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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 GV.

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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 this seven minute leadership podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode seven eighty six. Today's episode is called doing

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<v Speaker 2>the work nobody celebrates. If you've been in leadership for

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<v Speaker 2>any length of time, you've probably noticed something. The work

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<v Speaker 2>that gets applause usually isn't the work that makes an

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<v Speaker 2>organization successful. People celebrate the big contract, They celebrate the award.

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<v Speaker 2>They celebrate the ribbon cutting, the promotion, the viral social

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<v Speaker 2>media post, the million dollar milestone, or the championship trophy.

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<v Speaker 2>Very few people celebrate the person who quietly prevented a

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<v Speaker 2>disaster from happening in the first place. Leadership is full

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<v Speaker 2>of invisible victories. Nobody applauds the leader who updates a

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<v Speaker 2>policy before someone gets hurt. Nobody throws a party because

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<v Speaker 2>payroll went out accurately for the three hundred and twenty

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<v Speaker 2>seventh consecutive pay period. Nobody writes an article because the

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<v Speaker 2>ambulance was stocked correctly. Nobody notices that the backup generator

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<v Speaker 2>started exactly the way it was supposed to during a

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<v Speaker 2>power outage. Nobody claps because your onboarding program prevented a

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<v Speaker 2>new employee from quitting after the first week. Yet these

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<v Speaker 2>are the moments that determine whether organizations survive. And here's

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<v Speaker 2>the uncomfortable truth. If people notice you doing your job

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<v Speaker 2>every day, something is probably broken. Think about your own life.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you notice electricity every morning? Probably not. You notice

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<v Speaker 2>it when it goes out. Do you think about your

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<v Speaker 2>breaks every time you drive? No, you think about them

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<v Speaker 2>the first time they don't stop the car. Leadership works

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<v Speaker 2>exactly the same way. The greatest compliment a leader often

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<v Speaker 2>receives is silence, not because people don't appreciate the work,

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<v Speaker 2>because everything is functioning exactly the way it should. And

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<v Speaker 2>if you listen to this show a lot, you know

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<v Speaker 2>that I think about aviation quite often. Before every flight,

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<v Speaker 2>pilots perform a pre flight inspection. They inspect fuel, they

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<v Speaker 2>inspect flight controls, they inspect oil, tires, the lights. Every

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<v Speaker 2>single flight, nobody congratulates a pilot because the wings were

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<v Speaker 2>still attached before takeoff. Nobody posts on social media saying

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<v Speaker 2>congratulations on checking the fuel caps because that's the expectation.

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<v Speaker 2>Yet skipping one of those boring, repetitive tasks can change

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<v Speaker 2>lives forever. Leadership has its own version of a pre

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<v Speaker 2>flight inspection, checking in with employees, reviewing finances, maintaining equipment,

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<v Speaker 2>updating emergency plans, having difficult conversations before they become impossible conversations,

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<v Speaker 2>following through when everyone else forgot. Most of that work

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<v Speaker 2>is painfully ordinary. That's why many leaders slowly stop doing it.

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<v Speaker 2>They're chasing the exciting work, the visible work, the work

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<v Speaker 2>that gets recognition. Meanwhile, the invisible work quietly disappears. And

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<v Speaker 2>then one day the organization experiences a crisis, and everyone asks,

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<v Speaker 2>how did this happen? It usually didn't happen overnight. It

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<v Speaker 2>happened one unchecked detail at a time, one ignored conversation

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<v Speaker 2>at a time, one delayed decision at a time, one

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<v Speaker 2>skipped inspection at a time, one forgotten employee at a time.

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<v Speaker 2>Leadership doesn't usually collapse because of one giant mistake. It

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<v Speaker 2>slowly erodes because nobody wanted to keep doing the work.

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<v Speaker 2>Nobody celebrates. I learned this lesson in ems years ago.

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<v Speaker 2>Every morning, cruise check their ambulance oxygen medications, defibrillator, airway equipment, suction,

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<v Speaker 2>hundreds of individual items. Most mornings, nothing is missing. Most mornings,

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<v Speaker 2>every battery works. Most mornings, nothing exciting happens. It's easy

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<v Speaker 2>to think, why are we checking all this again? And

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<v Speaker 2>then one patient needs something immediately. Suddenly the least exciting

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<v Speaker 2>part of your day becomes the most important. Operation never

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<v Speaker 2>feels exciting until it's priceless. The same is true in business.

