Author: Rachel Hanson

If multiple people are responsible for something, none are. If someone is reporting to multiple people, they're reporting to no one. High degrees of excellence require high degrees of autonomy AND accountability. The muddier things get, the less autonomy and accountability is present. Get clarity on your reporting structure. Get clarity on your standards. Make … Continue reading Autonomy and accountability

If someone is gifted the best resources and the best people, it's possible they could stumble their way to some measure of success. The ability to not screw something up is not universal, but it is simpler than building something from scratch. And maintaining that success is a whole different animal. When you're on the … Continue reading Resources

FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) is situation normal for most teams and organizations. Mergers? FUD. New boss? FUD. Changing structures? FUD. New fiscal year? FUD. GREAT organizations and teams demand and fight for clarity and they tackle FUD head on. You may not have control over what you company, your boss does. And even where there's … Continue reading FUD

Is your team super clear on the why and the aim behind any project or strategic decision? Probably less so than you think. A client of mine launched into speaking about a project today and quickly lost me in the details. They were clear on where they were headed, but there weren't any passengers on … Continue reading All aboard

Aspects of your BTL Core are simply your gut, clarified and put on paper. The clearer your Core, the stronger your gut, and the more likely you are to act immediately instead of having to sift through what your gut is telling you. If you want to act decisively in times of stress or uncertainty, … Continue reading Gut on paper

Most pain, upon inspection, is not as big as our mind makes it out to be. A few that have come up recently in practices: The pain of losing autonomy once married, the pain of a hard conversation with a boss, the pain of a hard conversation with someone who reports to you, the pain … Continue reading Paper tigers

A leader I work with wrote that they needed to provide clarity and order to their team. Clarity and order are two different things, I reminded him. As a leader, the one thing you cannot outsource is the vision (clarity). You must be clear on where we're going and why. Others will either be attracted … Continue reading Clarity and order

Excellence demands much of those who pursue it. It demands we dare greatly and face our hardest challenges (mostly those within). We live in an age where this is, by and large, not celebrated. We live in an age of conformity. Whether on the right or the left, it's expected you'll conform. To step out … Continue reading The pursuit of excellence