308. From Good Intentions to Real Impact in Leadership with Mick Spiers

Think you had a busy month but didn’t move the needle? We unpack why progress often feels invisible and how to make it tangible by changing small behaviors that create big ripples. This solo cast stitches together January’s standout insights on culture, pressure, change, influence, and feedback—then turns them into simple moves you can apply within 24 hours.We start with a hard truth from Bill Benjamin: your culture is revealed under pressure. When stress spikes, untrained emotional intelligence drops, shortcuts sneak in, and safety evaporates. We walk through practical ways to slow your cadence, protect standards, and keep access to reality. From there, Hugh Thomas reframes change as identity work, not a project plan. People grieve loss—of familiarity, status, and confidence—so leaders must acknowledge loss before asking for alignment. Expect clear prompts you can use to surface the real obstacles and rebuild commitment through honesty rather than false certainty.Next, Salvatore Manzi brings a candid reminder: good intent does not equal good impact. Influence lives in how you’re received. We break down presence, pacing, and listening as the levers that lower threat and help your message land. Then we move into the Lead Better series on YouTube, where we de-risk feedback with brain-based insights and practical tools. You’ll learn the micro yes to gain permission, the calibrate reality step to align perceptions, the SPI model to deliver clarity without judgment, and the close-the-loop move to lock agreements. Structure beats good intentions when trust is on the line.We close by turning reflection into action: give one real piece of feedback you’ve been avoiding, run one alignment conversation about “what good looks like,” or remove one piece of interference holding your team back. Leaders who win the year don’t do more; they do what matters, more consistently. If these ideas hit home, subscribe, share with a leader who’s ready to level up, and leave a quick review telling us which action you’ll take today.Send us Fan MailSupport the show✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here:  https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XVIf you would like a signed copy, please reach out to [email protected] and we can arrange it for you too.If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade:👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBzGet extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral LinkWise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434Strea...