What Your Team Wishes They Could Say

This is the Minute Business Riff (MBR). Quick takes. Big swings. Leadership riffs you can read in less time than it takes to scroll LinkedIn aimlessly.

One minute. One idea. That’s it.

Today’s word count: 258

It took me 1 min 02s to read this.

There’s a problem with being the boss.

People stop telling you the truth.

Not because they’re fake.

Not because they don’t care.

But because it’s easier to smile and nod than say,

“Hey, you’re making this harder than it needs to be.”

One manager I worked with was stuck.

Deadlines slipping. Team disengaged. Everyone busy, but nothing actually moving.

She thought it was a workload issue.

But it wasn’t.

So she tried something different.

In her next 1:1s, she flipped the script:

“What’s something I’m doing that’s slowing you down?

Not “any feedback for me?”

Not “am I doing okay?”

She made it safe. Specific. Permissioned.

And that’s when it came out.

Micromanaging. Mixed signals. Meetings that killed momentum.

She was leading like a perfectionist, not a multiplier.

It hit hard. But she didn’t flinch.

She said, “Thanks - give me a week.”

Cleaned up her processes. Shortened approvals. Started closing more loops than she opened.

Two months later?

Team was humming. Output up. Morale way up.

Because the mirror she had been using - KPIs, dashboards, performance reviews - wasn’t showing her the truth.

The truth lived in the team.

Tactical Takeaway:

If you want to grow as a leader, ask this:

“What’s something I do that makes your work harder, even if I don’t mean to?”

Then shut up and take notes.

Because your team sees the version of you your metrics never will.

And if you’re brave enough to hear it - you’ll change the game!

Think this was a banger? Think I’m full of it?

Either way, hit reply and drop some truth bombs.

I read every email 😁

Great leaders are made in minutes. Not meetings.