My friend and colleague, Brenda Blackman, opens this episode with a funny story about how the communication of clues in a card and boardgame was challenged by differences in the players' ages. It's a telling story, too, because with five generations in the workforce, how much work communication is affected by age? In what ways? Is getting on the same page affected? Brenda and I discuss these questions and what she does about them.

With 28 years in the Air Force and another 10 consulting, not only is leadership important to Brenda but so is mentoring. Mentoring is near and dear to her heart, in fact, and in this episode we discuss challenges organizations face preparing young professionals for top leadership positions. Here are a few of my ahh-ha! moments:

1:48 - Clues, games and the ahh-ha! moment.

3:57 - Taking the extra step to make sure people on your team are as vested in the outcomes as you are.

7:42 - The difference between following orders when you understand - and don't understand - a leader's objective or endgame.

12:21 - How understanding a leader's objective or endgame enables better performance - and why good leaders never ask teams to bring them a rock.

20:00 - When a team is very close, can they really "read each other's minds?" And what probabilities and prediction have to do with it.

24:10, 27:27 - The importance of conducting an environmental scan.

31:15 - Why a leader must "pull the thread" to get everyone on the same page.