# A tough love letter to leaders
## Episode metadata
- Episode title: A tough love letter to leaders
- Show: Modern Mentor
- Owner / Host: QuickAndDirtyTips.com
- Episode publish date: 2026-05-12
- Episode AI description: A candid call-out of four leadership patterns that quietly harm teams. A look at why speed without alignment creates chaos. A push for leaders to make tough trade-offs and say no. A warning about short-term fixes that cause long-term damage. A reminder that true empowerment needs structure and support.
- Duration: 08:56
- Episode URL: [Open in Snipd](https://share.snipd.com/episode/f1432b20-57a6-4e3c-9952-a3d20d7212ae)
- Show URL: [Open in Snipd](https://share.snipd.com/show/6f2ed650-9d45-4f4f-9d54-df06878119e6)
- Export date: 2026-06-28T13:39:26
## Snips
### [Leaders Often Know The Hard Truths Already](https://share.snipd.com/snip/dca2f46a-6ac4-4d3f-bf05-09e985ce2cd9)
🎧 02:00 - 02:56 (00:56)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/bc30503e-5e27-4cef-9e71-9f94048ba56c"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Many leaders know what to do but avoid hard actions out of fear or doubt.
- Rachel Cooke shares that her work often involves calling out known hard truths leaders resist, quoting Einstein on expecting different results.
#### 💬 Quote
> They think that their issue is not knowing what to do, when really, they know, they just are afraid or maybe don't think that they can.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on leaders' resistance to hard actions
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** the show notes. So I've been working lately with a lot of leaders who are struggling to make things happen, to turn performance around, to raise vibes, trigger innovation, connection, all the things that keep work buzzing. And they think that their issue is not knowing what to do, when really, they know, they just are afraid or maybe don't think that they can. And so much of my job becomes not to reveal life's great mysteries, but to just say the hard truths, like to call out what they know they need to do, to invite them to look that old Einstein quote in the face and acknowledge that if they keep on keeping on and expecting a different result, that is, as we know, the very definition of insanity. So today's episode is a love letter to those leaders, but it's some tough love because sometimes the most loving thing someone can offer is the thing you need to hear,
---
### [Velocity Is Speed With Direction](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a039b1c1-46e2-4851-80fe-05190837d5b8)
🎧 03:01 - 04:43 (01:42)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/ec1c2460-b0a6-4ddb-b468-c374bbbdbdae"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Velocity is speed plus direction, not just pushing teams to run faster.
- Rachel Cooke explains misaligned teams sprinting in different directions because priorities, resources, and success criteria weren't clarified first.
#### 💬 Quote
> Velocity is not just about speed. ... It is speed and direction, but you are pushing so damn hard on speed.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on what leaders misunderstand about velocity
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** I want to call out four patterns that I'm seeing on repeat and maybe what you need to do about it. So the first one is this. You're not grasping velocity. I know you need your team running full speed ahead. And I know you can't afford to slow down. Those targets are aggressive. Those customers, clients, patients, they're demanding, and there'll be hell to pay if something falls short. Velocity is a word I'm hearing a lot of leaders use these days as their North Star or their rallying cry. But leaders, I have to break this to you. Velocity is not just about speed. Technically, it's the rate of change of an object's position respect to time. Yeah, I know, stay with me. Said more basically, it is speed and direction, but you are pushing so damn hard on speed. Everyone is running in different directions. When we tell our teams to move faster, but without establishing clear direction, they do move just not necessarily all towards the same thing. Because if priorities aren't clear, if it's not obvious what resources are available for whom and how we effectively ask for help, if success hasn't been defined in a way that everybody understands, people will move fast, but they'll be moving fast in different directions. And that's not velocity. That's chaos. Upfront alignment feels like slowing down. Leaders tell me all the time, I know we're not fully aligned, but we can't afford to stop. And with love, you can and you have to because alignment isn't the thing slowing you down. Misalignment is. It's the rework, the conflict, the effort that goes sideways and has to be redone. Getting
---
### [Pause To Align Before Accelerating](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ab48c88c-4c92-4e17-b4d2-fbe8f7a95679)
🎧 04:22 - 04:37 (00:15)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/87379f58-de9f-4a70-a6e8-e77b7846caad"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Stop skipping upfront alignment; it enables faster true progress by preventing rework.
