Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellavaliedo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode seven point thirty seven. Today, I want to
Speaker 2: talk about a place where leadership is truly measured. It
Speaker 2: is not in the conference room. It's not during the
Speaker 2: annual awards banquet. It's not when everything is running smoothly
Speaker 2: and everyone is smiling. Leadership is measured at the edge.
Speaker 2: The edge is where things start to get uncomfortable. The
Speaker 2: edge is where certainty disappears. The edge is where your values, decisions,
Speaker 2: and character get tested. Anybody can lead when the weather
Speaker 2: is perfect. Anybody can lead when the revenue is up,
Speaker 2: staffing is full, and the team is winning. Leadership becomes
Speaker 2: visible when things move to the edge. Think about a pilot.
Speaker 2: A pilot's skills are not measured on a clear day
Speaker 2: with calm winds and perfect visibility. The real test happens
Speaker 2: when weather rolls in systems start flashing warnings and decisions
Speaker 2: must be made quickly. The same thing happens in leadership.
Speaker 2: The edge is where your report card gets written. The
Speaker 2: edge might be the employee who suddenly quits. The edge
Speaker 2: might be the customer who publicly attacks your company online.
Speaker 2: The edge might be the budget cut that forces difficult decisions.
Speaker 2: The edge might be a crisis nobody saw coming. The
Speaker 2: edge might be a mistake that you made. That last
Speaker 2: one is important. Many leaders think the edge only shows
Speaker 2: up because of external circumstances. Sometimes the edge shows up
Speaker 2: because of us, a bad decision, a missed opportunity, a
Speaker 2: moment where we failed to communicate, or a situation we
Speaker 2: ignored for too long. Leadership is not measured by whether
Speaker 2: you avoid the edge. Leadership is measured by how you
Speaker 2: respond when you get there. I learned this lesson in
Speaker 2: emergency services. You can train people for years. You can
Speaker 2: conduct drills, write policies, build checklists, and then one day,
Speaker 2: something completely unexpected happens. In that moment, nobody cares what
Speaker 2: your intentions were. Nobody cares what you planned to do.
Speaker 2: People pay attention to what you actually do. That is
Speaker 2: the edge. The edge strips away excuses, reveals preparation, reveals character,
Speaker 2: and the edge reveals priorities. I've seen people with impressive
Speaker 2: titles struggle at the edge. I've also seen people with
Speaker 2: no title become extraordinary leaders at the edge because leadership
Speaker 2: is not about rank. It is about response. And here's
Speaker 2: an interesting exercise. Think about the leaders you admire most.
Speaker 2: Not the famous leaders, not the leaders with best selling books,
Speaker 2: the leaders you personally know, the ones you trust, the
Speaker 2: one who influenced your life. Why do you admire them?
Speaker 2: My guess is that you're not remembering a routine Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 2: You're remembering a difficult moment. You're remembering how they handled pressure,
Speaker 2: how they treated people during uncertainty, or how they responded
Speaker 2: when everyone else was losing their composure. We remember leaders
Speaker 2: at the edge. Years ago, I heard someone say that
Speaker 2: crisis does not build character, it reveals character. I think
Speaker 2: the same applies to leadership. The edge reveals what was
Speaker 2: already there. If you have built trust for years, the
Speaker 2: edge reveals it. If you've developed competence for years, the
Speaker 2: edge of reveal If you have invested in relationships, the
Speaker 2: edge reveals it. And if you've avoided difficult conversations for years,
Speaker 2: the edge reveals that too. The edge is honest. It
Speaker 2: does not care about your job title. It doesn't care
Speaker 2: about your organizational chart. It does not care about your
Speaker 2: office size. The edge reveals reality. That's why great leaders
Speaker 2: prepare before they arrive there. They understand that the edge
Speaker 2: is coming, not because they're pessimistic, because they're realistic. Every
Speaker 2: organization eventually reaches an edge, every team reaches an edge,
Speaker 2: every leader reaches an edge. The question is not whether
Speaker 2: it will happen. The question is The question is whether
Speaker 2: you'll be ready for it. One of the biggest mistakes
Speaker 2: leaders make is preparing only for success. They build plans
Speaker 2: for growth, they build plans for expansion, They build plans
Speaker 2: for best case scenarios. Great leaders also prepare for the
Speaker 2: uncomfortable scenarios. What happens if your best employee leaves, if
Speaker 2: funding disappears, if technology fails, if public perception changes overnight.
Speaker 2: What happens if you are suddenly operating with half the
Speaker 2: resources you expected. Those questions are not negative. Those questions
Speaker 2: are leadership preparation, because preparation creates confidence, and confidence creates stability,
Speaker 2: and stability becomes contagious when everyone around you is nervous.
Speaker 2: The edge is where people look for signals. Your employees
Speaker 2: are watching, your customers are watching, the community is watching,
Speaker 2: your family is watching. People are asking one question, how
Speaker 2: is this leader responding. Notice they're not asking how the
Speaker 2: leader feels. They're not asking whether the leader wishes what
Speaker 2: the leader wishes would happen. They're watching behavior. At the edge,
Speaker 2: behavior becomes leadership. I often teach that culture is shaped
Speaker 2: by what leaders taller. The edge takes that idea even further.
Speaker 2: The edge reveals what leaders truly believe. Do you believe
Speaker 2: in accountability because the edge will test it. Do you
Speaker 2: believe in honesty? The edge will test it? Do you
Speaker 2: believe in putting people first? Yes, the edge will test it.
Speaker 2: And do you believe in maintaining standards? The edge will
Speaker 2: test it. The edge is the final exam. And here's
Speaker 2: the encouraging part. You do not need to fear the edge.
Speaker 2: You need to prepare for it. Every difficult conversation you
Speaker 2: have today prepares you for the edge. Every skill you
Speaker 2: develop prepares you for the edge. Every lesson you learn
Speaker 2: prepares you for the edge, and every mistake you own
Speaker 2: prepares you for the edge. Leadership is not built during
Speaker 2: the crisis. It's built before the crisis and revealed during
Speaker 2: the crisis. The leaders who thrive at the edge are
Speaker 2: usually not the smartest people in the room. They're the
Speaker 2: most prepared. They've done the work long before the spotlight arrived,
Speaker 2: and when the edge finally appears, they don't need to
Speaker 2: become someone different. They simply reveal who they already are.
Speaker 2: So as you move through your day today, ask yourself
Speaker 2: one question. If my team, organization, or family suddenly reached
Speaker 2: the edge tomorrow, what would my response reveal about me
Speaker 2: as a leader? The answer to that question may tell
Speaker 2: you exactly what you need to work on next, because
Speaker 2: leadership is not measured when conditions are perfect. Leadership is
Speaker 2: measured at the edge. This has been the seven Minute
Speaker 2: Leadership Podcast, and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.