Blog

Leaders don’t always realize it, but many of the challenges they face are ones they’ve accidentally created. From culture issues to communication breakdowns, the root cause often traces back to the habits, blind spots, and behaviors at the top.

Great leaders don’t wait for inspiration, they create the conditions for it. True greatness starts when you pause long enough to listen, reflect, and act with intention. 

Mediocrity is the silent killer of great teams. It doesn’t announce itself. 

It creeps in when leaders stop developing their people, stop raising expectations, and start accepting “good enough” as success.

Every leader has a list that never ends—and a day that always does. 

The real blocker isn’t time, it’s the “yeah, but…” mindset that stalls decisions, dilutes focus, and keeps great ideas on the whiteboard. When you learn to challenge assumptions, simplify the path, and commit to meaningful next steps, momentum follows.

Influence isn’t about having the loudest voice in the room—it’s about communicating with clarity, confidence, and repetition so people truly hear you. On this episode of The Breakthrough Leadership Team Show, Mike talks with Dr. Laura Sicola, leadership communication and influence expert. They dive into what it really means to master the art of influence—from refining your executive presence to aligning your tone, message, and delivery. 

On this episode of The Breakthrough Leadership Team Show, Mike sits down with Michael D. Levitt, a global expert on workplace culture and burnout prevention, to explore how organizations can build environments where people feel seen, inspired, and engaged every day. 

Resilience isn’t built in the easy moments—it’s forged when leaders hold themselves accountable to the standards they set. It’s not about projecting strength, it’s about living in alignment with who you claim to be, even when you have a moment where you want to act outside of yourself.

Most leaders say their people are their greatest asset—but their calendars tell a different story. Too much time is spent propping up low performers, while high performers are left to fend for themselves. The result? The low performers may become average at best… while the high performers get bored, disengaged, or walk out the door.

Profit growth doesn’t start with strategy—it starts with people. And the fastest way to grow your company is by growing the talent density of your team.

Even the best strategies fall flat without the right people behind them. You can have a perfect plan on paper, but if the team executing it isn’t growing, aligned, and engaged, the strategy will fail every single time.

Every successful business runs on growth. But sustainable growth requires something deeper than strategy and execution—it requires shared meaning. When your team understands not just what you do, but why it matters, alignment and momentum follow.

High performance isn’t reserved for elite athletes or once-in-a-generation leaders—it’s built, one intentional practice at a time. And it starts in the mind.

Growth is great—but not if it comes at the cost of your values, your vision, or your sanity. Because bigger isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just… bigger.

When most people think about the CFO, they think numbers, forecasts, and budgets. But the smartest CFOs play a much bigger role—helping leadership teams make better decisions by bridging strategy with financial clarity.

You don’t need more hours in the day. You need to protect the ones you already have.

On this episode of The Breakthrough Leadership Team Show, Mike sits down with Maura Nevel Thomas—author, speaker, and leading expert on attention management—to unpack why so many leaders confuse busyness with progress. Maura shares why even if you had 30 hours in a day, you’d still be stuck reacting to what’s urgent instead of leading toward what matters. The solution? Stop managing time.

When leadership teams hit a wall—emotionally, strategically, or relationally—it’s rarely because of a lack of intelligence. More often, it’s because no one’s addressing what’s really going on beneath the surface. But once they identify it, they’re free.

Most leaders say they want to retain their best people. But very few are actually having the conversations that would make those high performers want to stay.

Accountability might be one of the most misunderstood—and avoided—topics in leadership. It’s uncomfortable. It’s tricky. And for many CEOs and executive teams, it feels like a constant uphill battle. But it doesn’t have to be.

Driving meaningful change doesn’t start with a new strategy—it starts with deeper self-awareness. Because the very thing that makes you great as a leader can also hold you back if you’re not paying attention.

When leaders face downturns, global instability, or any kind of brutal reality, the instinct is often to either sugarcoat the truth or brace everyone for the worst. But the most effective leaders do neither—they tell the truth and inspire belief in what’s possible.