Career – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

3 Mistakes to Avoid When Investing Your Leadership Capital

October 7, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

I’ve seen leaders make three common mistakes when investing in their leadership capital. These mistakes hurt both their efficiency and their effectiveness.

Do you work a 40 hour week or are you working 24/7? How much effort are you putting into your work? How much stress do you experience from the energy you’re putting in? Your time and energy are finite resources. You can squeeze more time out by taking away from other activities in your life but you can’t do that forever. That time isn’t unlimited. If you squeeze out too much, bad things can happen. I’m speaking from experience here. I’ve had two heart attacks because I was spending too much time and energy with my work. Something needs to change.

To reduce the time you spend at work, reduce stress, and improve performance, you need to approach how you spend your time and energy differently. Leadership capital is the time and energy you invest in leading your team. It needs to be invested carefully like any other scarce resource. When’s the last time you assessed where you’re spending your time and energy? Who are you spending it with? How are you spending it? Are you getting the results you want from those investments? These are all questions I want you to consider as you assess how you’re spending the valuable resource of your leadership capital.

3 Leadership Capital Mistakes

I’ve seen leaders make three common mistakes when investing in their leadership capital. These mistakes hurt both their efficiency and their effectiveness.

The Peanut Butter Approach

The first mistake I see is what I call the peanut butter approach. What leaders do is give everyone on their team exactly the same amount of their time and energy. They just spread it around evenly. They do this because it feels fair to everyone. What’s wrong with this approach is not everyone needs the same amount of your time. It’s not fair to those who need less. It feels like micromanagement. It’s not fair to those who need more of your attention. They feel like they’re getting slighted for time.

The Reactive Approach

The second mistake I see is the reactive approach where leaders give people time and attention whenever they ask in the order they ask for it. Just think about a queue of people lined up outside that leader’s door knocking on the door and asking for time and attention and that leader just calls the next number in line. This mistake happens because this approach requires very little thought. What’s wrong with this approach is it fails to prioritize the leader’s time and allocate it to the most important issues. It also encourages team members to constantly take up the leader’s time rather than solving issues for themselves.

The Path of Least Resistance Approach

The third mistake is taking the path of least resistance. Leaders spend more time with people who are easiest or most fun to work with. They avoid team members who give them trouble. Leaders do this because this approach is easy. It avoids conflict. The issues with this approach include not solving issues that need to be resolved and instead dedicating time and energy to low return efforts. Spending excessive time with high performers doesn’t contribute a great deal to delivering outstanding results.

When you look at these mistakes, I’d like you to ask yourself a couple of questions. What would you do if your chief financial officer allocated budget and investment dollars this way? Do you spend your leadership capital this way? Once you know what these common mistakes are, it’s easier to avoid them and instead be more intentional about how you spend your leadership capital to get better results.

Want to learn more about leading effectively? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to navigate politics as a senior leader. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

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Which of the following phrases do you dislike the most?

October 1, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Trevor Jones

Our reader poll today asks: Which of the following phrases do you dislike the most?

“Let’s circle back on that” – 22%
“At the end of the day …” – 7%
“Let’s leverage …” – 5%
“Let’s put a pin in it” – 19%
I hate them all – 35%
I have no problem with any of these – 11%

What are you actually saying? It seems the vast majority of you dislike buzzwords and vapid phases, and with good reason. While this kind of jargon might sound good, it only serves to confuse listeners/readers and adds nothing to the conversation. Instead of being lazy and using the latest catch phrase, ask yourself what you’re actually trying to say. Some of the phrases are simply a waste of time (like “at the end of the day”) while others can be said more simply or precisely. Instead of saying “let’s put a pin in it” why don’t you say “let’s schedule another discussion on this topic tomorrow at 1PM”? Add precision and clarity to your language at every opportunity. It does more to drive action and not make people frustrated with jargon.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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4 Ways to Invest Your Leadership Capital

September 30, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

There are four major activities that will consume your leadership capital. Depending on your team, you’ll have a different mix of these activities.

