When I work with executive teams, the greatest challenges almost always come back to people, even when the strategy and process are solid. Over and over, I see that how individuals show up for each other determines the speed, the trust, and the overall health of the team. One framework that consistently makes a meaningful difference is Patrick Lencioni’s Ideal Team Player model: Humble, Hungry and Smart.
The most strategic advantage you have right now is your willingness to be wrong. This is the new paradox of leadership. We’ve all been trained to believe that the right decision requires perfect information, yet volatility has stripped that certainty away. Markets shift overnight, teams restructure faster than the org chart, and data seems to contradict itself weekly. The leaders who win aren’t the ones chasing certainty. They are the ones who have mastered the art of deciding in the dark.
Every executive team I coach works hard to align on strategy. They debate priorities, refine ROCKS (quarterly priorities), and finally walk out of the room confident they’ve nailed it.
Yet a few months in, progress feels uneven. Teams are stuck in old habits. Projects stall. Strategy looks great on paper, but it isn’t fully alive in day-to-day work.
When growth slows, most leaders look outside for answers—market conditions, competition, talent shortages. But in my coaching work with executive teams, I see a different pattern. More often than not, the bottleneck isn’t out there. It’s in the leadership team itself.
In our always-on world, disconnection feels counter-intuitive. Leaders often believe constant presence equals constant impact. We're wired to think "always on" means "always productive." But what if this mindset is actually holding you and your leadership team back?
The truth is, genuine disconnection is a strategic necessity. It's the deliberate act that unlocks clarity, fuels innovation, and builds a more autonomous, resilient team.
Of all the questions, WHO is the most burning. Is your organization still using the standard job description during your hiring process? Are you tucking it away once you make the hire? Well, that needs to change…TODAY!
According to Geoff Smart and Randy Street, authors of Who: The A Method for Hiring, an A Player is someone who has at least a 90% chance of achieving a set of outcomes that only the top 10% of possible candidates could achieve.
Do you set far too many goals only to lose focus as you stretch yourself too thin across your list of priorities? I’m giving you permission to stop. Stop trying to do everything at once.
What if we narrowed our focus and set our intentions on ONE THING? This doesn’t mean the other goals on our list are unimportant or won’t get accomplished, but rather, they are not our #1 Priority right now.
Paul Darley had sales representatives on the ground in Wuhan, China, in the fall of 2019. As CEO and President of W. S. Darley & Co., a 113-year-old fourth-generation family business that manufactures fire trucks and pumps, as well as special operations equipment and PPE for firefighting, emergency and special operations personnel, Paul had early insight on the impending pandemic.
In this month’s episode of Leadership Legends, Jill talks to Kate Brewer, President at Greenfield Rehabilitation Agency, a leading provider of rehabilitation services in Wisconsin with 40 clinics and 500 team members. She’s also the first woman to be named Chapter Chair of YPO’s Wisconsin Chapter and is currently Chair-Elect.
Jill and Kate talk surviving the pandemic, the qualities of great leadership during a crisis, and the biggest learnings taken from the past year.
In this month’s episode, Jill taps into the wisdom of her longtime friend Steve Baird, president and CEO of Baird & Warner, the oldest residential real estate brokerage in the United States.
In this month’s episode, Jill taps into the wisdom of her longtime friend, Michelle Seitz, Chairman and CEO of Russell Investments. They discuss leading through a crisis like the world experienced in 2020, lessons that will be carried into the future, and what Michelle hopes to be known for as a leader.
