Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Leadership Mindset 2.0

Courage is not about not having fear. Courage is having fear and doing something anyway.

At a recent leadership intensive, we split a room full of leaders into teams and asked who wanted to lead. Almost nobody raised their hand.

These are leaders, at a leadership event, and still most of them sat on their hands.

- Why so many capable leaders avoid raising their hand for the role, and what is actually happening underneath the excuses like I'm too busy or somebody else would do it better

- The real difference between courage and confidence, and why waiting until you feel ready is the one thing guaranteed to keep you waiting forever

- Why people want to be led by someone who actually wants to lead, and what a reluctant leader costs their team even when they are technically doing the job

- The specific moments in leadership that demand courage, from having the hard conversation you keep avoiding to simply saying I don't know, and why each one builds the muscle for the next

- A story about a cold call I avoided for four straight days, and the one I almost avoided the same way, and what changed when I didn't

This week, find the one place where you are playing it safe, whether that is a conversation you are avoiding, a hand you have not raised, or a risk you keep putting off, and do the thing anyway.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

The manager everyone thinks is incompetent probably isn't. She just never got trained.

82% of UK managers are what's called accidental managers, promoted without ever getting the skills or training to actually do the job…so what do you do about it?

You’ll learn everything you need to know about leadership training & development for your team including;

- Why what looks like incompetence in a struggling manager is almost always a training gap instead, and how that one reframe changes the entire conversation you need to have with them

- The six main ways to invest in leadership development, what problem each one actually solves, and how to know which one your team needs right now

- Why the old week-away training model barely works, and what the research actually says you need instead to get people to change their behavior and keep it

- How to build the business case that gets your leadership training budget approved, by tying it directly to a business objective the person signing off on it already cares about

- The one leadership myth from your MBA that's wrong, and why what looks like the Peter Principle is actually just leaders never getting the training they needed to succeed at the next level

This week, figure out what leadership development you, your team, or your organization actually needs, check whether it is already in next year's plan, and if it is not, start building the case for how it gets there.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

Your mind messes with you, and until you know that, it's going to keep holding you back.

Today, you're going to learn exactly how it does this and how to make it work for you instead of against you.

- The simple fact versus fiction tool for catching the exact moment your brain starts inventing a story that has nothing to do with reality

- Why a great presentation, a good piece of feedback, or a clear win can still get twisted into self doubt, and how to stop that story before it takes hold

- How to rewrite the story you are telling yourself about someone who seems distant or hard to read, and why that one shift changes how you actually show up with them

- What to do the next time your ego tells you that you are not qualified, not ready, or not the right person, and why that story is almost always the least accurate one available to you

- How to teach this same tool to the people you lead, so you can catch them in their own made up stories and help them get back to what is actually true

This week, find one story you are telling yourself that is causing you stress, draw a line down the middle of a page, write fact on one side and fiction on the other, and be honest about which side each thought actually belongs on.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

A tool every leader needs is the ability to turn negative, complaining people into a positive, effective member of the team.

The problem is, if you don't know how to do this, you often make it worse.

Here's a simple yet powerful model you can use that does just that. In fact, as you’ll hear, it even works inside of a prison.

- The three roles in the drama triangle, victim, persecutor, and rescuer, and why you are probably playing one of them right now without realizing it

- Why rescuing someone in a victim mindset actually validates their negativity instead of fixing it, and what that costs you as a leader over time

- The exact questions that move someone from complaining about the past to creating a positive future, and why "what is your desired outcome" works better than almost anything else you can say

- How to be firm with someone who is venting without becoming cold or dismissive, and where the real line is between consoling someone and enabling them

- Why catching yourself in victim mode is harder than spotting it in someone else, and the one question that exposes where your own ego is hiding it from you

This week, find one place where you or someone around you is playing the victim, identify who the persecutor is in that story, notice if you have been stepping in as the rescuer, and then ask the one question that starts moving things forward: what is the outcome you actually want here.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

One of the most frustrating things for a manager is that their team's not performing, and they don't know what to do about it.

The pressure starts mounting more and more. They start to doubt themselves, and things get worse and worse for everybody involved.

The solution is to evaluate your team on these five pillars and then put in a strategy to solve it.

- The five pillars that separate high-performing teams from the ones stuck firefighting, and the one score you'll walk away with that tells you exactly where to focus first

- Why hiring your way out of a broken culture never works, and what actually happens when you throw a new headcount at a team with no clear expectations

- The real cost of keeping a B-minus player on an A-player team, and why it’s causing your best people to check out or leave

- What separates a leader who manages from one who actually leads, and why AI is about to make that gap the only thing that matters

- How to build a culture that runs on its own momentum instead of one you have to hold together by sheer will every single day

Scorecard Download: https://rmichaelanderson.com/teams-scorecard

This week, score your team honestly across the five pillars, culture, purpose and vision, team makeup, engagement, and leadership, and identify the one pillar that's actually holding you back…because here's the thing, it's usually not the one you've been working on.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

When trust disappears from a team, even small disagreements can turn into defensiveness, gossip, blame, and conflict...so how do you turn it around?

In this episode, Michael breaks down a five-step process for helping a team move out of dysfunction and start rebuilding trust. And it doesn't begin with forcing everyone to get along. It begins with understanding why people are defensive in the first place, including how you might be contributing to the dynamic as their leader.

Michael walks through what to address, what to say, and how to set clear expectations so you're not simply hoping the conflict will resolve itself.

- How to recognize when ego and defensiveness are driving conflict, including when your own reactions may be adding to the problem.

- Why leaders need to bring unspoken tension into the open before a team can actually work through it.

- How to set clear expectations, get genuine agreement, and hold people accountable for rebuilding trust over time.

Look at the conflict or lack of trust on your team and ask yourself which part of the five-step process needs your attention right now. Do you need to understand where ego is showing up? Name a problem that everyone is avoiding? Set clearer expectations? Get agreement from your team? Or start holding people accountable? Choose the step your team needs most and put it into action.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

Never let someone come to you with just a problem. They need one to three solutions already worked out, because that is the moment a follower starts becoming a leader.

Here's the thing. A VP I coach ran a time audit and found he was spending five hours a week with one newer team member. His first instinct was to just cut that time back. That would have backfired.

- Why cutting back time with someone you have been over-supporting can blow up in your face if you handle it wrong, and the simple reframe that gets their buy-in instead of their anxiety

- The real difference between internal and external processors. One of your team members might be talking too much simply because that is how they think, not because they cannot decide

- The exact standard to set so people stop bringing you problems and start bringing you solutions. This one shift does more for someone's leadership growth than almost anything else you can teach them

- How to use phases to structure your relationship with a growing team member, so every stage has a clear, motivating focus instead of feeling like an open ended obligation

- The coaching questions that push someone to actually decide instead of staying stuck. Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is refuse to decide for them

This week, the next time someone comes to you with a problem, ask for their one to three options before you help solve it. If they do not have any, send them back to think it through first. That one habit is what starts turning a follower into a leader.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

A burned out team does not need better processes. It needs a leader who knows where they are going. The thing keeping your people stuck has nothing to do with their workload.