- Rachel Cooke advises pausing to define priorities, resources, and success before accelerating to avoid chaos and wasted effort.
#### 💬 Quote
> Getting clear on direction before you accelerate is exactly what makes true velocity possible.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke urging leaders to align before speeding up
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** Upfront alignment feels like slowing down. Leaders tell me all the time, I know we're not fully aligned, but we can't afford to stop. And with love, you can and you have to because alignment isn't the thing slowing you down. Misalignment
---
### [Use No To Protect Team Capacity](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b2dadec7-7981-43ae-869f-9746d6e40ac8)
🎧 06:27 - 07:32 (01:05)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/f22166d2-1320-42d4-ac49-bc662b8b7c5c"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Say no to protect your team's capacity and focus.
- Rachel Cooke warns that every unnecessary yes overloads the team and that leaders must make tough calls to prevent impossible lists.
#### 💬 Quote
> Every time you say yes to something your team can't realistically do well, you're saying no to something they could.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on the hidden cost of unthinking yeses
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** Next, you're too afraid to say no. Some no's are easy. Stop supporting the product that isn't making money. Sure, done. But I was with a leadership team just this week telling me we had 20 priorities and it was easy to bump off two, but we still have a dozen too many and every single one of them is too important to shut down. And this is where it gets hard, where you earn the big bucks, because sometimes you do have to shut down something that's making money, just at too high of a cost. If we continue to hold the assumption that anything that's driving revenue, anything that a senior leader is attached to, anything a single customer enjoys using is sacred and not negotiable, we are failing to lead. A leader's job is not to absorb every demand and push it down. It is to make the tough calls so your team doesn't have to carry the weight of an impossible list. Every time you say yes to something your team can't realistically do well, you're saying no to something they could. The no's are happening either way. The only question is whether you're making them consciously or letting your team absorb them invisibly.
---
### [Short Term Saves Create Hidden Long Term Costs](https://share.snipd.com/snip/579788f1-43b5-47f1-acf8-d42702f4b70a)
🎧 07:32 - 08:53 (01:21)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/67abf9c4-f24e-49f5-aec7-eef1819ae5ba"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Short-term cost cuts often create hidden long-term costs not visible on spreadsheets.
- Rachel Cooke describes how headcount reductions silently shift work to remaining staff, causing burnout, mistakes, and eventual quiet exits.
#### 💬 Quote
> When you reduce headcount, the people who remain absorb the work of the people who left and they do it quietly because they're committed and because they're scared.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on the invisible costs of cuts
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** The next one is your short-term saves are leaving you with long-term costs. There's math that shows up in spreadsheets and math that doesn't. Leaders are generally pretty good at the first kind. Reducing headcount saves money on paper. Cutting a program that isn't showing immediate ROI looks responsible. Pulling budget from a team that can't demonstdemonstrate hard results feels like the right call. And yes, I do understand how accounting works. Like, sort of. But I also understand that the math driving these decisions is often incomplete. Because what doesn't show up in the spreadsheet is what happens next. When you reduce headcount, the people who remain absorb the work of the people who left and they do it quietly because they're committed and because they're scared and because that's what good people do. And over time, that toll shows up in burnout, in mistakes, in the quiet exits of people that you couldn't afford to lose. And sometimes there is genuinely no choice. Budgets are real. Constraints are real. I'm not pretending otherwise. But before you make the cut that looks easy on paper, do the full math. What will the implications and the costs of this be beyond a line item? Who's going to have to absorb what? What do we lose that we can't easily get back? And is there a more creative path to the same save that doesn't carry as many invisible costs?
---
### [Do The Full Math Before Making Cuts](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e08ae679-4c1a-4b31-95b1-94d4bcc23fec)
🎧 08:33 - 08:47 (00:14)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/e90fe927-362b-4949-aeec-3e70df009542"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Do the full math before cutting budget or headcount; include operational and human costs.
- Rachel Cooke recommends mapping who will absorb work, what is irrecoverable, and creative alternatives before deciding.