There are four major activities that will consume your leadership capital. They’re directing work, doing work, delivering work and developing people:

Directing work

Directing including planning where you translate your vision into individual goals and activities. Prioritizing which is turning individual goals into team priorities. And coordinating using your position to provide broader perspective to the members of your team and help them see how their work fits into that broader picture.

Doing work

Doing is comprised of deciding where you as the leader have to make decisions that can’t be made by the members of your team. Motivating, inspiring your team members to do difficult things. And clearing, helping your team members overcome the roadblocks they’re going to face.

Delivering work

Delivering consists of monitoring where you’re tracking team progress against goals and objectives. Correcting where you’re fixing work that wasn’t done right the first time. And repairing where you’re repairing damage when mistakes are made. You’ll have to smooth over some relationships that get damaged when they make those mistakes.

Developing people

Developing includes training where you’re teaching new skills and building the capabilities of your team members. Coaching where you’re building their confidence and their capabilities by helping them understand how they need to grow. And promoting, advancing your team members’ careers by positioning them for growth.

Depending on your team, you’ll have a different mix of these activities but these activities comprise for the most part what’s expected of all good leaders.

Want to learn more about leading effectively? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to navigate politics as a senior leader. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

As we close in on Q4, what are your expectations for how this year will turn out for your organization?

September 24, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Trevor Jones

Our reader poll today asks: As we close in on Q4, what are your expectations for how this year will turn out for your organization?

It will be far better than we expected – 9%
It will be better than we expected – 23%
It will be about what we expected – 46%
It will be worse than we expected – 19%
It will be far worse than we expected – 4%

More good than bad. Those of you having a better year than expected (32%) edged out the 23% whose year is going worse than expected. That’s somewhat encouraging in a time of economic and social unrest. The question for leaders in both situations is similar – what are you going to do to improve your outcome as the year comes to a close? For those doing better than expected, how can you avoid coasting into the finish line and instead guarantee your better-than-expected performance? For those doing worse than expected, what actions can you take now to change the trajectory of your results. Additionally for both groups, how can you generate more accurate predictions and forecasts for next year? More accurate forecasts help you better allocate resources and manage your operations. It’s worth investing time in seeing where your variances were this year and assessing how you can reduce those variances next year.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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How would you describe your own mental health at present?

September 17, 2026/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Trevor Jones

Our reader poll today asks: How would you describe your own mental health at present?

I’m flourishing – 9%
I’m healthy – 51%
I’m languishing – 23%
I’m unhealthy – 9%
I’m not sure – 9%

Take Care of Yourself. While 60% of you report being in a good place from a mental health standpoint, over 30% are not. For those of you who are languishing or unhealthy, reflect on why that is. Is it your environment? Diet? Sleep schedule? External stressors? If you’re not able to figure it out, consider a mental health professional. There may be underlying mental or physiological reasons you’re not doing as well as you’d like. Fortunately the stigma around mental health challenges has been diminishing in recent years. Therapy can definitely unlock issues you weren’t aware of and enable you to work on them. Most mental health struggles are invisible to those around us therefore the only person who can assess the presence of one and seek help is you. Please take care of yourself.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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When things slow down at work, what do you do?

September 10, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Trevor Jones

Our reader poll today asks: When things slow down at work, what do you do?

I enjoy the peace and slower pace while it’s here – 22%
I fill the free time with projects I’ve been putting off – 69%
I spin up a bunch of new work to speed things up again – 8%

Taking advantage of the slowdown. Many of you get some much-needed rest when things slow down (22%). We all know it’ll eventually speed up so it’s a great idea to catch your breath during those natural lulls. For the 69% who tackle projects that have been on the back burner, that’s also a fantastic use of time. The one caution here is making sure you don’t fill all your available time with those projects because when things speed up again, you’ll be left with several projects in flight that may not get completed. Try taking a sequential approach to these projects. Pick one, focus on it, complete it, then assess if you have time for the next one if things haven’t sped up again. If you have time, tackle that next one in serial and repeat the process. By ramping up several of these projects simultaneously, you might fall into the trap of spinning up a bunch of work, overwhelming yourself, and being left with a bunch of unfinished projects.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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What is your biggest frustration with hiring processes?