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<v Speaker 2>Your employees are watching something you may not realize they're

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<v Speaker 2>watching consistency. Anybody can be an inspiring leader on Monday

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<v Speaker 2>mornings after a successful quarter. The real question is who

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<v Speaker 2>are you on a random Wednesday afternoon when nobody is watching.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you still return calls? Do you still encourage people?

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<v Speaker 2>Do you still keep your promises? Do you still walk

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<v Speaker 2>through the building? Do you still notice the quiet employee?

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<v Speaker 2>Do you still pick up the piece of trash on

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<v Speaker 2>the floor? Do you still do the little things? Because

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<v Speaker 2>culture isn't built during keynote speeches. Culture is built during

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<v Speaker 2>ordinary Tuesdays. And I've said for years that leadership is

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<v Speaker 2>measured in minutes, not moments. Small actions, repeated thousands of

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<v Speaker 2>times eventually become someone's workplace experience. That's why I challenge

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<v Speaker 2>leaders to stop asking what can I do today that

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<v Speaker 2>people will remember? Instead ask what quiet responsibility deserves my

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<v Speaker 2>attention today. Those questions produce very different leaders. One is

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<v Speaker 2>chasing applause, the other is protecting the future. There's another

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<v Speaker 2>reason this matters. Your team is learning what excellence looks

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<v Speaker 2>like by watching you. If you ignore the small things,

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<v Speaker 2>they will too. If you cut corners, they will too.

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<v Speaker 2>If you believe preparation matters, eventually they will believe it matters.

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<v Speaker 2>Leadership is contagious, so is complacency. People often ask me

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<v Speaker 2>what separates great organizations from average ones. It's rarely talent,

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<v Speaker 2>it's rarely money. It's usually discipline. Great organizations continue doing

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<v Speaker 2>the boring wor long after everyone else becomes tired of it.

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<v Speaker 2>That's why championship sports teams still practice fundamentals. That's why

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<v Speaker 2>elite military units rehearse simple tasks thousands of times. That's

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<v Speaker 2>why great restaurants still clean the kitchen every night, and

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<v Speaker 2>that's why outstanding EMS crews still check every compartment before

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<v Speaker 2>every shift. Excellence isn't exciting, it's dependable. Dependability isn't flashy.

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<v Speaker 2>It's repeatable. Repeatable behaviors become trusted organizations, and trusted organizations

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<v Speaker 2>outlast organizations that are built on hype. And here's something

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<v Speaker 2>worth thinking about today. Imagine if someone followed you around

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<v Speaker 2>for an entire week. They wouldn't watch your presentations, they

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<v Speaker 2>wouldn't watch your annual meeting, they wouldn't watch your biggest success.

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<v Speaker 2>They would watch your ordinary habits. With those habits to

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<v Speaker 2>convince them that you're an exceptional leader. Because leadership is

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<v Speaker 2>rarely judged by your biggest day, it's judged by your

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<v Speaker 2>average day. The average day is where organizations quietly become extraordinary.

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<v Speaker 2>So this week, embrace the work nobody celebrates. Make the

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<v Speaker 2>phone call, check the equipment, coach the struggling employee, fix

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<v Speaker 2>the spreadsheet, update the checklist, review the policy, and walk

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<v Speaker 2>through the building thank someone who deserves it. Nobody may

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<v Speaker 2>applaud you, nobody may even notice you. And that's okay

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<v Speaker 2>because the strongest organizations in the world are built by

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<v Speaker 2>leaders who understand something incredibly, incredibly important. The work that

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<v Speaker 2>earns the least recognition often creates the greatest results. So

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<v Speaker 2>as you head into your week, remember this leadership isn't

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<v Speaker 2>about chasing applause. It's about earning trust, one quiet decision

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<v Speaker 2>at a time. The leader who consistently handles the ordinary

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<v Speaker 2>eventually becomes the leader everyone depends on during the extraordinary.

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<v Speaker 2>So keep showing up, keep doing the work that nobody celebrates.

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<v Speaker 2>Someone's future may absolutely depend on it. This has been

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<v Speaker 2>the seven minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank you 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