- Why the loudest negative person on your team is currently setting the tone for everyone else, and what you have to do about it before anything else can shift

- The difference between empathy and direction, and why leading with one while missing the other leaves your team feeling unled no matter how hard you are working

- Why workload data and process improvements cannot fix a burned out team culture, and what your people are actually waiting for from you

- How to show up to your boss with a plan and a specific ask instead of a list of problems, and why that one shift changes what help you can get

- The exact moves to make in the next two weeks to start turning the energy in your department around

This week, write the one paragraph narrative of where your team is going in the next 12 months and schedule the one conversation you have been putting off with the person whose energy is pulling the room in the wrong direction, because those two things together will move more than any process improvement you could make.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

I'm away for a couple of weeks, so we're going back into the archive. New episodes return on 26 August.

"The real job of a CEO is to go from one uncomfortable conversation to another."

If you are procrastinating a phone call, letting a deadline slide, or avoiding an underperforming employee because you don't want to "rock the boat," you are not protecting the team - you are hurting them.

Many leaders suffer from "Nice Guy Syndrome." We think that by avoiding conflict, we are keeping the peace. But in reality, we are losing respect.

In this episode, we break down why your brain is neurologically wired to avoid these conversations and how to overcome it every time.

-The "Nice Guy" Trap: Why trying to be liked usually results in being disrespected, and why your team actually caves accountability .

-The Psychology of Avoidance: How "Conditional Parenting" and the ego's need for safety cause us to procrastinate on high-value conversations .

-The ARC Framework: A 3-step process (Awareness, Response, Compassion) to navigate conflict without blowing up.

-Curiosity vs. Blame: How to start a difficult conversation so the other person doesn't get defensive (hint: be specific, not general) .

-The "Silence" Trick: Why you must stop talking after asking a hard question and let the silence do the heavy lifting .

-Identify: Who is the one person you have been avoiding? (A peer, an underperformer, or even a boss).

-Compose: How do you want your energy to be? (Curious, not accusing).

-Schedule: Put it on the calendar today. Do not wait for the "right time." .

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

Leadership isn't just about making the right decisions. It's about having the difficult conversations, earning trust, and showing up with confidence when it matters most.

In this episode, Michael answers questions from leaders who are facing challenges many of us eventually run into.

-What do you do when someone on your team isn't improving?

-How do you lead people who used to be your peers?

-And how do you walk into a room with confidence when everyone seems to be judging you before you've even spoken?

If you've ever struggled with any of those situations, this episode is packed with practical advice you can put to work right away.

- When it's time to put someone on a Performance Improvement Plan and why avoiding the conversation usually makes things worse.

- How to earn the respect of former peers after stepping into a leadership role.

- A simple routine you can use before any meeting or presentation to feel calmer, more confident, and more present.

- Why the first few moments of your presentation matter more than you think and how to make them count.

Before your next meeting or presentation, don't jump straight into your content. Pause, get grounded, and think about what your audience needs from you. Then start with an opening that grabs their attention and sets the tone for the conversation.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

http://rmichaelanderson.com/glc-join

Most leaders spend their careers trying to get rid of fear. The highest performers have a completely different relationship with it.

“The day you are not afraid going into a fire is the day you should retire. Because fear is what keeps you aware, keeps you sharp, and keeps you alive.”

-Shannon Sedlacek, former attorney and Lieutenant firefighter, my guest for the episode

- Why fear is not a stop sign and never was, and what it is actually trying to tell you in the moments it shows up most powerfully in your leadership

- What a career as a litigator and then a firefighter taught Shannon Sedlacek about performing under pressure, and why the skill that transfers is not courage but self-trust

- Why self-abandonment is the hidden cost of leadership at the highest levels, and how it shows up in ways most leaders never connect back to themselves

- What the relationship between fear, doubt, and self-trust actually looks like in practice, and why building that relationship is the only thing that lets you keep taking on harder challenges

- Why your team is watching how you relate to fear more than they are listening to what you say about it, and what you are modeling whether you know it or not

Find out more:

https://rmichaelanderson.com/intensive

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

If your business depends on you for every major decision, you've built a bottleneck, not a scalable company.

In this episode, Michael answers a question from a founder who has successfully grown his business to $4 million but finds himself involved in every deal, every decision, and every problem. The challenge isn't working harder. It's making the transition from being the person who does everything to becoming the leader who builds leaders.

Michael shares the practical mindset shifts, leadership frameworks, and coaching strategies that help founders, executives, and managers let go of control, develop stronger teams, and create organizations that can continue growing without depending on them every step of the way.

- How to identify whether your team is truly capable of taking ownership or if you need stronger leadership talent.

- Why hiring and coaching become your most important responsibilities as your organization grows.

- A simple Before and After leadership mapping exercise that creates a clear roadmap for moving from operator to strategic leader.

- How your past experiences may be shaping your leadership style and what it takes to intentionally rewire habits that no longer serve you.

Complete your own Before and After leadership map. Write down the responsibilities you're handling today, define the leader you want to become in the future, and identify the specific changes that will help you bridge the gap. Use it as your roadmap for becoming more strategic and less dependent on doing everything yourself.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

Masterclass on Hiring (1/3): Mindset & Preparation

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/3591e99b-6973-4726-8930-5890166a694e/

Masterclass on Hiring (2/3): Sourcing & Interviewing

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/ee63178d-6d2f-4ce2-999e-3b723db692fc/

Masterclass on Hiring (3/3): The Offer & Onboarding

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/0c27ad8c-3202-4c51-a8c3-e6c7c965c2d2/

Everyone is talking about AI. Very few leaders are talking about what actually makes AI successful.

In this special crossover episode, Michael joins Bart on the Human2Human podcast to explore why so many AI initiatives fail despite massive investment. The answer isn't better technology. It's better leadership.

Together, they unpack the leadership challenges that organizations are facing as AI transforms the workplace, from fear and resistance to culture, trust, and change management. Michael also shares practical strategies leaders can use to help their teams embrace AI while keeping the human side of leadership front and center.

• Why most AI initiatives fail before the technology ever has a chance to succeed.
• How great leaders reduce fear, build trust, and create buy-in during AI transformation.
• A simple framework for identifying the best AI opportunities by solving your team's biggest frustrations first.
• Why leadership, communication, and culture are becoming the true competitive advantages in an AI-driven world.

Set aside 90 minutes with your team and ask one simple question: "What are the two or three most repetitive, frustrating, or time-consuming parts of your job?" Choose one challenge to solve with AI over the next two weeks, then come back together to review what you learned and how it improved the way your team works.

Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bart-kowalczyk/

H2H Sales Automation Podcast: https://www.automatenow.uk/podcast

This is the fifth and final episode in our series on the four leadership types, and this is the one where everything comes together.

Two people on the same team, both good at their jobs, who cannot work together and have no idea why. It is not a personality clash. It is two completely different operating systems running side by side.

In this episode you'll learn;

- How the four leadership types map against each other, and why some pairings create instant friction while others can become each other's greatest strength

- Why a Dominant Commander and a Supportive Collaborator can trigger each other constantly, and what changes when they actually understand each other

- Why a Visionary Influencer and a Logical Creator so often talk past each other in meetings, and how each one is exactly what the other is missing

- How to identify someone else's leadership type in a single conversation, even if they have never taken the quiz

- What changes in your relationships, your team, and your own leadership the moment you stop seeing friction as a personality clash and start seeing it as two different operating systems

TAKE THE QUIZ

rmichaelanderson.com/leadershipquiz

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, think of one relationship in your work or life that has some friction in it, identify both your leadership type and theirs, and ask yourself what that person is actually driven by and what they might need from you that is completely different from what you would need from them, because that one shift in perspective can change the entire relationship.

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

This is the third in our five part series on the four leadership types, and this one explains why some of the most capable people struggle the most once they reach leadership.

