Team Impress

Would You Want to Work For You?

I heard this question at an event some time ago, asked with humor and lightness. But when I looked around the room, almost everyone was chuckling and shaking their heads "no."

My answer? "I would love to work for me."

I didn't think much of it at the time. But later, when I mentioned this question to a podcast guest, he said something that stopped me in my tracks:

"𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺."

That's when I realized—𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

And that feeling? It can be incredibly eye-opening.

If you laugh and say "no" – maybe you're self-aware enough to recognize your flaws as a leader. There's something healthy in that honesty.

If you confidently say "yes" – hopefully it means you're leading with integrity, practicing what you preach, and creating an environment you'd genuinely want to be part of.

But if it makes you angry? That reaction might be the most revealing of all. Anger often shows up when we're confronted with a gap between who we are and who we want to be. Or when we're holding others to standards we don't hold ourselves to.

This isn't about being perfect. It's about alignment.

*Would you respect yourself as a leader?
*Would you thrive under your own management style?
*Do you practice what you preach?

Your emotional response to that question might tell you more than your answer ever could.

So I'll ask you: 𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂?

And maybe more importantly—𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹?

We talk a lot about holding teams accountable.

But who's holding YOU accountable as a leader?

Here's the uncomfortable truth: 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲.

Your employees won't do it. They fear losing their jobs.

Your clients? Sometimes they'll tell you. But if it falls on deaf ears, they'll just take their business elsewhere.

Even if you're a well-meaning leader who genuinely wants to get better, you're not getting the real feedback you need.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽.

Without accountability, you stop growing.

Your blind spots become bottlenecks. Your weaknesses compound. Your business plateaus—and you don't know why.

Or you blame external factors.

You think everything's fine with you because no one's telling you otherwise.

But here's what's really happening:

*Your team is working around your limitations instead of with your strengths.
*Your clients are tolerating issues but they can just leave.
*Your growth—both business and personal—is stalled because you're operating on incomplete information.

𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼?
You have to actively seek out genuine feedback. And then—here's the hard part—you have to notice the patterns.

Not just collect feedback and file it away. Actually look for the themes. The repeated frustrations. The things multiple people are trying to tell and show you in different ways.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁:

*You have to embrace it.
*Take accountability for how your bottlenecks affect others and your own outcomes.
*And do the work to resolve them.

Because accountability doesn't stop at your team. It starts with you.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽? 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆—w𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁?

Let's talk about accountability.

I've learned from working with many leaders that many have a belief that accountability is a form of punishment

That shaming, blaming and fear are what drives higher performance.

They may increase compliance — temporarily.

But they also increase fear.

• Fear to make a mistake.
• Fear to take initiative.
• Fear to think independently.

And you know what that fear creates?

• More dependency on you.
• Stifled creativity.
• Zero innovation.

An employee that is too afraid to make a mistake because of your reaction is one you have trained to depend on you entirely to avoid your negative reactions.

Real accountability is not emotional. It is built into the process.

And that starts with the leadership.

Your job as a leader is not to add fear.

Your job is to create mastery.
Accountability is not punishment. It is responsibility + learning + improvement.
Shame creates compliance. Safety creates excellence.

And excellence is what prevents the next mistake.

That's discernment.
That's leadership.
That's excellence in action.

How do you build accountability into your process without making it emotional?

Last week, a support rep from another company accidentally sent a test email to my entire list.

She was mortified. Called it a "big blunder." Apologized profusely.

And honestly? I was frustrated. My list got a random test email, and I had to explain what happened.

But I knew being upset wasn't going to un-send that email.

So I focused on fixing it. Fast.

Then something unexpected happened.

She thanked me over and over again for being kind.

For not screaming at her.
She said she was still going to be in trouble with her manager, but my response made her day a little easier.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲.

She wasn't even on my team.

But my response to her mistake mattered anyway.

𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Not just your direct reports—but everyone around you. The contractor. The vendor. The person at the coffee shop.

When someone makes a mistake, your response in that moment teaches them more about your leadership than any mission statement ever could.

• Do you lead with blame or solutions?
• Do you protect your ego or protect the relationship?
• Do you make it safe to fail forward—or create fear?

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀: 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼?

The version of yourself you practice when no one's watching?

That's the leader your team actually experiences.

And you get to decide, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 who that person is and will be.

How do you handle it when your team makes a mistake?

Be honest with yourself...

😂 For the love of all things AI, please don't be this leader.

I've seen businesses with incredible talent (A-Players) —loyal, skilled, motivated people—still lose steam.

Not because the team failed. Because the leader was 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, unclear, and 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Your team mirrors YOUR energy.
When you're stressed → they're stressed. When you're scattered → they're scattered.

When you're in flow (a state of high performance)→ they can enter flow too.

This is why your leadership presence is your most valuable business asset.

When you lead from clarity and calm, performance doesn't just improve—it compounds.

Ready to build a high performing self-leading team?

DM me to learn more about our 1:1 Freedom Executive Sprint.

3 Signs You've Become the Bottleneck In Your Business

1️⃣ You can't take a real break without everything slowing down.
If the business stalls when you step away, you're not leading—you're the life support.

2️⃣ You're solving problems your team should be solving.
Every 'quick fix' you do keeps them dependent and keeps you stuck.

3️⃣ You feel guilty delegating, but resentful doing it all.
This push-pull is exhausting—and it's a leadership signal, not a team problem.

The fix isn't more hustle. It's trust.

This week: Pick ONE decision you make daily and hand it to your team. 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗶𝘁.

Freedom doesn't come from control. It comes from letting go of the right things.

What decision will you let go?

Your business doesn't have a strategy problem — it has a flow problem.

I've watched brilliant leaders work 80-hour weeks, build detailed plans, hire A-players—and still feel like the business would collapse without them.

Here's what's really happening:

When YOU'RE out of flow, your team falls out of flow. And when your team is out of flow, your cash flow goes out of flow.

𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗪 = when things move smoothly without force.
𝗡𝗼 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 = you're the bottleneck, the team is stuck, and revenue becomes stunted, unpredictable stunted, or worse...non existent.

This isn't about working harder. It's about getting back in flow—so everything else can flow too.
You in Flow -> Your Team in Flow > CashFlow

Your Flow 𝗜𝗦 Your Cash Flow!

💬 Where do you feel the biggest 'flow leak' right now — your leadership, your team, or your cash flow?