Welcome to the Leader’s Lens!
This issue offers a fresh perspective and actionable tips to enhance your leadership this week.
Send me an email and let me know how you plan on implementing this perspective shift in your leadership!
Was this email forwarded to you?
Above The Frame: The Leader’s Lens Show!
A revamp is coming to The Leader’s Lens show, including interviews, inspirational leadership quotes, and specific tactics to influence your mid-level leadership today!
Subscribe now on your favorite listening app: Apple Podcast, Spotify, or watch it on Youtube!
Within the Frame: Your default leadership muscle is not always the one you need
Here is me blending a few of my worlds together: Athleticism and Leadership.
I started my weight training when I was in 8th grade. We had a class that was taught by the PE teacher who would open the weight room up before school and he would show us proper lifting techniques. That foundation has been critical as I navigated high school athletics, colleague athletics, playing adult basketball/softball leagues, and chasing my kids around.
Like any athlete, it is important for you to get in the gym. But while you are in the gym, you may be training different muscles… or different skill sets… building strength or in active recovery.
I used to lift like a football player (even when I was playing basketball and running track), then I got older and realized that while my balance was fine, it could be better. And that my cardio was okay, it could also be improved. More importantly, my flexibility and functional movement needed a lot of attention as I found myself crawling around on the floor when my kids were young and struggling to move afterwards.
I’ve been thinking about leadership a lot like going to the gym. If you only train one muscle group over and over again, eventually your body gets out of balance.
You might get really strong in one movement, but limited in another. You may be able to lift heavy in one area, but struggle when life demands a different kind of strength.
I have been seeing leadership working the same way.
Some leaders have spent years strengthening their clarity muscle. They know how to organize the work, name priorities, assign ownership, and move a team toward execution.
Some leaders have a strong empathy muscle. They know how to listen, slow the room down, notice tension, and help people feel understood.
Some leaders are gifted at building systems. They see repeated breakdowns and naturally think about rhythms, workflows, and structures.
Others are strong at shaping culture. They pay attention to trust, belonging, development, and what the team is learning to expect over time.
None of those muscles are bad. But the problem is when we keep using the same muscle for every leadership challenge.
Doing so, we could unintentionally cause undesirable outcomes because we are not working out our leadership to its fullest potential.
If you don’t catch anything else in this newsletter, know that there are leadership moments requires the different movements. Stick around and see what I mean.
The problem with default leadership
We are all doing our very best with the information and experiences we have. I truly believe that most leaders are giving their best effort. That is not where we struggle at all.
I do believe that our struggle is when experience pressure from the workplace, we only stay within our default mode.
When things get tense, some leaders immediately tighten control.
When things get confusing, some leaders add another meeting.
When people seem frustrated, some leaders avoid the hard decision because they do not want to damage trust (this is often me)…
When the same problem keeps repeating, some leaders keep solving it manually instead of building a better system.
This is what I call default leadership.
It is not always wrong. In fact, your default probably became your default because it has helped you before.
Maybe people praise you because you bring clarity.
Maybe your team trusts you because you listen well.
Maybe you are known for building structure.
Maybe people look to you to protect the culture.
Those are strengths, and they should be praised. But under pressure, strengths can become overused.
Clarity can become control.
Empathy can become avoidance.
Systems can become bureaucracy.
Culture-building can become abstraction.
Again, our default leadership is not the problem. It becomes an issue when it is our only response.
How can we shift our lens on this?
For a long time, leadership conversations have asked a version of this question:
“What kind of leader are you?”
But I think there is a better question:
“What kind of leadership does this moment require from me?”
The latter question shifts leadership from identity to discernment.
It moves us away from trying to prove we have the right style and toward learning how to respond wisely to the moment in front of us.
What if the moment needs clarity? Or needs care?
Maybe the needs a system or some culture-building?
The leadership maturity is learning to know the difference and where to enact them.
The moment determines the mode
This is the heart of the framework I’m calling The Moment Determines the Mode.
Before choosing your leadership move, pause and read the moment.
Ask two questions:
Is this moment urgent or strategic?
Does it need immediate stabilization, clarity, or response? Or does it need long-term development, capacity-building, and culture-shaping?
Is this moment tactical or relational?
Does it need structure, roles, decisions, priorities, and next steps? Or does it need listening, trust, repair, belonging, and connection?
When those two questions come together, they point toward four leadership modes.
The four leadership modes
1. Clarify
Urgent + Tactical
This is the mode for moments when things are slipping, priorities are unclear, deadlines are close, ownership is fuzzy, or people do not know what matters most.
The leader’s job is to reduce chaos.
Clarify sounds like:
“Here are the three priorities.”
“This is what can wait.”
“Who owns the next step?”
“What does success look like by the end of the week?”
This is the clarity muscle. But when overused, clarity can become control.