Needing all the information before you decide is exactly what makes you excellent at your job, and exactly what makes leadership the hardest job you have ever taken on.

In this episode you'll learn;

- What actually drives a Logical Creator, and why precision and accuracy matter to them in a way that has nothing to do with control

- The specific reason leadership feels so much harder for a Logical Creator than any role they have held before, and why it is not a confidence problem

- How to work with a Logical Creator so they trust your recommendation quickly instead of needing to verify everything themselves

- Why Logical Creators are often seen as cold in moments that need warmth, and what is actually happening underneath that perception

- The one shift that helps a Logical Creator move from tactical excellence to strategic leadership without losing what makes them great

TAKE THE QUIZ

rmichaelanderson.com/leadershipquiz

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, identify whether you recognize yourself in the Logical Creator, or whether someone in your life fits this, and if it is you, find one decision you have been sitting on because you do not have everything you need and make the call anyway with what you have got, and if it is someone else, give them everything you have up front before asking them to decide and notice how much faster they move.

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

This is the fourth in our five part series on the four leadership types, and this one explains why the most trusted person on your team might be carrying the most unspoken tension.

The same instinct that makes someone the glue of their team is the instinct that keeps them quiet when something actually needs to be said.

In this episode you'll learn;

- What actually drives a Supportive Collaborator, and why harmony matters to them in a way that goes far deeper than just being nice

- The specific reason Supportive Collaborators struggle the most with accountability conversations, and why avoiding them costs more than having them

- How to work with a Supportive Collaborator so they feel safe enough to tell you what they actually think instead of what they think you want to hear

- Why Supportive Collaborators are often overlooked for leadership roles despite being some of the most respected people on the team, and what changes that

- The one self promotion shift that helps a Supportive Collaborator be seen for the value they already bring without it feeling fake or uncomfortable

TAKE THE QUIZ

rmichaelanderson.com/leadershipquiz

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, identify whether you recognize yourself in the Supportive Collaborator, or whether someone in your life fits this, and if it is you, identify the one conversation you have been avoiding because it might disrupt the harmony and have it this week, and if it is someone else, ask them directly what they think and create the space for them to actually say it.

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

This is the second in our five part series on the four leadership types, and this one explains why the most confident person in the room might also be the most insecure.

The same thing that makes a leader charismatic and well liked is the same thing that gives them more imposter syndrome than any other leadership type.

In this episode you'll learn;

- What actually drives a Visionary Influencer, and why their need to be liked is connected to a confidence that looks effortless from the outside

- The specific reason Visionary Influencers experience more imposter syndrome than any other leadership type, and why it gets worse the more successful they become

- Why a Visionary Influencer says yes to everything, and what is really happening when they consistently overcommit and run late

- How to get a Visionary Influencer on board with an idea, and the one thing you should never lead with if you want their buy in

- Why Visionary Influencers avoid difficult conversations longer than any other type, and what that costs their team over time

TAKE THE QUIZ

rmichaelanderson.com/leadershipquiz

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, identify whether you recognize yourself in the Visionary Influencer, or whether someone in your life fits this, and if it is you, pick one thing you have said yes to that you do not have the bandwidth for and either follow through properly or let it go, and if it is someone else, lead with the big picture before the details and notice how differently the conversation goes.

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

This is the first in a five part series on the four leadership types, and understanding this one might explain the most powerful, or the most difficult, person in your organization, possibly you.

It is not about being seen as the winner. It is an internal drive to win and to be in control, and left unmanaged, that drive quietly turns into bullying.

In this episode you'll learn;

- What actually drives a Dominant Commander beneath the surface, and why it has almost nothing to do with needing to be seen as right or in charge

- The specific blind spot that turns a Dominant Commander's biggest strength into their biggest liability with their team

- How to work with a Dominant Commander so they move quickly and trust you, instead of feeling like you are slowing them down or trying to control them

- Why challenging a Dominant Commander directly is often the fastest way to earn their respect, and how to do it without it backfiring

- How to find out your own leadership type in under two minutes, and why understanding it changes how you read every difficult interaction you have

TAKE THE QUIZ

rmichaelanderson.com/leadershipquiz

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, identify whether you recognize yourself in the Dominant Commander, or whether there is someone in your life who fits this, and if it is you, notice one moment where your drive to get things done might be moving faster than the people around you and give someone the headline before the details, and if it is someone else, get straight to the point with them and notice what happens.

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

Keeping your head down is not humility. It is protectionism. And it is costing you more than you think.

Two of my clients got passed over for promotions this month. Both were doing excellent work. Neither had made themselves visible to the people who make those decisions.

In this episode you'll learn;

- Why performance alone has never been enough to get promoted, and what the leaders who keep moving up are doing differently that most high performers never figure out

- The specific difference between a doer mindset and a strategic leader mindset when it comes to career visibility, and which one you are currently operating from

- Why the person your boss promotes is almost never the best performer in the room, and exactly what they are doing instead to stay on the right radar

- What it actually means to say yes before you are ready, and why waiting until you feel qualified is the most expensive career decision you will keep making

- Who specifically you need to go build a relationship with right now to move your career forward, and why most leaders already know the answer but keep finding reasons to wait

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, identify the one person whose radar you need to be on to move your career meaningfully forward, whether that is your boss's boss, a founder, a senior leader, or an influencer in your industry, and take one specific visible action toward that relationship before the week is out, because nobody is coming to find you.

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

Most leaders end a long day asking themselves: did I actually get anything done today? You did. You just do not have a system that lets you see it.

The calmness great leaders project does not come from having all the answers. It comes from an evidence-based confidence that you can handle whatever comes up. This episode gives you the exact practice that builds it.

In this episode you'll learn;

- Why your brain is wired to filter out everything you accomplished and fixate on what went wrong, and the simple daily habit that rewires it in the opposite direction

- How the Affect column of the GAF Journal eliminates the end-of-day feeling of wasted effort by making your actual impact visible and undeniable

- Why specificity is the ingredient most gratitude practices get wrong, and what writing specific moments instead of vague categories does to your brain over time

- How tracking daily moments of good fortune shifts your default mindset from the universe works against me to the universe has my back, and why that shift changes how you lead

- Why the confidence that comes from this practice is more durable than motivation, because it is built on evidence of what you have already done, not hope about what you might do

YOUR CHALLENGE:

Tonight, get a notebook, divide a page into three columns, and do your first GAF Journal entry, write down five specific things you have genuine gratitude for right now, every meeting, email, conversation or decision you positively affected today, and one moment in the last 24 hours where things went your way, because the confidence you are looking for is already there in your day, you just have not been recording it.

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

AI is about to get very good at the two thirds of your job most leaders have been relying on to look successful. What is left after that is real leadership.

In this episode you'll learn;

- Why the functional expertise and management skills that got you to where you are today are the exact things AI is going to commoditize first, and what that means for how you need to show up differently starting now

- The three things McKinsey says AI will never be able to do, and why they are probably the parts of leadership you have been most underinvesting in

- Five specific moves to make right now to position yourself as the kind of leader AI makes more valuable instead of less

- Why the leaders who thrive in this next phase will not be the ones who know the most but the ones who can create the conditions where the best work happens

- How to build a business case for AI in your specific role and industry, and why that one skill is what separates the leaders who have a seat at the table from the ones who do not

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, answer one honest question: are you actually committed to becoming an AI-enabled leader, and if yes, pick one of the five moves from this episode and block the specific time this week when you are going to start, because commitment without a calendar is just intention.

