’re making about how we win.

	6.	OKRs
↳ The strategic bets we are making to get where we want to go, faster.

	7.	KPIs
↳ The small set of metrics that best describe current performance.

	8.	Goals
↳ Specific targets, linked to KPIs, that tell us we are on track.

	9.	Values
↳ The non-negotiables. Standards that guide decisions under pressure.

	10.	Accountability
↳ Clarity on who will do what, by when.

Once teams aligns on language, pace increases.
Problems surface. Priorities align. Decisions sharpen.
Debate stops feeling ambiguous and starts feeling like progress.

Question for you:
Which of these terms causes the most confusion on your team?

___

One more thing:
You can’t create clarity for your team if you don’t have it yourself.

That’s why I built the Executive Health Quiz.
It reveals where your clarity is strong — and where it’s slowing execution down.

It’s free and takes 3 minutes: ➡️ bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

___

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Quick decisions can be costly.

Velocity is an asset when paired with clarity — and a liability when it isn’t.

Under pressure, decisive action can resolve a crisis and realign a team.

But without proper discernment, quick decisions become expensive mistakes.

To cut the right things, you need filters — not just instincts.

Here are 12 rules that strengthen judgment under pressure:

1️⃣ Hanlon’s Razor
↳ Don’t assume malice when incentives or bad info explain the behavior.

2️⃣ Occam’s Razor
↳ Start with the simplest explanation that fits the facts.

3️⃣ Hickam’s Dictum
↳ More than one cause can be true at the same time.

4️⃣ Chesterton’s Fence
↳ Don’t eliminate a process until you know why it exists.

5️⃣ Goodhart’s Law
↳ When a metric becomes a target, it stops being a good metric.

6️⃣ Parkinson’s Law
↳ Work expands to fill the time available.

7️⃣ Peter Principle
↳ People rise to their level of incompetence.

8️⃣ Shirky Principle
↳ Institutions preserve the problem they were created to solve.

9️⃣ Gall’s Law
↳ Complex systems that work started out simple.

🔟 Hofstadter’s Law
↳ Everything takes longer than expected — even when you expect that.

1️⃣1️⃣ Sturgeon’s Law
↳ 90% of everything is mediocre.

1️⃣2️⃣ Sutton’s Law
↳ Go where the money is — tackle the highest-leverage issue first.

You don’t need all 12 for every decision.
You just need the right filter at the right moment.

They won’t slow you down.
They prevent you from spending 6 months fixing a problem you created in 6 minutes.

But clarity alone isn’t enough.
Without a strong execution system, insight still dies on impact.

On Jan 29 (Thu) at 12:30pm ET, I’m breaking down how senior operators build execution that scales:

• The 5 operator skills with the biggest performance leverage
• The difference between A-Players vs. an A-Team
• The EASI system top operators use to avoid chaos
• A 90-Day Breakthrough Plan you can deploy immediately

You don’t need more urgency.
You need a system that makes the right work unavoidable.

Save your seat:

https://lnkd.in/eY7Tm6hQ

Which of these rules would have saved you the most headache last year?

--------------------------

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Even hard-working teams can stall.
The effort is there.
What's missing is intentional growth.

When development isn’t built into how a team operates, the pattern is predictable. 

Skills plateau, responsibility drifts back to the top, and performance levels off even though people are still working hard.

Not because the team lacks talent or commitment.
Because growth has become reactive instead of expected.

On strong teams, growth is part of the operating system. 

People are stretched appropriately, coached consistently, 
and trusted with increasing responsibility as their judgment improves.

Yes, sometimes that means someone outgrows the role they're in.

But more often, it produces teams that operate with greater confidence,
higher standards, and better decision-making.

People know the organization is invested in their development, not just their output.

That’s when ownership increases. 

Leaders stop carrying everything themselves. 

Performance improves without adding pressure.

You don’t build a great team by forcing people to stay.
You build a great team by encouraging them to grow.

When people are learning, trusted, and challenged in the right ways, staying makes sense.

