How do you find the balance between thinking enough of yourself to leverage your talents and abilities, but not too much that you become arrogant? In leadership, finding the balance in humility is key.

We so often view stress as bad, the negative thing in our life that disrupts our desire for comfort and ease. But what if stress actually serves as a motivator—inciting us toward health and growth? If we strive to avoid stress at all times, are we choosing comfort at the expense of change and progress?

Basketball is a strong link game—teams can be built around the star player. Soccer is a weak link game—teams need qualified players in all positions in order to be successful. So what does this concept teach us about building our own teams and cultures?

As strange as it may be, research has shown that shared painful experiences actually promote stronger relationships, increased trust and willing cooperation. Can shared experiences then—both good and bad—bond teams together to create an environment for success?

In today’s modern world, we hear lots of talk about focusing on strengths—and for good reason. But what if our weaknesses are so big they actually cancel out our strengths? In those cases, the weaknesses can severely limit our leadership effectiveness—they can’t be ignored.

Feedback can be both scary to give and get, but when delivered in a healthy way and received with an open mind, it can be key to growth. It is important to fight the fear of feedback so you can be the best version of yourself and coach your teammates to be their best—this will not only accelerate development but will move the organization forward.

Beliefs come before behaviors. Our inner thinking drives our outer actions—both in business and life. Just as healthy thinking can help you make disciplined and positive choices, faulty thinking can cause an emotional and physical response that differs from how you really want to be living.

Right now the people on our teams are experiencing unprecedented amounts of change and uncertainty. Rather than shying away from these conversations, great leaders press in to help their people navigate these challenging times. In this episode, we’ll provide you with practical tips and insights to help you coach your people more effectively during this season.

Leading in a time of crisis is more complicated and difficult – especially in how we think and react. The pace, the pressure, the uncertainty, the confusion – they are all enemies of sound thinking. In order to lead effectively, leaders must fight through the confusion and uncertainty to focus on what matters most right now – and lead in a way so that their people can do the same.

Meetings are an essential part of everyone’s work experience. But unfortunately, many of us have come to view them as a necessary evil. They’re something we begrudgingly schedule on our calendars and then dread attending because they often seem unfocused, unnecessary and unhelpful. For leaders looking to boost organizational culture and performance, focusing on improving the way we do meetings can be a game-changer.

With leadership comes power, and as a leader, your decisions and behaviors can have a profound impact on your team and your organization. But one power that leaders wield which often gets overlooked is the power we have to influence and develop our team members through our belief in them. And in all walks of life, from the boardroom to the classroom, research and experience have proven that people flourish and perform at their best when they have leaders in their lives who believe in them.

Results and relationships. Too often, leaders hold them at odds with one another. Either we focus so much on getting stellar results that we neglect building the trust and relationships that are necessary for succeeding as a team, or we focus so much on relationships and making sure everyone gets along that we shy away from the hard conversations and holding one another accountable to our shared goals. But the best leaders know that for a team to truly succeed, results and relationships have to go hand in hand.

Life has a way of surprising us. We can dream, plan and prepare all we want, but sooner or later life is going to throw us a curveball. It could be a problem at work: an unexpected move by a competitor or a downturn in the market. Or it could be a problem at home, like receiving a scary diagnosis out of the blue. Whatever you may be facing, it’s not our ability to avoid life’s curveballs, but our ability to react and respond to them well that will determine our success as people and as leaders.

The way people navigate their careers is evolving. With increased job mobility and more employees spending less time in their roles, it feels easier than ever to make a career change and move from one opportunity to the next. But rather than mindfully running toward opportunities that line up with some clear vision for where they want to be, too many leaders are simply running away from their current situations. And unfortunately, they often end up floating from job to job, experiencing the same dissatisfaction and frustration at every turn.

We live in a world that, at least on the surface, seems more connected than ever. Thanks to email, texting, social networking apps and the phones we carry around with us at all times, it has never been easier to communicate with people and get work done. But despite all the positives, there’s no doubting that social media and our relationship with our devices has left many people feeling distracted, exhausted and increasingly alienated from the people around them. So, how should leaders navigate this issue, enjoying the benefits of social media without falling prey to the traps that come with it?

In both life and leadership, failure is a given. It’s something we need to always be prepared for, because even our best-laid plans can go awry. Therefore, your success as a leader is often defined not by your ability to avoid failure, but by your ability to embrace it, learn from it and seize the opportunities it brings.

Whether it’s an unhealthy relationship or a failing business strategy, we all face issues both at home and at work that suck the life out of our leadership. And yet, even when it’s clear that these things need to go, actually bringing them to an end can be an awkward and painful process, one that many of us would just rather avoid. But if we ever hope to be healthy individuals and effective leaders, learning to embrace endings and see the opportunity they bring will be an essential skill to cultivate.

No matter how successful we are, every one of us has an area of our leadership where we’re not performing as well as we could. What’s worse is that we’re often blind to the extent of our own incompetency, and so we aren’t able to see opportunities for changing and improving how we lead. So, how can you ensure your blind spots are covered and get the kind of feedback and insight needed to make you a better leader? By leveraging the perspective of the outsider.

Trust. It’s a simple word that serves as the source of so much fear, difficulty and confusion in our lives. This is especially true at work, where trust between team members isn’t always easy to come by. But research shows that trust is perhaps the number one thing that healthy teams have in common, and that unhealthy teams desperately need. But trust requires hard work, vulnerability and commitment. So how do you build it?

Healthy teams function at their best when every member of the team is supporting one another and working together to make sure the best ideas and solutions are brought to the table. But whether you’re a leader or a team member, we’ve all had experiences where just the opposite occurs. A teammate dominates the conversation with their own ideas, or we become defensive when our own ideas are called into question. In these instances, our fears and insecurities create an unhealthy environment, one where the team stops working together to get things right and instead, we focus on being right and protecting our own egos.