Something Different: Bite-Sized Leadership Insights Await

August 1, 2025

Hi Reader

I'm toying with a different newsletter approach for this week's edition.

The past few weeks have brought useful and actionable insights to your Inbox....that said, those type of editions can be heavy going at times and need a few re-reads to completely absorb.

So this week I'm brining a new format to the table.

Let's call it "3, 2, 1".

3 bitesize paragraphs of leadership insight that you can leverage quickly to make a discernible difference in your leadership and/or leadership performance

2 short videos in a similar vein.

1 leadership lesson that I've had to personally learn...or even re-learn, the hard way, a few times!

We'll still be true to the ethos of "Fine Lines" - to expose you to the information intelligence that can be the small difference that makes the difference in your leadership. The Fine Line between going backwards, standing still or getting escape velocity and momentum towards progress.

At the end I'd love you to have your say and take 2 seconds to vote on the format, longer form or short & punchy, that you favour most!

Sometimes it's profitable to be wrong....

Pressure makes diamonds

You know when, in sport or business, the pressure comes on and all that really then happens to your performance is that you sink to the level of your training or preparation?

How about the next time you're coaching a practice/training session or facilitating a run through or role-play with your team(s) that you mimic real-life under extreme pressures?

Because after all that's when the rubber hits the road and people deliver or melt.

And if they melt, is it really their fault? Or yours for not taking them to life in the red-zone and prepping them to the max?

It's actually on you. So try this - when you're near the end of your session, practice or role-play and everyone is tired then apply the most pressured rehearsal of a real-life scenario. Yes, brains will be frazzled and ego(s) will take a pounding. But think of the richness of learning that you can extract from those moments.

Better to fall down in practice than in the real situation, no?

Understanding Important and Urgent.....

Your A.Q.

We've spoken in past newsletters about EQ aka. Emotional Intelligence, and PQ aka. Performance Quotient. Have you heard of AQ?

That's your Agility Quotient and, in short it's a read on your ability to respond to a given scenario with the information you have to hand. It's your ability to display agility in the moment and pivot or responsibly change course as a result of reflection, reevaluating, reframing or rethinking your position relative to the real-life intelligence you have to hand.

How quick are you to shift and change direction when it's called for? Or are you too far moved towards being so risk-averse that you cannot seek and process your situation in time and make a call to hold, fold or twist?

Are you asking Why??

Among the top leadership skills that go undetected (or hide in the wide open?) is 'curiosity'. It moves you from the place of many leaders i.e. attached to being right, to a place where "better" prevails. And getting to that place, consistently, lies in learning and taking action on your learning.

Giving your curiosity oxygen means you'll continually seek out prompts and pointers towards individual and collective improvement. Even from the most inobvious places and people. Being curious moves you from a binary win:lose world to a place where Win:Learn:Change comes to the fore as a new paradigm to shape your performance world. In that way curiosity fuels action because as long as we truly learn, the next step is to bring that learning to life. And the majority of the time that results in change. Without change, the best you can hope to achieve is average. Who wants that?

Curiosity pushes boundaries. For you and everyone around you.

My Lesson to Learn: A Poor Fit

I know, implicitly, that business and sport have performance at their core. What I also know is that, like a pair of trousers, that one size does not fit all.

What I'm getting at here is developing an awareness and intuition for where you fit best in a team, club, business or organisation. And, more specifically, what type of entity you work best in.

I had to learn this the hard way a few times. I let factors such as reward etc interfere with my judgement about the type of environment that I fit best into and vice-versa. When you get it right it's like a hand in a glove and performance comes like driving on an open motorway on a Summer's day.

Getting it wrong though (and this generally means not listening to gut feel) means that every day can be like walking across hot coals. Days where you have that eternal uneasy feeling, where you second-guess yourself continually and where you simply don't feel like part of the furniture.

That's a tough place to be. You smile and pretend everything is good, but deep down you're in a downward spiral of turmoil.

What I learned from those experiences? Hear everything you're being told about the role on offer, the benefits & rewards and all the good stuff. But then lean into and listen to the filter of your compounded experiences - if it feels right and good then go with it. But if feels anything other than that, then take the time to understand the feeling.

Another Newsletter you might find useful....

Science-Backed Leadership Tips You’ll Actually Use

Practical Perspectives: A Monthly Newsletter by Angela Justice, PhD

Surprisingly simple, science-backed leadership strategies to help you win at work. Your ultimate field guide to success, crafted by an award-winning expert.