Act Your Wage
“You’re being childish for not Acting Your Wage.” I was recently working with a manager who was brilliant, capable, and completely devoted to his team. He was the kind of leader who would roll up his sleeves and do whatever it took to get the job done. But there was one problem: his team was […]
The Power of Proximity: Why Showing Up Still Matters in a Remote World
Want to get ahead in your career? Get off Zoom and into the office. I was giving a keynote speech to a group of college seniors recently, sharing tips on how to accelerate their careers in today’s increasingly virtual world. But before I gave them my top tip, I offered some perhaps surprising advice: slow […]
The Micromanager’s Trap: Why Great Leaders Let Go
“Your team isn’t bad at brainstorming. They’re just afraid of you.” I was facilitating a quarterly strategy retreat for a new team, something I’ve done countless times before. The manager warned me that his team was terrible at brainstorming new ideas. He said, “My team’s terrible at brainstorming. Don’t be surprised if you don’t get […]
Being The ‘Perfect’ Leader Hurts Your Connection with Your Team
“You’re just so perfect!” He was 100 feet away in an audience of 300, but his words landed with the force of a thunderclap on my heart. For a moment, it felt like he and I were the only two people in the room. What he intended as a compliment hit me more as scathing […]
Technical Hat Trap: Why Your Leadership Style Might Be Blocking Employee Engagement
This email confirmed what I’ve been noticing through my speaking career: the best speeches don’t just inspire – they fundamentally change behavior. When this HR professional wrote, ‘my mind is still on the technical aspects of getting the job done,’ she perfectly illustrated what I call the Technical Hat trap. It’s a common challenge I […]
Navigating the Tightrope: Balancing Employee Termination and Team Morale
Letting go of an employee feels like cutting off a limb to save the body—painful yet sometimes necessary for survival. When I had to part ways with a cherished team member at Swift Kick Leadership—someone who was not just a colleague but a vibrant part of our company culture—it was like removing the sunniest spot […]
The Remote Work Engagement Crisis: How Leaders Can Turn the Tide
AI Crashed My Virtual Team-Building Party. I recently found myself staring into the abyss—or rather, a grid of blank Zoom squares. I was hired to inject some life into a remote team struggling with disengagement, so I eagerly anticipated 20 faces ready for connection. Instead, five sent their AI note-takers (rude!), seven hid behind camera-off […]
Is Your Company Culture Rotten to the Core? Here’s How to Fix It:
Is your company culture more toxic than a reality TV reunion? Every company has a culture, whether they realize it or not. It’s the personality of your organization, the shared values and beliefs that shape how people behave. And just like people, cultures can be healthy or the workplace equivalent of that coworker who microwaves […]
Your Onboarding Process is Broken: Why New Members Are Leaving (And It’s Not Their Fault)
Let’s face it: your onboarding process is a disaster. It’s a sink-or-swim approach that’s leaving new members feeling isolated, overwhelmed, and wondering if they made a mistake by joining your community. Let’s break down what a broken onboarding process looks like. The Cost of a Broken Onboarding Process: Houston, we have a major problem here. […]
Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace
By a show of hands, who here feels safe telling their boss they messed up? Anyone? Bueller? I thought so. Welcome to the world of psychological safety, or as some call it, the elusive unicorn of the workplace. I can’t help you spot an actual unicorn, but I can help you create a workplace where […]