The Leadership To-Do Not On Your List
It’s Friday at 6:37pm.
You’ve been in meetings all week. Your inbox is a mess. You barely remember what your priorities were on Monday—and you're not even sure your team knows, either.
Sound familiar?
This isn't just a time management issue. It’s a human leadership issue.
To begin unpacking this state, you must understand one fundamental reality: there are some things that only the CEO can do.
Yes, there are parts of leadership that are shared. If you don't, that'd be a different kind of mess. But when it comes to the direction of the company, the depth of your bench, and the definition of "mission success," you're it.
So, I have 3 reminders for you.
I challenge you to think twice before saying, "I've got that one in the bag."
#1 You’re not just leading projects. You’re leading people.
And those people?
They have fears they don’t know how to express. Aspirations they’ve never been asked about. And when those human needs go unacknowledged, they stop bringing their full selves to work.
You might get compliance but not creativity.
You might get execution but not initiative.
But when you begin to lead the people in your company, the processes and profits follow.
#2 The most successful leaders I coach have learned the secret most leaders ignore: Emotions drive performance.
This is not some kind of touchy-feely practice that involves uncomfortable scenarios and questionable outcomes.
No, when a CEO understands that her leadership team feels trapped between her desires and their subordinates' capacity, she'll conduct herself differently.
When the CEO sees a team member living in extreme reactionary mode, he'll ask that person for a mental health check before putting them on a performance plan.
Here’s what I’ve seen again and again:
Whole people handle feedback with maturity. Hurting people react defensively.
Whole people take initiative. Fearful people freeze.
Whole people collaborate. Disconnected people protect their turf.
You’re already spending energy on team issues. The question is: are you spending it building a healthy culture or cleaning up the fallout from a broken one?
#3 Start Leading With Empathy—Before It’s Too Late
You don’t need to be a therapist. But you do need to be emotionally intelligent. Because whether you like it or not, your leadership is shaping how safe your team feels to show up fully.
The last thing you should be saying is, "Do what I say, not what I do," or "Those company exercises are for the line workers, not leadership," or even worse, "Those rules only apply to them, not me."
Instead, you ought to be putting yourself in their shoes regularly. It has to be a standard pracitce for you to ask questions of people not on the leadership team. You know why? Because it's probably been a while since you felt like them. It's been a while since you wondered if you'd ever make a career out of this job, when you'll get your next raise to make ends meet, or if this is a company that values you.
Because you're the CEO. And the CEO gets what she wants.
You can learn this. You can build a team where people feel seen and still get things done.
You can know on Monday that the team is prepped to crush any obstacle about to land.
You can trust your team with important decisions while you're on vacation. Unplugged.
You can be the CEO that gives someone a chance to pitch an idea that saves the fiscal year.
If you feel like nothing is working and want a company humming like a performance engine, let's talk.
I’m offering complimentary 2-hour coaching sessions to leaders who are ready to go deeper. We’ll talk about your leadership. What it would take to unlock more trust, clarity, and results across your team.
Until then, Leadership Matters can be a place for you to start thinking like a leader, not a boss.
You don’t have to settle for survival mode. Clarity is closer than you think.
In your corner,
—Jonathan