2. Stabilize
Urgent + Relational
This is the mode for moments when people are tense, exhausted, disconnected, reactive, silent, or carrying more than they have named.
The leader’s job is to help the team regain relational footing before pushing for more output.
Stabilize sounds like:
“Before we solve, what needs to be heard?”
“What is making the work harder right now?”
“What are we not saying that we need to name?”
“What would help the team breathe again?”
This is the stabilizing muscle. But when overused, stabilization can become avoidance.
3. Systematize
Strategic + Tactical
This is the mode for moments when the same problems keep repeating, work depends too much on heroic effort, accountability is inconsistent, or the team needs a more sustainable rhythm.
The leader’s job is to move from firefighting to systems design.
Systematize sounds like:
“What keeps repeating that needs a system?”
“Where are we relying on heroic effort?”
“What rhythm would make this easier to sustain?”
“What decision rule would reduce confusion?”
This is the systems muscle. But when overused, systems can become bureaucracy.
4. Cultivate
Strategic + Relational
This is the mode for moments when the team needs long-term trust, belonging, development, psychological safety, cultural consistency, or leadership capacity.
The leader’s job is to shape what the team learns to expect over time.
Cultivate sounds like:
“What are we teaching the team to expect?”
“What behavior do we need to repeat until it becomes normal?”
“How do we build trust before the next crisis?”
“Where does our stated culture need to become a practiced rhythm?”
This is the culture muscle. But when overused, cultivation can become vague aspiration.
Know that leadership is range
You stay as a core person when you are considering these for leadership modes. But knowing the modes helps your build range within your leadership.
The strongest leaders don’t have one style they use everywhere.
One style does not rule them all.
They learn to read the room, diagnose the moment, and choose the leadership response that fits. And that’s is why I like the language of training.
Leadership is built through reps.
Every meeting is a rep.
Every hard conversation is a rep.
Every moment where you pause before reacting is a rep.
Every time you choose clarity instead of confusion, that is a rep.
Every time you listen before solving, that is a rep.
Every time you build a system instead of rescuing the same problem again, that is a rep.
Every time you reinforce the culture through repeated behavior, that is a rep.
Athletes who work the reps know that they are not working to be perfect, but to progress in their skills to execute effectively.
Our leadership should have that same mentality.
Why this matters for mid-level leaders
If you are like me, a mid-level leader, you know that you are constantly translating pressure.
You carry expectations from above.
You absorb emotional reality from below.
You coordinate across peers.
You try to keep the work moving while also protecting trust, clarity, and culture.
That is a lot to hold. And when pressure rises, it is easy to default.
Gone are the days for needing generic leadership advice to handle these moments.
What we need as mid-level leaders is way to pause and ask:
“What is happening here?”
“What does this moment actually require?”
“Am I responding with intention, or am I reacting from habit?”
Over the next few Leader’s Lens newsletter issues, we are going to navigate this concept together.
We’ve read the theories, and they help to understand the framework. But let’s build the capacity to respond with more clarity, care, wisdom, and range.
Today’s Leadership Workout
Today’s Muscle: Awareness
Before we train the four leadership muscles, we have to notice our default.
So here is this week’s leadership rep:
Think about a recent leadership challenge (Examples: a team meeting that went sideways, a missed deadline, a tense conversation, a repeated problem that landed on your desk again).
Now ask yourself:
What was happening?
What were the facts, pressures, emotions, and constraints?
Was the moment urgent or strategic?
Did it need immediate response, or long-term development?
Was the moment tactical or relational?
Did it need structure and next steps, or trust and connection?
What mode did I use by default?
Did I Clarify, Stabilize, Systematize, or Cultivate?
What mode did the moment actually require?
No judgment here! Just observation!
Awareness is the first rep.
Let’s start to Flexing
You don’t need to have one perfect style as a leader. Your team doesn’t need that. And that won’t solve most of your problems.
You do need to build enough range to respond wisely.
Be the leader who can learn to read the moment before choosing the move.
Continue to follow along in this series, because that’s what we will practice.
Build your leadership through quality reps.
Let’s flex our leadership in the right moments moment to positively impact the culture.
— Ray
Behind the Lens: What’s your Leadership Default Mode when pressure hits?
I’m curious: when pressure rises, what leadership muscle do you usually reach for first?
Do you tend to Clarify, Stabilize, Systematize, or Cultivate?
Hit reply with your default mode. One word is enough; bonus points if you can share how it impacts your leadership!
Whenever you are ready, here are ways you can work with me:
🎤Speaking - As a Speaker and Facilitator, I will engage your team on how belonging and inclusivity can increase your team dynamics! Book Ray Now
🤝Coaching - As a Coach, I will help you enhance the power of inclusivity and empathy to be an effective leader through an equity lens! Book a Call Now
📘Consulting - As a Consultant, I will help strengthen your organizational culture to increase the employee experience and retention! Book a Consultation Now