#### 💬 Quote
> Before you make the cut that looks easy on paper, do the full math. What will the implications and the costs of this be beyond a line item?
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke advising caution on cuts
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** But before you make the cut that looks easy on paper, do the full math. What will the implications and the costs of this be beyond a line item? Who's going to have to absorb what? What do we lose that we can't easily get back?
---
### [Empowerment Requires Leader Built Scaffolding](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7322c291-9c8c-4c6f-9576-25a966ef5556)
🎧 09:00 - 10:01 (01:01)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/e5c47788-9fde-4d26-9a49-6d826664bc51"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Declaring teams 'empowered' doesn't equal real empowerment.
- Rachel Cooke explains empowerment requires leaders to build scaffolding: set realistic targets, align dependent teams, and secure resources before delegating.
#### 💬 Quote
> Empowerment is not a declaration. It doesn't live in a speech or a pat on the back or an I support you Slack message.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on what true empowerment looks like
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** And last, your teams aren't as empowered as you think. This one I'm hearing constantly. Goals are aggressive, priorities are competing across the organization, and the teams are feeling the friction. And the leader's response too often is, you're empowered. Go influence without authority. Make it happen. I believe in you. Empowerment is not a declaration. It doesn't live in a speech or a pat on the back or an I support you Slack message. Empowerment is built, and it requires actual work from the leader before the teams get started. That means being in the room where goals get set, and pushing back when targets aren't grounded in reality. It means talking to your peers who lead the teams that your team depends on, before your team hits a wall trying to get their attention. It means understanding what delivery actually requires, what resources, support, runway, timelines, all of that looks like, and making sure they are aligned and in place before you send people off to execute.
---
### [Be Present When Goals Are Set](https://share.snipd.com/snip/066da6ee-f2ff-4592-bc92-d013729978f1)
🎧 09:36 - 09:48 (00:12)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/5f99dbb7-53b4-477b-88a5-b500d8407e70"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Be in the room when goals are set and push back on unrealistic targets.
- Rachel Cooke instructs leaders to coordinate with peers who control dependent teams before sending people to execute.
#### 💬 Quote
> That means being in the room where goals get set, and pushing back when targets aren't grounded in reality.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on leader responsibilities for true empowerment
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** That means being in the room where goals get set, and pushing back when targets aren't grounded in reality. It means talking to your peers who lead the teams that your team depends on, before your team hits a wall trying to
---
Created with [Snipd](https://www.snipd.com) | Highlight & Take Notes from Podcasts
# Snips updated after 2026-04-05T10:16:17
### [Leaders Often Know The Hard Truths Already](https://share.snipd.com/snip/dca2f46a-6ac4-4d3f-bf05-09e985ce2cd9)
🎧 02:00 - 02:56 (00:56)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/bc30503e-5e27-4cef-9e71-9f94048ba56c"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Many leaders know what to do but avoid hard actions out of fear or doubt.
- Rachel Cooke shares that her work often involves calling out known hard truths leaders resist, quoting Einstein on expecting different results.
#### 💬 Quote
> They think that their issue is not knowing what to do, when really, they know, they just are afraid or maybe don't think that they can.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on leaders' resistance to hard actions
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** the show notes. So I've been working lately with a lot of leaders who are struggling to make things happen, to turn performance around, to raise vibes, trigger innovation, connection, all the things that keep work buzzing. And they think that their issue is not knowing what to do, when really, they know, they just are afraid or maybe don't think that they can. And so much of my job becomes not to reveal life's great mysteries, but to just say the hard truths, like to call out what they know they need to do, to invite them to look that old Einstein quote in the face and acknowledge that if they keep on keeping on and expecting a different result, that is, as we know, the very definition of insanity. So today's episode is a love letter to those leaders, but it's some tough love because sometimes the most loving thing someone can offer is the thing you need to hear,
---
### [Velocity Is Speed With Direction](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a039b1c1-46e2-4851-80fe-05190837d5b8)
🎧 03:01 - 04:43 (01:42)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/ec1c2460-b0a6-4ddb-b468-c374bbbdbdae"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Velocity is speed plus direction, not just pushing teams to run faster.
