How can we start to address unresolved challenges in our lives that impact people profoundly and sometimes in painful ways? 

In this episode, Patrick Lencioni and Cody Thompson discuss the podcast's return after a six-month break, and a shift in content to include broader societal and cultural issues. Pat also shares his personal journey of self-discovery, focusing on addressing his own wounds and trauma, and explores how this deeply personal work relates to leadership and organizational health.

Topics explored in this episode: 

* (8:04) The Impact of Wounds on Leadership

* How fear can drive leaders. 

* (11:58) The Catalyst for Self-Discovery

* Pat’s realization that running from his issues was more painful than confronting them. 

* The temptation to deny your own wounds. 

* (16:34) The Universality of Wounds

* Everyone has wounds, such as neglect, shame, rejection, and abandonment. 

* Healing is a lifelong process. 

* (21:14) Encouraging Healing

* Addressing wounds sooner rather than later. 

This episode of At The Table with Patrick Lencioni is brought to you by The Table Group. We teach leaders how to make work more effective and less dysfunctional. We also help their employees be more fulfilled and less miserable. 

Subscribe to At The Table on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. 

Follow Pat Lencioni on https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-lencioni-orghealth, http://www.youtube.com/@PatrickLencioniOfficial, and https://x.com/patricklencioni.

Do you know about our other podcast? You can subscribe to The Working Genius Podcast with Patrick Lencioni on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. 

Let us know your feedback on this episode via podcast@tablegroup.com.

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

We're taking a break from uploading new episodes this fall, but we're looking forward to a return in 2025.  Thank you to all of our listeners!  

To take the Six Types of Working Genius Assessment: https://www.workinggenius.com/

Check out the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Assessment: https://tinyurl.com/ttgteamassessment

To become a Working Genius Certified Facilitator: https://www.workinggenius.com/client/certification/ 

This episode originally aired February 17, 2021.

We don't hate change, we just struggle with transition.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss the real reason why people are afraid of change.

Not that 'F' word.  This week, Pat, Beau and Tracy discuss the meaning of the word 'fun' at work.  

Enough about quiet quitting.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss the act of quitting and staying, and why this is neither a new concept nor a good thing for employees or the organizations they serve.  

Innovation is offensive.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss the difference between protection and possibility, and why successful companies need to adopt an offensive posture around innovation.  

When we don't see our work as a vocation, we're constantly looking forward to our next vacation.  This week, Pat, Beau and Tracy discuss the Sunday blues and the idea of work as a calling rather than a transactional relationship. 

What did you take away from your first work experience?  This week, Pat and team discuss their first jobs and the most important things they learned through those experiences, as well as the things they might have had to unlearn.  

Work is a verb, and we're supposed to enjoy it.  This week, Pat, Tracy and Cody discuss the reasons why what we do matters far more than where we do it.  

Like many others in the business world, we love to make analogies to sports.  Why are these analogies so impactful, and what can we learn from them?   This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss the nature of the relationship between accountability and results.  

Holding people accountable is an essential behavior for any high performing team, but the inability to do so remains one of the most prevalent dysfunctions in organizations today.  This week, our good friend Chris Stefanick joins Pat and Tracy to discuss how iron sharpens iron, and why it is so important to foster this behavior within our teams.  

How many people belong on a leadership team?  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy dive into the reasoning behind the answer to one of our most frequently asked questions.  

"Is there something going on in your life right now that's distracting you at work?"  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy use this simple question to put a new spin on the lightning round meeting, and come up with a trust building exercise that isn't complicated or soft.  

Invulnerability is ugly, and it can crush a team.  This week, Pat, Cody, Tracy and Beau talk about how we can root out invulnerability in ourselves and explain why our relationships will improve as a result.

To listen to the Working Genius Podcast: https://www.workinggenius.com/podcast

This week's unpaid ads: www.gethalls.com/relief and www.tacobell.com 

Navigating between virtual and in-person work shouldn't be an organizational problem or a policy issue; it's a unique challenge that needs to be addressed specifically at the team level.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy have what we hope to be our team's last conversation about "virtual work" (or as we like to call it, "work").

This year, we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of Pat's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.  In this episode, Pat and Cody respond to 14 of your questions about the model, the book, and how to best apply it to your team.  

Comparison is not only the thief of joy, but the thief of potential.  This week, Pat, Cody and Beau discuss the 10,000 hours rule and the intersection of joy, talent and practice.  

The concept of dignity in work is at the heart of organizational health, but it's not always as simple as it's made out to be.  Dignity requires an emphasis on performance as well as humanity, but too often, companies focus on one at the expense of the other.  

Forget everything you know about performance management.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy talk about one of the most important jobs of any leader, and how it relates to hiring, firing, and everything in between.  

What is assumed to be understood is often what is most important.  

Right now, within a lot of organizations, one of the most common issues we're facing is fatigue.  This week, Pat, Cody and Beau discuss the different reasons for this issue, and why we as employees, managers, and leaders are often solving for the wrong things.  

Almost every leader has a role to play outside of their explicit duty to manage others.  This week, Pat, Cody and Karen discuss the idea of being a 'leader monkey' and the importance of making the distinction between when we are leading others and when we are serving others.  

