Tag: leadership stories

customer experience, leadership

Today I Choose Peace. Tomorrow I May Choose Petty.

Beth M

Real Talk Reflection

I do not always feel like leading with grace.

Some days, the impulse to be petty is loud. Not dramatic, just sharp enough to cut. A quick jab in a meeting. A deliberately delayed reply. A reminder that I, too, have limits.

Here is what I have learned:
Petty is not random.
It is not weakness.
It is a signal.

It shows up when something has gone unchecked.
It rides in with frustration that has been smiled through one too many times.
It gathers strength from moments of being overlooked or dismissed.
It feeds on exhaustion, especially the kind of exhaustion leaders are trained to ignore.

By the time it surfaces, the damage is already done. Not from the snarky email or the passive-aggressive reply. From the weeks—or months—of silence that came before it.

So no, I do not shame the petty impulse. I listen to it. Because it usually means I missed something:

  • A boundary that should have been reinforced
  • A conversation that needed more honesty
  • A part of myself that is overdue for rest or recognition

Leadership is not about pretending we are above all that.
It is about knowing when our energy is being pulled in the wrong direction—and pausing long enough to correct it.

Today, I choose peace.
Tomorrow? If I feel the pull toward petty, I will take that as a cue to go deeper.

Because petty is a symptom. And I am not here to lead from symptoms. I am here to lead from awareness.

Where is your energy pulling you today, and what might that be trying to tell you?

leadership

Say the Thing. Stay in the Room.

Beth M

Leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about being willing to say what needs to be said, clearly, respectfully, and without flinching. The hard part is not the truth itself. It is staying in the room once you say it.

People who have worked with me know this:
I will always tell you the truth, but I will also listen.
And I want the truth back.

Because clarity only works when it is mutual.
Direct does not mean dismissive.
Honest does not mean harsh.

Clarity is not cruelty.
Vagueness is.

Over the years, I have watched good teams unravel—
not from conflict, but from confusion.

When people are left guessing, they fill in the blanks.
And rarely with the best-case scenario.

Clarity is not about being blunt.
It is about being respectful enough to say the thing, explain the why, and stay present for the reaction.

It takes more energy in the moment.
But it protects what you are trying to build.

customer experience, leadership

The Problem Is Not the People. It Is the System.

Beth M

Some teams are drowning in process. Others are drowning in its absence. Both are still gasping for air.

And yet, when performance dips, when turnover spikes, or when burnout hits the tipping point, leaders look at the people first. They ask who needs coaching, who is not “resilient,” or who is falling short.

But in most cases, the real problem is the system.

Not broken people. Broken design.

I have lost count of the times I have been asked to “fix” a team. Often, what they actually needed was a functional schedule. Sometimes, it was a feedback loop. Other times, a decision tree that does not require a PhD to navigate. Teams are not fragile. They are tired of working against the very systems that are supposed to support them.

Let me go back to that early leadership moment I shared in my last post.

We had a 35% abandon rate. No structured breaks. Phones ringing into the void. Frustrated customers. Burned-out staff. Turnover rising.

The common narrative would have blamed the reps. Said they were not committed. They could not handle the pressure. They needed more training. That maybe they were not a “good fit.”

But the issue was not them. It was the structure or lack of it.

Once we introduced a simple, data-informed schedule and gave the team a say in shaping it, everything shifted. Calls got answered. Morale lifted. Performance improved. Not because the people changed, but because the system did.

Here is what broken systems often sound like:

  • “That is just how we do it.”
  • “We were told we could not change this.”
  • “The process says…”
  • “We are too busy to fix that right now.”
  • “It is not ideal, but people get used to it.”

These phrases do not just signal dysfunction. They signal resignation. They are the sound of people adapting to failure instead of fixing it.

Meanwhile, leaders stack on more training, more tools, more pressure, hoping people will “rise to the challenge.” They will, until they cannot. Then you will call it burnout, when what really happened is systemic failure.

If your operations depend on heroics, your problem is not your team. It is your infrastructure.

If clarity is buried under complexity, your problem is not engagement. It is design.

If performance varies wildly across shifts or teams, you do not need more motivation. You need consistency.

Before you coach performance, audit design. If your team is gasping for air, the leak might be structural.