Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golachieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to this seven minute leadership podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six point forty. Today we're talking about something
Speaker 2: that some leaders misunderstand. Leadership is not a title you
Speaker 2: earn and then defend. It's not a certification that you
Speaker 2: hang on the wall. It's not a one time decision
Speaker 2: that you are now a leader. Leadership is a daily recalibration.
Speaker 2: If you're a pilot, you learn this fast. You set
Speaker 2: a heading, you trim the aircraft, You lock in your altitude.
Speaker 2: You think you're perfectly on course, and you're not. Wind
Speaker 2: pushes you, temperature shifts, pressure changes your constant a degree off,
Speaker 2: and if you ignore it long enough, that degree becomes
Speaker 2: ten miles. Ten miles becomes the wrong airport. And leadership
Speaker 2: works the same way. You wake up every day slightly
Speaker 2: off course, your mood, your ego, your stress level, yesterday's win,
Speaker 2: yesterday's failure, that email that irritated you, that compliment that
Speaker 2: inflated you, that meeting, your dreading, that decision you are avoiding.
Speaker 2: All of it shifts your internal compass. And if you
Speaker 2: do not recalibrate daily, you drift. And here's what makes
Speaker 2: drift dangerous. Drift is quiet. You do not notice it
Speaker 2: when you start tolerating small things. You do not notice
Speaker 2: it when your standards soften. You don't notice it when
Speaker 2: you stop asking hard questions. You do not notice it
Speaker 2: when you become slightly less successible or slightly more defensive.
Speaker 2: But your team notices they feel it before you see it.
Speaker 2: And I've seen this before. The leader who thinks they're
Speaker 2: steady is often already off course. Recalibration is not dramatic.
Speaker 2: It is intentional. And this is the backbone of seven
Speaker 2: minute leadership. You do not need a three day retreat.
Speaker 2: You need seven honest minutes every single day, seven minutes
Speaker 2: to ask yourself, where did I drift yesterday? Did I
Speaker 2: tolerate something I should have addressed. Did I let frustration
Speaker 2: leak into my tone? Did I avoid a conversation because
Speaker 2: it was uncomfortable? Did I lead from ego instead of clarity?
Speaker 2: That is recalibration. Now let me take you deeper. There
Speaker 2: are two types of drift. The first is emotional drift.
Speaker 2: This is when your internal state starts leading your external behavior.
Speaker 2: You are tired, so your patience shrinks. You are stressed,
Speaker 2: so your empathy thins out. You're overwhelmed, so you become
Speaker 2: transactional instead of human. Emotional drift destroys culture slowly. The
Speaker 2: second is standard drift, and this one is even more dangerous.
Speaker 2: You allow a shortcut once you overlook a missed deadline.
Speaker 2: You let someone slide because you don't want conflict. You
Speaker 2: lower the bar quietly. Culture is shaped by what leaders tolerate.
Speaker 2: Every time you ignore a small deviation, you are recalibrating
Speaker 2: your culture downward. Daily recalibration forces you to reset your
Speaker 2: standards back to where they belong. Now let's bring in
Speaker 2: red key leadership. Most days are black key days, routine, normal, predictable,
Speaker 2: but some moments are red key moments, high consequence, high visibility,
Speaker 2: high impact. If you're already drifting on a black key day,
Speaker 2: you will not suddenly be sharp during a red key moment.
Speaker 2: You don't magically perform well under pressure. You default to
Speaker 2: your daily habits. If your daily habit is recalibration, you
Speaker 2: will handle red key moments with clarity. If your daily
Speaker 2: habit is drift, you will compound the damage. Now, let
Speaker 2: me give you a tactical framework you can use, starting today,
Speaker 2: every morning, before the chaos starts, ask yourself three calibration questions.
Speaker 2: Number one, what standard am I protecting today? Be specific?
Speaker 2: Is it response time? Is it communication? Tone? Is it
Speaker 2: accountabilit Does it? Follow through? Number two? Where am I
Speaker 2: most likely to drift today? Is it patience? Is it distraction?
Speaker 2: Is it being overly reactive? Identify it before it shows up?
Speaker 2: In number three, what red key moment might appear today?
Speaker 2: You may not know the exact event, and that's fine,
Speaker 2: but mentally prepare for one, because if you assume today
Speaker 2: is routine, that is often when the unexpected hits. And
Speaker 2: this isn't motivational BS. This is operational discipline. In aviation,
Speaker 2: if I don't recalibrate my instruments, I lose situational awareness
Speaker 2: and scuba diving, if you don't monitor your depth and air,
Speaker 2: you risk safety. In EMS command, if I don't reassess
Speaker 2: the scene, I miss a critical change. And leadership again
Speaker 2: is no different. And here's the part that requires humility.
Speaker 2: You're not as steady as you think you are. None
Speaker 2: of us are success yes drifts you. Fatigue drifts you.
Speaker 2: Praise drifts you, and criticism drifts you. Daily recalibration keeps
Speaker 2: you grounded. It keeps your ego in check. It keeps
Speaker 2: your standards intact, It keeps your culture aligned. The leaders
Speaker 2: who stay sharp for decades are not the ones who
Speaker 2: had one great year. They are the ones who recalibrated
Speaker 2: thousands of times quietly when nobody was watching. That is
Speaker 2: what battle tested leadership looks like. It's not loud, it
Speaker 2: is disciplined. If you're leading a company, a crew, a
Speaker 2: division of family, understand this. You are either recalibrating or drifting.
Speaker 2: There is no neutral, and the drift always feels easier
Speaker 2: in the short term. Recalibration takes ownership. It requires you
Speaker 2: to admit I was off yesterday. I need to adjust
Speaker 2: that strength. That is integrity, that is leadership. So here's
Speaker 2: your challenge. Before you close this episode, take seven minutes today.
Speaker 2: Sit with a notebook, no distractions, Ask yourself where you
Speaker 2: are off course, correct it before it compounds, Protect your standards,
Speaker 2: Prepare for your red key moment. Leadership is not a
Speaker 2: destination you reached years ago. It is a heading you
Speaker 2: reset every single day, stay sharp, and stay intentional. This
Speaker 2: has been the seven minute leadership podcast and I thank
Speaker 2: you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito Podcast, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com