The Real Truth About Leadership: Debunking the Myths. Teaching What Works.

 Every week, leadership quotes flood your feed — and most of them sound great. But sounding right and being right aren't the same thing. This episode, we're putting a popular ones under the microscope: "Great leaders don't tell you what to do, they show you how it's done." We'll look at what it gets wrong, what it gets right, and what great leadership actually looks like in practice. 

There's one mistake in communication that hurts leaders and people in general when it comes to the communication a lot, and that's making things complex. Research has shown that this hurts organizations in powerful ways, so it's important we get it right. 

Is leadership about fixed traits, or does it depend entirely on the situation? In this episode, we argue it’s both: leadership is grounded in universal principles but always applied situationally.

Using examples from communication, medicine, soccer, jazz, and Deming’s critique of “copying without knowledge,” we show why best practices often fail—and what leaders should focus on instead. 

 Water flows downhill. Electricity takes the easiest route. And according to science, your brain does the same thing. But what happens when that natural pull quietly shapes how you lead — who you confront, what you tolerate, and what you never say? This episode might make you uncomfortable in the best way. 

 Defining leadership well is step one, but it doesn't stop there. We talk about what it looks like to push back on the buzzword in real, everyday situations — in job descriptions, in interviews, in the stuff you share online, and in how organizations train and develop their people. Small shifts in how we talk about and treat leadership can make a bigger difference than you'd think. 

 So how did leadership become such a vague, overused, feel-good word? Turns out there's a lot working against us — relativism, title inflation, billions of dollars spent on training that isn't working, and an algorithm that rewards likes over truth. We break down the conditions that got us here and why.

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?