It is one thing to find a team that appreciates you. It is another to find a tribe that transforms you.

True belonging is not comfort. It’s calling. And when you find it, everything changes.

Every leader has their “never again” moment – a line in the sand where they vow to refuse to be passive in the face of conflict moving forward.

Mine happened in a gymnasium, not a conference room.

Excellence is rarely accidental. It is the product of process, consistency, and care. Especially in the little things.

What separates good leaders from great ones is not the grand vision, but the disciplined execution of the daily details.

On a recent client visit, I was reminded of this truth in the simplest of ways.

Titles, authority, and visibility carry more than relative power. They carry great expectation. Leaders set the tone not just for business results, but for what is possible in all of life.

Your team is not following your strategies and directives in a vacuum. They are also following, even if subconsciously, your habits, your mindsets, and your behaviors.

Be they healthy…or not.

What you model becomes their permission slip.

The most overlooked factor in leadership today is not another software, workflow, or KPI. It is rhythm.

Leaders who honor the ebb and flow of rest and work create healthier teams and healthier results.

Chick-fil-A or Hobby Lobby are the obvious front-runners of intentionality in this space. Their choice to close on Sundays is often framed as a loss of opportunity, even though the results tell a different story.

Revenue is strong. Loyalty is deep. Their culture is distinctive. Why? Because they have embraced a counterintuitive truth: flourishing requires rest and renewal.

The spirit of Sabbath and a culture of healthy rhythm goes beyond a day off a week. It is not a business strategy. It is a recognition of what it means to be human.

We all know leaders who misread the room because they ignored the context.

That leader may have been you.

The result? Broken trust, missed opportunities, and relational fallout.

The same principle that makes our Camp Curry (Yosemite Valley) pizza the absolute best in the world applies to people leadership.

Context matters.

It’s a scary word every senior leader must own at a certain level.

The Church. The State. The Home. They’re all accused of using it for nefarious reasons.

That’s an unfortunate realty, though. IMHO, I think this word, when used with care, is a vital component of leadership.

Because if the leaders of these organizations aren’t doing it, someone else will!

But as soon as you read it, many will recoil. If you would bear with me for just a tic…

The difference between those who watch leadership happen and those who make it happen is one simple act: a willingness to step into the circle.

At this year’s Global Leadership Summit, Bradley Rapier invited us into the powerful metaphor of “the circle” drawn from hip-hop street dance culture.

Being fully integrated doesn’t mean you never adapt. It means you never lose your center.

We have absolutely lost it.

Not just the ability to hold civil discourse, but something even deeper – a baseline respect for our fellow humans (neighbors, friends, and sojourners on this earth).

It’s gone.

The ire simmering just below society’s surface is ready to pounce on anyone with a differing perspective, and today’s culture is loving it.

Plenty of people talk about the problem, using it to justify their own irritation and fury. But if we truly hated this dynamic, we would do something about it.