Topics: AI for leaders, AI leadership, AI career, AI for executives, leadership and AI, AI mindset, future of leadership, AI skills leaders, AI strategy, AI career development, leadership identity, strategic leadership, leading change AI, AI business case, executive AI, leadership development, AI transformation, AI readiness

There is a 45-point enthusiasm gap between how executives feel about AI and how their teams feel, and most leaders have no idea it exists.

And this all comes down to you - your team's relationship with AI is a mirror of your relationship with AI. Not what you say about it...it's what you actually do with it.

In this episode you'll learn;

- Why the single most important driver of your team's AI adoption has nothing to do with your company's strategy, tools, or budget, and everything to do with one specific thing you are or are not doing

- The three diagnostic questions that tell you whether the signal you think you are sending your team about AI is actually the signal they are receiving

- What visibly engaged with AI actually looks like in practice, and why designing with your team rather than presenting to them is the difference between adoption and resistance

- Why ambiguity about job security is more damaging than bad news, and exactly what to say to your team whether their roles are safe or genuinely at risk

- Why your team's relationship with AI will never outpace your own, and what that means for what you need to go and do differently this week

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, have the one AI conversation with your team you have been putting off, not an announcement and not a forwarded article, but an actual interactive conversation where you ask them what they are doing with AI, share something that did not work for you personally, and listen to what they actually need from you right now.

Topics: AI for teams, team AI adoption, managing through AI, AI leadership, AI for managers, employee AI adoption, AI team culture, AI change management, psychological safety AI, AI communication, job security AI, AI workforce, future of work, team AI strategy, manager AI role, AI engagement, AI rollout, AI implementation

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

Most organizations are not losing the AI race because of bad technology. They are losing it because honest information about what is not working never reaches the people who can fix it.

You'll learn what you need to know to make sure your organization is successful in this new age of AI including;

- Why most organizations are sitting in the Exposed Quadrant, high AI spending and low organizational readiness, and the specific signs that tell you if that is where your company sits right now

- Why your AI governance policy is probably creating the shadow AI problem it was designed to prevent, and where the worst offenders actually sit in your org chart

- What Signal Speed and Action Speed are, why the gap between them is the hidden reason most AI projects stall, and what middle management has to do with it

- The four structural changes that separate the 5.5% of organizations in the Leaders Quadrant from the 94.5% still burning budget on endless pilot projects

- Why the highest-performing AI companies are not adding AI on top of existing workflows but redesigning from scratch, and what that means for how you need to build your team

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, score your organization honestly on the four things that determine AI readiness: how safe your people feel surfacing bad news upward, how empowered your front line is to make decisions without escalating, how many layers information has to travel through before it reaches someone who can act on it, and how your team actually responds when you tell them something is going to change.

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

Most managers will not be replaced by AI. They will be replaced by someone who understands it. The question is which side of that line you are standing on right now.

- Why 95% of corporate AI pilots have no measurable financial impact, and what your organisation is almost certainly getting wrong about implementation right now

- Why most leaders are halfway in on AI, and what halfway is going to cost you, your team, and your career when the other half catches up

- The single leadership behaviour that moves your employees from 15% to 55% positive on AI adoption, and why most executives skip it because it feels exposing

- The identity shift that separates the managers who lead through AI from the ones who get quietly replaced by someone who simply uses it better than they do

- Why reading the articles and dabbling in ChatGPT is not adoption, and what actually counts as being all-in

YOUR CHALLENGE:

This week, rate yourself honestly from 0 to 10 on how all-in you are on AI today, then rate how important AI is to your company's next five years, and if there is a gap between

those two numbers, write down the one specific thing that is keeping you halfway in instead of fully committed, because naming it is the only way you start closing it.

Topics: AI leadership, AI for managers, AI for leaders, AI adoption, AI implementation, AI strategy, AI transformation, AI readiness, leading through AI, future of work, AI for executives, AI mindset, AI change management, AI pilot projects, AI culture, leadership and AI, executive presence

Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8944058/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershipmindsetgroup

A burned out team does not need better processes. It needs a leader who knows where they are going. The thing keeping your people stuck has nothing to do with their workload.

In this episode I take a real question from inside the Growth Leaders Collective and break down exactly what is happening and what to do about it.

- Why the loudest negative person on your team is currently setting the tone for everyone else, and what you have to do about it before anything else can shift

- The difference between empathy and direction, and why leading with one while missing the other leaves your team feeling unled no matter how hard you are working

- Why workload data and process improvements cannot fix a burned out team culture, and what your people are actually waiting for from you

- How to show up to your boss with a plan and a specific ask instead of a list of problems, and why that one shift changes what help you can get

- The exact moves to make in the next two weeks to start turning the energy in your department around

YOUR CHALLENGE, DEAR LEADER

This week, write the one paragraph narrative of where your team is going in the next 12 months and schedule the one conversation you have been putting off with the person whose energy is pulling the room in the wrong direction, because those two things together will move more than any process improvement you could make.

A lot of smart leaders sit in high-level meetings and say almost nothing. They tell themselves they are being thoughtful. They are actually hiding, and most of them do not know it.

SPOT THE HIDING YOU DID NOT KNOW WAS HIDING

Most leaders think hiding looks like silence. It actually looks like humility, deference, giving people options, testing the room before you speak. You will walk away able to name the specific way you are doing this right now, in the arena where it is costing you most.

STOP WAITING TO BE CALLED ON

There is a lean-back version of you and a lean-forward version of you, and your team can feel which one shows up. You will see why the reactive posture is keeping you out of the conversations that move your career, and what shifts the moment you stop waiting for the perfect thing to say.

WHAT'S THE OTHER SIDE LOOK LIKE?

If hiding is not your problem, the opposite probably is. You will understand why taking on every committee, every hard conversation, every task that should be delegated is not drive. It is the same ego wound in reverse, and it is keeping you stuck in tactical work while your strategic influence flatlines.

YOUR CHALLENGE, DEAR LEADER

This week, watch yourself in two places, the meeting where you sit back and let the conversation happen to you and the task you picked up that belongs to someone else, and before the week is out pick one of them and do the opposite of what your ego wants.

A managing director I coached cancelled his entire day of appointments to serve a client on-site, convinced he was protecting his already-stretched team. When he told them what he had done, they were furious.

Guilt Is Not Virtue – It Is a Sign Your Identity Needs to Catch Up

The guilt you feel when you delegate, when you leave space in your calendar, or when you let someone else handle something you could do faster yourself – that guilt is not proof you are a good person. It is the gap between your current behavior and the identity you built on the way up. You got promoted by doing. Now your job is thinking. Until you rewrite the definition, guilt will keep dragging you back into execution and away from strategy.

Your Empty Calendar Blocks Are Not Wasted Time – They Are the Work

If you are filling every open slot because a gap in your schedule feels indulgent, you are not being diligent. You are being reactive. Strategic thinking requires reflective time – sitting with hard problems, going for a walk, doing things that do not look productive. That is not slacking. That is precisely what the organization needs from you, and it is the thing you keep crowding out.

Coddling Is Not Compassion – It Is Stunted Development

Ian's team did not want to be protected from the challenging client visit. They wanted the stretch. When you step in to carry what should be theirs, you are not being kind – you are denying them the growth they need and keeping yourself buried in work that is not yours to do. Your job is to make your team uncomfortable enough to develop. That is the whole point.

Your Challenge: identify one task you are holding onto out of guilt, hand it to someone on your team without over-explaining or over-coaching, and then protect the calendar space that opens up and use it to think.

