As leaders, it can be tempting to bypass team building exercises and just get down to business already. That is a very bad idea. In today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask build a solid case for why leaders in today’s virtual environment can’t afford not to design trust-building experiences for their team. If you want to make an impact—and you want it to be enduring—you have to rally people to do their best work, or it won’t be sustainable. Your dreams and aspirations will crumbl...
Apr 11, 2022•31 min•Ep. 41
When is a decision yours to make as a leader and when do you entrust it to your team? On today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask talk about the fine line leaders walk when it comes to making decisions. If you think that being a leader, being in charge, automatically means you make all the decisions, you need to take a step back. Sometimes the biggest decision a leader can make is deciding to delegate that decision-making to someone else. As leaders, we also need to take a deep di...
Apr 04, 2022•29 min•Ep. 40
What’s one of the single biggest frustrations/struggles for new leaders? Time management. On today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask take on the challenge of helping new leaders manage their time effectively as they transition from an individual contributor role to the role of manager. That shift is no joke, they say. And hopefully it helps to know that you’re not alone. No less than 100% of leaders find this difficult. And no two leaders approach time management the same way. Je...
Mar 28, 2022•38 min•Ep. 39
When was the last time you praised someone on your team with specific, authentic feedback? On today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask talk about the absolute importance of leaders expressing appreciation and acknowledgment for the work their team is doing—in a consistent way. If you do it randomly, whenever the urge strikes, it probably won’t happen. You need to build this mechanism into your weekly routine. They share some helpful stories (both good and bad) and some actionable ...
Mar 21, 2022•32 min•Ep. 38
The transition to leading virtually hasn’t been easy. It helps to learn from people who have been doing it for a really long time. On today’s episode, host Jeff Mask sits down with Ralph Burns, CEO and founder of Tier 11 and co-host of the Perpetual Traffic podcast, to talk about his new book, Virtual Boss . Jeff planned to just skim the book in preparation for their interview, but he couldn’t stop reading. He loves that it’s written from the actual trenches of virtual leadership, not some theor...
Mar 14, 2022•39 min•Ep. 37
“How in the heck do we keep people?” is the question on every leader’s mind right now in the midst of The Big Quit happening all around us. In today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask sit down to talk about the tension of employee retention. Specifically, retaining the most talented people who are the best fit for your company. Of course you don’t want them to leave. And as difficult and scary as that thought might be, there are some really simple (not easy) ways to make sure it d...
Feb 28, 2022•7 min•Ep. 36
If delegation is challenging for you right now as a leader, this simple, proven exercise will help. Today’s episode is a micro-session with host Jeff Mask, and it’s for any leader who has big goals for the year but way too much on their plate to get it all done. It’s okay to admit it: to accomplish what you need to accomplish going forward, you’re going to need help. You’re going to need to delegate. Listen in as Jeff walks us through a simple delegation exercise that can make a huge difference ...
Feb 21, 2022•7 min•Ep. 35
If you hope to grow your revenue, your teams, and your company, you have to find a way to delegate. There’s simply no way around it. In today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask take on the evergreen, but ever-challenging, topic of delegation. Delegation is something all leaders need to take a look at annually (okay, and monthly, weekly, daily), but it’s especially timely right now. As we kick off a new year and aspire to achieve new goals, we realize we can’t continue to own every...
Feb 14, 2022•30 min•Ep. 34
Millions of people left their jobs last year, and the elephant in every office right now is: how do we talk about money? In today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask tackle the difficult topic of salaries and raises head-on. 2021 was the Big Quit, the Great Resignation, the Year the Employee Leaves. Everyone has felt it. When 38+ million employees in the U.S. quit their jobs in a single calendar year, everyone feels it. That’s a lot of people walking out. That’s a lot of investment...
Feb 07, 2022•49 min•Ep. 33
When you know your purpose, your why , as a leader, you’re able to set harmonious and powerful goals for yourself and your team. In a previous episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask talked about setting relevant goals that align with their overarching purpose as a company. In today’s episode, they want to continue that conversation and connect some dots. How do you go deeper into your own personal why, your personal purpose? This is a topic that is absolutely invigorating for Jeff and, ...
