Last week I wrote about leaders who constrain their people—who chain talented individuals to workflows instead of developing them into leaders. That post has been living rent-free in my conversations since. Yesterday, in a session with women leaders, someone flipped the entire premise: "I've got the forge ready. The fire is hot. The tools are there. But I can't forge leaders out of people who refuse to enter the fire." Because we've all seen it—the person who wants the title,

I talked with someone this week who should be thriving. Talented. Sharp. Hungry to lead. But completely demoralized. Why? Because their leader has them so locked into task execution that they can’t see daylight, let alone opportunity. They’re not asking to drop responsibilities. They’re asking to 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. A project. A process improvement. A team initiative. Anything that signals: 𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗶

Most leaders are fluent in clarity, decision-making, and problem-solving. We’re used to showing up steady and composed, especially when others are looking to us for direction. But leadership isn’t only tested by how we act when things are going well—it’s revealed in how we respond when we’re pushed past our limit. There’s a common pattern many high-performing leaders experience but rarely talk about: When emotions run high, the language that comes out of our mouths isn’t alwa