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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 GOLA giving.

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

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<v Speaker 1>Paul 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 five twenty eight. Today we're talking about something

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<v Speaker 2>every leader needs to understand long before the problems hit

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<v Speaker 2>your desk. It's the idea of the first domino. Every

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<v Speaker 2>issue you face has a moment that kicked it off.

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<v Speaker 2>A decision, a message of miss detail, a lack of clarity.

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<v Speaker 2>Atone someone misunderstood a standard that slipped once and quietly

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<v Speaker 2>signaled that slipping was acceptable. The first domino always falls

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<v Speaker 2>long before the last one crashes to the floor. So

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<v Speaker 2>let me walk you through this in a way you

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<v Speaker 2>can use every day. Picture a long line of dominoes

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<v Speaker 2>stretched across your conference room table. The last one represents

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<v Speaker 2>the outcome you're dealing with right now, a customer complaint,

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<v Speaker 2>a safety violation amidst deadline, a fight between co workers,

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<v Speaker 2>someone quitting out of the blue, or a full blown crisis.

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<v Speaker 2>When you only look at that last domino, the one

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<v Speaker 2>that slammed down hard and made the noise that everyone noticed.

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<v Speaker 2>It's easy to think the problem happened today, but it

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<v Speaker 2>never happens today. It started way earlier. It started with

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<v Speaker 2>the first domino. Maybe the first domino was a leader

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<v Speaker 2>who assumed their team understood an instruction instead of verifying it.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe it was a team member who did not speak

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<v Speaker 2>up when something felled off. Maybe it was a manager

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<v Speaker 2>who changed a standard one time and told themselves it

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<v Speaker 2>wouldn't matter. Or maybe the first domino was you ignoring

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<v Speaker 2>a small feeling that something was not right, but telling

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<v Speaker 2>yourself you would deal with it later. And here's the

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<v Speaker 2>part most leaders miss. The first domino is usually small.

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<v Speaker 2>It never looks dangerous, It never feels like the start

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<v Speaker 2>of anything. It looks harmless, forgettable, and easy to skip over.

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<v Speaker 2>The problem is that once it falls, nothing stops the line.

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<v Speaker 2>Every domino after that is simply reacting to what hit it.

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<v Speaker 2>So the question today is simple, are you paying attention

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<v Speaker 2>to the first domino? Because if you want to stop

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<v Speaker 2>problems from reaching your desk, you can't wait until the

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<v Speaker 2>last domino hits the ground. That's where leaders get buried.

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<v Speaker 2>You must walk the line backwards. You start with the outcome.

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<v Speaker 2>Then trace it back to what set it in motion.

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<v Speaker 2>Let me give you an example. You find out two

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<v Speaker 2>crew members are arguing and it's affecting the whole shift.

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<v Speaker 2>The argument is the last domino, But what was the first?

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe someone rolled their eyes during a call review. Maybe

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<v Speaker 2>someone sent a short text that came across in the

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<v Speaker 2>wrong tone, Maybe someone joked a little too hard in

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<v Speaker 2>front of the wrong audience. Or maybe it had nothing

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<v Speaker 2>to do with the event at all, and the real

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<v Speaker 2>first domino happened six months ago when those two stopped

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<v Speaker 2>trusting each other and no one noticed. This is why

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<v Speaker 2>strong leaders are investigators, not detectives in a police sense,

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<v Speaker 2>but investigators of cause and effect. Every problem has a fingerprint,

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<v Speaker 2>Every issue has a trail, Every outcome has an origin.

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<v Speaker 2>And here's the part you can use immediately when something

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<v Speaker 2>breaks in your organization. Don't ask what went wrong? Ask

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<v Speaker 2>what was the first domino? And how far back does

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<v Speaker 2>this line really go? And sit with that question. It

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<v Speaker 2>changes everything. When you start thinking this way, you begin

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<v Speaker 2>spotting dominoes earlier. You catch the tone that doesn't feel right,

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<v Speaker 2>You catch the one time as standard dips. You catch

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<v Speaker 2>the team member who seems disconnected. You catch the policy

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<v Speaker 2>that is drifting from how people actually practice it, and

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<v Speaker 2>you stop reacting at the end of the line and

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<v Speaker 2>start intervening at the very beginning. And leaders who catch

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<v Speaker 2>the first domino are the ones who prevent the big collapse.

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<v Speaker 2>They save time, energy, stress, and resources. They build a

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<v Speaker 2>team that knows problems will be addressed early, consistently, and calmly.

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<v Speaker 2>So here is today's action step, the thing you can

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<v Speaker 2>use as soon as you finish this episode. Take one

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<v Speaker 2>problem from the past month, big or small, it doesn't matter.

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<v Speaker 2>Now trace it backwards. Ask yourself what the first domino

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<v Speaker 2>really was. Ask yourself who nudged it? Look at what

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<v Speaker 2>small things started the chain. Then ask one more question,

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<v Speaker 2>could this have been prevented? And if so, what would

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<v Speaker 2>you change next time? So this is how leaders get better,

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<v Speaker 2>not by reacting to the collapse, but by understanding the

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<v Speaker 2>cause of it. Not by being the firefighter, but by

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<v Speaker 2>being the architect of the room. The fire never starts

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<v Speaker 2>in the first domino decides the last one. Your job

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<v Speaker 2>as a leader is to spot it, steady it, and

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<v Speaker 2>keep the line standing. This has been the seven minute

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<v Speaker 2>Leadership Podcast, and as always, I thank you for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more fell of Alito podcasts, visit Paul Fellovalito dot

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<v Speaker 1>com