Finding Leadership Momentum When Your Tank is Empty

What do you do when you want a fresh start, but your tank is still empty? In this Season 3 premiere, Drew Dudley and Brett Elmgren discuss how to restart when your energy is low and momentum feels hard to find. First, they share what’s been good, what’s been weighing on them, and steps for a powerful check-in when you are depleted and worried it is leaking out as guilt, frustration, or anger. They dig into what anger can signal and the complexities around setting healthy boundaries as a leader. Drew and Brett then dig into ways to restart when your energy is low, and you cannot find the motivation to start. They explore the tension between bending your schedule to match your energy versus trying to force your energy to match your calendar, and why urgency for relaxation usually backfires. They unpack why tolerance for discomfort is important, how to develop the discipline muscle, and the role of accountability and discipline in finding motivation. They also share their new “Agree to Agree” segment, which tests how much they actually align on culture versus strategy, toxic high performers, and the only holiday argument that really matters. Join Drew and Brett to discover how to reframe tasks, learn simple habits to restart when your energy is low, and uncover the interdependence between culture and strategy.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Bending your schedule to your energy versus bending your energy to your schedule. [0:17:55]

• How breaking a task into smaller steps can unlock momentum and build discipline. [0:26:04]

• Learn why accountability is vital, how to sustain discipline, and the role of patience. [0:30:58]

• An overview of the new “Agree to Agree” segment and the motivation for starting it. [0:37:24]

• Explore the complex interplay between culture and strategy and why it matters. [0:40:23]

• Find out whether toxic employees should be fired regardless of their performance. [0:47:56]

• Unpack the concept of exploring your “wrongness” as an intellectual exercise. [1:05:30]

Quotes:

“It is amazing what you attract when you are driven by certain purpose.” — Brett Elmgren [0:06:02]

“We’ll never start if we are searching for motivation – but if it is a search for patience, that makes it a search for quiet, which often makes it a search for peace.” — Drew Dudley [0:35:34]

“Strategy will sometimes eat culture for breakfast, but culture is going to give you a six-pack over time. – So, culture beats strategy [in the] long-term.” — Drew Dudley [0:42:31]

“Culture informs strategy, and culture has to be part of strategy. They are integrated with each other, they are not two separate entities.” — Brett Elmgren [0:45:43]

“Problematic behavior cannot be corrected if people [are] not aware that it is problematic.” — Drew Dudley [0:55:21]

Links in Today’s Episode:

Atomic Habits

The Last Lecture

Outliers

The Tipping Point

Drew Dudley | Everyday Leadership

Brett Elmgren | Axom Leadership

How can we change the default assumptions we make? How do we start creating better ones to build trust and ultimately, better organizations? In the Season 2 finale of Good Company, we’re talking about the impact of assumptions at work. Drew starts us off with a recent experience that opened his eyes to the hidden assumptions quietly shaping our relationships. Next, we explore how having trouble remembering people’s names might point to a different set of skills rather than a lack of care. Our conversation also touches on setting a vision for your workplace and explores the impact of common assumptions on workplace relationships, and what we could train ourselves to think instead. When you stop looking for faults, you find solutions, and this episode will equip you to reframe your thinking to be more compassionate and ultimately, more productive.

Key Points From This Episode:

• The theme covered in this Season 2 finale: changing the default assumptions we make at work. [0:00:00]

• Experiences that led Drew to focus on the pivotal role of assumptions. [0:05:05]

• How Drew’s difficulty remembering names illustrates the problem of making incorrect assumptions. [0:08:16]

• Default assumptions and expectations that hurt our ability to understand each other. [0:14:40]

• How defining your vision for your workplace can reframe what you want in a way people can deliver. [0:21:36]

• The challenge of having management buy into a new way of thinking about assumptions. [0:27:18]

• Unpacking Kathryn Schulz’s three assumptions. [0:30:35]

• Busting the myth that becoming aware of a bad assumption is bad for us. [0:39:02]

• Considering the impact of our assumptions on other people. [0:46:06]

Quotes:

“If there [were] one question that really got to the heart of the current trust level in an organization, it [is], how generous are your collective assumptions?” — Drew Dudley [0:03:11] “If we could live in a world where we just didn’t hold expectations linked to these traditional assumptions, how much better [could we] understand each other, lead each other, and work with each other?” — Drew Dudley [0:13:39]

“When we evaluate people’s motivations with the assumption that they’re doing it for the same reason I would, [we’re] closing off any option that wouldn’t occur to us, and [that’s] dangerous.” — Brett Elmgren [0:14:55]

“We stifle our interesting in an effort not to be annoying.” — Drew Dudley [0:21:48] “You need to build relationships with people so that they make better assumptions of your intentions.” — Brett Elmgren [0:34:01]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Kathy Bates’ Mom’s Reaction To Her Oscar Win

Being Wrong

Strengthsfinder

Drew Dudley | Everyday Leadership

Brett Elmgren | Axom Leadership

Today on the Good Company Podcast, we continue our overarching theme of creating better workplaces by exploring how to build (and keep) respect at work. Drew and Brett unpack taking ownership and accountability to gain influence, how to build trusting relationships, workplace behaviors that build and break trust, best practices for receiving bad news as a leader, and why there are no winners in the blame game. Tuning in, you’ll also learn about safety culture, the reasons certain negative events recur, the perils of the human condition, and how to garner trust and respect at work. To close, Drew and Brett explore the art in your work and how silence can often lead to new and better discoveries.

Key Points From This Episode:

• How their colleagues have won their respect, and why this matters. [0:03:09]

• Ways that ownership and accountability influence respect in the workplace. [0:08:55]

• Comparing workplace behaviors that build and break trust. [0:16:22]

• Best practices for receiving bad news as a leader: regulating your emotions. [0:25:20]

• Why blame never solves any problems. [0:34:49]

• Safety culture, and why certain behaviors repeat when others don’t. [0:41:43]

• How many of our shortcomings are the result of the human condition. [0:45:03]

• Important advice for garnering trust and respect at work. [0:51:15]

• Finding the art in work. [0:56:22]

Quotes:

“When you shut up, people will ask you stuff. – When you constantly talk, people get tired of hearing what you have to say.” — Drew Dudley [0:03:45]

“Leadership comes in all shapes and sizes. You don’t have to be in – formal senior executive leadership to demonstrate it.” — Brett Elmgren [0:08:17]

“Something that naturally wins respect is when somebody is self-aware [enough to] acknowledge their weaknesses, is open about that, and willing to actually improve upon it. We build trust so much quicker that way.” — Brett Elmgren [0:09:00]

“Most people are going to be harder on themselves than you are going to be on them.” — Drew Dudley [0:15:17]

“One of the best ways of building trust is demonstrating trust.” — Drew Dudley [0:24:37]

“Blame has never solved any organizational problem ever.” — Brett Elmgren [0:35:46]

“‘I don’t know’ are the three most powerful words in leadership.” — Drew Dudley [0:55:36]

“Even if you’re an analytical person, recognize the art in your work. – Make sure that there is emotion in your intellect and intellect in your emotion.” — Drew Dudley [0:56:21]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

CEO Excellence

The Alchemist

SafeStart

Drew Dudley | Everyday Leadership

Brett Elmgren | Axom Leadership