My dad was on the bomb squad. 

I remember a way that he framed his work for me on one occasion, it really stuck with me: 

The bomb was never the problem. 

The bomb was the constant, that's what you signed up for. 

The variable was always the person diffusing it. 

Over the last 30+ years of coaching, we’ve come to learn that leadership works the same way. 

The challenges are going to come. That part is guaranteed. 

The question is whether you've built enough familiarity with yourself (your patterns, your blind spots, your tendencies under stress) to handle them without falling apart.

When we watch someone lead well in a hard moment, it's tempting to call it a gift - “they're a natural!” 

But what we're usually seeing is someone who has spent real time with their own shortcomings. 

They know where they're likely to flinch, what triggers their defensiveness. 

They know the difference between their actual limits and the discomfort of being stretched. 

The people I trust most as leaders aren't the ones who seem to have it all figured out. They're the ones who can name what's hard for them and have learned to work with it instead of around it. 

They've weighed their shortcomings against what I call their long-goings (the things they're genuinely built for) and made peace with the trade-off.

But that kind of self-knowledge doesn't arrive on its own, you need to dig for it.

The Trailblazers assessment identifies four core leadership styles, each with its own strengths, blind spots, and growth edges. 

If you haven't taken it yet, start here →

Once you know your style, check back on this section each week for tailored advice.

The Chief: Your challenge is carrying the weight of visibility while feeling uncertain in private. Try letting some of your most trusted people see behind the steadiness, so leadership doesn't become isolation.

The Innovator: Your challenge is moving faster than others can follow and doubting yourself when the response is silence. Try staying with an idea long enough for others to catch up, without mistaking patience for failure.

The Disruptor: Your challenge is carrying truths that others resist and burning out when validation doesn't come. Work on knowing when to push and when to let the work speak, so your fire becomes strategy, not just friction.

The Expert: Your challenge is being overlooked or taken for granted because your depth looks effortless. Put work into sharing what you know before you're asked, so your voice carries as far as your knowledge does.