👉 If you want to build strong leadership that creates stronger teams,
I've built a quiz that'll help you know where to focus.

It takes just 3 minutes to see where your team is strong, and where they are struggling. 

Take it free here: bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

Where might growth be getting crowded out on your team right now?

-------
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Leadership presence isn’t confidence.
It’s clarity under pressure.

Most leaders try to build presence by polishing how they speak or how they run meetings.
That helps, but it misses the real source.

Presence isn’t a performance skill.
It’s the byproduct of how you think, decide, and show up when things aren’t clear.

And it’s not something you master once.
It’s something you refine over time.

Here are 6 behaviors that build real leadership presence:

1. Speak to clarify, not to perform
↳ Every word should increase understanding.
↳ State the what, why, and how—clearly and early.

2. Walk into the room knowing why you’re there
↳ Every interaction needs a purpose.
↳ Define the outcome before you speak, and make the next steps obvious.

3. Decide with incomplete information
↳ The most costly decision is often no decision.
↳ Make the best call you can with what you know, then adjust as you learn.

4. Show up composed, not reactive
↳ Composure creates space to think.
↳ Build in reflection time before high-stakes moments.

5. Listen for what actually matters
↳ Strong leaders surface the real issue, not just the loud one.
↳ Listen deeply. Ask questions that go beneath the surface.

6. Deliver predictable performance
↳ Trust is built through consistency.
↳ Do what you say you’ll do—and let your results speak.

When leaders operate this way, teams feel steadier, trust grows, and execution improves.

But presence is only one piece of effective leadership.

Your energy, focus, and decision-making matter too.

If you want a clear snapshot of where your leadership is strong—and where it may be quietly leaking impact—take the Executive Health Quiz.

It’s free, takes 3 minutes, and gives you practical next steps.
👉 bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

Question:
Which of these behaviors makes the biggest difference under pressure?

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How to strengthen your executive presence

I help smart, driven leaders become world-class operators | Author, High Growth Leadership | AI-assisted execution fanatic | Father of 5

Every leader has blind spots.
The best ones know what they are.

The top performers I work with have one real edge:
Self-awareness.

It’s not woo-woo. It’s not therapy.
It’s knowing who you are, how you come across, and what gets in your way under pressure.

When you know that, you make better decisions, build better teams, and deliver more predictable outcomes.

And the leaders who do this well tend to share a few traits:

1. Humble
↳ You know your strengths and your flaws, so you stay teachable.

2. Approachable
↳ People bring you the real story early because you’re safe to talk to.

3. Adaptable
↳ You adjust to reality faster. Ego doesn’t jam the gears.

4. Tuned In
↳ You’re in the room noticing what matters — not performing a role.

5. Composed
↳ Pressure hits you, but it doesn’t hijack you.

6. Respectful
↳ You treat people like adults and own your impact — especially when you miss.

7. Curious
↳ You assume there’s something you’re not seeing yet, so you keep asking.

What ties it all together isn’t perfection.
It’s awareness.

The best leaders don’t defend their blind spots.
They seek them out.

They ask for feedback.
They apologize fast.
They course-correct even faster.

That’s how judgment gets better.
That’s how performance scales.

And it’s where a lot of leaders quietly get stuck.

They’re smart. They’re driven. They’re working hard.
But their skills can’t support the weight of their work.

That's why I built the Executive Health Quiz.

It gives you a fast, honest snapshot of where your leadership is strong,
and where blind spots might be slowing you down.

It takes 2 minutes and give syou clear next steps:
bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

Which one of these traits do you think is most important?

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KPIs measure business health.
OKRs define business bets.
Most leaders confuse the two.

They’re related—but they’re not interchangeable.
And when leaders blur the line, focus breaks and execution slows.

Here’s the simple distinction.

KPIs tell you how the business is performing.
They track overall health across the organization, teams, or functions.
They change slowly and are often comparable across peers and industries.