- Rachel Cooke explains misaligned teams sprinting in different directions because priorities, resources, and success criteria weren't clarified first.
#### 💬 Quote
> Velocity is not just about speed. ... It is speed and direction, but you are pushing so damn hard on speed.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on what leaders misunderstand about velocity
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** I want to call out four patterns that I'm seeing on repeat and maybe what you need to do about it. So the first one is this. You're not grasping velocity. I know you need your team running full speed ahead. And I know you can't afford to slow down. Those targets are aggressive. Those customers, clients, patients, they're demanding, and there'll be hell to pay if something falls short. Velocity is a word I'm hearing a lot of leaders use these days as their North Star or their rallying cry. But leaders, I have to break this to you. Velocity is not just about speed. Technically, it's the rate of change of an object's position respect to time. Yeah, I know, stay with me. Said more basically, it is speed and direction, but you are pushing so damn hard on speed. Everyone is running in different directions. When we tell our teams to move faster, but without establishing clear direction, they do move just not necessarily all towards the same thing. Because if priorities aren't clear, if it's not obvious what resources are available for whom and how we effectively ask for help, if success hasn't been defined in a way that everybody understands, people will move fast, but they'll be moving fast in different directions. And that's not velocity. That's chaos. Upfront alignment feels like slowing down. Leaders tell me all the time, I know we're not fully aligned, but we can't afford to stop. And with love, you can and you have to because alignment isn't the thing slowing you down. Misalignment is. It's the rework, the conflict, the effort that goes sideways and has to be redone. Getting
---
### [Pause To Align Before Accelerating](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ab48c88c-4c92-4e17-b4d2-fbe8f7a95679)
🎧 04:22 - 04:37 (00:15)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/87379f58-de9f-4a70-a6e8-e77b7846caad"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Stop skipping upfront alignment; it enables faster true progress by preventing rework.
- Rachel Cooke advises pausing to define priorities, resources, and success before accelerating to avoid chaos and wasted effort.
#### 💬 Quote
> Getting clear on direction before you accelerate is exactly what makes true velocity possible.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke urging leaders to align before speeding up
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** Upfront alignment feels like slowing down. Leaders tell me all the time, I know we're not fully aligned, but we can't afford to stop. And with love, you can and you have to because alignment isn't the thing slowing you down. Misalignment
---
### [Use No To Protect Team Capacity](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b2dadec7-7981-43ae-869f-9746d6e40ac8)
🎧 06:27 - 07:32 (01:05)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/f22166d2-1320-42d4-ac49-bc662b8b7c5c"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Say no to protect your team's capacity and focus.
- Rachel Cooke warns that every unnecessary yes overloads the team and that leaders must make tough calls to prevent impossible lists.
#### 💬 Quote
> Every time you say yes to something your team can't realistically do well, you're saying no to something they could.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on the hidden cost of unthinking yeses
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** Next, you're too afraid to say no. Some no's are easy. Stop supporting the product that isn't making money. Sure, done. But I was with a leadership team just this week telling me we had 20 priorities and it was easy to bump off two, but we still have a dozen too many and every single one of them is too important to shut down. And this is where it gets hard, where you earn the big bucks, because sometimes you do have to shut down something that's making money, just at too high of a cost. If we continue to hold the assumption that anything that's driving revenue, anything that a senior leader is attached to, anything a single customer enjoys using is sacred and not negotiable, we are failing to lead. A leader's job is not to absorb every demand and push it down. It is to make the tough calls so your team doesn't have to carry the weight of an impossible list. Every time you say yes to something your team can't realistically do well, you're saying no to something they could. The no's are happening either way. The only question is whether you're making them consciously or letting your team absorb them invisibly.
---
### [Short Term Saves Create Hidden Long Term Costs](https://share.snipd.com/snip/579788f1-43b5-47f1-acf8-d42702f4b70a)
🎧 07:32 - 08:53 (01:21)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/67abf9c4-f24e-49f5-aec7-eef1819ae5ba"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Short-term cost cuts often create hidden long-term costs not visible on spreadsheets.
- Rachel Cooke describes how headcount reductions silently shift work to remaining staff, causing burnout, mistakes, and eventual quiet exits.
