THE BLOG

I’ve received one of the best leadership advice from someone who wasn’t even a leader — a music producer.

25 years ago, I was playing in a band, thinking mostly about making an album. Leadership was the last thing on my mind. One night, after our rehearsal, this man said something that stuck ...

She had just come back.
Several months off. Rest. Reflection.

When she returned, she told her company she wanted out of operational work.

They listened. They cared.

Together, they decided to move her into an assistant branch manager position, a role that sounded less intense, more strategic.

You’ve just been promoted from individual contributor to new manager.
It’s supposed to feel like a leap forward.
So why can it feel like a step back?

Because now, you’re not aiming for performance — you’re aiming for leadership.
And as the saying goes: what got you here won’t get you there.

You’re...

When someone steps into their first management role, I often see them fall into one of two mental traps:

"This will be easy!"

"This is way too hard!"

Two extremes.

Both wrong.

Both completely normal.

And both in serious need of support.

The first extreme: "This will be easy!"

"Do you have a coach yourself?"

A client—a new manager—asked me that recently.

And I loved that question.

Because I practice what I preach.

Over the last 20 years, I’ve had a number of coaches. Right now, I work with two:

• one helps me build my business,
• The other helps me grow as a coa...

You sit in a car for the first time.

No instructor.

No idea how the machine works.

No clue about road signs or rules.

No practice.

How far do you think you’d get?

Chances are, you won't be able to move the damn thing, but if you do, you’d crash at the first corner or intersection. In the b...