Scaling Your Leadership

I was in a client meeting in my Fast Company office when head of sales interrupted to tell me he needed me.

When the meeting ended, he tore back into my office, saying that a large piece of business wouldn't be coming into our most prestigious issue of the year, Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business. He was panicked, and before I could respond, he blurted out that revenue for this issue would further miss the mark due to a double count of advertising pages. Two bombs dropped.

What are we going to do!? He nervously asked.

I got into solution mode.

Let's upsell current issue advertisers from single pages to double spreads.

Let's move booked business in future issues up to this issue.

I wanted to be the leader people could come to and who solved problems, but I learned the hard way that when you lead through telling, you build a team of order-takers who don’t make decisions for themselves.

I realized that a business doesn't scale through one leader.

It was draining on me and stunted their growth.

I call it the drive-bys.

People swinging by my office and using my open-door policy to ask me ‘how to do’ and ‘what to do’ questions. It was a vicious cycle of my own making.

Christina, the client, said no.

Christina, he isn’t doing his job.

Christina, the market is slowing down.

I’d get triggered. I’d listen to respond, thinking that telling them what to do was easier for me, and they'd get it for next time. I thought it would slow down the drive-bys, but that was wrong.

What I know today...

🗣️ Telling isn't teaching.

🗣️ Telling doesn't shift perspective.

🗣️ Telling doesn’t create a learning experience.

🗣️ Telling does the work for them.

I realized I’d stay in this mess I created if I didn’t find a better way to lead.

If you find yourself blaming your people, it’s a sign to check in on how you are setting them up for success.

I learned to take a deep breath and lead by asking questions.

💡 What’s your thought?

💡 What are you considering?

💡 What do you want to do about it?

💡 What is your plan?

I learned to ask them for their ideas. For their solution.

‘I don’t know’ is often the knee-jerk response. I hear this from my clients who are stuck and in fear.

From the ‘I don’t know’ response, I realized asking, What DO YOU know? breaks the black-and-white thinking to challenge assumptions.

That opens the discussion to possibility.

You are in leadership because you know stuff. You have the answers. The most effective leaders are smart, but what distinguishes significant leaders from people with big titles is how they show up to lead others.

Don’t tell people the answer. Let them answer for themselves.

That’s how they grow.

That’s how you teach them to be the leader they want to grow to be.

And if they struggle to find the answer on their own...

Say this…

Have you considered (the answer you know to be the solution)…?

They’ll think it was their idea. 💡

When they grow, your impact grows. Isn’t that what we all want?

P.S. Today’s email is part of my ‘Been There Series.’ As a high performance Coach, I’m your thought partner to get you to see what you can’t see and see what you can more clearly. I’m a mentor with a 30-year toolkit to guide you as you navigate the wild ride of leadership and scaling business. I’m here to support you and remind you what a badass you already are on this journey.

If you are tired of the same sh*t each week, if you are tired of punishing yourself daily, if you want to find a new way to feel better about the work you love, let’s work together to create a plan with my proven process.

I work with super successful people who have a track record behind them and a big dream in front of them. Contact me about the results you can expect from working with me.