Legendary 49ers football coach Bill Walsh coined the term Success Disease to describe the overconfidence and arrogance that often follow an initial level of personal and organizational achievement. Walsh described it as a sense that, “We’ve mastered it; we’ve figured it out; we’re golden.”

“But the gold can tarnish quickly,” he added. “Mastery requires endless remastery. In fact, I don’t believe there is ever-true mastery. It is a process, not a destination.”

Walsh learned this firsthand in 1982 as his team only won a third of its games after being crowned Super Bowl Champions just one year earlier.

Businesses face the same challenge. Prevailing wisdom says Success Disease can be battled by setting and managing the right goals. While goals can provide direction and short-term motivation, they have much less to do with our results than the habits and systems we follow.

“The beauty is in the simplicity.” – Jimmy Rayford

Jimmy Rayford, CEO of Dealers Wholesale, joins Tim for this episode. They discuss the structure and impact EOS provides for their organizations, as well as the beauty of its simplicity and tools. They also dig into what it means to build a balanced team. Tune in and hear Jimmy's professional and personal insights, his edge in life, and more.

“80% and out in the world is better than 100% and still in your head.”

These words slapped me in the face as I was sharing a status update on a project, noting that I still needed to put in quite a bit of time and effort before it was ready to roll out. In my mind, it wasn’t anywhere close. I wanted it to be absolutely perfect and there was still so much to be done.

So, when I was told that it was “good enough,” I was appalled. Clearly, they didn’t see all of the flaws and I should probably keep tweaking the smallest things until it was juuuust right…

But those words got me thinking. What else had I been keeping in my head, waiting until it was 100% ready before letting it into the world?

“The real orientation of a team is to deliver more as a group than we could have delivered as individual contributors.” – Jim Canfield

Jim Canfield, President of CEO Tools by Aprio, joins Tim in this episode to talk about what it takes to be a great leader! Jim discusses the CEO's role in communicating, executing, and optimizing. He talks about dynamics of an amazing team and what the real orientation of a team truly is. That is only the tip of the iceberg, tune in now to hear all of Jim's insights!

During this very challenging and hardening insurance market, we recognize that eliminating certain types of insurance can be tempting. We often see requests to reduce or remove coverages like directors & officers liability, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, and comprehensive crime coverage to allow for upfront premium savings. However, it is important to understand that eliminating these policies results in a gap in coverage and can actually increase your costs. Defending claims for actual or alleged wrongful acts related to managing your organization, your employees, and your employee benefit programs can be very costly. Any claim settlements would be an additional out-of-pocket expense to your bottom line.

“Leadership is the art of getting people to want to do what must be done.” - Jim Collins

One of the marks of a great team is decisive leadership. Fostering organizational and team health is a leader’s #1 job, as no team will ever be healthier than its leader.

Let that sink in. Ms./Mr. Leader, how healthy are you? Before alignment can occur within your organization, ensure you’ve put in the work on yourself.

“Leadership is getting the best performance out of other people.” – Larry Linne

Larry Linne is the CEO of InCite Performance Group and this episode's guest. Larry discusses how leadership is really about getting the best performance out of other people. He also digs into the value of learning and the transformation of knowledge to power. Tune in now and hear Larry and Tim discuss the importance of listening & understanding people, abundance mindset, the power of women, and more.

“Excellence should be what we're striving for every day.” – Jacqueline Kronk

Jacqueline Kronk, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County in Indiana, is this episode's guest. The Club's mission is to inspire and enable all young people to become the best version of themselves and she talks about how she can do just that, by investing in their kids and staff. Listen now and hear how Jacqueline inspires others, works hard, is a mother of four, and may be a tad competitive.

Have you ever felt like you're on the edge of something great? You've put in the work, you've done the hard stuff most people aren't willing to do, and now you can just sense a magical run lies ahead.

In the first season of The Edge Podcast, we talk with leaders across a wide variety of industries and learn what it's like to ride that edge and own it. You'll hear what separates out those special teams, the kind, if we're lucky, we get to be a part of maybe three or four times in our life, from the more ordinary experiences.

Join host Tim Leman as we discuss leading on the edge with 6 new episodes!

What separates the great teams from the rest? It all starts with trust.

A lack of trust, where vulnerability is not respected or rewarded, leads to fear of conflict among team members. Without healthy debate and critique, they never go deep, causing an absence of commitment to develop where team members avoid accountability all together. Team members pursue personal gain and status over team victory. Ultimately this inattention to results – team results – brings an end to a once promising group of talented individuals.

Pat Lencioni has named this chain reaction of failed leadership The Five Dysfunctions of a Team in a book by the same name. I suspect most of us have been on a dysfunctional team or experienced dysfunctional leadership.