September 3, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Trevor Jones

Our reader poll today asks: What is your biggest frustration with hiring processes?

Too many interviews – 14%
Lack of communication and feedback from interviews – 30%
Unclear job requirements – 10%
Roles are posted just for show — they already have their person – 28%
Lack of visibility into open roles – 8%
Something else – 11%

Want to fill a role? Communicate! Almost 50% of respondents to this week’s poll cite poor communication as a major frustration with hiring processes. Whether it’s unclear job requirements, lack of visibility into open roles, or poor communication and feedback from interviews, it all boils down to how you’re communicating with candidates. Too many leaders see recruiting as a situation where candidates need to impress them to get the role. The thing is, you have to impress the candidate too. How do you look as a leader when you can’t articulate what a role requires? When you don’t provide feedback? When you don’t advertise open roles? Recognize candidates are assessing you as well to see if your role is something they’d find attractive. You’re sending signals whether you mean to or not. Failure to explain roles, provide feedback, and highlight growth opportunities isn’t a brand you want as a leader. That will make it harder to fill roles and the candidates who do take the role are likely settling because they have to take it. Put more energy into your communications during recruiting and hiring processes. You’ll get better candidates and build a better leadership brand for yourself.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Solving Business Problems: Make Assertions and Recommendations

August 26, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Trevor Jones

No matter how good your problem solving is, if you can’t come up with a clear recommendation that’s compelling to your stakeholders, it’s all been for naught.

The last step in the problem solving process is coming up with a clear and concise recommendation. And I like to say you need to make assertions. Assertions are nothing more than facts stated to persuade.

I’ve used this method of making assertions with a telecom replacement project where we were going to replace all of the phone systems across our entire division. It was going to cost $4 million. That’s what I was going to the stakeholders asking for. I needed to make my case, so I put together my set of facts and my set of assertions to make that case and was successful in doing so. And you can do the same thing.

Now with assertions, you’re going to run into resistance. Your task is to overcome that resistance. The key to getting your idea supported is having the right set of facts and articulating them in a manner that’s going to be compelling to your audience. So, the most common types of resistance you’re going to hear, and I bet you’ve heard some of these things already in your past experience, are:

“Well, that’ll never work.” Well, bring assertions and facts that show it has worked somewhere else, perhaps in a different business unit or even one of your competitors.

You may hear, “Well it’s too expensive.” The assertions you need to bring to table are ones around the cost benefit analysis of making your recommendation.

You may find somebody says, “Well our customers won’t buy it.” You can build assertions and facts to support it by going and surveying customers or doing a small pilot in the market and gathering data from that.

Sometimes you’ll hear, “Well we don’t like any of the options that you’ve presented.” That’s my personal favorite, and that one feels like it’s really hard to overcome. The easiest way to overcome it is show them the cost of doing nothing. Show them the cost of letting your competitors continue to penetrate the market while you sit there on your hands. It can be a very compelling set of facts to pull together.

So as you’re thinking about your assertions and your recommendations, I want you to think about the recommendation you’re trying to make and what the right set of facts are that you need to pull together to compel your audience. I want you to think of some of these types of resistance you’re going to encounter and how you’re going to overcome it because there’s always a counterpoint to every point they’re going to make.

The real trick is making sure that you have the right of facts and a powerful assertion to overcome that resistance in front of you.

Want to learn more about solving business problems? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to solve business problems. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How do you feel about running your own entrepreneurial venture?

August 20, 2026/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Trevor Jones

Our reader poll today asks: How do you feel about running your own entrepreneurial venture?

I already do, and I love it – 27%
I already do, and wish I were in a large company – 8%
I’m in a large company, but I’d love to run my own venture – 22%
I’m in a large company, and I’m happy right where I am – 43%

The grass is always greener. It’s interesting how 8% of people currently running entrepreneurial ventures wish they worked in a large company and 22% of people currently working in large companies wish they were running entrepreneurial ventures. While you may look across the fence and long for the freedom and autonomy of a small venture or wish for the stability and predictability of a large company, be sure you fully understand what it takes to grow that grass before you climb the fence. Making a move without fully appreciating the challenges, risks, and effort required to succeed is a recipe for failure. While you may see an entrepreneurial venture as fun and exciting, you might not see the long hours, the scary moments of demand drying up, or the financial pressures. While you may think corporate is a great option, you might miss the more competitive environment, organizational politics, and career inertia. Whichever path you choose, make sure you’re fully informed before making a change.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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How robust is the mentoring culture in your organization?

