“Great leaders don't simply point the way forward. They create the conditions for others to succeed.” Perhaps improving employee engagement begins with changing how we lead. When Bill Sommers and I began writing our book, Unleashing Potential: How Great Leaders Facilitate Success, we knew employee engagement was a longstanding challenge for organizations. But Gallup's employee engagement research wasn't what inspired us to write the book. Our motivation came from decades of l

Sometimes the next breakthrough is closer than we think, but persistence alone isn’t enough. We have to keep learning. Three Feet from Gold Why the next obstacle may be telling you to learn, not quit Over the past several months, as Bill Sommers and I worked through the final stages of writing and publishing Unleashing Potential: How Great Leaders Facilitate Success, I found myself saying something repeatedly: The finish line is never as close as you think. Every time we thou

The best solutions emerge when leaders create them with others, not for others. Many leaders still believe speed comes from making decisions alone. It doesn't. The fastest organizations aren't those with the smartest leaders, they're the ones where people closest to the work help create the solution. That isn't just good culture. It's good business. Why Leaders Default to Control Pressure causes leaders to tighten control. Deadlines. Budgets. Customers. Competition. The insti

Great leaders care enough to support people and respect them enough to expect their best. Why Great Leaders Refuse to Choose Between Accountability and Care Many leaders unconsciously believe they must choose between two competing approaches: High standards = hard driving leadership Care and compassion = softening expectations This is a tension I experienced as a business leader and one I continue to see in my coaching practice today. "If I hold people accountable, they may t

Great leaders create space for others to contribute. Modern leaders don’t build trust by talking more, they build it by listening better. For much of my business career, leadership rewarded decisiveness. Leaders were expected to give direction, solve problems quickly, and keep things moving. Meetings often centered around the leader speaking while others listened. In fast-moving operational environments, that approach can feel efficient. But over time, I learned something imp

Modern leaders don’t win by having the answers — they win by asking better questions. For much of my career, leadership meant having answers. Early on, that made sense. In the 1980s, when I managed a supermarket, success came from knowing every job, giving clear direction, and making sure things got done the right way. Leadership was top-down, command-and-control — and in that world, it worked. But that world is gone. Today’s leaders operate in a vastly different environment

Modern leaders create environments where everyone contributes. For most of history, leadership carried one constant assumption: the...

In our pursuit of happiness, many of us live in a constant state of “once I get there…”—once I get the promotion, finish the project, buy...

“The most basic of all human needs is the need to be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” -Ralph Nichols...

Golf is a risk reward sport which parallels life in many ways. Like life, a journey around a golf course presents many challenges,...