Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goalachieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellowliedo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode three sixty four and let's talk about something
Speaker 2: most leadership manuals don't prepare you for, and that's the
Speaker 2: gray areas. You know what I mean. Those moments where
Speaker 2: there's no clear policy, no obvious precedent, and no perfect playbook.
Speaker 2: The email you probably shouldn't send but also shouldn't ignore
Speaker 2: the employee who technically did nothing wrong, but something still
Speaker 2: feels off. The moment where values, relationships, and results are
Speaker 2: all tugging in different directions and you have to make
Speaker 2: a decision anyway. This is where real leadership happens. Most
Speaker 2: people want leadership to be black and white, right or wrong,
Speaker 2: easy or not, but we don't live in that world,
Speaker 2: especially not in the trenches of management and team building.
Speaker 2: Most of leadership, especially at the higher levels, is spent
Speaker 2: navigating ambiguity and pretending otherwise is a great way to
Speaker 2: lose credibility fast. Owning the gray areas means doing what
Speaker 2: most people avoid slowing down, thinking deeper, asking better questions,
Speaker 2: and sometimes standing alone with your decision, because in those
Speaker 2: in between moments, people don't just see your leadership style,
Speaker 2: they see your character. So let's break this down a
Speaker 2: little further. Gray areas test your values. When everything is clear.
Speaker 2: Values are easy. Of course we value honesty, of course
Speaker 2: we respect our people. But what about when telling the
Speaker 2: full truth means you throw someone under the bus, or
Speaker 2: when showing compassion means bending a rule that might bite
Speaker 2: you later. This is where you prove that your values
Speaker 2: aren't just slogans on a wall. They're real. The next
Speaker 2: one is gray areas require judgment, not just knowledge. If
Speaker 2: leadership were a game of trivia, the smartest person would
Speaker 2: always win, but it's not. The gray areas are where
Speaker 2: intelligence meets intuition. You have to weigh consequences, personalities, timing, tone,
Speaker 2: and optics while also remembering the mission. There's no certification
Speaker 2: for that. It's experience. It's trial and error. It's listening
Speaker 2: more than talking. It's learning when to pause, when to
Speaker 2: ask for input, and when to trust your gut feelings.
Speaker 2: The next one is gray areas, or where trust is
Speaker 2: either built or broken. People watch how you lead in
Speaker 2: the gray. They may not tell you they're watching, but
Speaker 2: they are. How you respond when it's murky tells them
Speaker 2: who you really are. It tells them if you're fair, consistent, courageous,
Speaker 2: or just protecting yourself. For example, imagine someone makes a
Speaker 2: mistake that's not a fireable offense, but it's serious. You
Speaker 2: have no official policy for it. If you ignore it,
Speaker 2: people think you're weak. If you come down too hard,
Speaker 2: they think you're harsh. So what do you do, and
Speaker 2: here's the answer. You own it, Address it with honesty,
Speaker 2: acknowledge the complexity, make your decision, and explain your reasoning,
Speaker 2: and then move forward with accountability and transparency. That's how
Speaker 2: you lead in the gray. Owning the gray also means
Speaker 2: preparing your people to do the same. It's not enough
Speaker 2: for you to be the only one who can navigate
Speaker 2: the mess. You have to equip your team to think
Speaker 2: this way too. That means mentoring. It means asking them
Speaker 2: what do you think we should do? Instead of just
Speaker 2: handing down decisions. The best leaders don't pretend to have
Speaker 2: all the answers. They build teams who know how to
Speaker 2: operate even when the rules are blurry. And this last
Speaker 2: one is gray areas, or where culture is built. If
Speaker 2: you really want to know what your company culture really is,
Speaker 2: look at how your team behaves when no one's watching
Speaker 2: in the situation is not black or white. That's your
Speaker 2: culture and action. That's the result of your tone you've
Speaker 2: set as a leader. Because remember this, black and white
Speaker 2: decisions don't define your culture, the gray ones do. So
Speaker 2: think of one gray area that you're currently avoiding. Maybe
Speaker 2: it's a conversation, a decision, or a situation that just
Speaker 2: feels messy. Don't push it aside, lean into it. Write
Speaker 2: down your values, what your gut says, and what you
Speaker 2: hope your team would say about your decision thirty days
Speaker 2: from now, and then make the call. Leadership isn't about
Speaker 2: having all the answers. It's about being willing to step
Speaker 2: into uncertainty and lead anyway in owning the gray areas.
Speaker 2: This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast and I
Speaker 2: thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.