One of the key areas that separates those who lead and those who follow is the ability and willingness to make difficult decisions.

Many times you don't learn this, until it's decision time...and you see all of the heads turning...and looking towards you and saying, "Well?"

In many cases, your teams, and those who are following you aren't even requiring the perfect decision. They just need you to decide.

However, these are important decisions, so you want to make the best ones possible for the benefit of your customers, your staff, and your business.

Proper decision making skills require instincts you develop over time. They depend on you growing the courage you must have to excel as a leader.

Join Michael and Jim as they share strategy that will assist you in being an excellent decision maker.

As an entrepreneur, there are always obstacles in the road, things holding us back, making us swerve and risk heading off into a ditch.

Much about being competitive in today's business is having the ability to steer away, to avoid running into those boulders that seem to fall into the middle of our paths.

However...that's assuming that we're actually moving forward. That we're on the road. The truth is, that for many entrepreneurs, the greatest difficulty is just getting started.

Join Michael and Jim as they explain how to overcome the difficulty of getting started.

There are few things more exhilarating and frightening than building a business from scratch.

Starting a business, keeping your doors open, battling the storms, and defending yourself constantly from your own delusion...is not easy.

In fact, it will probably be the most difficult thing you've ever done in your life. And, often it will seem like it's taken you four lifetimes to get to where you want to go. And that's only if you get there!

Yet, it doesn't have to be impossible. And, it doesn't have to be as difficult as we often make it.

Join Michael and Jim as they share keen insights into how to build a business the right way. Or how to rebuild yours if it could use some new inspiration.

If you examine the backstory of any successful leader, you'll discover they have their own list of "Most Valuable People" of sorts, and that's influencers in their lives who were always in their corner, who cared about them, and invested in their future.

We call those people mentors. They often are in the background, and unknown to many, but they are essential to the development and success of leaders.

This is why it's so important to surround yourself by the right influences as you grow in your role.

But, how do you go about choosing an excellent mentor? How do you go about selecting someone who you can mentor?

Join Michael and Jim as they explore the extraordinary value and pathway of being mentored, and being a mentor.

One of the greatest traits a leader can have is their ability...just like a prize fighter...to take a hit.

Because if you're going to take a leadership role, you're getting into the ring...and your opponents aren't going to be taking it easy on you.

When it comes to launching or managing an organization, there is no sugarcoating this...it won't be simple. In fact, it will probably be the hardest thing you'll ever do in your lifetime. We wish this wasn't an exaggeration.

You will encounter unimaginable adversity along the way. Disappointments. Unexpected obstacles. A lot of injustice.

Yet, successful leaders are able to survive by leaning on the strong belief that when seemingly insurmountable difficulties arrive, they'll be able to confidently say, "This too shall pass."

Join Michael and Jim as they explore this critical topic.

As leaders and entrepreneurs...we are all about growth. In fact, some would say we are obsessed with growing.

We like to captain our ways to new revenue records and to reach new levels of profitability. That's natural for entrepreneurs, and in some ways it's the drive that is needed to actually keep us in business.

Yet, there are those times when you look out at sea and in the future you see darkening skies and you go, "Oh my!"

It's times like these when you need to batten down the hatches.

Join Michael and Jim as they share how to respond when the business climate gets tumulteous.

"I've got a strange feeling something bad is about to happen." Have you said to this yourself before?

If you've been in leadership for any length of time, you've probably experienced this feeling many times throughout the course of your career.

This feeling is actually something valuable to you in your leadership role. It is a sixth sense of a sort. The ability to discern what will happen before it eventually does.

The challenge is to not become paranoid while still maintaining an acute sense of awareness of anything and everything that could go wrong in the organization you are leading.

Join Michael and Jim as they explore how to balance a high level of leadership awareness without overreacting and causing more harm than good.

In a perfect world, the people we lead would be highly skilled individuals with extraordinary work ethics, and with a strong appreciation for the opportunity they have.

Sometimes, however, those you lead have some of those characteristics, but not all. Some of them are highly skilled, yet don't necessarily hold you with the highest regard.

There can be several reasons for this, some of them beyond your control.

It's a harsh fact when it comes to leading. Not everyone will appreciate you and the effort and quality you put into your work. Still, many times, you still need to keep these people on your team, and as productive and happy as possible.

Join Michael and Jim as they share how to lead those who don't appreciate you.

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.