Energy returns unevenly — strong leaders notice the difference By mid-April, most teams have settled into the longer days. The clocks have changed. The mornings are a little brighter. There’s a sense — at least on the surface — that energy is coming back. But not for everyone. Some people are still dragging themselves out of bed before sunrise. Still adjusting. Still carrying the weight of a long winter, a heavy Q1, or simply a full plate outside of work. From a leadership st

DFast isn’t always effective. A few years ago, I sat in on a leadership team meeting that ran like clockwork. Agenda timed to the minute. Updates were crisp. Decisions were made quickly. By all appearances, it was a high-performing team. But something felt off. No one challenged anything. No one asked, “Are we solving the right problem?” No one slowed things down long enough to think beyond the next milestone. They were moving fast. Just not necessarily in the right direction

Start the year with straight talk about performance, learning, and reality. The start of a new year always invites reflection — and as leaders, we’re pretty good at pointing out what didn’t work. We conduct root-cause analysis, build corrective plans, and talk about how to avoid repeating mistakes. That part is familiar. What we often skip is the deliberate celebration of the things that went right. The projects that landed. The teams that adapted. The customers we kept. The