Three levels of culture every leader misreads
Most culture work happens at the surface: the values poster, the handbook, the rollout. Culture itself gets built somewhere smaller, in the moments no one planned for.
Why the best leaders learn to turn the dial
Most leadership tensions show up as either/or, and most of us pick a side and call it a style. The best leaders know which dial to turn, and when.
Intent versus experience: What 360 degree feedback can teach us
Everyone on your team already knows what it's like to work for you. In this episode Everyone on your team already knows what it’s like to work for you. So do your peers. You’re the only one still guessing. In this episode, we take on the gap between what a leader intends and what the
Leadership Is a Learned Skill: The STEM Connect Trainers on Seattle, Sessions, and the Hallway
Every fall, the calendar fills with conferences. In this episode Every fall, the calendar fills with conferences. Most hand you a badge, a schedule, and a room full of strangers. Ahead of STEM Connect 2026 in Seattle, Aaron Lee sits down with four of the trainers preparing to lead sessions there: Jim Lee, Hope Yin,
Why You’re Still the Bottleneck (Even Though You Know How to Delegate)
Most leaders who are the bottleneck already know how to delegate. They don’t, because being the one everything runs through gives them something they’re not ready to give up.
Trust Is Built in the Rhythms You Keep
We think trust is built in the big moments: the offsite, the vulnerable speech, the crisis handled well. It is built in the small rhythms we are most tempted to cancel.
From Rigid to Real: An Engineer's Decade-Long Lesson in Feedback and Leading People with Derek Stake
Derek Stake, VP of Operations and Engineering at The Cleveland Vibrator Company, joins the Leaders Rising Podcast to talk about moving from managing process to leading people. In this episode Derek Stake came up as an engineer, and for years he ran his teams the way he ran a production line: manage the variation, follow
Why Decision-Making Feels Harder Than It Should
Decision-making feels heavier than it should when leaders default to one mode without noticing. The relief comes from matching the level of involvement to the decision in front of you.
Eliminate These Three Hedge Phrases for Greater Confidence and Influence
Three small hedge phrases (kinda, sorta, a little bit) quietly make confident statements sound tentative. Cut them, and let a pause do the work.
Why Leaders Still Avoid Hard Conversations (Even When They Know Better)
The leaders who avoid hard conversations usually know exactly how to have them. What stops them is a quieter calculation, and courageous humility is the way through it.