How often do these happen?

Every Friday night, people notice the headset. They notice the play calls, the scoreboard, the decisions made under pressure. What they don't always notice is that leadership started long before kickoff. The older I get, the more convinced I become that the best leaders don't rely on command-and-control. They rely on presence. Presence isn't about being the loudest voice in the stadium. It's about being the calmest voice when everyone else is emotional. It's about showing up consistently, listening intentionally, and modeling the standard you expect from others. As coaches, we have authority because of our title. Titles can force compliance. They rarely inspire commitment. Influence is different. Players don't remember every speech you give. They remember how you responded after a tough loss. They remember whether you believed in them after a mistake. They remember whether your actions matched your words. The same is true in business, in families, and in every organization. The leaders people willingly follow are the ones whose presence creates confidence. They don't have to remind everyone who's in charge. Their consistency, integrity, and character make people want to follow. Leadership isn't about controlling people. It's about connecting with people. It's about creating an environment where trust grows, accountability becomes normal, and people choose excellence because they believe in the mission, not because they're afraid of the consequences. Whether I'm standing in a press box on Friday night or leading people in everyday life, I keep coming back to one truth. People may follow your position for a season. They'll follow your presence for a lifetime. What's one moment where someone's presence, not their title, earned your trust?

Most of you have probably heard me say, "Stop hiring for skills only to fire because of behaviors." This article will explain that. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7480634429183447040/

This is a small excerpt from next week's article about Oracle's layoffs. Let's normalize "knowing our people." ******************************************************************************************************* Most organizations have never built a real behavioral map of their talent. They know job titles. They know performance scores. They know who has been there longest and who costs the most. But they do not know who operates best in ambiguity. They do not know who builds trust naturally in a room full of strangers. They do not know who sees patterns in chaos, who stabilizes teams under pressure, or who would thrive in a completely different role if someone bothered to look. That is not a technology problem. That is a leadership problem. When disruption hits, and you do not have that data, the only move you have is elimination. You cannot redeploy people you do not actually understand.

Today’s article on LinkedIn/Medium discussing some of the misconceptions. Micromanagement is easy to blame but many times it’s really not. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/michaelclegg1_your-team-does-not-have-a-micromanagement-activity-7445066184980398080-roTu