ISSUE #032 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

We're Not in a Storm. We're in a Stormy Season.

A few weeks ago I was sitting with one of my coaching clients. She started her company more than fifteen years ago, and in the last year and a half it has taken off. People from all over want what she offers. It's been exciting, exhausting, and everything in between.

But this year, her company has been hit by several major storms. Not the normal problems that come with growth, bigger ones. And each time, another one seemed to come out of nowhere.

At one point she said something I haven't been able to shake: "If I could just know what was coming, I could handle it. But these things keep coming out of left field."

She's not wrong. And she's not alone.

ISSUE #031 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

If you read our last issue, you know I ended up in emergency surgery.

I'm doing better. I'm healing well. But my life has changed, and here's the strange part - I'm not entirely sure how much.

Not because nobody's told me anything. Everybody has an opinion.

ISSUE #030 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

Last night, I woke up with a pain in my stomach.

Not the kind where you roll over, blame dinner, and go back to sleep.

This one stayed.

It ran through my upper abdomen and into my back. I shifted around. I got up. I lay back down. I tried to decide whether it was serious or whether I was being dramatic, which according to Kathryn, is not always a decision I am qualified to make on my own.

It was a long night.

ISSUE #029 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

A quick note before we begin. Two weeks ago, I told you Uncertainty was the next in the VUCA series. Here it is - Enjoy! [Read the first issue in the VUCA series here]

Uncertainty isn't new. You've lived with it your whole life

Will it rain tomorrow? Will the check come today? Will traffic make you late? That's uncertainty. It's background noise. You've built enough instinct around it that it barely registers.

That's not what's coming for your business.

ISSUE #028 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

A quick note before we begin: at the end of last week's issue, I told you Uncertainty was next. It still is, one week from today. But today is the 250th birthday of the United States, and I couldn't let that pass without writing to you about it.

The Sword

There's an old sword leaning against a wall in our home.

A saber - long, thin, and tired-looking. It still has its sheath, tattered as it is, and the metal is pitted and tarnished.

It's the definition of old. Some would say it's a piece of junk.

I love it.

ISSUE #027 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

The first night, we had dinner at the Inn. It was spectacular. And because we were staying right there, we didn't have to drive anywhere, we just took a walk. Dusk was thinning. The stars were starting to come out. And then, in the air just over the dirt road, we saw lights.

ISSUE #026 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

Every serious business owner I've ever met says they care about culture.

Most of them have read the books. Listened to the speeches. Sat through the conference talks. They know it matters.

And yet, culture remains one of the biggest reasons people leave companies. One of the biggest drivers of inefficiency. One of the biggest sources of stress for the leaders carrying the weight.

So why does the problem persist?

ISSUE #025 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

Most leaders don't know they should get away to think and plan about their business.

Even fewer decide they should.

Even fewer still actually do it.

ISSUE #024 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

A leader I know said this on a call last week:

“My greatest tension is between my family and my business. My task list got so big I’m defaulting to sacrificing time with my family, skipping pickups, working from eight to eleven.”

Then, a beat later, something deeper came out:

“I’m thinking it’s up to me because God can’t help and I got to do all the work and I’m disconnected from how good He is and how much He can provide.”

Now, that second one is the real diagnosis. The first one is just the symptom.

ISSUE #023 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN

I am, by most reasonable measures, weirdly obsessed with kitchen gadgets.

I own two sous vide machines, from different brands, and there's a story behind that. I have Cutco knives I bought back in college, and I still talk about them today - thirty years later - to anyone who will listen. I get genuinely excited about most cool kitchen gadgets. And I have strong, possibly unreasonable opinions about can openers.

Stay with me here. There's a point coming.