There are so many different essential traits of a gifted leader. Few are more important than planning.

No one wants to get lost in their business or with their careers. Everyone in the building is going to be judging the leader by the quality of their planning ability.

In most organizations, the difference between a business having to shutter its doors...or being highly profitable is the quality of the leadership's planning.

Join Michael and Jim as they take a deep dive into all aspects of what it takes to be a well-planned leader.

When it comes to being successful in business and life, it's all about relationships. 

Most elite leaders will tell you that developing a circle of trusted friends, colleagues, and partners is as important as any other task before them. 

However, building business relationships does not come easy for many entrepreneurs and leaders. Isolation and loneliness is all too prevalent in entrepreneurship. Often there can be sadness behind that beaming, business-facing smile. 

Building business relationships isn't something that is really taught in business school. But it's taught in this podcast!

Join Michael and Jim as they delve into this most important topic and as they explain the differences and similarities between business relationships and personal friendships.  If you're a leader, don't miss this extraordinarily valuable episode. 

Have you ever started off a day or week by saying to yourself, "There is no way we're going to get everything done that we need to do?"

If you're like most business owners, this experience occurs with too much frequency, and over time can cause great harm to your health and well being.

It brings this crushing feeling where the walls are coming closer and closer to you on all sides.

When you're a leader or entrepreneur, this is exasperated further as your panicked face starts to spread to everyone in your organization.

The worst part? You're probably the root cause of why this is happening. The good news is it's totally fixable.

Join Michael and Jim as they discuss this important topic and provide you with the most calming remedy. 

 Can you imagine what it would be like if you had no competition in your business? None at all.

Theoretically, our company's offerings would be in high demand and we could negotiate in our favor with all of the leverage.

The phones would be ringing...the cash registers would be singing...at least for a while.

That's because competition is actually a leadership friend. One that makes us stronger. As leaders, competition is good for us. It's good for our teams. It's good for our customers.

And competition isn't just about competitors. It's so much more! Join Michael & Jim as they delve into a critical strategy for winning in business, leadership and life.

Many people decide to start a business with the idea that it's going to change their lives in so many marvelous ways.

It will change your life alright. They got that part spot on.

The truth is this is a high risk journey...being a business owner. That pathway can lead to financial ruin, a loss of friends and a break-up of a family. You need to know this heading down this road.

Which is why being a successful business owner entails so much more than merely growing your revenues. 

Join Michael and Jim as they discuss how to win in all aspects of the game of entrepreneurship. 

In this special episode of the Two Are Gathered Leadership podcast we hear from Co-Host Jim Johnson only six weeks after his recent open heart surgery. 

After more than 50 years of being a hard charger in the business world he shares what his most intimate thoughts were about leadership, success and life as he was being wheeled into the surgery room for what might have been his last moments here on earth.  

What really matters when it comes to building a company? How do you truly measure success? How do you know if you're an excellent leader?

This is the episode every entrepreneur should listen to and should freely share with all of their business friends. 

Join Michael and Jim for an unforgettable leadership discussion of a lifetime.

There are few things leaders and entrepreneurs enjoy more than being in control.

The truth is we never really are in control. It's one of the great leadership delusions.

There are so many things well, well beyond our scope of control...such as rain falling, earth shaking, waves crashing and most of the world's geopolitics that affect even the smallest of businesses. Then there are health crises. 

All out of our control!

If we accept the true reality that ultimately we are not in control then as leaders it now becomes our responsibility to learn how to lead when things are out of our control. 

Can we even do this? Join Michael and Jim as they explain how.

If we're in leadership. If we're entrepreneurs. There is an excellent chance we're heard this phrase throughout our lifetimes: You are SO stubborn.

What's interesting about the word stubbornness is that it's used both positively and pejoratively. That is...it's both a complement and a criticism.

The reason is...there really is a LIGHT SIDE, and a DARK SIDE to stubbornness.

The goal in leadership is to tap into all of the qualities of stubbornness without slipping over into the edge of stubbornness despair.

Join Michael and Jim as they shine the light on stubbornness.

One thing virtually every leader and entrepreneur wants to do...is to grow.

They want to experience interpersonal growth...intellectual growth...they want to grow their skillsets and those of their teams...they want to grow their network, their net worth...their revenues...their bottom line...their vision.

Growth is exciting. Which is probably why so many leaders can be reluctant to do the exact opposite. 

That is to exercise the discipline of pruning. Yet, that's the exact critical practice that often can result in the best kind of growth possible. 

Join Michael and Jim as they discuss the power of pruning in leadership and life.

How future proof is your business? How well prepared are you for all of the things that could go wrong?

This is one of the least enjoyable parts of being an entrepreneur. Going through all of the "What if's?" and having a strong response in place for as many of these challenges as you can.

It's not as exhilarating as charting out plans for new product and service launches and dreaming up ways for more growth.

But future-proofing your business will be one of the most important exercises you conduct as a leader.

Join Michael and Jim as they discuss many of the most essential parts of this planning. 

When you get into a leadership role one of the first great challenges you'll have to face is realizing that things are much different than they are advertised.

Yes...those dreams of leadership and entrepreneurship. That you'll be the captain of your own ship...that you'll be able to create a schedule and a lifestyle well beyond anything you could have imagined.

These may be true in part or in whole. But they also arrive with the tremendous burden of responsibility. These responsibilities weigh down on us and if we're not careful can take us to a very unhealthy place. 

How is your overall health as a leader?

Join Michael and Jim and they'll walk through a leadership health check.