It’s time to talk about my old friend actionable intelligence. This is one of my favorite things on the planet and in my experience is often what makes it all worth it. What am I talking about? Well, let me give it a little context.

Ok, I’ll be up front about something. This one may come off a little more “tough love” that most. So, you’ve been at least somewhat warned.

Here’s the deal the universe is not out to get you! It’s really not! Think about it. How many times have you said, or heard someone say “why is this happening to me?” Probably more than you can remember. But, guess what. Nothing is happening TO you! Things are just happening.

Look, I get it. Some dreams are BIG, even a little scary. All the how am I going to’s and what if’s start swirling. We’ve all been there and that can lead to convincing ourselves that we should’t even try. People tell themselves that it’s too big and too far away. Well, guess what. It might be far away but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to start moving towards it!

I hear this all the time. Seriously, far more often than I would like. People telling m e that they agree with a lot of what I say but don’t see how some of the principles apply to them because “I’m not a leader. I’m just a (fill in the blank)”.

I had to make sure I mentioned mindset in the title this time. I don’t need anyone getting the impression that humans need to eat Thanksgiving every day. In fact…please don’t! But that doesn’t mean we can’t be thankful everyday!

The reality is if you want to achieve the end state goal with the highest level of success, then as a leader you need to be involved. This step is so critical because let’s be honest, things are never going to go perfectly according to plan. So, let’s really break down this step a little.

Back planning! YES! This is one of my most favorite things on the planet. If you have read any of the other blogs, watched the YouTube videos, or listened to the podcast, I guarantee you have heard me talk about back planning. Seriously, I’m legitimately excited just typing this. I know, I’m a nerd!

Emotions! Oh boy! These suckers in the wrong context will totally derail what you are trying to say. Unless you’re trying to hype up a D1 team during half time, or in my experience, occasionally motivate a basic training platoon, lots of emotion is not generally a good thing. It can seriously detract from the actual message. We're not just talking about anger here either. Sure, it will zap your message quickly as well but all of them have an impact, and not always the one you are looking for.

I’ll start be telling you that I grew up poor. No, like actually poor. We’re talking food stamps, free lunch, food pantry, thrift store, actually got a gift I donated to “less fortunate kids” back on Christmas morning poor. Add to the mix what I will sum up as saying was a very toxic home environment, and I had an Amityville level haunting going on early in life. I had all the toxic ghosts!

So many times in life people fail to take action on something they REALLY want out of fear. The vast majority of the time when asked why they don’t just go for it the answer is something like “I’m afraid I’ll fail”. While I don’t disagree that a lot of the time that is part of the fear, I have found working with clients that many times it’s actually a fear of success.

How many times as a leader have you been plugging along, thinking things are all going according to plan, then something goes wrong? We’ve all been there! It’s in that moment that the waves of doubt, negative self talk, and catastrophizing come rushing in. If you allow yourself to get stuck in that mindset it can derail forward progress and that is a much bigger problem. The reality is things are going to shift and change. Rarely do plans come to fruition without having to adapt. Sometimes that change is as simple as how you are viewing the problem and adjusting your perspective.

Here’s a terrifying statistic, 67% of strategic plans never reach execution. Yes, 67%! I was a little surprised by that number as well but according to studies it accurate. Yikes! So, what is the disconnect here? Is the plan flawed? Is there some missing piece of equipment that is required to facilitate executing the plan? Or is there a breakdown in communication between those managing the execution and the team that is actually executing?

This one can be tough. As a leader, we’ve all been there. You had the best of intentions and were certain that the plan you had in place was going to be successful. Then, as things begin to take shape, there’s that sudden and sinking realization that, you were WRONG!

If you have siblings or friends with older siblings you already know exactly what we are talking about in this one! The dreaded words that were uttered by parents to their eldest as they walked out the door, “You’re in charge!”. The resulting shock wave and subsequent fall out was inevitable. Whether you were the one “in charge” or those left in that charge, the dynamic of the relationship changed before the deadbolt had even been locked. Everyone knew, just because of that one statement the roles and rules were about to change.

This is one of the most frequently referenced phrases in the Infantry. “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast!”. It’s one of those phrases that hits your brain kind of sideways. I know the first time I heard it as a very young Soldier, I initially nodded in agreement as if to say yeah of course! Immediately afterwards however, I was thinking “what?”. What in the world was that supposed to mean? Lucky for me I still had three and a half years left on my first contract to find out. To this day I’m glad I did!

So, what is performance punishment? In short, it’s continuing to lean on those select individuals with no reward system. Now let me be clear. I’m not suggesting you celebrate the completion of every single tasks they complete, unless of course you want to.

So clearly companies realize the importance of training. Obviously, they know it’s a crucial aspect of their business that directly correlates to their overall success. That being said, the number of disenfranchised employees in companies begs the question, why is it failing?