Have you ever worked in a place where people seemed more focused on not making mistakes than on actually pursuing excellence? It’s a culture where "playing it safe" becomes the unwritten rule.

This episode was sparked by a powerful quote from Mark Goulston's book, "Just Listen," that perfectly captures this dynamic. We use that one idea as a launchpad to explore three critical areas:

• The kind of team culture you create when mistakes are punished instead of seen as part of the process.
• Why leaders themselves often become risk-averse, focusing more on protecting their image and position than on shaking things up.
• What to do when you find yourself in this situation—and the personal cost of constantly going against what you know is right.

This is a conversation about building more courageous teams and, just as importantly, finding the courage to act with integrity. Hope you'll join me.

Serving 50 slices of bacon as a menu option made this restaurant stand out. What makes you stand out? 

I heard a couple leadership speakers recently, including a former CIA operations manager, and I thought I would share with you what they said. 

There are a lot of misconceptions about servant leadership - which then can hurt your ability to lead.  In this episode, we dive into those so that you can gain the perspective and serve the right way. 

In this episode, we talk about a view on serving and servant leadership that could have a tremendous effect on your impact as a leader. Listen to learn more. 

Appreciation is important, but when you do it wrong, it hurts instead of helps. Listen to learn this mistake that you need to avoid. 

You likely know what post-mortems are from TV shows, but have you ever heard of a premortem and how it can help make your decisions better? Listen to learn more. 

How do you lead without a position? How do you bee seen as a leader? Listen to this episode now to learn. 

It's easy to say you are taking ownership, but there are points you need to know about that could really help you do even better. Listen to learn more.

The actions we take can incentivize unethical or immoral behavior, or we can incentivize truth, integrity, and honesty. Which one does your organization promote?