Broken Leadership vs Hard Work in the Workplace

#Five Mistakes, #Zero Regrets! Three decades in leadership. My sharpest lessons didn’t come from the wins. Here are five failures I carry with me — not as regrets, but as receipts. 1. I misread the culture. Completely. 19 years in FMCG — where consumer insight was oxygen — didn’t prepare me for B2B telecom infrastructure, or later, diagnostics. The commercial logic, the stakeholders, the very rhythm of decision-making were alien. I kept reaching for a rulebook that no longer applied. I now enter every new context assuming I know less than I think. The cultural antenna is the first thing I switch on now. And that makes me innately confident to pivot to any unknown challenges from here on. 2. I couldn’t read the room. My first CEO stint 9 years back taught me that boardrooms run two conversations simultaneously — the spoken one, and the one beneath it. I was so focused on being prepared and being right that I missed the silences. I now treat every high-stakes room as a text with a subtext. I try to watch, not just listen. 3. I judged emotion — from behind my own. I was repeatedly frustrated by superiors who let feeling override logic. Told myself I was different. More rational. It took me far too long to see that my reaction to their emotion was itself emotional — judgment dressed up as objectivity. I’m still a work in progress on this one. Leadership at every level is a deeply human, imperfect exercise — including mine. 4. I kept the wrong people around too long. Silent spectators. Toxic contributors. I knew who they were. I waited, hoped, extended more grace than the situation deserved. That patience wasn’t a virtue. It was a cost others were paying on my behalf. I now try to distinguish faster between someone in a rough patch and someone structurally misaligned. I act sooner. I watch how people handle setbacks, and whether they add energy to a room or quietly drain it. 5. I confused strength with invulnerability. I projected confidence when I had doubts. Held the line when I should have said I don’t know. Thought that was what strong leadership looked like. It wasn’t. My team didn’t need certainty — they needed someone real. Vulnerability, used with intention, is one of the most powerful tools I’ve found. When I started admitting uncertainty openly, the room changed — more honesty, earlier problem-flagging, greater psychological safety. Strength isn’t the absence of doubt. It’s the courage to lead through it transparently. With these failures firmly under my belt, this is where I’ve reached today. I’m more self-aware of my limitations and my own belief systems. But I’m equally certain I’m nowhere near a finished product. Admitting failures has only increased my appetite for more of it. Not recklessness — but a deliberate willingness to keep stretching into new mistakes. Every failure, examined honestly, is just knowledge in disguise. The quest for failures has become my quest for growth. I’ll take that trade everytime!

I like this framing. It helps you get present to where you actually are, what’s feeling off, and why the discomfort is there. When you can name which piece is missing, it’s easier to stop spinning and take a step toward personal and professional growth.

Just because you're working hard to manage a difficult issue doesn't mean you're actually addressing it. I worked with a leader recently who was genuinely trying to support his team through a difficult dynamic — one that had been playing out for months. One of his managers was direct to a fault...not a lot of EQ, and her staff were feeling it. This wasn't a one-off incident. The tension was ongoing, the complaints were recurring, and he had put himself in the middle of it and had been there for quite some time. He understood her style, he wasn't trying to push her out, he just wanted to make things better for everyone. So he started stepping in. Taking meetings with her staff. Helping them reframe things. Talking them down when tensions ran high. Essentially becoming a buffer between her and the people she was supposed to be leading. He was working incredibly hard. And nothing was shifting. When we looked at what was actually happening, the real pattern became clear. He wasn't addressing the problem — he was managing around it. Every time he stepped in to smooth things over, he was relieving just enough pressure to make a direct conversation with his manager feel less urgent. He was, without realizing it, enabling the very dynamic he wanted to change. The situation he presented to me in our first conversation was a difficult manager and a stressed team. The pattern we discovered underneath was his own discomfort with direct accountability conversations and a well-intentioned habit of filling in the gaps instead of addressing the source. Once he could see that, the path forward was actually straightforward. A direct conversation with his manager, not punitive, but clear. Specific agreements. Real support and measures to track progress together. Something that had been sitting undone for months got addressed in a week. That wasn't the end of the work, but it began the focus on what needed to change and progress started happening faster than what his resistance had led him to believe it would. What I find over and over again with the leaders I work with is effort isn't the issue. Measuring the right thing is. What about you? Have you ever caught yourself working around something instead of through it — and what helped you finally see it?

