MrJoe in Audio

Every time you quietly fix an employee's sloppy work or avoid an uncomfortable conversation, you aren’t being generous, you’re creating dependency.

Most leaders confuse being "nice" with being "kind." 
Nice leaders rescue people, carry work that isn't theirs, and burn out. 
Kind leaders hold high standards, tell the truth, and build leaders who actually grow.

And when a "nice" leader runs out of patience? That is usually when the asshole leader is born.

In this video, we break down:

• The hidden cost of carrying work that belongs to your team
• Why protecting someone's feelings harms their career
• How nice leaders unintentionally turn bitter and aggressive
• The exact framework for leading with high standards without destroying trust

JOIN THE NEWSLETTER:
If you want deep-dive insights from the CEOs I work with and want to learn exactly how a senior executive ticks, sign up for my newsletter.

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

What separates the VPs who progress into executive leadership from those who plateau?

The answer is rarely intelligence, experience, or technical expertise. The VPs who thrive understand that their job is no longer to be the best functional expert in the room. Their job is to create outcomes through other people, influence decisions beyond their authority, and help the business succeed as a whole.  

In this episode, I break down the 10 principles for professional success at the VP level:

1. Get important things done
2. Seek out truth and reality
3. Only take on what you can successfully complete
4. Understand how the company makes money
5. Understand how your function contributes to that success
6. Increase your capacity to contribute
7. Maintain a positive value account
8. Always do what you say you will do
9. Build strong working relationships across the business
10. Create a portfolio of successes

Whether you are a CEO looking to scale your leadership layer, or an ambitious VP wanting to know how to break through the ceiling, these operating principles are the blueprint.

JOIN THE NEWSLETTER:
If you want deep-dive insights from the CEOs I work with and want to learn exactly how a senior executive ticks, sign up for my newsletter.

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

Why do so many brilliant strategies fail during execution?

Because the layer responsible for pulling the levers (the VPs) are playing the wrong game.

They are operating with functional expertise, but zero systemic view. They wait for direction on the how and the when, leaving the CEO to act as the ultimate air traffic controller for every cross-functional dependency.

It’s exhausting, and it’s unsustainable.

But there’s a flip side to this. This middle-executive layer is also where the most talented people become incredibly vulnerable. They are expected to influence peers and drive massive alignment without a C-suite title.

When a company needs to restructure or lean out, the VPs who only protect their own silo are always the first to be put under the microscope.

If you're a CEO looking at your team today, ask yourself: Who is actually helping you carry the weight of the whole system, and who is just managing a department?

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/joeleech or via email at [email protected]

I'm mr Joe Leech and I coach CEOs so they and their businesses thrive. I bring 20 years in tech and $20bn in additional revenue.

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

Most strategies don't fail because they're wrong.

They fail because nobody remembers them.

Leadership teams spend months building strategies. The thinking is solid. The analysis is rigorous. The slides are beautiful. Then six months later, nobody can explain what the strategy actually is. Why? Because strategy doesn't spread through an organisation because it's intellectually correct.

It spreads when people can understand it, repeat it, believe it, and use it to make decisions every day. 

Why complex strategies struggle to survive.

• The psychology behind ideas that spread
• Why clarity beats sophistication
• The role of emotion and identity in execution
• Why CEOs dramatically under-communicate strategy
• The real job of leadership when it comes to strategy

A strategy that can't spread through the organisation isn't really a strategy at all.

Listen to this and let me know: Could someone halfway down your organisation explain your strategy in their own words?

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

A CEO I spoke to recently was frustrated with the “friction” they were experiencing with a leader on their team.

But the more we talked, the clearer it became:

The friction wasn’t the problem.
It was the signal.

Most leaders try to remove friction quickly. Push through it. Make faster decisions. Stay decisive.

But often, friction is pointing to something unresolved underneath:

• unclear expectations
• lack of trust
• avoided truths
• misaligned incentives
• a role that no longer fits

Here I break down why good leaders learn to read friction properly instead of bulldozing past it.

Because if you ignore the signal for too long, the real problem usually gets bigger.

If this resonates, let me know in the comments:
Where are you currently feeling friction in your business or team?

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

Most leaders don’t realise they’re the bottleneck… until it’s too late.