One of the most common things I hear from leaders is this: "I'm struggling to lead someone on my team because they know so much more about this subject than I do." I hear it from new managers. I hear it from senior executives. And every time, I have to tell them the same thing - that's not a leadership problem. That's a leadership fallacy.

The higher you go, the more you will be leading people who know more than you about their specific domain. That is not a weakness. That is the job. And once you understand what your role actually is in that dynamic, everything changes.

In this episode, I first take you inside a real coaching session with a leader who was asked to moderate a panel of subject matter experts - and was terrified she wasn't expert enough to pull it off. Then I'm going to show you how the exact same principle applies to leading technical people on your own team.

In this episode you'll discover:

The Expert Fallacy -- Why believing you need to know more than your team is not humility, it's actually getting in the way of your leadership and theirs.

The Ultimate Audience Member -- The reframe that instantly takes the pressure off any panel, presentation, or senior meeting where everyone else seems to know more than you do.

The Detective Approach -- How to engage subject matter experts with curiosity-driven questions that build your strategic presence, earn their respect, and surface blind spots they didn't even know they had.

Your challenge this week: Find one subject matter expert in your world -- on your team, a peer, or even someone above you -- and invite them to coffee. Ask them to walk you through what they do. Then get curious. Ask the basic questions. Ask the ones that seem obvious. Because that's where your leadership value lives, not in having the answers, but in asking the questions nobody else thought to ask.

If you've been trying to become a more strategic leader by making small, steady changes, this episode is going to stop you in your tracks.

Most leaders think the shift from doer to leader is a gradual one. Read the right books, adjust a few habits, pick up some new skills. But that approach isn't just slow, it's the wrong model entirely.

Real identity change doesn't work that way, and until you understand why, you'll keep putting in the effort and wondering why nothing is actually shifting.

In this episode you'll discover:

- Why the leaders who try hardest to change incrementally are often the ones who get stuck the longest

- What it actually takes to make the identity leap from tactical operator to strategic leader

- How to know if your ego is the thing quietly sabotaging every attempt you've made so far

This one will challenge you. And it might be exactly what you've been missing.

Your Challenge: Identify one area where you've been trying to change gradually but know deep down that a real leap is what's required. Get honest about what identity you're holding onto, get clear on where you want to go, and name the ego-based story that's been keeping you between the two. Then decide: are you ready to let go of the bar and leap?

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

A leader in my private community walked into a meeting with her most senior executive, presentation fully prepared. He looked at it and told her to put it away. Just talk to me. She froze. And in that moment, she missed an opportunity she didn't even know was there.

That moment happens to leaders every day. The good news is it's completely fixable once you understand what senior leaders are actually looking for every time you open your mouth.

In this live coaching session, we work through the real communication challenges that hold capable leaders back when the room gets senior, the stakes get high, and there's no script to fall back on.

In this episode you'll discover:

The Altitude Problem -- Why leaders who come from operational backgrounds instinctively answer at the wrong level with senior executives, and the simple reframe that shifts you from tactical to strategic instantly.

The Strategic Presence Play -- How to use the questions you ask (not just the answers you give) to build your reputation as someone worth inviting into the room, and exactly what those questions look like in practice.

The Unspoken Tension Move -- What to do when a key stakeholder is quietly working against you, including how to call it out directly in a way that disarms rather than escalates.

Your Challenge:

Most leaders are so focused on doing their job well that they never stop to ask how their most senior leaders are actually measuring them. This week, get honest with yourself: what does your boss's boss care about most, and when they think of you, are you showing up at that level? If there's a gap between where you're performing and where you need to be seen, that gap is your leadership edge right now. Decide on one thing you can do this week to start closing it.

A Navy SEAL said something to me once about leadership that I have never forgotten. He told me if his general ever showed up on the front line while bullets were flying, he would physically tackle him and drag him to the back. Not because the general couldn't handle it. Because the general was the only one who could see the whole battlefield. And if he went down, everyone was lost.

That is your team right now. They don't need you in the weeds with them. They need you three steps ahead.

THE IDENTITY SHIFT THAT MAKES EVERYTHING ELSE STICK

Here's the thing about tools and frameworks - you can learn all of them and still slide right back into the tactical cycle within a week. Because if you don't change the identity underneath the behavior, the behavior doesn't stick.

Your identity is who you feel you are. And if you still feel like the person who gets things done, you are going to keep getting things done at the cost of everything that actually needs your leadership. We fix that from the inside out.

INFLUENCE IS NOT SOFT. IT IS THE WHOLE JOB.

Control is what made you great as a doer. I get it. But in a strategic role, that same instinct creates a bottleneck, burns you out, and keeps you doing work that isn't yours anymore.

Brandon was a law firm practice group leader who spent his whole career as the go-to person for everything. After making this shift he said he went from being the bottleneck to being the builder. That is what we are going for here.

WHAT STRATEGIC PLAYERS ACTUALLY DO DIFFERENTLY

It is not about the content you bring into a room. It is about your framing, the questions you ask, and honestly what you choose not to say.

There is a specific way strategic leaders show up in senior rooms and people notice it immediately. You will know exactly what that looks like and how to start building that reputation on purpose.

A business owner came up to me after a presentation. After five years of huge growth, they’ve levelled off. He told me: "I realized the bottleneck was me. I come from sales and I am still out there selling. But they do not need me to sell anymore. They need me to lead. And honestly I do not know what that means."

That is the most honest thing a leader can say. And it is exactly what this masterclass is built to answer.

WHY EVERYTHING YOU HAVE ALREADY TRIED HAS NOT WORKED

Time management systems, better delegation, the MBA, the new role - none of them made you more strategic, and there is a specific reason for that. Every one of those solutions was built for doers. They help you do more things more efficiently. They do not help you do less.

The gap between where you are and where your role needs you to be is not a knowledge problem. It is a behavioral, identity, and habit problem. You will learn why each of the five most common myths leaders believe about going strategic are quietly keeping you exactly where you are.

THE TACTICAL CYCLE AND WHY YOU CANNOT BREAK OUT OF IT ALONE

You clear some space. Something urgent happens. You fly in and save the day. Overwhelm sets back in. You tell yourself you will try again next week. Next week looks exactly the same. This is not a character flaw.

It is the burnout cycle, and not adapting to your role as a strategic leader is one of its biggest drivers. You will understand exactly where the cycle breaks down and what it takes structurally to step out of it.

THE DOPAMINE TRAP NOBODY WARNS YOU ABOUT

Every time you check something off your task list, your brain rewards you. That neurological loop took twenty or thirty years to build and it is the invisible reason your calendar keeps filling back up the moment you clear it.

You will learn the neuroscience behind why high performers are structurally wired for doing over thinking - and the one weekly practice that begins rewiring that reflex within six to eight weeks.

A leader in one of my APAC coaching sessions asked me what to do when someone rolls their eyes at him mid-meeting. My answer surprised him.

Your Body Knows Before Your Brain Does

When something needs to be addressed in a room, your nervous system will tell you first — a tightening in the chest, a tension in the shoulders, a twinge you have learned to ignore. Mindfulness is not a wellness concept. It is a leadership tool. I will show you how to read those signals as the early warning system they are, and what to do the moment they fire.

Calling Out the Unsaid Is an Act of Leadership, Not Aggression

I coached a compliance leader at a pharmaceutical company who was convinced that naming the passive-aggressive behavior in her meetings would make things worse. It did the opposite. When you give voice to what everyone in the room already knows is happening, you are not creating conflict. You are ending it. The bully in her meeting never gave her a problem again.