This post caught my attention for so many reasons but the primary reason amongst many is the Kindness. Compassion and Humbleness are two virtues that are missing from the occupational ecosystem. I personally chose these virtues in my work environment. Mental Peace is directly proportional to our work environment. What do you think? #workculture

Leading large scale redundancies was hands-down the hardest work I ever did. Hard for the emotional toll it took. Balancing being human with delivering what the business required. Remaining resilient and professional, even when I'd become the punching bag. Creating an inspiring vision for those continuing whilst being respectful to those who wouldn't be part of it (rock and hard place territory). Working my hardest to make the worst situation into a marginally better one. And usually navigating my own job risk at the same time. Many lessons learned. And scars gathered! But there were some principles that always served me well during these times. I wanted to share. I know lots of organisations and leadership teams are facing into tough decisions given the climate. ➡️ As soon as things are certain and clear, tell the people impacted - own it, help people understand what and why. ➡️ Know what people's options are, have answers well thought through, and be honest where you just don't know. ➡️ Give people some form of choice as soon as possible - placing people back in the driving seat of their life is the best gift you can offer. ➡️ Be visible and available - and take on the chin what's coming your way - it won't be pretty, but it is yours to hear. ➡️ Communicate, communicate, communicate - even when there's nothing new to say. ➡️ Keep performance and motivation in your teams high, even through the adversity - the confidence drawn from that works wonders when anyone is searching for a new role. ➡️ Remember that future culture, engagement and loyalty are influenced by how you operate in these crucial moments - those leaving, and those staying, notice exactly what's happened. ➡️ Look after yourself in the process - your A-game is required as you juggle this amongst all your other accountabilities. Lastly, know you'll never be thanked for how well you lead redundancies, but your legacy is influenced by how you show up and treat others. Be the leader that's remembered and admired for leading the tough stuff well 🙌

12 brutal truths every CEO needs to hear. (Even if they hurt to read.) These lessons hit hard. Some I learned the easy way, most I learned the hard way. What you do with the knowledge makes all the difference:: 1. Your Vision Means Nothing Without Your Team ↳ If your people don't believe in it, your plans are just PowerPoint slides. ↳ Their buy-in matters as much as your strategy. 2. Trust Is Earned Every Day ↳ Every single interaction either deposits or withdraws from your trust bank account. ↳ Choose your words and actions carefully. 3. Your Reputation Can Outrun Your Results ↳ One misstep can erase years of good work. ↳ Guard your credibility like it's your most valuable asset (because it is). 4. Your Title Is Temporary ↳ You're a steward, not a king. ↳ Build something that will thrive without you. 5. Your Networks Is Your Safety Net ↳ Plans crumble, but relationships endure. ↳ Invest in connections before you need them. 6. Overworking Isn’t Leadership ↳ Your burnout cascades through the entire organization. ↳ Model the balance you want your team to have. 7. Comfort Zones Don’t Scale Businesses ↳ If your moves feel comfortable, you're probably falling behind. ↳ Growth lives outside your comfort zone. 8. Listening Outweights Talking ↳ The most valuable insights come from listening, not talking. ↳ Your team has the answers. Your job is to hear them. 9. The Board’s Patience Is Limited ↳ Results speak louder than promises. ↳ Yesterday's wins don't guarantee tomorrow's support. 10. Speed Beats Perfection ↳ Markets won't wait for your perfect plan. ↳ Launch fast, learn faster, improve constantly. 11. Your Journey Will Be Messy ↳ Setbacks and pivots aren't failures: they're the building blocks of greatness. ↳ Embrace the mess of progress. 12. Success Never Shows Up Uninvited ↳ The market won't wait for your perfect moment. ↳ Create your own luck through execution. What most don't realize: Leadership evolves. Markets constantly change. But these truths? They stand the test of time. Because no matter how much the world shifts, Leadership will always be about people. Learn these lessons early, apply them daily, and watch how quickly your impact multiplies. 12 brutal truths every CEO needs to hear. 👇

Never tell your clients "I am flexible." Flexibility sounds like a benefit. To your client, it sounds like you have no structure. No process. No boundaries. No idea what you are doing. The most trusted professionals in any field do not lead with flexibility. They lead with clarity. They tell you exactly what to expect, when to expect it, and what happens if something changes. Flexibility is what you practice internally when things do not go to plan. It is not a selling point. When you tell a client you are flexible, you are asking them to carry the weight of figuring out how to work with you. Do you think most people want that responsibility? absolutely notttt… They came to you because they wanted guidance, not options. What builds trust is certainty. A clear process. A defined outcome. A professional who knows exactly what they are doing and communicates it without hesitation. The clients who stay, refer others, and invest at the highest level are not looking for someone who will bend to fit them. They are looking for someone they can trust to lead them. Stop leading with flexibility. Start leading with conviction.

