When ChatGPT Told Them to Fire Someone…

A few months ago, a client called me in a panic—they’d just been hit with a wrongful termination claim.

Frustrated with an underperforming staff member, they’d asked AI for advice. The response? “Consider a performance plan, extra training… or termination.” So they skipped the coaching, skipped the conversation—and fired them.

The employee filed a claim. The team lost trust. And my client learned the hard way: AI can offer options, but it can’t offer judgment.

Leadership isn’t just about answers. It’s about responsibility.

AI can support your thinking—but only you can lead your people.

Tough conversations don’t have to derail you.

Whether you’re giving feedback, addressing behaviour, or navigating resistance, the way you start, manage your energy, and recover matters. This post shares clear, practical strategies to help you stay grounded, lead with clarity, and handle things when conversations don’t go to plan.

If you’re stuck in the Helper Trap, always jumping in, always needed, always stretched …it’s time to reset the way you lead.

Let it go to grow.

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks.

It’s about building capability, creating trust, and giving others a chance to rise.

When you hold on too tightly, you block growth — theirs and yours.

Leadership expands when you let go with intention.

Every leader hits this moment: a team member who’s emotionally sensitive, well-intentioned, but stuck in gossip or rehashing past issues. It quietly affects morale, trust, and momentum — and avoiding it only adds to your mental load.

You don’t need to tiptoe or launch into confrontation. What you need is a grounded, clear approach that respects the person and sets a better standard.

In my Essential Leadership Skills workshop, I teach leaders how to use simple, powerful frameworks — like Keep / Shift / Try — to handle conversations like this with confidence, clarity, and care.

“I really appreciate how tuned in you are to the team. What I’d like to shift is how those observations are being shared — especially when they come through as side conversations or keep circling back to old issues. Let’s try bringing anything that feels off straight to me, so we can deal with it directly and move forward.”

Because being a strong leader isn’t about avoiding hard conversations — it’s about having them in a way that actually strengthens the team.

“We’d drifted — right into a shipping lane. The anchor hadn’t held. It hadn’t even been secured properly.”

That moment, out on the water as a kid, taught me something I’ve seen over and over again in leadership:

We give people responsibility before we give them the tools.

Leaders are often eager, capable, and well-intentioned — but without proper guidance, they’re left to guess, react, and hope they’re doing it right.

This story has shaped everything I do as a leadership coach.

Front-line leaders face genuine challenges that often go unaddressed. Perhaps most critical is the struggle with reactivity—constantly responding to urgent demands rather than important priorities. This reactive approach cascades through teams, creating cultures where firefighting is valued over prevention.

Equally problematic is the difficulty in calibrating effort appropriately. Without clear guidance on which tasks deserve excellence versus which simply need completion, leaders often misallocate precious team resources.

These gaps aren't character flaws but skills deficits that targeted development can address.

Most of us believe great leadership means doing more - working longer hours, making every decision, having all the answers. But what if the secret to impactful leadership is actually doing less?

After twenty years working with leaders, I've discovered that true leadership is the art of achieving more by doing less. It's not about working harder - it's about empowering yourself and others.

Want to learn how? Read on to discover the practical shifts that transform overwhelmed managers into empowered leaders.

The biggest challenge for new leaders isn’t learning how to lead—it’s unlearning what made them successful in the first place. When you stay in execution mode, you limit your own and your team’s growth, miss strategic opportunities, and risk burnout. True leadership isn’t about doing more; it’s about enabling more. In this post, we’ll explore why stepping back is the key to stepping up—and how to shift from doer to leader without losing control.

Good communication can make or break your leadership. Tough conversations, unclear expectations, and mixed messages lead to frustration and confusion. On the other hand, clear and confident communication builds trust, accountability, and a team that knows exactly what to do. This article breaks down simple, practical ways to set expectations, give feedback, and handle difficult conversations—so you can lead with clarity and confidence.

Leadership isn’t just about getting things done—it’s about making clear decisions, building trust, and leading in a way that actually works. But too often, leaders get stuck in reactive mode, constantly putting out fires and feeling like they have to do it all themselves. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The good news? There’s a better way. This article explores how to step out of survival mode and into confident, strategic leadership—without the overwhelm.

Some new leaders thrive, while others struggle—and it’s not just about talent. It’s about the support they get. Too often, new leaders are thrown in the deep end without clear guidance or, worse, micromanaged until they lose confidence. In this article, we explore real stories of leaders who were set up to succeed—and those who weren’t—to uncover what makes the difference. If you want your new leaders to grow, lead, and stay engaged, it starts with giving them the right mix of clarity, trust, and support.