Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellovaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode five ninety two. Let's talk about technology because
Speaker 2: right now a lot of leaders are buying tools the
Speaker 2: same way people buy gym memberships in January. Hope driven, trendy,
Speaker 2: and completely disconnected from the real work that needs to happen.
Speaker 2: Here's what I keep seeing across every industry. Leaders don't
Speaker 2: have a tech problem. They have a thinking problem. They
Speaker 2: grab software before they define the issue. They chase platforms
Speaker 2: before they understand pain points. They roll out shiny dashboards
Speaker 2: while the fundamentals are still broken. Technology does not fix
Speaker 2: unclear leadership. It only exposes it faster. Choosing the right
Speaker 2: tech starts with an uncomfortable step that most leaders skip.
Speaker 2: You have to name the problem accurately, not vaguely, not
Speaker 2: with corporate buzzwords, not with phrases like efficiency, innovation, or modernization.
Speaker 2: You have to say out loud, what is actually broken?
Speaker 2: Is the problem? Communication or is it accountability? Is the problem? Data? Access?
Speaker 2: Or is it decision avoidance? Is the problem? Speed or
Speaker 2: is it trust? If you mislabel the problem, every tech
Speaker 2: solution after that becomes an expensive distraction. I've watched organizations
Speaker 2: by project management software when the real issue was nobody
Speaker 2: owning deadlines. I've seen leaders roll out AI or roll
Speaker 2: out AI tools when the real issue was leaders not
Speaker 2: making decisions. I've seen companies adopt collaboration platforms when the
Speaker 2: real issue was people avoiding hard conversations. Technology cannot replace
Speaker 2: leadership courage. The next mistake leaders make is confusing scale
Speaker 2: with value. Bigger systems feel safer, more features feel smarter.
Speaker 2: Enterprise level tools feel like progressed. But most teams don't
Speaker 2: need more features. They need fewer clicks, clearer workflows, and
Speaker 2: tighter expectations. If your team needs a training manual thicker
Speaker 2: than a phone book to use a tool you didn't
Speaker 2: buy technology you bought friction. Good tech should reduce cognitive load,
Speaker 2: not increase it. It should shorten the distance between intent
Speaker 2: and action. It should help people do the right things faster,
Speaker 2: not give them ten new ways to avoid responsibility. And
Speaker 2: here's a practical filter I use when evaluating technology. First,
Speaker 2: ask this, what decision, will this tool help someone make better, faster,
Speaker 2: or more confidently. If you can't answer that clearly, just stop.
Speaker 2: That tool is not ready for your organization. Second, ask
Speaker 2: who owns it, not who administers it, who owns the
Speaker 2: outcomes it produces. If a tool has no clear owner,
Speaker 2: it will rot quietly in the background while everyone pretends
Speaker 2: it's working. Third, ask what behavior it reinforces. Every piece
Speaker 2: of technology teaches people how to act. Some tools reward speed,
Speaker 2: some reward documentation, some reward visibility, some reward silence. If
Speaker 2: the behavior it encourages to not match your leadership values,
Speaker 2: it will quietly undermine your culture. This is where my
Speaker 2: red key leadership comes into play. Red key moments are
Speaker 2: high consequence decisions. Tech used in red key moments must
Speaker 2: be boring, reliable, and familiar. You don't want clever software
Speaker 2: when stakes are high. You want predictable systems that work
Speaker 2: the same way every time. Skip the experimental tech for
Speaker 2: black keywork routine tasks. Low risk workflows areas where failure
Speaker 2: teaches without costing trust, and Another trap leaders fall into
Speaker 2: is buying tech to send a message instead of solving
Speaker 2: a problem. Rolling out new systems becomes theater. Look at us,
Speaker 2: we're modern. Look at us, we're innovative. Meanwhile, frontline frustration
Speaker 2: grows because nothing actually got easier. Your team can smell
Speaker 2: performance leadership a mile away. The right tech usually starts small,
Speaker 2: one problem, one team, one clear metric. Then it earns
Speaker 2: the right to expand. Leaders who skip pilots and go
Speaker 2: straight to full rollout are usually compensating for uncertainty, not confidence.
Speaker 2: Here's a hard earned lesson. No technology will save you
Speaker 2: from unclear expectations. If you don't define what good looks like,
Speaker 2: software will not define it for you. It will simply
Speaker 2: document the chaos and higher resolution before you buy anything new.
Speaker 2: Try this seven minute leadership drill. Take seven minutes and
Speaker 2: write down the top three recurring frustration your team voices,
Speaker 2: not the polished complaints, the hallway comments, the eye rolls,
Speaker 2: the repeated workarounds. Then ask this, is this a people issue,
Speaker 2: a process issue, or a technology issue? Only one of
Speaker 2: those should lead to a purchase. Most leadership tech failures
Speaker 2: happen because leadership skips this step. They assume technology is
Speaker 2: the answer because it feels decisive. Buying something feels like action.
Speaker 2: Slowing down to think feels uncomfortable. But leadership is not
Speaker 2: about motion, It's about direction. Choosing the right tech for
Speaker 2: the right problem is not an it decision. It's a
Speaker 2: leadership decision. It reflects how well you understand your organization,
Speaker 2: your people, and yourself. If you get this right, technology
Speaker 2: becomes a quiet force multiplier. If you get it wrong,
Speaker 2: it becomes expensive wallpaper. So here's your takeaway. Name the
Speaker 2: real problem, protect the red key moments from clever tools,
Speaker 2: demand ownership, watch behavior, not feature lists. And remember leadership
Speaker 2: clarity always comes before digital transformation. And if you head
Speaker 2: over to paulfalloalito dot com and click on free Stuff,
Speaker 2: I have over twenty five free leadership documents you can
Speaker 2: download today and also follow along with me on YouTube.
Speaker 2: The link is in the description of this show and
Speaker 2: also on my website. This has been the seven minute
Speaker 2: leadership podcast and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com