Blog
Read Blog Posts by Category:
Passion: Articles that deal with the inner drive that we all need to want to MOVE from where we currently are to where we dream to be.
Preparation: These posts reference articles, books, documentaries, speakers, quotes, and other inspirational and formative ideas that I have found that helped me and the people around me.
Practice: Articles in this category have a heavy sports and performance training lean.
Performance: These articles focus on how you go about your work. From networking to communications to finding a better way to do what you do.
Perseverance: Articles in this category speak to the mechanics that we go through both mentally and physically to stay on track and not get STUCK.
Replacing an Established Executive: 5 Steps to a Successful Transition
Replacing an established executive is not a promotion event. It is a disruption event. Long before a new leader takes the seat, the role has already shaped behavior, expectations, and survival strategies across the organization. People have learned how to get decisions approved, where pressure is absorbed, and which standards actually matter. When the executive changes, none of that resets. It carries forward.
Most leadership transitions fail not because the incoming executive lacks skill or intelligence, but because they misunderstand what they are inheriting. They step into the role assuming authority creates clarity, when in reality, authority amplifies uncertainty if it is not handled with discipline.
This moment is fragile. How it is handled determines whether the organization stabilizes or quietly fractures.
Earn Your Respect: Understand Every Level
Leadership often looks effortless from the outside. The decisions seem clear, the pace looks controlled, and the person in charge appears calm even when everyone else feels the pressure. Most people assume that calm is personality. In reality, calm is usually built on something far more practical. Understanding.
Early in my career as a strength coach, I thought I knew what “running a program” meant. Write training, coach the lifts, demand standards, drive effort, and get athletes ready to perform. That was the visible part. What I did not understand at first was how many difficult, unglamorous jobs surrounded my role and quietly determined whether my work succeeded or failed.
The higher I climbed, the clearer it became. You do not rise into leadership by mastering only your lane. You rise by understanding the lanes that intersect with yours, especially the ones most people overlook because they do not look impressive on a résumé. Those “hard jobs” are the backbone of a business. If you do not understand them, you can still get promoted. You just cannot lead well once you get there.
Most leaders do not get exposed by lack of ambition. They get exposed by lack of operational understanding. They inherit authority without context, then they try to lead through meetings, dashboards, and secondhand explanations. That is when decisions start landing wrong. It is also when trust begins to erode, because the people doing the real work can tell immediately when a leader does not understand what it actually takes to keep the place running.
You do not need to know every job to do it yourself. You need to know enough to respect it, communicate with it, resource it, and protect it. That is how leadership gets easier, not by lowering the standard, but by increasing your understanding of what the standard actually requires.
How To Become an Elite Communicator: Part I: Listening
Listening is often overlooked in a world filled with constant noise and distractions. We live in a society that values speaking and being heard, but what about the importance of genuinely listening? We were given two ears and one mouth for a reason – to listen twice as much as we speak.