Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and Gola jiving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul fella Aledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode five twenty. If you're like most people, your
Speaker 2: morning doesn't really start until you've had that first cup
Speaker 2: of coffee. Maybe you have a curig machine sitting on
Speaker 2: your counter right now. You walk up to it half awake,
Speaker 2: open the little drawer and face that magical box of
Speaker 2: K cups, hundreds of options, French roast, hazelnut, dark, magic, vanilla,
Speaker 2: breakfast blend, and every morning you make a choice. But
Speaker 2: have you ever thought about how much that simple moments leadership?
Speaker 2: Leadership is like a K cup because every day you
Speaker 2: decide what kind of flavor you're going to bring to
Speaker 2: your team. Think about it. The CA cup doesn't brew itself,
Speaker 2: You choose it. You decide what strength, what tone, what
Speaker 2: flavor the day will have. That's leadership because every time
Speaker 2: you walk through those doors, step into that meeting, or
Speaker 2: start your shift, you are setting the flavor for everyone
Speaker 2: else's day. If you chose dark roast, maybe that's the intense, focused,
Speaker 2: let's get it done version of you. If you go
Speaker 2: with breakfast blend, maybe that's the approachable, steady, balanced version
Speaker 2: that helps people ease into a tough day. And maybe
Speaker 2: sometimes you reach for hazelnut, the calm, comforting flavor your
Speaker 2: team needs when they're burned out and stressed. And here's
Speaker 2: the truth. Great leaders don't just react to what the
Speaker 2: day throws at them. They brew it. Every flavor has
Speaker 2: a purpose. There's a reason Cure ex sells so many types.
Speaker 2: Not every day calls for the same flavor. Not every
Speaker 2: team moment needs the same leadership style. Some days require boldness,
Speaker 2: that strong espresso kind of leadership where you make tough
Speaker 2: calls and move fast. Other days call for patients that
Speaker 2: slow sip vanilla where you listen more than you talk.
Speaker 2: And sometimes you have to mix it up completely. Bring
Speaker 2: energy when morale is low, or quiet strength when chaos
Speaker 2: is high. That's what separates average leaders from intentional ones.
Speaker 2: Average leaders let the day pick their flavor. Intentional leaders
Speaker 2: pick theirs before the day even begins. Now let's go deeper.
Speaker 2: The cug only works when it's clean. Run it long
Speaker 2: enough without it, and you'll start to taste bitterness in
Speaker 2: every cup, no matter which flavor you pick. Leadership's the
Speaker 2: same way. If you don't take time to clean your
Speaker 2: own machine, your mindset, your attitude, your habits. Eventually that
Speaker 2: bitterness seeps into everything you do. It doesn't matter how
Speaker 2: good your flavor is, people will taste the burnout, the resentment,
Speaker 2: the exhaustion underneath. You can't pour good coffee from a
Speaker 2: dirty machine, so take time to reset, reflect, recharge. Don't
Speaker 2: let the build up of stress or ego ruin the
Speaker 2: flavor you're trying to bring to your team. And here's
Speaker 2: another layer. Have you ever grabbed a cake cup, popped
Speaker 2: it in hit brew and then realized it wasn't the
Speaker 2: one you wanted. Leaders do that too. Sometimes you step
Speaker 2: into the day with the wrong attitude. Maybe you bring
Speaker 2: dark roast intensity into a moment that actually called for
Speaker 2: light roast empathy, and just like that, the mood changes.
Speaker 2: But here's the beauty. Tomorrow morning you get to pick again.
Speaker 2: Leadership gives you that same choice. Every day is a
Speaker 2: new pod, a new chance, a fresh start. And then
Speaker 2: there's this. Every cup you brew fills the room with aroma.
Speaker 2: People may not see it, but they smell it, feel it,
Speaker 2: sense it. That's your influence as a leader. It lingers,
Speaker 2: it spreads beyond words. Your team can feel your energy
Speaker 2: the moment you walk in, before you even speak, that's
Speaker 2: your brew. So when people walk into the breakroom of
Speaker 2: your leadership, what do they smell? Optimism? Focus, confidence or bitterness?
Speaker 2: Burnout and caffeine jitters? The answer depends entirely on what
Speaker 2: you brewed that morning. Leadership is like a k cup
Speaker 2: because it's about daily choices, not one time actions. You
Speaker 2: choose your flavor, your strength, and your tone. You decide
Speaker 2: whether to bring warmth or bitterness. You maintain your machine
Speaker 2: so it doesn't corrode your impact, and you remember everyone
Speaker 2: around you drinks what you brew. So tomorrow morning, when
Speaker 2: you walk up to your coffee machine, pause for one
Speaker 2: extra second before you press brew, and ask yourself, what
Speaker 2: flavor of leader am I going to be today? Because
Speaker 2: just like that CA cup, leadership starts one choice at
Speaker 2: a time. This has been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.