Today's fast day marks a tragedy the Jewish people brought on themselves, not their enemies. A trusted governor ignored a credible warning, was murdered, and the fallout ended any near-term hope of restoration — a 2,500-year-old lesson in why trust and verification have to work together.
Read MoreYour biggest obstacle to sales isn't competition — it's comparison. Here's why the businesses that stop chasing the field and start becoming incomparable are the ones that win.
Read MoreCertain leaders say all the right things at meetings and on the offsite. They talk about empowerment, autonomy, and trusting the team. They believe — genuinely believe — that micromanagement is a trap they'd never fall into.
And then they get back to the office and check the work before it goes out. They add themselves to every email thread. They ask for one more update before the meeting. They rewrite the draft that was, honestly, perfectly fine.
This isn't hypocrisy. It's just what happens when trust is theoretical, but anxiety is real.
Read MoreWe spend a lot of time talking about success. We celebrate the launches, the revenue milestones, the promotions, the growth metrics. We build frameworks around achievement and surround ourselves with people who've hit their targets. Achievement, in our culture, is the currency of credibility.
But here's something that rarely makes it into the keynote speeches or the LinkedIn carousels: success alone doesn't fulfill you.
Read MoreIt’s 10:17 a.m. You’ve already handled a client escalation, mediated a heated team disagreement, and jumped into a budget issue that “couldn’t wait.” Your calendar is packed for the rest of the day, and your inbox quietly accumulates dozens more demands on your attention. You feel busy, productive, and necessary—but somehow, by the end of the day, the work that actually moves the business forward hasn’t advanced at all.
If this feels familiar, you’re not alone. Many capable leaders get trapped in what I call the firefighting cycle: constant reaction, endless urgent work, and the illusion of progress. It’s exhausting, and it limits the true impact you can have on your organization.
Read MoreLast week, a manager vented to me about one of her team members.
“He’s just lazy,” she said. “He missed another deadline.”
A few days later, she learned what she hadn’t seen: His father had been hospitalized. He was juggling doctor visits, childcare, and late nights trying to keep up. The missed deadline wasn’t about laziness. It was about exhaustion and fear.
Nothing about the facts changed — only the story.
That gap between what we see and what we assume is where fundamental attribution error lives.
Read MoreA leader once told me, “I’ve explained this a dozen times. I don’t know why they still don’t get it.”
A week later, I watched him run a team meeting.
He talked for most of it.
He clarified expectations.
He answered his own questions.
He ended with, “Any questions?”
There were none.
Not because everyone understood—but because everyone had learned that questions weren’t really welcome.
Read MoreI used to think delegation was a luxury.
Something you did once your systems were perfect, your team was seasoned, and your workload was manageable. Until then? You rolled up your sleeves, stayed late, and carried the weight yourself. That’s what responsible leaders did—or so I believed.
That mindset nearly burned me out.
When I became head of a 360-student K–8 school with limited resources, I walked into an environment defined by scarcity. No admissions director. No marketing team. No instructional specialists. An overextended administrative team. A board that expected rapid academic improvement after years of stagnation.
And me—trying to hold it all together.
Read MoreIf you lead people, there’s a good chance you’ve had this experience:
You start your day with good energy. Your mind feels clear. You’re making smart calls, moving things forward, and communicating with confidence.
But by mid-afternoon?
Every question feels heavier.
Every choice takes longer.
