Blog

Historic stone buildings and cobblestone street in Viterbo, Italy, where Gina Trimarco is exploring her dream of buying a home. Photos courtesy of Idealista.

Have You Stopped Dreaming Big? Why We Give Up on Goals.

What happens when you achieve nearly everything on your bucket list—and then stop dreaming? A personal reflection on big goals, self-limiting beliefs, overachievement, and why sometimes the hardest thing is giving yourself permission to want more.

You Can Be Right and Still Be Wrong for the Team

What happens when being right becomes more important than working together? From a hypothetical Clemson–Carolina football merger to the improv philosophy of "Yes, And," discover why organizational unity doesn't require uniformity, and how The RIGHT Test helps leaders turn disagreement into collaboration.

Improv students practice bold choices and acceptance during a Carolina Improv Company class, with one student balancing a shoe on his head.

Make the Bold Choice: Improv & Psychological Safety

After decades of teaching the same improv exercise, one person always takes boldness to another level. But the real leadership lesson isn't about the person making the bold choice. It's about how everyone else responds.

Desk calendar marked TBD, representing Two Bad Days and the decision to retire

“TBD” = Two Bad Days: What Retirement Teaches Us About Employee Retention

What happens when an employee is financially ready to retire but hasn't decided when to leave? Sometimes the answer is TBD: Two Bad Days. Here's what retirement, employee retention, and a full sales pipeline have in common.

Microwave Add 30 Seconds button illustrating workplace efficiency and better ways of working

The “Add 30 Seconds” Problem: Is Your Team Working Harder Than It Needs To?

When leaders catch every problem their team throws at them, they may unintentionally train people to stop solving problems themselves. Learn how to build accountability, coach stronger problem-solvers, and stop becoming the Chief Problem Solver.

Leader coaching an employee to solve a workplace problem instead of passing the hot potato to her manager.

Hot Potato Leadership: Stop Catching Every Problem Your Team Throws at You

When every problem lands on your desk, solving it may be the fastest answer, but it’s rarely the best one. Great leaders coach people to bring their thinking along with their problems.

Employee managing up by sharing results and recommendations with a senior leader.

Managing Up: How To Make Sure Your Good Work Gets Noticed

Good work doesn’t always speak for itself. Managing up means understanding what your leader values, communicating what matters, and making it easier for them to make good decisions.

Female leadership coach guiding a man riding a bicycle as a metaphor for professional growth and lasting behavior change.

The Bicycle Test: What Great Leadership Coaching Actually Looks Like

A client told me something recently that I haven’t stopped thinking about. We were talking about what coaching has done for him over time, and he shared an analogy that captured it better than anything I could have written myself. He compared having an executive coach to teaching someone to ride a bike. At first,...

Healthy palm tree beside a struggling palm tree in the same yard, illustrating the impact of environment on growth.

Bad Soil, Good People: When Workplace Culture Keeps Talent From Thriving

I never expected a dying tree in my backyard to teach me something about workplace culture. But after years of replacing trees, hiring landscapers, testing soil, and spending money trying to fix the problem, I finally realized something leaders often miss: sometimes the problem isn’t what you’re planting. It’s the environment you’re planting it in....