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 fella Aledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode seven twelve. Today we're talking about something that
Speaker 2: will change the way you lead starting today, when every
Speaker 2: battle before it starts. This is one of those leadership
Speaker 2: truths that separates average leaders from the ones people trust
Speaker 2: when things get real, and it lines up perfectly with
Speaker 2: what I've been teaching for years. Leadership is built in moments,
Speaker 2: not long drawn out theory sessions. So let me take
Speaker 2: you into a real scenario. You walk into a meeting
Speaker 2: to employees are already frustrated. You can feel it. The
Speaker 2: tone is off, the energy is tight, and now you're
Speaker 2: stepping into something that has already been building for days,
Speaker 2: maybe weeks. At that point, you're not leading the situation.
Speaker 2: You are reacting to it, and reaction is where leaders lose.
Speaker 2: Winning before the battle starts means you never allow things
Speaker 2: to get to that point. So how do you actually
Speaker 2: do this? Let me break it down in a way
Speaker 2: that you can use immediately. First, you control the environment
Speaker 2: before anyone else walks into it. Think about this like
Speaker 2: a pilot before a plane ever leaves the ground. There
Speaker 2: are checklists, systems, and procedures. You don't figure things out
Speaker 2: at thirty thousand feet. Leadership is no different. Before a meeting,
Speaker 2: ask yourself, what is the tone I want in this room?
Speaker 2: What outcome do I need? And what could go wrong?
Speaker 2: If you don't answer those questions, the room will answer
Speaker 2: them for you, and you probably won't like the answer. Second,
Speaker 2: you eliminate surprises. Surprises feel exciting in movies. They destroy
Speaker 2: trust in leadership. If you're about to have a tough
Speaker 2: conversation and the other person is hearing it for the
Speaker 2: first time in front of others, you've already lost. Winning
Speaker 2: early means pulling people aside before the moment. Hey, I
Speaker 2: want to give you a heads up. Here is what
Speaker 2: is coming up. Here's where we need to be aligned now.
Speaker 2: When the meeting happens, it's not a confrontation, it's confirmation.
Speaker 2: That is how you stay in control. Third, you set
Speaker 2: expectations before performance is tested. Most leaders wait until something
Speaker 2: goes wrong to correct behavior, and that's backwards. If your
Speaker 2: team does not know the standard they are going to
Speaker 2: create their own and their version of the standard might
Speaker 2: be way lower than yours. Winning before the battle means
Speaker 2: saying things like, here is how we show up. Here
Speaker 2: is what good looks like. Here is what will not
Speaker 2: be tolerated. That's not being strict, that's being clear, and
Speaker 2: clarity is one of the most powerful leadership tools you have. Fourth,
Speaker 2: you manage energy, not just tasks. A lot of leaders
Speaker 2: focus on what needs to get done. Great leaders focus
Speaker 2: on how people feel while doing it. If your team
Speaker 2: has burned out, frustrated, or checked out, it does not
Speaker 2: matter how good your plan is, it will fall apart.
Speaker 2: Winning early means walking into your environment and reading it
Speaker 2: like a room temperature gauge. Who is off today, who's quiet,
Speaker 2: who's carrying something heavy? Address it early because if you
Speaker 2: ignore it, it shows up later in the worst possible way. Fifth,
Speaker 2: you fix small problems before they become big ones. This
Speaker 2: is where most leaders struggle. They see something small and
Speaker 2: they think it's not a big deal until it is
Speaker 2: the person leaving early without telling anyone, the small comment
Speaker 2: that crosses the line, the mistresponsibility that gets brushed off.
Speaker 2: Every one of those is a future battle, and every
Speaker 2: time you ignore it, you are scheduling a bigger fight later.
Speaker 2: Winning before it starts means stepping in early and saying
Speaker 2: we're not doing that here, Calm, direct, and consistent. Sixth,
Speaker 2: you decide who you are before pressure hits. This is
Speaker 2: where red key leadership comes into play. You don't rise
Speaker 2: to the moment you fall back on your preparation. If
Speaker 2: you haven't already decided how you handle pressure, conflict, or chaos,
Speaker 2: then you're going to make emotional decisions in real time,
Speaker 2: and emotional decisions are expensive. Winning early means knowing how
Speaker 2: do I respond when someone challenges me? How do I
Speaker 2: handle bad news? How do I lead when things go sideways?
Speaker 2: If you answer those questions now, you don't have to
Speaker 2: guess later, and that is where confidence comes from. Now,
Speaker 2: let me bring this home. The best leaders you have
Speaker 2: ever worked with probably made things look easy. They were calm,
Speaker 2: they were steady, They didn't seem surprised by anything. That
Speaker 2: wasn't luck, that was preparation. They were winning before anything
Speaker 2: ever happened. So here's your challenge today. Take one situation
Speaker 2: you know is coming, a meeting, a conversation, a decision,
Speaker 2: and instead of walking into it, and hoping it goes well.
Speaker 2: Prepare like it matters because it does. Think through it,
Speaker 2: talk to people ahead of time, set expectations, anticipate the friction,
Speaker 2: do the work early, and when the moment arrives, you
Speaker 2: won't be reacting, you'll be leading. That is how you win,
Speaker 2: not louder, not harder, earlier. Winning every battle before it
Speaker 2: starts is not about control. It is about preparation, clarity,
Speaker 2: and awareness. If you want to become the leader people
Speaker 2: trust when things get tough, stop waiting for the moment
Speaker 2: to happen. Build the moment before it arrives. That is
Speaker 2: where real leadership lives. And if you want more free
Speaker 2: leadership resources, head over to paulflovalito dot com and click
Speaker 2: on free Stuff. I have over twenty five free leadership
Speaker 2: documents you can download and start using today. This has
Speaker 2: been the seven minute leadership podcast and I thank you
Speaker 2: for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito podcasts, visit Paulfeloalito dot
Speaker 1: com