The Avoidance Trap

We run from difficult conversations because we believe we are protecting something: the relationship, our reputation, the sense of being liked. But avoidance does not protect any of those things. It destroys them slowly, from the inside. The leaders people genuinely respect are not the ones who kept things smooth. They are the ones who held the line when it was uncomfortable, and who made it safe for everything real to come to the surface.

Your Challenge: identify the one conversation you have been postponing, the situation you have been hoping will quietly resolve itself, and before this episode is over, take one concrete step toward it, whether that is writing the email, booking the meeting, or simply saying out loud the thing everyone in the room already knows but no one will say.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Members of my private community asked me two questions that I know a lot of you are sitting with: What daily habits actually improve your leadership? And how do you truly switch off from work at the end of the day?

The answer to both comes down to the same thing: rewiring. All psychology is, at its core, rewiring old beliefs and patterns into new ones. And the good news is you can start doing it in about three minutes.

In this live Q&A episode, I walk you through the two practices I give every leader I coach, including the ones I still rely on myself after decades of practice.

What you'll take away:

The Meditation Myth Busted -- Most leaders have tried meditation and quit because they think a wandering mind means they're doing it wrong. It doesn't. I'll show you exactly how to start (and why three minutes is all you need).

The Ritual Reset -- A ritual isn't a spiritual practice. It's a signal you give your brain to shift states. I'll give you simple examples for switching off from work, preparing for high-stakes meetings, and even building this into your team culture.

The Respond vs. React Shift -- The single biggest payoff from these habits is the ability to pause, think, and choose a powerful response instead of just reacting. That is where your leadership presence lives.

Your Challenge(s): (there are two this episode!)

First, if you're not meditating, start tomorrow. Find a quiet spot, take a chair somewhere you don't normally sit, set a timer for three minutes, close your eyes, and focus on your breath. When your mind wanders (and it will), just bring it back. That's the whole practice.

Second, identify one ritual you can put into your day. Maybe it's how you transition out of work mode. Maybe it's how you prepare before a high-stakes meeting. Maybe it's something you bring to your team. Keep it simple, keep it repeatable, and let your brain do the rest.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

You've landed the board position — now what? In Part 2 of this masterclass, Russell Dalgleish and Michael break down what separates a high-performing board from a dysfunctional one, and how to make sure your involvement counts.

In this episode you'll discover:

-How to spot a toxic board before you join one — the behaviours Russell watches for that tell him everything he needs to know

-What board members actually get paid — from monthly retainers to equity to a crate of whisky (yes, really)

-How to assert yourself from day one — why waiting to "fit in" is the biggest mistake new board members make

-The warning signs of a board that's failing — and what a healthy, high-performing board actually looks like in practice

-When and how to exit a board that isn't working — for both the member and the company

If you're about to join a board, already on one, or thinking about bringing someone in — this episode will make sure you get it right.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Connect with Russell Dalgleish

Russell is a serial entrepreneur, global ecosystem builder, TEDx speaker and executive coach. He's the Founding Chair of the Scottish Business Network and Founding Managing Partner of Exolta Capital Partners, with a passion for helping entrepreneurs build communities around their brands for international growth.

Website: russelldalgleish.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/russelldalgleish

Email: russell@exolta.com

What if five words could fundamentally change how you show up as a leader — and how your entire team shows up with you?

In this episode executive coach R. Michael Anderson breaks down one of the most deceptively simple — and brutally honest — questions in leadership: Are you 100% in?

Most leaders think they're fully committed...but they're not. There's a world of difference between 99.9% and 100%, and that tiny gap is quietly costing you your focus, your credibility, and your team's performance. Michael explains why holding back even one small amount is holding you and your team back — and how that habit shows up more than you think.

In this episode, you'll learn:

-Why 99% commitment is not "almost there" — it's a leadership liability

-How to honestly audit the areas of your life and career where you're holding back

-What to do when you realize you're not fully in (and when it's time to disengage entirely)

-The exact conversation to have with your team to uncover hidden disengagement

-Why your 100% can't be conditional on what others do first — and what that says about your leadership

Whether it's your job, a project, your team, or a relationship — this episode will challenge you to stop playing it safe and start showing up with your whole self.

Episode Challenge (today you get two!):

Challenge #1 — The Personal Audit: Pick three areas of your life — your job, a project or committee you're on, and one key relationship. Be brutally honest with yourself: are you 100% in on each one? If not, identify the gap and ask yourself — is it closable? If it is, decide what it's going to take to get there. If it isn't, it's time to have a bigger conversation with yourself about whether to disengage.

Challenge #2 — The Team Conversation: Have the "100% in" conversation with at least one person on your team this week. Ask them directly: what percentage are you in, and what would it take to get you to 100%? Then listen. You may uncover something that's been unsaid for months — and that conversation alone could be a turning point for both of you.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Do you want to join a board - but not sure where to start? In Part 1 of this masterclass, Michael sits down with Russell Dalgleish, one of the UK's most experienced board strategists, to demystify how boards really work and how you get a seat at the table.

In this episode you'll discover:

-The difference between a Board of Directors and a Board of Advisors — which one you actually need, and why getting this wrong can cost you

-How to land your first board position without paying a recruitment company — the simple, relationship-based approach that actually works

-What value you need to bring to get invited onto a board — it's not about your CV, it's about this one thing

-How to approach a company you want to advise — including the exact LinkedIn strategy Russell uses to get meetings with CEOs

-What to watch out for before you say yes — because not every board is worth your time, and Russell explains how to tell the difference early

If you're a senior professional looking to build a portfolio career, or a business owner who wants to understand how to build a board around your company — this episode is your starting point.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Connect with Russell Dalgleish

Russell is a serial entrepreneur, global ecosystem builder, TEDx speaker and executive coach. He's the Founding Chair of the Scottish Business Network and Founding Managing Partner of Exolta Capital Partners, with a passion for helping entrepreneurs build communities around their brands for international growth.

Website: russelldalgleish.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/russelldalgleish

Email: russell@exolta.com

When someone on your team shuts down in a big meeting, or a client suddenly gets cold, or a colleague comes at you with arrogance and aggression, what is actually happening? And more importantly, what do you do about it?

In this second part of the Ego and Authentic Self series, I am going to show you how to read what is really going on with the people around you and how to use that awareness to become a more powerful, more effective leader.

In this episode, we explore:

-The Intimidated Team Member: How to spot when someone has gone into their ego and what to say to bring out their best

-The Arrogant Attacker: Why aggressive, arrogant people are actually scared, and the specific tools to handle them without losing your ground

-The Influence Principle: Why you can never control whether someone is in their ego, but you absolutely can influence it

💪 Your Challenge This Week: Think about the people in your life right now. A teammate. A client. Maybe someone at home. When do they go into their ego? What does it look like? And what is one thing you can do differently the next time it happens?

And here is the thing - this principle does not stop at the office door. The same ego triggers that show up in your boardroom show up with your partner, your kids, and your friends, because this is psychology, and psychology does not clock out.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

When you step into a high-level role, the biggest enemy isn't the workload—it's Imposter Syndrome. You could be leading people who have been there for a long time and know more than you do. You may find yourself sitting in executive meetings wondering if you belong at the table.

In the conclusion of this live coaching session with "Paul," we move from the intellectual to the psychological. We break down how to lead a team of experts when you aren't one, and how to project authority before you feel ready.