When we get through painful experiences, both in our lives and in our work, how do we tend to look back on those experiences?  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss how we can begin to see failure as a necessity, and look back on difficult moments with gratitude instead of shame.  

When it comes to being a leader, how can we tell the difference between delegating tasks and abdicating our responsibilities?  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss the intersection of The Motive and The Working Genius.  

A studio can spend millions of dollars promoting a movie, but we're still most likely to see it when it's recommended by a friend.  This week, Pat and the team discuss the difference in impact that hearing something directly from another person can have.  

To listen to the Working Genius Podcast: https://www.workinggenius.com/podcast

This week's unpaid ad: https://soppycid.com/

There are some ideas that seem great on the surface, but may lead to a number of unintended negative consequences.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss the merits (and limits) of a new proposal for a 32 hour workweek as it relates to productivity and employee engagement.  

Other than television shows based on their unethical and disastrous decisions, what do the founders of Theranos, WeWork, and Uber have in common?  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss the dangers of leading for the wrong reasons.  

This week on At the Table, the team discusses the importance of expressing appropriate emotion at work.  

When it comes to burnout, it's not the amount of work, it's the type of work.  This week, the team talks about the nature of our jobs, and how to do more of what gives us energy and joy.  

Productivity is an art, not a science.  

It was Mike Tyson who said "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."  This week, the team discusses flexibility and the importance of identifying and working towards a 'true north' over adhering to the details of a plan.  

We might not think of gaslighting as something that happens in the workplace, but it does... and it sucks.  When leaders are unwilling to be vulnerable, and team members are unable to admit their mistakes, it can lead to behaviors like gaslighting that undermine culture and poison organizations.  

Product leadership, customer intimacy, operational excellence.  Every organization needs to pick one of these three values to be the best at in their industry.  

This week, Pat and Cody discuss Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema's, 'The Discipline of Market Leaders'.

As a leader, it's tempting to try and make sure everyone in your organization likes you and approves of you.  However, good leaders know that this simply can't happen, and that's okay.  

Many organizations are struggling to get their people back in the office.  It's tempting to see this as a reflection of their employees' character, but what does this really say about the environment that these organizations have created?  The unwillingness to return to in-person work is not a result of entitlement, but rather a lack of engagement.  

Conflict is never comfortable - and it isn't meant to be.  This week, Pat and the team discuss the nature of conflict, and how it can be used not only to more effectively achieve strategic objectives, but also to strengthen relationships within a team.  

To listen to the Working Genius Podcast: https://www.workinggenius.com/podcast

This week's unpaid ad: Pickleball?

Contact us at podcast@tablegroup.com

We talk about organizational health every week.  In this episode, Pat and Cody share their thoughts on being sick.  

It's been a year and a half since we first encouraged you to plant your tree.  This week, Cody brings us back to one of our favorite episodes and offers a fresh perspective on a topic that, we believe, remains just as relevant 18 months later.  

If promoting a high-performing member of your sales team means losing your best salesperson and gaining an average sales manager, why do we continue to rely so heavily on these metrics?  This week, Pat and Cody discuss the mistakes that many organizations make when promoting and choosing their managers.  

How do I kindly hold someone accountable?  How do I influence my boss?  Is there such thing as too much conflict?  This week on the podcast, we decided to have Pat and Cody field some of the most frequently asked questions related to organizational health, live!

Everyone remembers their first day on the job.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy talk about the mistakes that most companies make when onboarding, and why it's so important to communicate (and recommunicate) the 'why' to your employees.  

Donkeys, unicorns, Theranos and a Panamanian fisherman.  

Many Hall of Fame athletes were overlooked at the beginning of their careers until someone gave them the chance to shine.  This week, the team takes a look at how organizations evaluate talent, and encourages you to answer the question, "Who is Your Sleeper?"

During this Christmas season, Pat, Cody and Tracy want to remind you about the importance of genuine appreciation and gratitude for those who make our jobs, and our lives, easier.  

In the war for talent, the best defense isn't money.  This week, Pat and Cody discuss employee retention through employee engagement, and three easy ways to create an environment that nobody wants to leave.  

It's never been easier to get away with doing less.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy discuss why we need to avoid falling into the trap of mediocrity.  

Decisions should always be pushed to the lowest possible level, closest to where they will be making the most impact.  This week, the team discusses the influence of the customer on culture, strategy, and decision-making at the executive level.  

To listen to the Working Genius Podcast: https://www.workinggenius.com/podcast

This week's unpaid ad: https://www.dutchbros.com/

This week, Pat and Cody discuss their own recent experiences with virtual leadership: the positive, the negative, and the unexpected.  

This week's episode comes from the Working Genius Podcast where, last week, we debriefed some assessment results live!  Our friends Tom and Rosylyn, who own a local business, sit down with Pat and Cody to discuss how their Geniuses show up in both their marriage and their work.

Too often, we waste time scheduling meetings around conversations that could happen immediately.  This week, Pat, Cody and Tracy issue a challenge to our listeners.