August 13, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Trevor Jones

Our reader poll today asks: How robust is the mentoring culture in your organization?

It’s great — we have tons of mentoring relationships and opportunities – 11%
It’s good — you can enter a mentoring relationship with some effort – 28%
It’s marginal — building mentoring relationships takes a lot of effort – 37%
It’s poor — barely anyone is involved in a mentoring relationship – 24%

More mentoring is needed. Over 60% of you indicate the mentoring environment in your organization is less than ideal. There might not be enough mentors. There might not be awareness of the programs and resources you have. People may be reluctant to ask for mentoring. Mentors might not have the time or skill to provide mentoring guidance. Whatever the reason, you’re missing an opportunity. The future leaders of your organization need help navigating their careers. They want to know how to find new roles and build skills. Left to their own devices, they might struggle, get frustrated, and leave your organization for another that will give them those opportunities. Your best talent is the group that want and benefit most from a strong mentoring relationship. Find the time. Communicate the resources, Build your skills as a mentor and make yourself available. It’s one of the least expensive ways to develop the next generation of talent in your organization.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Scaling Up Your Business From Individual to Team

August 12, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Know the different benefits and drawbacks of contractors and employees. Make sure you choose deliberately to drive the outcome you’re looking for.

When you want to grow your consulting firm, you’re probably going to have to bring on additional people. There’s only so much of you to go around. Make deliberate choices about whether the people you bring on will be contractors or employees. Ensure that individuals’ interests are aligned with yours.

If you’re going to bring on contractors, you don’t run into all the employment and tax issues and they’re going to be a more flexible workforce. The downside is they can leave suddenly and they don’t always share your personal interests.

If the people you bring on are employees, they’re dedicated to the work, but they come along with a lot of administrative issues you’re going to have to deal with. If you need someone who’s fully committed to building your firm but that person’s only interest is part-time work to supplement their income, you’re not going to be happy with that result. Ensure interests are aligned between you and the people you bring on.

A lot of times I get people who say they want to work with me, and we run a training firm. They’ll tell me, “Well Mike, when you can’t do the training session, just throw me that gig.” The problem is, I don’t need people for bandwidth to do the training. I need salespeople. That relationship won’t work out, so I have to hire different people.

I’ve chosen a structure where I have contractors. I don’t want to deal with the overhead. I don’t want to deal with the administrative issues. That’s great that I have contractors because I don’t deal with those issues. The downside is, sometimes I struggle to get my contractors’ attention and have them focus on building my business versus other interests they’re pursuing.

Know the different benefits and drawbacks of contractors and employees. Make sure you choose deliberately to drive the outcome you’re looking for.

Want to learn more about consulting? How about taking an entire course on it? Check out the video below to learn more about the course and get started. Or you can go directly to the course and start learning more about consulting. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

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How do you feel when you have a week with no scheduled meetings?

August 6, 2026/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Trevor Jones

Our reader poll today asks: How do you feel when you have a week with no scheduled meetings?

Amazing! I can get work done and not be pulled in all directions – 56%
Terrified! What am I going to do with all that open time? – 5%
Wait…you guys have weeks without meetings? – 38

Protecting your time. While I know having a week without meetings can seem like a fairytale, don’t dismiss it out of hand. While you may not be able to engineer five clean days on your calendar, ask yourself if you can protect at least two or three. Take charge of your availability. Instead of letting people select times to meet, ask them for windows they’re free then schedule meetings when it’s best for you. Batch your meetings and try to put them all on the same day. Place work blocks on your calendar and only cede that time if you have no other options. While it takes some effort beyond being a simple “invite accepter,” you’ll find it’s not as hard as you might think to carve out time for yourself where you can focus on getting actual work done.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!