Three Questions Before One Answer. I want you to try something today or this week that sounds simple, but may be harder than you think. The next time someone comes to you with a problem, don't immediately give them the answer. I've been guilty of this myself. Someone starts explaining what is happening and before they're finished, I already have ideas running through my head about what they should do. Experience can do that to us. We want to help. We may have dealt with something similar before. We might even know exactly what we would do. But do we know what they would do? Before offering your solution, ask these three questions: 1. What do you believe is really causing the problem? 2. What have you already tried? 3. If this decision were completely yours, what would you do next? Then listen. Listening is the key here. Don't ask the questions just so you can get to your answer. Really listen to theirs. You may find out something you didn't know. You may help that person see the problem differently just by making them think it through. And you might discover they never needed you to solve the problem in the first place. They needed you to help them trust their ability to solve it. So that's your Leadership Skill for today. Three questions before one answer. Try it with one person today or this week. Then come back and tell me: Did you end up giving the answer you originally had in your head, or did the conversation take you somewhere completely different? I want to hear what happened.

What Do You Do When Your Plan Is No Longer Possible? You've probably heard the words: “Failure is not an option.” They are usually connected to Gene Kranz, one of NASA's flight directors during Apollo 13. Here's something I didn't know for a long time. Gene Kranz never actually said those words during Apollo 13. They were written for the 1995 movie Apollo 13, where Ed Harris played him. The real story gives us plenty to talk about without needing the movie line. Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970, with Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise headed for the Moon. On April 13, an oxygen tank in the spacecraft's service module exploded. Just like that, the mission they had spent years preparing for was gone. They weren't landing on the Moon. Now they had to get home. This is where Gene Kranz and the people in Mission Control interest me. Think about how easy it would have been to stay attached to the original mission. All that preparation. All that money. All those people involved. Years of work. And now you have to accept that the goal everyone worked toward is no longer the goal. I've seen leaders struggle with this. Not with a spacecraft, obviously, but with a plan they have invested too much into to want to let it go. Sometimes we keep pushing because we believe perseverance is what leaders are supposed to do. Sometimes it is, but sometimes leadership is recognizing that the situation has changed and having the courage to change with it. Kranz and the teams at NASA still had incredibly difficult decisions ahead of them. They had to conserve power, solve problems they had never expected to face and work together to bring three astronauts back to Earth. They did. Apollo 13 returned safely on April 17. What stays with me is that they didn't accomplish the mission they originally set out to accomplish. But I don't think anyone would call Apollo 13 a leadership failure. So here's what I'm curious about. How do you know when staying committed to the plan is perseverance, and when it has become stubbornness?

Your topic on outsourcing leadership was thought-provoking and a call to action. We as leaders can use AI to our advantage for knowledge, productivity, and another tool in our toolbox to help guide people in leadership. We must be vigilant in remaining conscious and aware of any AI tools that take the humanity out of what we do.

“It's not the plane. It's the pilot.” Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, played by Miles Teller Top Gun: Maverick, 2022 I love this line. Rooster and Maverick are flying an old F 14 against fighters that are faster, newer, and far more advanced. On paper, they shouldn't have much of a chance. But Rooster isn't focused on what they don't have. He's focused on who's flying the plane. Think about that from a leadership perspective. We spend a lot of time talking about having the right tools, the right technology, enough people, enough money, better systems, and now, of course, AI. Those things absolutely matter. But I've seen leaders do incredible things without having everything they needed. I've also seen leaders have every possible advantage and still struggle to get results. I'll share more on that in my comment. The best tools can make a good leader better. I'm not convinced they can make someone a leader. Skill matters. Judgment matters. Preparation matters. Courage matters. And knowing what to do when the situation doesn't go according to plan REALLY matters. So here's what I want you to consider today. When things aren't working, how do you know whether you need a better plane/plan or a better pilot/leader? Because sometimes the answer isn't more resources. Sometimes we need to look at who's sitting in the cockpit.

You Don’t Get to Decide If You’re a Role Model In 1993, Charles Barkley said something in a Nike commercial that made a lot of people uncomfortable: “I’m not paid to be a role model. I’m paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.” He went further and said parents should be role models, not athletes. I actually understand his point. Being famous doesn’t make someone qualified to shape a child’s values. But leadership changes the conversation. The moment people look to you for direction, your behavior starts teaching whether you intend it to or not. They watch how you handle pressure. They notice how you treat people when there’s nothing to gain. They see whether your standards apply to you too. That’s where Barkley’s argument gets interesting. Maybe you don’t get to choose whether people see you as an example. Maybe you only get to choose what kind of example they see. So here’s today’s question. When someone accepts a leadership role, do they automatically accept the responsibility of being a role model too? Or should those two things remain separate?