That’s why KPIs are well-suited for:
	•	Monitoring performance over time
	•	Benchmarking
	•	Promotion and compensation decisions

They answer the question:
Is this person, team, or function performing reliably at the required level?

OKRs do something very different.

OKRs define a specific strategic bet.
They change quarterly or annually.
They force focus on what matters right now.

That’s why OKRs are great for:
	•	Driving focus and alignment
	•	Accelerating progress on priorities
	•	Turning strategy into execution

And this part matters:
OKRs should not be tied directly to promotion or compensation.

When they are, teams stop making bold bets.
They aim low.
They optimize for safety instead of impact.

Creativity drops.
Innovation slows.
Risk-taking disappears.

Think of it this way.

Imagine you’re driving a truck across the country.

KPIs are the dashboard:
	•	Speed
	•	Fuel consumed
	•	Miles driven
	•	Total cost

You monitor them constantly to make sure the system is operating safely.

OKRs are the decisions you make because of what the dashboard shows:
	•	Add a second driver to increase miles per day
	•	Change fueling strategy to improve efficiency
	•	Drive at night to avoid traffic
	•	Take a faster route

The dashboard doesn’t get you there faster.
The decisions do.

If you only stare at the dashboard, you won’t make progress.
If you ignore it, you won’t finish the trip.

Where many leaders struggle isn’t knowing KPIs or OKRs in isolation.
It’s linking them inside a clear operating system—and using each for the role it’s meant to play.

When that link is weak:
	•	Teams stay busy
	•	Priorities blur
	•	Execution stalls

When it’s strong:
	•	Focus sharpens
	•	Decisions speed up
	•	Strategy turns into results

That’s how good strategy turns into world-class execution.

👉 If you want help teaching your team how to use KPIs and OKRs the right way, DM me. I love helping smart, hungry leaders become world-class operators.

Question:
Where have you seen KPIs or OKRs misused most often?

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Empathy without standards creates drift.
Standards without empathy create fear.
Trust sits in the middle.

A lot of leaders don’t realize how easy it is to slide into one side of that spectrum.

If you lead only with empathy, people feel supported — but outcomes get fuzzy.

→ Intent replaces results.
→ Busyness replaces ownership.
→ Work feels “good,” but pace and quality underwhelm.

If you lead only with standards, people move fast — but not for long.

→ Pressure replaces clarity.
→ Compliance replaces autonomy.
→ Results improve in the short term, but the culture becomes brittle.

High-trust environments are the ones that integrate both.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

1. Be explicit about outcomes
↳ Support isn’t avoiding hard conversations — it’s making success unmistakably clear.

2. Set expectations early
↳ Misalignment at the start always becomes frustration later.

3. Stay consistent
↳ Inconsistency destroys trust faster than tough feedback.

4. Listen before reacting
↳ Understanding context prevents punishment for problems that weren’t actually in someone’s control.

5. Focus on the work, not the person
↳ Missing a target is a performance gap — not a character flaw.

6. Recognize results, not just effort
↳ Good intentions matter, but delivery builds confidence.

7. Lead by example
↳ Standards only work when they apply to everyone — especially the leader.

The strongest leaders are the ones who demonstrate both high empathy and standards.
That's how they create safety + accountability within their teams.

But trust isn’t a personality trait — it’s a skill.
And skills don’t improve by accident.

That’s one reason I built the Executive Health Quiz.
It gives leaders a fast snapshot of where they've got the right skills, and where a gap may be slowing the team down.

It takes 3 minutes and it’s free: bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

Question for you:
Which side do you naturally lean toward — empathy or standards?

⸻

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CEO, President, COO.
Three titles most people still use interchangeably.

The problem?
When you blur these roles, it becomes unclear who actually owns what.
Accountability weakens, execution slows, and leaders step on each other’s toes.

Here’s the simplest way to distinguish them at the level they operate:

⸻

CEO: Designs the Game

↳ The CEO is the chief integrator and value creator, accountable for the overall performance and long-term viability of the company.