#### 💬 Quote
> When you reduce headcount, the people who remain absorb the work of the people who left and they do it quietly because they're committed and because they're scared.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on the invisible costs of cuts
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** The next one is your short-term saves are leaving you with long-term costs. There's math that shows up in spreadsheets and math that doesn't. Leaders are generally pretty good at the first kind. Reducing headcount saves money on paper. Cutting a program that isn't showing immediate ROI looks responsible. Pulling budget from a team that can't demonstrate hard results feels like the right call. And yes, I do understand how accounting works. Like, sort of. But I also understand that the math driving these decisions is often incomplete. Because what doesn't show up in the spreadsheet is what happens next. When you reduce headcount, the people who remain absorb the work of the people who left and they do it quietly because they're committed and because they're scared and because that's what good people do. And over time, that toll shows up in burnout, in mistakes, in the quiet exits of people that you couldn't afford to lose. And sometimes there is genuinely no choice. Budgets are real. Constraints are real. I'm not pretending otherwise. But before you make the cut that looks easy on paper, do the full math. What will the implications and the costs of this be beyond a line item? Who's going to have to absorb what? What do we lose that we can't easily get back? And is there a more creative path to the same save that doesn't carry as many invisible costs?
---
### [Do The Full Math Before Making Cuts](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e08ae679-4c1a-4b31-95b1-94d4bcc23fec)
🎧 08:33 - 08:47 (00:14)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/e90fe927-362b-4949-aeec-3e70df009542"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Do the full math before cutting budget or headcount; include operational and human costs.
- Rachel Cooke recommends mapping who will absorb work, what is irrecoverable, and creative alternatives before deciding.
#### 💬 Quote
> Before you make the cut that looks easy on paper, do the full math. What will the implications and the costs of this be beyond a line item?
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke advising caution on cuts
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** But before you make the cut that looks easy on paper, do the full math. What will the implications and the costs of this be beyond a line item? Who's going to have to absorb what? What do we lose that we can't easily get back?
---
### [Empowerment Requires Leader Built Scaffolding](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7322c291-9c8c-4c6f-9576-25a966ef5556)
🎧 09:00 - 10:01 (01:01)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/e5c47788-9fde-4d26-9a49-6d826664bc51"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Declaring teams 'empowered' doesn't equal real empowerment.
- Rachel Cooke explains empowerment requires leaders to build scaffolding: set realistic targets, align dependent teams, and secure resources before delegating.
#### 💬 Quote
> Empowerment is not a declaration. It doesn't live in a speech or a pat on the back or an I support you Slack message.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on what true empowerment looks like
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** And last, your teams aren't as empowered as you think. This one I'm hearing constantly. Goals are aggressive, priorities are competing across the organization, and the teams are feeling the friction. And the leader's response too often is, you're empowered. Go influence without authority. Make it happen. I believe in you. Empowerment is not a declaration. It doesn't live in a speech or a pat on the back or an I support you Slack message. Empowerment is built, and it requires actual work from the leader before the teams get started. That means being in the room where goals get set, and pushing back when targets aren't grounded in reality. It means talking to your peers who lead the teams that your team depends on, before your team hits a wall trying to get their attention. It means understanding what delivery actually requires, what resources, support, runway, timelines, all of that looks like, and making sure they are aligned and in place before you send people off to execute.
---
### [Be Present When Goals Are Set](https://share.snipd.com/snip/066da6ee-f2ff-4592-bc92-d013729978f1)
🎧 09:36 - 09:48 (00:12)
<iframe
src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/5f99dbb7-53b4-477b-88a5-b500d8407e70"
width="100%"
height="100"
style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write"
></iframe>
- Be in the room when goals are set and push back on unrealistic targets.
- Rachel Cooke instructs leaders to coordinate with peers who control dependent teams before sending people to execute.
#### 💬 Quote
> That means being in the room where goals get set, and pushing back when targets aren't grounded in reality.
> — Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke on leader responsibilities for true empowerment
#### 📚 Transcript
**Rachel Cooke:** That means being in the room where goals get set, and pushing back when targets aren't grounded in reality. It means talking to your peers who lead the teams that your team depends on, before your team hits a wall trying to
---