Jan 31, 2022•43 min•Ep. 32
The words “you’re fired” spark a lot of emotion, but in some unfortunate circumstances, they’re necessary to say or hear. In today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask talk about best practices when it comes to delivering termination news. Most leaders have faced—or will face—that moment of truth when they have to let someone go. There’s a right way and a wrong way to fire people, Richard and Jeff believe, and they want to give you the script. Listen in for some super practical advi...
Jan 24, 2022•56 min•Ep. 31
Jan 17, 2022•49 min•Ep. 30
OTHER SHOWS YOU MIGHT ENJOY: Business Lunch with Roland Frasier and Ryan Deiss Perpetual Traffic with Ralph Burns and Kasim Aslam DigitalMarketer Podcast with Mark de Grasse and Mandy McEwen
Jan 10, 2022•39 min•Ep. 29
You want to hire people you know, love, and trust, and quite often those are friends and family members, but how do you avoid favoritism and nepotism? On today’s episode, host Jeff Mask is joined by his brother, Clate Mask, CEO and co-founder of Keap (formerly known as Infusionsoft), a sales and marketing automation platform. Clate loves entrepreneurs and has great respect for the grit and tenacity and perseverance they show as they build their businesses. He built a company that helps entrepren...
Jan 03, 2022•42 min•Ep. 28
Richard and Jeff want to hear from YOU. Was something in today’s episode a big aha moment for you? Anything you disagreed with? What did you learn that you’ve applied to your leadership? Email them here with your thoughts/questions: feedback@readytolead.com OTHER SHOWS YOU MIGHT ENJOY: Business Lunch with Roland Frasier and Ryan Deiss Perpetual Traffic with Ralph Burns and Kasim Aslam DigitalMarketer Podcast with Mark de Grasse and Mandy McEwen...
Dec 27, 2021•43 min•Ep. 27
What does it mean to lead well through the holidays with all its distractions and deadlines, and people’s different beliefs and cultural backgrounds? On today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask talk about the holiday season and how it can be exhausting and loaded with dangers and pitfalls. But it can also be rewarding, even life-changing, with a few key mindset shifts. Listen in for some heartfelt tips on turning the holiday season into an incredible opportunity for you and the pe...
Dec 20, 2021•41 min•Ep. 26
It can be hard to know how to navigate a really tough environment as a leader. This is how one woman did it really well. On today’s episode, host Jeff Mask sits down with Karen Pierce, CEO of KMP Consultants , to talk about best practices in leadership and how to deal with tough, even toxic, work environments. Karen and Jeff met at an event where Karen told him, “we speak a very similar language.” It’s true. They do. The bottom line? They both believe deeply that leadership is all about putting ...
Dec 13, 2021•39 min•Ep. 25
Rituals and routines, done with intention, can help us prepare ourselves to show up emotionally and mentally and lead from a place of power. The theme of routines and rituals is popping right now. People around the globe are finding that the routines that once worked so well are no longer serving them. Life has changed, and our routines need to change too, if we want to stay on top of our game. In today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask kick things off by telling a true (and pain...
Dec 06, 2021•45 min•Ep. 24
When you invest in appropriate relationships with the people you lead and make them feel valuable, you become all the more effective as a leader. In today’s episode, host Jeff Mask sits down with Kimberly Holmes, CEO of Marriage Helper to talk about some universal principles that work across all relationships, whether personal or professional. Kimberly is passionate about championing marriages and creating strong families. She and her team want to take over the world with hope for great relation...
Nov 29, 2021•45 min•Ep. 23
Corrective conversations are never fun, but as leaders, it’s our responsibility to help people become better versions of themselves. Today’s episode with co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask is all about having those difficult, but necessary, corrective conversations. How do you give correction? When do you give it? How do you do it well? It can be an easy thing to mess up, and Jeff and Richard want to help people avoid that pain. Listen in as they talk about why correction matters and how to ...
Nov 25, 2021•55 min•Ep. 22
What does decluttering have to do with leadership? Way more than you think. In today’s episode, host Jeff Mask sits down with Kathi Lipp, world-renowned author of over 20 books and host of the Clutter-Free Academy podcast. Kathi has dedicated her life to serving people who are overwhelmed by clutter and people with a mission who want to communicate it. Why talk about decluttering on a leadership podcast? Because there are a lot of grounding principles here for leading ourselves and leading other...