They own:
→ Vision, strategy, and priorities
→ Capital allocation and key talent decisions
→ Designing the organizational machine (structure, culture, metrics, leadership)

Their job is to create the conditions under which performance becomes predictable and scalable.
Their scoreboard: Enterprise value + long-term performance.

⸻

President: Runs the Game

↳ The President is the chief business operator, accountable for turning the strategy into a coherent operating plan and delivering the P&L.

They own:
→ Translating strategy into annual and quarterly plans
→ Budgets, targets, and financial tradeoffs
→ Managing major business functions (often revenue, product, and operations)
→ Driving cross-functional coordination without constant escalation

Their scoreboard: P&L, growth, momentum, and strategic progress.

⸻

COO: Scales the Game

↳ The COO is the execution and operations leader, accountable for building and running the internal systems that deliver consistent performance.

They own:
→ Designing and improving core operational processes
→ Execution rhythms, dashboards, and workflows
→ Day-to-day delivery across a defined scope
→ Turning strategic commitments into reliable, repeatable results

Their scoreboard: Consistency, efficiency, throughput, and delivery quality.

⸻

When these three roles are clean, the chain looks like this:

CEO → Vision & Strategy
President → Commercial Direction & P&L
COO → Execution & Operating System

Strategy stops dying in PowerPoint.
Direction stops getting lost in translation.
Execution stops relying on heroics.

When these roles aren’t differentiated, you get the opposite:
Competing initiatives, unclear decision rights, slow escalation, and culture by accident.

Which of these three roles do you see most commonly misunderstood?

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Great cultures leave clues. 
So do broken ones.

The problem is most leaders don't know what to look for.

When things are going well, it's easy to assume it came down to luck or hiring high-performers.

But sustainable cultures aren't accidental.
They're built deliberately.

It takes honesty, commitment, and care at all levels of the org.

When those are in place, you see the effects. 

Here are the leading indicators of a high-performance culture:

1️⃣ People speak up early and often
↳ Problems are raised because people care enough to fix them.

2️⃣ Presence feels real
↳ Cameras are on, minds are engaged, and meetings feel like a place where real work happens.

3️⃣ Conversations are future-focused
↳ There’s momentum with clear vision and direction.

4️⃣ Energy is visible
↳ Ideas flow, people follow through, and you can feel ownership in how work gets done.

5️⃣ Wins are shared and celebrated
↳ Progress is visible and energizing. Recognition happens in real time.

6️⃣ People challenge and support each other
↳ Disagreement isn’t avoided. It’s part of how the team sharpens thinking and improves outcomes.

7️⃣ Curiosity drives progress
↳ Learning is demanded. People ask hard questions and look for better ways to do things.

8️⃣ Initiative is the default
↳ People don’t wait to be told what to do. They move, experiment, and take responsibility for outcomes.

9️⃣ Standards stay high (without micromanagement)
↳ Excellence is expected and understood. Leaders don’t have to chase it.

A strong culture isn't built on perks and slogans.

You have to build trust, create clarity, and deliver consistently.
When you set the example, the rest of the team follows.

If you're seeing this in your team, you're doing something right.
If a few are missing, that’s not failure — it’s data.

Great leaders don’t wait for drift to become damage.
They use early signals to adjust, tighten, and strengthen the system.

That’s one of the reasons I built the Executive Health Quiz — to help leaders evaluate the system underneath the culture.

It gives you a clean snapshot of where your leadership is strongest, and where the friction sits.
It’s free and takes 3 minutes: ➡️ bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz

Question for you:
Which one of these signs do you think is most important?

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Every leader has goals.
Few build the system required to hit them.

The leaders who consistently win don’t chase everything at once.
They choose the one outcome that would make the biggest difference — and organize their work around it.

I call it the One Meaningful Goal.

It’s a single 90-day outcome that creates disproportionate leverage.
A filter for how you allocate your time, energy, and resources.

When you get the OMG right, success starts to feel predictable, not random.

But clarity is only step one.
Most goals fail at the execution layer.
That’s why most leaders end the quarter busy, but off-target.

