Hi Reader,

Over the past several weeks, we’ve looked at the Seven Deadly Sins through a leadership lens. As I worked through the series, I kept coming back to a more practical question:

How do these tendencies show up in the decisions we make every day?

A leader may welcome a challenge to a plan — until the decision is urgent and everyone is waiting.

Another may protect the team’s workload most of the time, then make an exception for a customer too important to lose.

Neither decision, by itself, tells the whole story.

The pattern across decisions tells us more. That’s what I’d like to help leaders see.

A Journey Toward Self-Mastery

We’re developing A Journey Toward Self-Mastery in which you’ll be asked what you would most likely do in recognizable situations — especially when the options aren't simple or clear-cut.

The intention is to help you see patterns in your own decisions that reflect your current leadership style — not to see whether you know the “right” response to a leadership issue.

The initial result of your responses will give you a view on behavioral patterns you'll want to examine along with practical steps to address any limitations.

What Do My Choices Mean?

A deeper analysis would then look at how several choices may be working together. For example, a leader who reacts sharply to bad news may hear fewer objections and mistake the silence for agreement. Recognizing that connection gives the leader something more useful to work on.

We also plan to develop a Guide with the lessons and practices related to your leadership journey. We know the direction we want to take and we're now testing the questions to make sure the results deliver the insights that will help guide you as you Become a More Effective Leader.

I’ll share more as that work progresses.

In the meantime, think about a decision you’re facing this week and ask yourself:

What is pulling me toward the option I prefer?

It may be sound judgment.

It may also be the desire to be right, to keep up with someone else, to avoid an uncomfortable conversation or to seize an opportunity you don’t have room for.

You can start asking those questions now.

Don't Stop Leading!

Lary