In this episode, you will learn:

-Leading When You Aren't the Expert: How to manage a team that knows more than you do without losing their respect (or your confidence) .

-The "Elephant in the Room": Why (and how) to verbally acknowledge your blind spots to your team to build trust rather than suspicion .

-The Acclimation Trap: How to balance the need to learn with the pressure to produce results—and how to know exactly when to switch from "listening" to "directing" .

-Commanding the Room: How to establish Executive Presence with the C-Suite, even if you feel like the "new kid" at the table .

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Have you ever snapped at someone on your team, avoided a hard conversation, or micromanaged a project you should have let go? That wasn't a leadership failure. That was your ego. And in this episode, I'm going to show you exactly what that means and how to fix it.

Every tool I teach traces back to this one principle. Once you understand it, you will never look at your own behavior the same way again.

In this episode, we explore:

-The Ego Trigger: Why your brain reacts the same way to a hostile boardroom as it does to a physical threat, and what that chemical reaction is silently doing to your leadership

-The Authentic Self Advantage: Why the leaders people actually want to follow are not the loudest or toughest in the room, they are the calmest

-The Leadership Cost: How every poor leadership trait, micromanaging, blame-shifting, avoiding hard conversations, traces back to one single source

💪 Your Challenge This Week: Pick one situation where you know you get triggered. Before you walk into it, ask yourself: "Am I in my ego or my authentic self right now?" That one question is often enough to shift everything.

You are safe. Lead from that.

Starting a new executive role is high-stakes. You have 90 days to prove your value, navigate office politics, and set a strategic vision—all while learning a new culture from scratch.

In this live coaching session, I work with "Paul," a newly hired Senior VP of HR at a 5,000-person company. He is stepping into a 100-year-old organization that is successful but stuck in its ways.

In Part 1 of this 2-part series, we break down the Preparation Phase. We discuss how to decode the hidden motivations of the C-Suite and how to build a 30-60-90 Day Plan that establishes immediate credibility.

In this episode, you will learn:

-The Key Objective: The #1 thing you need to do to ensure that the company, and the team, are glad they hired / promoted you.

-A 30-60-90 Framework you can follow to guide the expectations you set and achieve that makes it manageable and successful

-The "Tenure Trap": How to respect the history of a company without letting it kill innovation .

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

When top-tier executives come to me for coaching, their #1 request is always the same: "I want to know where my blind spots are." They know that the things holding them back aren't their obvious weaknesses—they are the invisible patterns they have accepted as "normal."

Finding those blind spots requires you to challenge your current thinking.

In this short, experimental episode, I am not giving you a framework or a 5-step process. Instead, I am going to ask you 11 "What If" questions.

These questions are designed to bypass your ego and force you to look at how you handle conflict, intuition, power, and ownership.

In this episode, we explore:

-The Intuition Gap: Why you are ignoring that gut feeling about the person in the wrong role—and what it is costing you .

-The Power of Apology: What if you apologized to fix a broken relationship, even if you aren't sure it was your fault?

-The "Nice Leader" Syndrome: Why holding back your passion and frustration is actually a disservice to a team that needs to be woken up .

-The Ownership Reality: What happens when you stop blaming your industry, your boss, or your team, and take 100% ownership of exactly where you are today?

💪 The Challenge for This Week: Don't just listen to this on 1.5x speed.

Listen to the 11 questions.

When one hits you in the gut, hit pause.

Take one immediate action—send a text, schedule a meeting, or put a task on your calendar to address it.

Resources

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Whether you are a professional coach, a consultant, an HR leader, or simply a manager trying to influence the C-suite, you need to know how to interact with people at the highest levels of an organization .

Many talented professionals hold themselves back from these conversations. They assume they need more credentials or a better "model." But high-level leaders do not care about your certifications. And if you try to use standard behavioral tactics with them, they will show you the door.

In this special live Masterclass recording, we dive deep into the psychology of interacting with top-tier executives . You will learn exactly what C-suite leaders are actually looking for in an advisor, and how to position yourself to earn their trust.

In this episode, you will learn:

-The "Executive Mask": Why CEOs build armor to survive, the 3 types of masks they wear (Competence, Resilience, Control), and why your ability to break through it dictates your influence.

-The Behavioral Trap: Why standard frameworks (like asking, "What are your goals?") fail with executives, and why you must learn to coach their identity, not just their behavior .

-The 3 Keys to High-Level Influence: How to develop the Credibility to get in the room, the Tools to break the mask, and the Presence to tell a $2 billion CEO the unvarnished truth .

-Live Coaching: Listen as I challenge "Bob," a consultant, to stop accepting meetings at the bottom of the ladder and start demanding time with the CEO .

Resources

-Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-want to coach c-level leaders confidently? Sign up here

Who is the one person you need to get on your side right now?

There is always someone - an investor, a boss, a peer, or a difficult employee - who you need to make a decision in your favor.

Most leaders try to influence people using logic. They present facts, data, and ROI. And often, they fail.

Why? Because they don’t understand Leverage.

In this episode, I break down the single most important psychological tool for persuasion. "Leverage" isn't about manipulation; it is about understanding the deep-seated drives, fears, and aspirations that actually cause a human being to say "Yes."

In this episode, you will learn:

-The Definition of Leverage: Why "What's in it for me?" is deeper than just money or status (it’s often about safety, legacy, or belonging)

-Personality-Based Influence: How to adjust your leverage based on the 4 Leadership Types (Commanders want to win; Visionaries want to be cool; Collaborators want harmony) .

-The "Expense Report" Tactic: A real-world example of helping a team member understand why they need to do their admin on time

-The "Move Away" vs. "Move Towards" Driver: Why some people are motivated by looking smart, while others are motivated by not looking stupid (and why you must know the difference)

💪 The Challenge for This Week:

-Pick one person you have been struggling to influence.

-Stop pitching your agenda.

-Identify their Leverage: Ask yourself, "What are they afraid of losing? What do they deeply need to gain?" (Is it fairness? Respect? Safety?) .\

-Put it into action

Resources

-Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

"You can do everything right and still lose the candidate in the final week."

The period between "Making the Offer" and "Day 1" is the danger zone. This is when candidates get cold feet, receive counter-offers from their current bosses, or simply ghost you.

In Part 3 (The Finale) of our Hiring Masterclass, Michael Bailey and I wrap up with the critical final steps to lock in your A player and get them excited to start.

In this episode, we cover:

-Making the Offer: Why compensation alone isn't enough—personalize the offer based on what you learned matters to them during the interview.

-Don't Get Cheap: The costly mistake leaders make by negotiating down at the finish line. A players deliver massive ROI—pay them fairly.

-Trust Your Gut: Why you must listen to your intuition, even when a candidate looks perfect on paper. Michael shares cautionary tales of ignoring that inner voice.

-The Anti-Ghosting Protocol: Specific pre-boarding steps to keep candidates excited between offer and Day 1—welcome gifts, early laptop delivery, first-week agenda, and desk setup.

Plus, hear key takeaways from business leaders who realized their hiring process needed a complete overhaul.

Michael Bailey is a Growth Consultant with over 20 years of experience helping SMEs scale successfully by building strong people strategies. As former CFO and People Director at MOMs Organic Market, he helped scale the business from 3 to 7 stores while maintaining its purpose-driven culture. He's also worked with Urban Leisure Group (named one of the Guardian's Best Places to Work in London) and The Better Food Company, where he prioritized people alongside profits.

Contact Michael:

1. Website: www.elzeard.co.uk
2. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bailey3

People are watching you through a magnifying glass.

