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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building and GOLAJV. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul

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<v Speaker 1>fella Aledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode seven to seventy six. Today's episode is called

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<v Speaker 2>Crisis Created by Neglect. There is an old saying that

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<v Speaker 2>goes something like this, We rarely rise to the occasion.

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<v Speaker 2>We fall to the level of our preparation. I want

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<v Speaker 2>to add something to that. Many organizations never fall because

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<v Speaker 2>of one catastrophic decision. They fall because of a thousand

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<v Speaker 2>small decisions that nobody made. Leadership crises are often built quietly,

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<v Speaker 2>not loudly, not dramatically, but quietly. The biggest emergency your

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<v Speaker 2>organization will ever face may have started six months ago

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<v Speaker 2>when someone ignored a broken process. It may have started

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<v Speaker 2>a year ago when an employee stopped caring. It may

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<v Speaker 2>have started the day a leader decided we'll deal with

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<v Speaker 2>that later. And here's the uncomfortable truth. Neglect has incredible patience.

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<v Speaker 2>It doesn't demand your attention today. It waits. It quietly

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<v Speaker 2>stacks problem on top of problem, until one morning everyone

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<v Speaker 2>walks into work wondering how everything fell apart so quickly.

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<v Speaker 2>It didn't. It happened one neglected decision at a time.

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<v Speaker 2>As an EMS chief, I've seen this play out countless times.

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<v Speaker 2>An ambulance develops a minor mechanical issue, it can wait

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<v Speaker 2>until next week. A policy isn't followed. It only happened

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<v Speaker 2>once an employees starts showing subtle change in attitude. Oh,

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<v Speaker 2>they're probably having a rough week. A piece of equipment

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<v Speaker 2>isn't restocked properly. Someone else will catch it. None of

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<v Speaker 2>those things creates a crisis together, they absolutely can. Leadership

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<v Speaker 2>isn't only about responding to emergencies. Leadership is preventing emergencies

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<v Speaker 2>that nobody else can see coming. Think about a leaking roof.

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<v Speaker 2>The day you notice the stain on the ceiling is

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<v Speaker 2>not the day the leak started. Water has been finding

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<v Speaker 2>its way inside for weeks, maybe months. Leadership works the

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<v Speaker 2>same way. By the time the crisis becomes visible, the

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<v Speaker 2>damage has already been spreading behind the walls. This is

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<v Speaker 2>where many leaders get trapped. They become firefighters. Every day

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<v Speaker 2>they're putting out another fire. Every meeting is about another emergency.

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<v Speaker 2>Every phone call begins with we've got a problem, and

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<v Speaker 2>after a while they begin believing they're excellent in crisis.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe or maybe they're excellent at managing problems they unknowingly

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<v Speaker 2>allowed to grow. There's a difference. The best leaders I

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<v Speaker 2>know spend more time walking around looking for smoke than

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<v Speaker 2>carrying buckets of water. They notice patterns, They ask questions,

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<v Speaker 2>They listen when employees become quieter than usual. They pay

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<v Speaker 2>attention when little standards begin slipping. They understand something incredibly important.

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<v Speaker 2>Behavior changes before performance changes, performance changes before outcomes change.

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<v Speaker 2>Outcomes change before headlines happen. That's the sequence. If you're

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<v Speaker 2>waiting until the headline arrives, you're already late. One of

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<v Speaker 2>my favorite leadership questions is incredibly simple. What have we

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<v Speaker 2>become comfortable ignoring? Think about that one for a moment.

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<v Speaker 2>Every organization has something. Maybe it's late reports, Maybe it's

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<v Speaker 2>poor communication, maybe meetings that never accomplish anything. Maybe gossip,

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<v Speaker 2>may be broken equipment, maybe managers who avoid difficult conversations,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe employees who constantly say that's not my job. Every

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<v Speaker 2>tolerated behavior becomes tomorrow's operating standard. That's how neglect slowly

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<v Speaker 2>rewrites culture. Culture isn't created by motivational posters. It's created

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<v Speaker 2>by repeated decisions, including the decision to ignore something. I

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<v Speaker 2>also think neglect shows up in leadership development. Organizations spend

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<v Speaker 2>thousands responding to turnover, very little preventing it. They conduct

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<v Speaker 2>exit interviews after employees leave. They rarely conduct sta interviews

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<v Speaker 2>while people still care. They hold emergency meetings after morale crashes.

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<v Speaker 2>They rarely schedule conversations while morale is healthy. That's leadership reacting.

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<v Speaker 2>Great leadership is anticipating. And one of the biggest lessons

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<v Speaker 2>emergency management teaches is this preparation never feels urgent until

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<v Speaker 2>the emergency arrives. Then everyone wishes they had started sooner.

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<v Speaker 2>Leadership preparation follows the exact same pattern. The strongest organizations

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<v Speaker 2>aren't lucky. They've built habits that prevent small problems from

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<v Speaker 2>becoming organizational disasters. They inspect, they follow up, they coach,

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<v Speaker 2>they repair, they reinforce standards. They refuse to normalize things

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<v Speaker 2>that shouldn't become normal. That's leadership. And here's a challenge

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<v Speaker 2>for you today. Walk through your organization with fresh eyes.

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<v Speaker 2>Pretend you're visiting it for the very first time. What

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<v Speaker 2>would immediately concern you. What have you stopped noticing because

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<v Speaker 2>you've become used to it. What conversations have been sitting

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<v Speaker 2>on your calendar for weeks? What employees have you been

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<v Speaker 2>meaning to check on? What process needs attention before it

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<v Speaker 2>creates frustration for everyone else? Remember this, Every crisis leaves

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<v Speaker 2>clues long before it arrives. The leaders who consistently avoid

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<v Speaker 2>major organizational disasters aren't smarter than everyone else. They're paying

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<v Speaker 2>attention while everyone else is saying we'll deal with it later.

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<v Speaker 2>Neglect never sends a calendar invitation. It quietly schedules the

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<v Speaker 2>crisis for you. The question is whether you'll notice it

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<v Speaker 2>before the date arrives. So leadership isn't measured by how

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<v Speaker 2>impress if you look when responding to a crisis. It's

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<v Speaker 2>measured by how many crises never happen because you saw

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<v Speaker 2>the warning signs early this week. Look for one small

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<v Speaker 2>issue you've been overlooking, Address it today and you might

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<v Speaker 2>prevent tomorrow's biggest problem. And if you want more free

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<v Speaker 2>leadership resources, head over to Paulfolovalito dot com and click

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<v Speaker 2>on free Stuff. I have over twenty five free leadership

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<v Speaker 2>documents you can download and start using today. This has

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<v Speaker 2>been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast and I thank you

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<v Speaker 2>for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot

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<v Speaker 1>com