Author: Rachel Hanson

Be a story spreader. Stories are the most powerful method I know of for both eliciting and disseminating knowledge. Look for examples of people living out the values, chasing excellence, caring for a teammate. Ideally first person observation, and then share them publicly. Telling stories of those within your organization also creates organizational role models. … Continue reading Stories

I've got a client who is writing about forgiving someone who hurt her deeply. She opened up an old wound and is realizing that there's a lot she's held on to, to her own detriment. She's doing some damn hard work to set herself free. Forgiving someone who has hurt us has very little to … Continue reading Forgiveness

Speaking and listening are Built to Lead fundamentals. Most problems circle back to people doing a terrible job of speaking and/or listening. If you're speaking, be CCD - clear, concise, direct. If you're listening, get curious. Listen with an ear to understand not reply. You're frustrated your team isn't "getting it"? Slow down and get … Continue reading Speaking and listening

Research shows that quality of work improves when people are given the freedom to fail without punishment and the opportunity to learn from the fail. They are willing to DO more and learn more from the doing. When they believe failure will be punished, they play it safe and don’t iterate or evolve. Failure without … Continue reading Failure

My melody line from some time with fellow builders this morning: Build a deeper worldview before you need it. Shallow works when it's 70 and sunny. Storms will come, however, so prepare now. If you want to be better prepared for deeper waters, read and apply this writing from an OG builder: https://builttolead.com/2013/02/20/the-security-of-deeper-waters/

The root word for intuition is a Latin word, intuitio or intueri, meaning “to look at.” Vision, in other words. Intuition and vision are etymologically linked. Most leaders rely on their intuition when it comes to the next step in their vision, when they're deciding where to go next. Many leaders, when asked to describe … Continue reading Intuition

Writing is a skill, just like any other. There are different ways to hone that skill and different ways to use the tool of writing. One of my clients is learning to write in a whole new way -  he's learning to write purely for himself. Not for how it'll be perceived, or what he's … Continue reading Writing

Autonomy is related to a whole host of desirable traits - inner drive, long-term motivation, independence, confidence, increased executive function. All things we want in our children and on our team. With both, it's largely dependent on the leader's ability to step back. If you want a team with more of those traits, stop constantly … Continue reading Autonomy