Nov 22, 2021•45 min•Ep. 21
The Great Resignation has had a huge impact on teams and organizations. How do you respond as a leader when you lose a really good team member? In this episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask talk about what happens when one of a leader’s biggest fears becomes reality: a key player on the team decides to leave. Instead of just speaking in generalities, Richard shares a very personal and recent story, and he and Jeff walk through these important questions: How do we process it internally?...
Nov 18, 2021•45 min•Ep. 20
How to Become a Disruptive Entrepreneur with Rob Moore The word “disruptive” can have a negative connotation, but it’s really all about stepping in, shaking things up, and making the world better. Rob Moore is a powerhouse, and he’s super great at what he does. He loves entrepreneurship and property investing; he runs several businesses and two podcasts; and he lives up to his brand as an entrepreneur that disrupts. In today’s episode, he sits down with host Jeff Mask to share his incredible sto...
Nov 15, 2021•46 min•Ep. 19
Trust among coworkers has never been more important than it is in today’s virtual environment, and leaders have to intentionally design experiences that help build that trust. As leaders, it can be tempting to bypass team building exercises and just get down to business already. There’s work to be done, goals to be met. Who has time for “shared experiences” and “team bonding,” right? In today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask build a solid case for why leaders can’t afford not to...
Nov 11, 2021•37 min•Ep. 18
One of our roles as leaders is to identify and unlock people’s gifts. Today’s guest tells us how. Unlocking people’s gifts presupposes that we believe everyone has gifts to unlock. Stacey Ferguson, Digital Director at Time’s Up , believes they do, and host Jeff Mask wholeheartedly agrees. In today’s energizing episode, the two of them sit down for a fun and enlightening chat about bringing out the very best in the people you’re leading. Know What You Want and Go After It Stacey’s story begins wi...
Nov 08, 2021•39 min•Ep. 17
Leading people was already difficult in a pre-Covid world, but learning how to engage in healthy conflict is extra challenging in a virtual environment. It’s a leader’s job to assess human dynamics and behavior and guide people in and through conflict in healthy, productive ways. But it’s so much harder to read people when you’re not face to face, rubbing shoulders with each other every day. Sometimes things might feel okay, but it’s often “artificial harmony” (credit to Patrick Lencioni). It’s ...
Nov 04, 2021•38 min•Ep. 16
As leaders, we have privilege, and it’s up to us to empower the people we’ve been charged to lead. Today’s guest, Mike Yates , empowers people on a daily basis. Mike is an educator, the host of the Schoolish podcast, TED talker, and runs the Reinvention Lab at Teach for America. In this episode, he sits down with host Richard Lindner to talk about recognizing privilege and power structures and how leaders everywhere can leverage that knowledge to gain a better understanding of their team. Mike’s...
Nov 01, 2021•43 min•Ep. 14
OTHER SHOWS YOU MIGHT ENJOY: Business Lunch with Roland Frasier and Ryan Deiss Perpetual Traffic with Ralph Burns and Kasim Aslam DigitalMarketer Podcast
Oct 28, 2021•36 min•Ep. 15
When we focus the bulk of our time on underperformers and fixing problems, we bring the rest of the team down. Every time you fix something, does something else break? Are you constantly drained from plugging leaks and putting out fires? Does it feel like your workweek is just a giant real-life game of Whack-a-Mole? If so, chances are, you’ve probably fallen into the trap of always focusing on the underperformer. We’re hardwired as humans—and especially as leaders—to fix what’s breaking. We boun...
Oct 25, 2021•26 min•Ep. 13
Once you know when you need to hire, the next question is who do you need to hire? In this micro-episode, host Jeff Mask walks through a simple, but effective, model you can use to determine whether or not a person is a good fit for your company. The bottom line? You can do all the research, all the due diligence, and still mis-hire. Then you’ve got someone who doesn’t fit your team or culture, and you have to fire them. Listen in as Jeff takes a dive deep down into some frameworks that he’s lov...
Oct 22, 2021•10 min•Ep. 12
