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Feedback is another useful and highly effective tool that leaders have in their toolbox... It is also one that is uncomfortable and easily avoided. If you want honest input, better decisions, and a team that feels invested in the work, feedback cannot be something that only happens during formal reviews or when something goes wrong. Normalizing feedback starts with one uncomfortable truth: you cannot operate from ego and expect people to be honest with you. Feedback Matters E

This week marks the start of the second quarter of the 1% Better Leadership Challenge! The first quarter was about self-awareness and foundational leadership habits. Like how you show up... How you react... How you listen... How consistent you are... How clear you are. As we move into the second quarter, the focus shifts outward. It focuses on relationships, trust, and how leadership shows up between people. And there is no better place to start than psychological safety. Wha

Alignment is one of those leadership concepts that gets referenced constantly but defined rarely (Guilty as charged here at Undercurrent!!!). We say we want aligned teams, but we do not always stop to clarify what alignment actually means specifically, or what it looks like in practice. Alignment is not agreement on everything. It is not uniformity. It is not the absence of tension. Alignment is shared understanding. When teams are aligned, people know what matters most, why

When people talk about strong leadership, they often focus on presence, confidence, or charisma. Those qualities might draw people in, but they are not what sustains trust. Consistency is. Building consistency as a leader is not about being rigid or predictable in a mechanical way. Rather, it is about being stable and creating an environment where people know what to expect from you, especially when things get hard. What Consistency in Leadership Really Means At its core, con

Leadership is not something you step into once and then forget about. It is something you have to keep choosing. Early in our careers, many of us can articulate why we want to lead. Over time, though, that why can fade into the background. It gets buried under meetings, deadlines, conflict, politics, and the day-to-day grind of responsibility. Revisiting your why is not about motivation posters or lofty mission statements. It is about grounding yourself in purpose so you can

Perfection feels responsible. It feels careful. It feels like good leadership. But more often than not, perfection is what slows everything down. Projects stall. Decisions linger. Teams wait. Momentum fades. Not because leaders are careless or unprepared, but because they are trying to get it exactly right before taking the next step. In leadership, perfection does not create clarity. It creates bottlenecks. Perfection Slows Progress and Creates Bottlenecks Perfection often s

Leadership is demanding. Not just intellectually, but emotionally and energetically. I would argue that most leaders understand the importance of caring for their teams. Unfortunately, I have seen fewer take the time to care for themselves with the same level of intention (myself included!). And yet, leaders who are depleted cannot show up fully, no matter how skilled or committed they are. This isn't to shame or judge, but rather to be honest and raw regarding one angle of l

Reflection is an incredibly important and powerful tools in our leadership toolbox. Part of leadership is to create pathways for moving forward, fixing things, improving systems, and refining processes. When something does not go or work as planned, the reaction can sometimes a kneejerk and to quickly keep things moving. Sometimes urgency to course correct is necessary... but many times it is not. Slowing down and giving yourself time to reflect and refine is important. Refle

Curiosity could be misconstrued as a soft and easy leadership trait, but in practice, it can be deeply challenging... Not because leaders are too busy, but because curiosity requires humility. Being curious asks leaders to admit they may not fully understand a situation, and that can feel deeply vulnerable! It also asks them to loosen their grip on being right and stay open to information that might challenge their current assumptions. For many leaders, especially those in se

Active listening is one of those leadership skills that sounds incredibly basic yet turns out to be incredibly hard. Active listening requires presence, and it requires intention. It requires resisting the urge to do anything else while someone is talking. Too often, leaders are rewarded for speed, responsiveness, and productivity. Unfortunately, those same pressures often contradict and work directly against deep, active, thoughtful listening. When Leaders are Not Present, P

Leadership rarely fails because people do not care enough or work hard enough. It fails because leaders do not have the time, space, or capacity to think about direction setting and long-range strategy. Many leaders spend their days reacting: Emails. Meetings. Questions. Problems that feel urgent and immediate. By the end of the day, it can feel like a win just to have survived it. But the work of leadership is not survival. It is direction. Creating space to think is not a l

A highly underestimated leadership skills is pattern recognition. Not isolated incidents. Not one tough week. Not one difficult employee. Patterns. Patterns reveal what is actually happening inside an organization, not what leadership believes is happening. They show up quietly, through repetition. Through habits. Through defaults we fall back on when things feel uncomfortable, stressful, or uncertain. And when leaders fail to notice their default patterns, the consequences c

Leadership is hard and it is not for the faint of heart. Leadership gets loud. Decisions stack up. Emotions run high. Competing priorities pull you in opposite directions. People want answers. Timelines get tight. Mistakes happen. Pressure creeps in. In moments like these, leaders who feel grounded are not guessing their way through decisions. They are not reacting based solely on urgency or emotion. They are leading from something deeper. They are leading from their values.

Leadership is full of moments that move fast. A comment lands wrong. An email triggers frustration. A decision surprises you. Before you realize it, your body reacts. Your thoughts fill in the gaps. Your tone shifts. Words come out sharper than you intended. Most leaders do not plan these moments. They happen in the space between stimulus and response. And what happens in that space matters more than we often realize. Pausing before reacting is not about slowing leadership do

Most leadership missteps do not come from bad intent. They come from speed. From packed calendars. From back to back meetings. From responding instead of reflecting. From doing what worked yesterday because it worked yesterday. From living in autopilot. Leadership today often rewards quick decisions, visible productivity, and responsiveness. None of those things are inherently bad, but when speed becomes the default, intention quietly slips out the back door. We begin leading

There is something magical about a new year. A clean slate. A fresh calendar. A brief moment where everything feels possible again. It is also the season of ambitious resolutions that quietly fade by mid February. Usually right around the time someone brings donuts to the office, an unexpected issue lands on your desk, or budget season reminds you that leadership is rarely calm or convenient. But what if this year we stopped making resolutions that simply sound good, and inst

Here is a fact that should give every leader pause. Roughly 70 percent of employees do not feel safe speaking up at work. That is not a rounding error. That is most of your team sitting in meetings with thoughts unspoken, concerns withheld, and ideas quietly abandoned before they ever see daylight. Seven out of ten people choosing silence. It's not because they do not care. And it's not because they are disengaged. It is because experience has taught them that speaking honest

The view from my patio - the ship's incredible wake! There is something powerful about being out in the middle of the ocean: No buildings. No calendar reminders. No noise from the world. Just endless water and the steady hum of a ship that keeps moving forward no matter what the weather brings. I had the incredible opportunity to join some family members on their birthday cruise last week. Each day, I spent time sitting on the deck of my room, which was on the aft end of the

Servant leadership gets talked about everywhere these days. Conference sessions, strategic plans, recruitment brochures. Most organizations say they value it, but many do not actually live it. In municipal and nonprofit work, where people and purpose are the heartbeat of everything we do, servant leadership cannot be a buzzword. It has to be a practice. This post digs into what servant leadership really looks like, why intentionality matters, and how it transforms teams. If y

Leap and the net will appear! Did you know that nearly 70 percent of leaders hesitate to make decisions because they are afraid of failing? In the public and nonprofit world, that fear often feels even heavier. Our organizations operate with limited resources, high community expectations, and very real consequences when something goes wrong. Yet some of the most transformational progress we make comes when we step forward with courage and take a well-planned leap. At Undercur