Here’s the system that makes the goal real:

1. Define the finish line
→ Know exactly what “done” looks like.

2. Map the friction
→ Anticipate constraints and competing priorities before they hit.

3. Architect support
→ Protect calendar space, focus blocks, and the resources the goal requires.

4. Manage the mental game
→ Doubt and distraction don’t disappear — you build skill in working through them.

5. Maintain consistency
→ Progress comes from rhythm, not heroics.

This is how leaders shift from chasing outcomes to producing them.

On Jan 29 (Thu) at 12:30pm ET, I’m breaking down how to deliver breakthrough performance in Q1:

→ The 4 constraints that undermine predictable performance
→ How to identify the One Meaningful Goal for the next 90 days
→ A 3-step operating system upgrade you can deploy immediately

If you want to not just set but hit your goals in 2026, this session is for you.

Save your seat:
https://lnkd.in/eY7Tm6hQ

What goal are you committed to achieving this quarter?

--------------------------

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Productivity ≠ Execution

Most leaders confuse the two.

You can be highly productive—and still fail to deliver great outcomes.

This is where many strong leaders get stuck:

• Busy all day
• Responsive and reliable
• Boxes checked
• But the needle doesn’t move

Why?

Because productivity is about outputs.
Execution is about outcomes.

You can spend an entire day doing tasks.

But if those don't move a high-impact result forward,
you're not executing, you're just burning time.

A productive leader is good at:

✅ Staying busy
✅ Clearing tasks
✅ Responding quickly
✅ Managing long to-do lists
✅ Handling constant inputs

A world-class operator specializes in:

🌟 Delivering meaningful results
🌟 Advancing the most important goal
🌟 Turning intention into completion
🌟 Finishing what actually matters
🌟 Producing visible outcomes

If you're trying to make the shift,
here's the simplest way to see the difference:

Productivity asks: “How much did I do today?”
Execution asks: “Did I move the right thing forward?”

One answer fills the calendar.
The other changes the scoreboard.

And in leadership roles, scoreboards matter more than busyness.

Most leaders trip up because they don't have the foundations for strong execution.

That's why I built the Executive Health Quiz.

If you want a clearer picture of how to maximize your strengths,
it'll give you a snapshot of where you're thriving...and where things may be slipping.

👉 bit.ly/ExecutiveQuiz
--------------------------

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 How Good Leaders Become Great Operators

Fix the execution drift now…
or spend Q2 untangling chaos.

By mid-January, the New Year energy fades and the old operating system returns.

“Inbox fires.”
“Quick fixes.”
Calendar Tetris.

End result?
Your day is full… but none of the work that actually moves the business forward gets done.

This is how execution slows — not from lack of effort, but from a few key levers slipping out of place.

1. Clarity
↳ The team is busy, but progress is inconsistent.
→ Write goals like this: “From X to Y by Z.”

2. Mindset
↳ You hesitate on a tough call or avoid necessary conversations.
→ Name the thing you’ve been postponing. Put it on the calendar. Do it.

3. Alignment
↳ Everyone “agrees” in meetings. No one follows through.
→ End every meeting with: decision, owner, deadline, success criteria.

4. Personal Operating Habits
↳ Your day becomes reactive and your top priorities get displaced by your inbox.
→ Block deep work and defend it.

Even one of these can cause drift.
All four together can make a company feel stuck.
Stalled projects, frustrated teams, exhausted operators.

If you had to fix just one lever this quarter, which would move the needle the most?

⸻

I’m breaking this down live:

Jan 29 (Thu) · 12:30pm ET · Live for senior leaders

We’ll cover:

✅ The 5 core skills that underpin world-class performance
✅ The difference between A-Players vs. an A-Team
✅ The “EASI” system top operators use to scale fast (without burnout)
✅ A 90-Day Breakthrough Plan you can deploy immediately with your team

Save your seat:

https://lnkd.in/eY7Tm6hQ

Which of these four levers do you think is most important?
--------------------------

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