As a leader, everything you do is amplified. A casual comment about "opening an office in LA" can turn into a company-wide rumor within an hour. Being five minutes late to a meeting can undermine your entire speech about "integrity."

It takes months to earn respect, but only a few bad habits to lose it.

In this episode, we flip the script. Instead of telling you how to be a great leader, I am going to teach you the 5 Fastest Ways to Lose Respect. By identifying these traps, you can audit your own behavior and stop the leaks in your leadership.

In this episode, you will learn:

-The Hypocrisy Trap: Why asking your team to do things you don't model (like punctuality) makes them roll their eyes at your values .

-The "Secondary Priority" Signal: Why bumping a 1:1 meeting or delaying a salary conversation tells your employee "You don't matter to me" .

-The Authority Paradox: Why acting like you "know it all" (or conversely, knowing nothing) kills team confidence .

-The "Firefighter" Mistake: Why getting stuck in the weeds and failing to be strategic makes your team see you as just another peer with a fancy title.

-The Clarity Gap: How vague expectations force even your best employees to fail because they don't know the parameters of success .

💪 The Challenge for This Week: Audit yourself against the "Anti-Playbook."

-Reflect: Look at the 5 ways to lose respect. Which one are you currently guilty of?

-The Fix:

-Are you canceling meetings? Stop moving them.

-Are you inconsistent? Stick to one message.

-Are you unclear? Sit down and define the expectations.

Resources

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

"Past performance is the best predictor of future performance."

Most interviews are flawed because they rely on hypothetical questions ("What would you do if...?"). A skilled candidate can fake a hypothetical answer. They cannot fake a chronological track record.

In Part 2 of our Hiring Masterclass, Michael Bailey and I move from preparation to execution. We tackle the two hardest parts of the funnel: finding A-Players who aren't looking for jobs, and conducting an interview that acts as a "truth serum."

In this episode, you will learn:

-The Virtual Bench: Why you must constantly recruit at trade shows and dinners before you have an opening, so you never start from scratch .

-The "Entrepreneurial CPA" Strategy: How Michael wrote a job ad so unique it was featured in the business book Scaling Up, and how you can use "low hurdles" to filter out B-Players immediately .

-The Phone Screen: The 30-minute filter that saves you hours of wasted interview time.

-The "Threat of Reference Check" (TORC): A psychological tactic used early in the interview that compels candidates to tell you the unvarnished truth about their weaknesses .

-The Chronological Interview: The deep-dive format (1.5 to 3 hours) where you walk through their last 5 jobs in order. We explain why candidates let their guard down after minute 40 and give you full candour.

Resources:

-Get the Templates: Download the Job Scorecard and Interview Templates mentioned in this episode inside the Growth Leaders Collective at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Michael Bailey is a Growth Consultant with over 20 years of experience helping SMEs scale successfully by building strong people strategies. As former CFO and People Director at MOMs Organic Market, he helped scale the business from 3 to 7 stores while maintaining its purpose-driven culture. He's also worked with Urban Leisure Group (named one of the Guardian's Best Places to Work in London) and The Better Food Company, where he prioritized people alongside profits.

Contact Michael:

1. Website: www.elzeard.co.uk
2. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bailey3

"The real job of a CEO is to go from one uncomfortable conversation to another."

If you are procrastinating a phone call, letting a deadline slide, or avoiding an underperforming employee because you don't want to "rock the boat," you are not protecting the team—you are hurting them.

Many leaders suffer from "Nice Guy Syndrome." We think that by avoiding conflict, we are keeping the peace. But in reality, we are losing respect.

In this episode, we break down why your brain is neurologically wired to avoid these conversations and how to overcome it every time.

In this episode, you will learn:

1. The "Nice Guy" Trap: Why trying to be liked usually results in being disrespected, and why your team actually caves accountability .
2. The Psychology of Avoidance: How "Conditional Parenting" and the ego's need for safety cause us to procrastinate on high-value conversations .
3. The ARC Framework: A 3-step process (Awareness, Response, Compassion) to navigate conflict without blowing up.
4. Curiosity vs. Blame: How to start a difficult conversation so the other person doesn't get defensive (hint: be specific, not general) .
5. The "Silence" Trick: Why you must stop talking after asking a hard question and let the silence do the heavy lifting .

💪 The Challenge for This Week:

-Identify: Who is the one person you have been avoiding? (A peer, an underperformer, or even a boss).

-Compose: How do you want your energy to be? (Curious, not accusing).

-Schedule: Put it on the calendar today. Do not wait for the "right time." .

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

"I can't give my team any more work—they are already drowning."

If you have ever said that, you are likely falling into the Martyr Trap. You try to protect your team by taking on the extra work yourself, but all you are doing is becoming the bottleneck and burning yourself out.

In this Live Q&A Session, we tackle two of the most common stressors in leadership: Influence and Overwhelm.

I answer real questions from the Growth Leaders Collective about how to get other departments (who don't report to you) to actually do their job, and how to dig your team out of a hole when everyone is stretched thin.

In this episode, you will learn:

-Expectations vs. Agreements: Why "pretty much" having an agreement is the same as having no agreement at all, and how to lock in commitments with peers .

-The "Martyr" Trap: Why "saving" your team from work actually hurts their growth and turns you into their personal assistant.

-The "Strategic No": How to ruthlessly audit your calendar and help your overwhelmed team do the same (hint: you can usually delete 20-40% of the tasks) .

💪 The Challenge for This Week:

The Calendar Audit.

-For You: Go through your task list and ruthlessly delete or renegotiate everything that isn't strategic.

-For Your Team: Find one overwhelmed employee. Schedule 45 minutes with them and help them find3 things they can stop doing or hand off immediately .

Resources

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Hiring is the most expensive gamble you make as a leader - and when you get it right, it makes everything else easier.

The problem is that research shows that 46% of new hires fail within 18 months. The cost isn't just the salary—it's the lost momentum, the cultural damage, and the months it takes to fix the mistake.

In this special 3-part Masterclass Series, I am joined by Michael Bailey—an expert in scaling SMEs and building high-performance cultures—to break down the "5 Steps to Hiring Right."

In Part 1, we tear down the traditional "Post and Pray" method and teach you the Preparation Phase. You will learn why "Job Descriptions" are useless and how to replace them with a "Scorecard" that defines exactly what winning looks like.

In this episode, you will learn:

-The 50/50 Gamble: Why traditional hiring has a failure rate of nearly 50% and how to stack the odds in your favor .

-Defining "A-Players": Why you don't just want a superstar (who might be a jerk)—you want the right superstar who aligns with your values .

-The Scorecard Method: The exact framework to define the Mission, Outcomes, and Competencies for a role before you ever speak to a candidate .

-The Hiring Hierarchy: Why you must prioritize Values > Wills > Skills (in that order).

-The Speed Trap: How to map your timeline so you don't lose top talent to faster competitors.

Resources:

-Get the Templates: Download the Job Scorecard and Interview Templates mentioned in this episode inside the Growth Leaders Collective at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Michael Bailey is a Growth Consultant with over 20 years of experience helping SMEs scale successfully by building strong people strategies. As former CFO and People Director at MOMs Organic Market, he helped scale the business from 3 to 7 stores while maintaining its purpose-driven culture. He's also worked with Urban Leisure Group (named one of the Guardian's Best Places to Work in London) and The Better Food Company, where he prioritized people alongside profits.

Contact Michael:

1. Website: www.elzeard.co.uk
2. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bailey3