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Free worksheet can be found at: https://crayonleadership.com/podcast/skip-level/culture-moves/

Poppi's cofounder says culture now moves on a three-day cycle — and brands stuck in data are missing it. Maya and Marcus turn that into a leadership skill: speed is not a size, it is three moves. Shorten the chain between idea and decision, decide before the data is perfect, and stay close to the edge where culture actually happens. PepsiCo did not try to become Poppi; it bought Poppi for almost two billion dollars, in part to learn from them. Four steps close it out: audit your approval chain, sort decisions by reversibility, spend thirty minutes a week where culture happens, and make the call you are hiding behind data. This show is written and produced by Joe Dutkiewicz of Crayon Leadership. Joe equips mid-senior leaders to think and act two levels up, so they're recognizable to top leaders and ready for the promotion before it opens. Find Joe on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, and at the Crayon Leadership website. Maya and Marcus are AI voices, created with text-to-speech.

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Free worksheet can be found at: https://crayonleadership.com/podcast/skip-level/your-next-ally/

Do you have to like someone to trust them at work? Drawing on Adam Grant's Vibe, Maya and Marcus sort connections into four kinds — associates, allies, pals, and companions — and show why sponsorship lives mostly in allies and companions, why asking one person to be all four is an impossible task, and why a relationship that feels strong can still disappoint when the kinds mismatch or the wavelengths drift. Four steps close it out: map your four, engineer proximity, ask one real question, and name the shared goal out loud. This show is written and produced by Joe Dutkiewicz of Crayon Leadership. Joe equips mid-senior leaders to think and act two levels up, so they're recognizable to top leaders and ready for the promotion before it opens. Find Joe on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, and at the Crayon Leadership website. Maya and Marcus are AI voices, created with text-to-speech.

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Free worksheet can be found at: https://crayonleadership.com/podcast/skip-level/reports-are-leaders

You got promoted because you were the best doer in the room. Now your reports are leaders, and managing them like contributors is the fastest way to stall your own rise. Maya and Marcus combine Liz Wiseman's Multiplier disciplines with US Navy Captain David Marquet's intent-based leadership: multiply your leaders by giving them control, and certify their judgment instead of replacing it with yours. Four steps close it out: audit your decisions, hand over a real one, ask instead of telling, and invest publicly. This show is written and produced by Joe Dutkiewicz of Crayon Leadership. Joe equips mid-senior leaders to think and act two levels up, so they're recognizable to top leaders and ready for the promotion before it opens. Find Joe on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, and at the Crayon Leadership website. Maya and Marcus are AI voices, created with text-to-speech.

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Free worksheet for this episode at: https://crayonleadership.com/podcast/skip-level/first-30-days/

What if the most important part of your next big promotion is already over before your first day even begins? Maya and Marcus explain why leaders who leapfrog a level or two are especially at risk — and why the real job of the first thirty days is learning, listening, and diagnosing, not launching a big plan. You will hear the sobering transition numbers, Michael Watkins's traps and STARS model, a preparation list you can draft long before any promotion is announced, and the story of Henry, who arrived with questions instead of answers and never had to repair trust he never lost. Plus four steps to take this week, before any promotion is on the table. Maya and Marcus are AI voices, created with text-to-speech. This show is written and produced by Joe Dutkiewicz of Crayon Leadership. Joe equips mid-senior leaders to think and act two levels up, so they're recognizable to top leaders and ready for the promotion before it opens. Find Joe on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, and at the Crayon Leadership website

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Free worksheet for this episode at: https://crayonleadership.com/podcast/skip-level/settle-nothing/

When a colleague crosses a boundary you set clearly — and does it in front of other people — what do you do in the next sixty seconds? Maya and Marcus walk through the protocol for that moment: settle nothing in the heat, ask the colleague aside and set a date, prepare with a mentor instead of ruminating, and arrive at a meeting designed around listening and mutual commitments. You will hear why flooding shuts down clear thinking, what Sam Horn's A train and the Harvard Negotiation Project's three conversations add to the approach, how DISC styles shape a message your colleague can hear, and the story of Owen, who turned a public deadline ambush into shared commitments. Plus four steps to have ready the next time a boundary gets crossed. Maya and Marcus are AI voices, created with text-to-speech. This show is written and produced by Joe Dutkiewicz of Crayon Leadership. Joe equips mid-senior leaders to think and act two levels up, so they're recognizable to top leaders and ready for the promotion before it opens. Find Joe on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, and at the Crayon Leadership website.

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Free worksheet for this episode at: https://crayonleadership.com/podcast/skip-level/dont-think-out-loud/

Tossing out a half-formed idea in a meeting feels honest and collaborative — until three people sprint off to build it before you have decided whether you like it. Maya and Marcus unpack Latriece Watkins's advice to leaders: do not think out loud. You will hear why your words get heavier as you climb, the story of a senior director whose musings cost his team two weeks of rework, and three practices that keep your authenticity affordable: protected clarity time, writing before you speak, and labeling your thinking so nobody has to guess. Plus four steps to take this week to stop charging your team the thinking-out-loud tax. Maya and Marcus are AI voices, created with text-to-speech. This show is written and produced by Joe Dutkiewicz of Crayon Leadership. Joe equips mid-senior leaders to think and act two levels up, so they're recognizable to top leaders and ready for the promotion before it opens. Find Joe on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, and at the Crayon Leadership website.

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Free worksheet for this episode at: https://crayonleadership.com/podcast/skip-level/best-never-said/

Your best idea was probably in the room at your last meeting — and never said out loud. Maya and Marcus take on the brainstorm with Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn's Ideaflow: quantity drives quality, and sixty years of evidence, from Diehl and Stroebe onward, says interactive groups produce fewer and weaker ideas than the same people working alone. Production blocking, evaluation apprehension, and the senior leader's shadow, plus a product leader whose fix came from a quiet analyst. Four steps close it out: generate alone, speak last, test instead of crown, and build the daily ten-idea habit.

Maya and Marcus are AI voices, created with text-to-speech. This show is written and produced by Joe Dutkiewicz of Crayon Leadership. Joe equips mid-senior leaders to think and act two levels up, so they're recognizable to top leaders and ready for the promotion before it opens. Find Joe on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, and at the Crayon Leadership website.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Free worksheet can be found at: https://crayonleadership.com/podcast/skip-level/two-dollar-hot-dog/

A table of food lovers was leaving New York without one thing — a street hot dog. Will Guidara ran out, bought one for two dollars, and served it as a course at the best restaurant in the world. Maya and Marcus unpack Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality — service is black and white, hospitality is color — the Dreamweaver system behind gestures that are overheard, never requested, and the ninety-five five rule. Then they bring it home: how to run unreasonable hospitality on your current team, because your team is your audition for the top table.

Maya and Marcus are AI voices, created with text-to-speech. This show is written and produced by Joe Dutkiewicz of Crayon Leadership. Joe equips mid-senior leaders to think and act two levels up, so they're recognizable to top leaders and ready for the promotion before it opens. Find Joe on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, and at the Crayon Leadership website.