Fail fast. Fail forward. It’s a strategy and approach many leaders take.

But many leaders talk a big game about failing fast, but undermine themselves (and their teams) when failure does occur.

I flipped on the 2024 presidential debate last night on the way to pick up my son from baseball. I found myself immediately anxious. I was anxious as I waited for the next demeaning comment and attack.

I might sound idealistic, but can we get back to decency in dialogue? Here's how.

AI and massive technology-driven change is upon us. It’s not slowing down. It’s upending every part of how we work and what we work on.

The only way to survive, and dare I say thrive is to continue to learn and grow.

But, how do we find time to learn and grow when free time is non-existent? Time has become a nearly extinct resource.

Psychological safety is a commonly used term, but it can be nebulous for some to grasp and a challenge to establish within teams.

In practical terms, teams with psychological safety feel comfortable sharing their ideas, experiences, and opinions without fear of being railroaded or unfairly criticized by their manager and team members. Psychological safety unleashes collaboration, innovation, and creativity as great ideas, perspectives, and experiences are not held back.

Our job titles define us. They describe our key tasks and goals. They dictate what we do day in, day out. They outline the scope of our efforts.

Job titles can also limit us. They limit us by focusing solely on what’s within our job description and key responsibility areas. The result is a set of hyper-optimized fiefdoms focused on disparate goals and outcomes, that are not always directly aligned. Job titles can also be a drag on team chemistry.

My journey to find purpose and fulfillment began 20 years ago and has been filled with highs and lows and sleepless nights. It’s ongoing, but understanding my core values and aligning them with my goals has brought profound fulfillment, motivation, and impact.

Don’t wait 20 years to uncover your core values and align them with your big goals. Below is the process I use to guide leaders and their teams to uncover their core values and create alignment with their goals.

In the world of sales leadership, effective communication isn't just a skill; it's the cornerstone of success. Yet, many leaders overlook the critical importance of adapting their communication style to meet the diverse needs of their teams, stakeholders, customers, and prospects.

By embracing tailored communication strategies, you can elevate your sales game and achieve unprecedented results.

“Darren, you're all replaceable,” I was once told by a very senior executive at a previous corporate job. It was a blunt reality check early in my career. The comment stunned me, but it taught me the importance of not letting others control my career.

So I started doing things differently with the goal of becoming irreplaceable.

Did you know that only 30% of managers say they delegate effectively. Worse yet, most managers lack access to training to learn how to delegate successfully.

Below are common mistakes I see managers make when delegating:

Delegating is hard. “I don’t have the time to delegate” or “They might screw it up” are common excuses for not delegating. But at what cost? Do you struggle to delegate? Try the following and see if you get a better result:

Most of us are cogs in a hyper-optimized business machine. I know I was early in my career. I needed my colleagues in product, marketing, and technology to deliver any real business impact.

So how can individuals and companies avoid the trap of becoming and building a workforce of cogs? Below are some of the themes and focus areas we infuse into our manager training programs.

Most people only listen at 25% efficiency*. Yet, people tout their ability to listen. I was reminded of this yesterday as I tried to have a conversation with a friend while he scrolled through his Twitter feed. Consider a few quick tips to boost your listening skill:

As leaders, we seek to create high-performing teams. Meaning teams that drive results. Teams that deliver on the company mission. Teams that create meaning for each of its team members.

While all leaders aim for those lofty goals, many don’t know where to start. I have personally worked with many teams to help them become more values-centric and the tips below come directly from our work.

Much in business is out of our control. Creating a culture of learning can help your team and company take control back and adapt to changes that take place—both internally and externally.

I recently interviewed Amy Crum, senior director of commercial sales at Proofpoint, for my next book, The Savage Manager. One of the areas we explored was how to create a culture of learning with your team. Below are a few “how to” tips that were inspired by our conversation.

Gratitude. It’s a big word that is loaded with connotations.

For Steve Gatena, founder and CEO of Pray.com, the world’s #1 app for daily prayer and faith-based audio content, gratitude is a leadership imperative. Steve and his team have built the digital destination for faith and they believe gratitude needs to be practiced daily.

The benefits are many and Steve’s full story will be included in my next book, The Savage Manager, which will be released in 2023. For now, I wanted to share some of the practical benefits of adding more gratitude into your daily routine.

Fernando Tatis Jr.'s suspension last week was a blow to sports fans (especially long suffering Padres fans), ardent lovers of baseball, and parents whose kids idolized Tatis for his on-field prowess, bat flipping flair, and love for the game of baseball.

Tatis’ story is a painful reminder of 3 leadership principles.

The ability to give feedback separates good managers from those that are mediocre. I interviewed Phil Dana, CHRO of AskBio for my next book The Savage Manager, and he noted that giving feedback is one of the top 5 most important skills for managers. When it comes to giving feedback, people wonder “should I be direct and to the point?” or “should I sugarcoat what I really want to say?” Like with any behavior, let’s take an inside out approach to delivering feedback.

I’ve spent much of my adult life trying to control all aspects of my life. You may be thinking, what’s wrong with having a deterministic attitude toward your own life and success? Isn’t that just ownership and accountability? Absolutely. But, we can go too far if we believe that we need to control every situation and outcome. Consider a few of the warnings.

This morning, I struggled to write a new blog – a new post about motivation. To help regain focus, I turned to my trusty Calm app and Jeff Warren, one of my favorite meditation guides.

At the end of the short meditation, he said, “What we pay attention to becomes our life.” That comment stopped me in my tracks. It made me think about the importance of the thoughts that fill our minds, day-in day-out.

What we pay attention to becomes our life. Put another way, what we focus on becomes who we are.

Conflict is all around us. With every passing day, conversations around divisive topics seem to be more toxic and less productive. The latest, tragic school shooting has brought the issue of gun control, gun rights, and gun safety into the forefront. But it’s not just this issue that brings out conflict and ultimately the worst in people. Pick any topic and you’ll see corrosive discourse happening daily. And it’s not just in the anonymous annals of social media. People seem more and more comfortable ripping “the other side” out in the open in the analog world.

But there could be a better way.