Your leadership isn’t about power.
It’s about your responsibility.
The hardest part?
Owning the ways you might be failing your team.
Ask yourself: Are you holding your team back?
If your team isn’t growing, evolving, or taking risks, the problem isn’t them.
It’s you.
A leader’s job is to build momentum, not block it.
If decisions stall at your desk, if your people hesitate instead of executing, you’re the reason.
Now, ask the bigger question: Are you avoiding difficult conversations?
This is where most leaders fail.
Not in strategy.
Not in vision.
In silence.
Every unresolved issue compounds over time.
A team member who’s underperforming.
A toxic personality eroding culture.
A conflict left to fester.
The conversations you dodge today become the crises you can’t control tomorrow.
Why do you hesitate?
Fear of discomfort?
Worry about being disliked?
A belief that things will “work themselves out”?
They won’t.
Your avoidance is a tax on your leadership, and the interest rate is brutal.
Great leaders lean in.
You are a great leader!
They embrace discomfort.
You like discomfort!
You set a tone:
We talk about hard things here.
We address problems head-on.
We don’t let issues rot in the dark.
If you’re not having difficult conversations, you’re not leading.
You’re managing appearances.
It’s that simple.
Look in the mirror.
The most brutal conversation you need to have might be with yourself.
“Avoiding a difficult conversation doesn’t spare you pain. It just delays it until the cost is higher.” — Mike Brewer