You built your career on a style that worked.

Fast decisions. Clear direction. Strong vision. And it did work.

Until it didn’t.

Now:

Meetings go quiet 

Your team waits for you

Execution slows down

And everything still runs through you

That’s not a talent problem. It’s a range problem.

Listen as we break down the 10 leadership styles most CEOs rely on and why each one eventually becomes a liability when overused.

You’ll see:

Why your decisiveness might be creating dependency

Why “supporting your team” can quietly kill performance

Why your vision isn’t translating into execution

And how to stop becoming the bottleneck without losing control

Because leadership isn’t about having one style that works.

It’s about knowing when it stops working.

IDENTIFY YOUR BLIND SPOTS Are you overusing a strength that once served you well? Take the 2-minute diagnostic to find your dominant style and unlock your range: https://mrjoe.uk/unlock-your-leadership-style/

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

Stop Drowning in Meetings!

Fix Your Cadence with "Hot & Cool Weeks".

Most leaders think the problem is their meetings. It isn’t.

The problem is cadence.

Weekly rhythms fill calendars with recurring syncs, updates, and reviews, leaving no space for the deep, strategic thinking that real leadership demands.

Here’s the fix: Hot and Cool Weeks.

Hot weeks: meeting-heavy by design. All your recurring leadership meetings, one-to-ones, and cross-team forums happen here.

Purpose: alignment and decision-making.

Cool weeks: protected from standing meetings. Only ad hoc, purpose-led conversations.

Purpose: deep work, strategy, and execution.

Do this right, and you get clarity, progress, and momentum.

Meetings improve. Work gets done.

You can even plan vacations and holidays into cool weeks without falling behind.

Expect some discomfort at first, this is a rhythm shift.

Pilot it for 60–90 days. Give it a chance, and you’ll stop being a bottleneck and start leading like a CEO again.

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

You probably think you have a productivity problem.

More to do. Better systems. Tighter schedules.

But what if the real issue isn’t what you should be doing.. 

it’s what you need to stop doing?

In this episode, I coach a CEO named "Alfie" who believes he needs a better to-do list. What he actually needs is a “to don’t” list.

We unpack the hidden habits that quietly drain your energy. 

The things that feel productive, keep you busy, and still don’t move the business forward. 

• Slack checks. 
• Inbox loops. 
• Meetings with no agenda. 
• Decisions you already know the answer to but keep postponing.

I’ll walk you through how to build your own to don’t list:

• how to spot avoidance disguised as work
• how to identify habits that kill momentum and 
• how to turn those insights into clear, non-negotiable rules
  
  

When Alfie removes these patterns, something interesting happens: more energy, better decisions, and space for the work that actually matters.

Less effort. Better outcomes.

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

Most CEOs are "brilliant operators." They got to the top because they were the best at capturing tasks, solving problems, and getting things done.

But there is a trap.

Today I share the story of "Jane," a CEO with a world-class to-do list who felt like she was drowning in busyness while failing at the work that actually mattered.

The truth is: To-do lists reward task completion, not leadership. If you are still personally managing a long list of checkboxes, you aren't leading—you’re operating. You’re a high-priced firefighter. And as long as you’re holding the hose, you can’t steer the ship.

We discuss:

• Why sophisticated systems often become a leader's biggest bottleneck.
• The "Operator Habit" and how to break it.
• What happened when we stripped Jane’s systems back to almost nothing.
• Why "protected time" is more valuable than any productivity app.
  
  

If you feel busy but ineffective, this is for you.

Coming up next: If it’s not a to-do list, what should a CEO run their week on? Subscribe to catch that one.

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.

In this episode, we explore the critical concept of 'headroom' for CEOs. 

Discover why maintaining time, energy, and capital reserves is essential for seizing unexpected opportunities, from mergers and acquisitions to market shifts. 

Learn how the best leaders design margin into their strategies to stay agile and responsive. 

Share your thoughts on creating 20% headroom in your business and why it matters.

___
Videos for all these episodes are on my YouTube channel.

If you enjoy my content and you want to get in touch to find out how I could work with you, or someone you know, you can reach me at:

My LinkedIn Page

Or you can drop me an email.