2027 is right around the corner. Do you want a pay raise, a promotion, to be seen by your peers as a great leader? Whatever your motivation is, you need to choose one area to get better. What's it going to be? Below are some examples: • Stop rescuing. Pick one recurring decision your team keeps bringing you and hand it back with "what do you recommend?" instead of the answer. • Fix how bad news reaches you. Notice where it's traveling sideways instead of up to you, and change what happens the next time someone brings you a risk early. • Close the conflict you've been avoiding. Have the conversation. Get to an actual decision, not another "let's circle back." • Change your first move in meetings. Ask for dissent before you state your view, for the rest of Q4. • Repair one relationship where trust has quietly eroded. Own your part specifically, not generally. • Kill one initiative. A vision without a "stop doing" list is a wish list. • Give the feedback you've been avoiding because nice felt easier. Nice protects your comfort. Kind builds their trust. Drop your one thing below. Not five. One.

I'm compressing what used to take me a week into a day. No exaggeration.