Today, I learned that I failed. But do not feel bad for me because this was actually a good thing. Failure has a way of exposing blind spots that success hides, and this one gave me visibility into how I need to become a better leader. After spending nearly 25 years in the trenches before moving into higher level of leadership, I still naturally gravitate toward jumping in and helping when my staff is overloaded. Projects pile up, priorities collide, and my instinct is still to roll up my sleeves and help carry the load. I do this instinctively and today it was mundane, or so I thought, of just babysitting a vendor. I knew my team was underwater with other projects. However, in my current role, that was not the best use of my time. Worse, I have unintentionally robbed some of my staff of opportunities they actually needed: the opportunity to be busy the opportunity to learn prioritization the opportunity to gain visibility the opportunity to struggle through ambiguity the opportunity to “figure it out” That realization hit hard at first because helping feels productive. It feels supportive. It feels like leadership. But strategic levels of leadership is different from technical leadership. As technical professionals, many of us built our careers on being the visible expert. We were the person who solved the hard problems, fixed the outages, answered the questions, and carried the pressure. There is immediate satisfaction in that role because the value is obvious and visible. What I am still learning, as hard as that is to say outloud, is even several years removed from being a full time “doer", by role, is that strategic leadership often looks quiet. Sometimes the most important work is creating clarity, removing obstacles, prioritizing correctly, and allowing others to grow into ownership instead of stepping in ourselves. That transition has been much harder psychologically than I expected and still have not mastered it. So, I am curious how others navigated this shift, how did you move from being the visible technical expert to becoming the strategic leader working more in the background? What helped you stop equating personal involvement with value? How did you learn to stop and let your staff simply be busy without being a helicopter leader. I don't mind failing as long as I learn, but I don't seem to be learning this skill as fast as I think I should.

You’ll probably answer “yes” to this question… but read this before you do: 👉 Are you reliable? Most leaders and business owners believe they are — and many truly are. But reliability isn’t just about working hard or having good intentions. Sometimes unreliability shows up in subtle ways. Believe me, Iʻve learned this the hard way myself! It can look like: • overcommitting because you don’t want to disappoint people • poor time management ⏰ • saying “yes” too quickly • unclear communication 📣 • becoming unavailable when others are counting on you • or overpromising and underdelivering And often, we don’t realize the impact it’s having on trust. This has been a recurring theme in recent coaching conversations with my clients. One business owner I worked with took several international trips over a 9-month period ✈️🌎. When her primary referral partner stopped sending leads, she initially assumed it was personal. But after reflection, she realized something important: By making herself frequently unavailable, she had also made herself unreliable. Her referral partner couldn’t confidently trust that she’d consistently be available to care for the clients he referred. That realization shifted her from blame to responsibility and helped her see the importance of rebuilding trust. Another client came into coaching emotionally exhausted and angry over a key director on his team 😓. Deadlines were repeatedly missed, work quality had declined, and the stress was impacting the entire team. As we explored the situation, he realized she was likely no longer aligned with the organization and didn’t know how to step away responsibly. That insight helped him stop personalizing the situation and move toward a healthier solution 🤝. Reliability matters more than most people realize. When reliability breaks down: • trust weakens • stress spreads • teammates compensate • productivity suffers 📉 • and relationships erode And if you constantly feel overwhelmed 😵💫 … that may be a clue. So I’ll ask again: 👉 Are you reliable? #Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #BusinessOwner #Trust #TeamCulture #ProfessionalDevelopment #EmotionalIntelligence #WorkplaceCulture #Accountability #Productivity #Communication #HawaiiBusiness #HawaiiLeadership #HonoluluBusiness #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #ICFCoach #Coaching #PersonalDevelopment