GenZ boss | SeibCo, LLC

How to Move You and Your Team Through the Fog of Uncertainty

March 9, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“Everyone experiences uncertainty when working towards an intended result. But it’s the person who keeps moving forward through the fog who wins.” Jeannette Seibly

Many teams today are ineffective. Only about 10% actually achieve intended results. (It’s scary, isn’t it?) Yet many leaders and team members still excuse their ineffectiveness, “We lacked clarity about where to go and how to get there.”

The truth? The teams lacked initiative, resilience, resourcefulness, and the ability to operate in the fog of uncertainty to get to clarity.

Today, we allow ourselves to get stopped by uncertainty (aka fog). Yet there are no guarantees in life or business. Outside‑the‑company factors can impede results, and inside‑the‑company issues, such as silos, factions, and other mischief can do the same. This is how excuses and poor results become the acceptable norm.

But how we relate to uncertainty hurts leadership growth and prevent building a highly effective team.

How to Relate and Navigate Through Fog‑Like Conditions

Own your role in the outcome, not the story about why it’s hard.
Stay in motion even when the path isn’t fully visible.
Take initiative to find solutions and avoid letting issues or situations derail progress.
The right team. Select team members who have the interest, willingness, and capacity to do the work, not just what’s listed on the resume.
Ask questions. Curiosity and open‑ended questions clarify concerns and uncover blind spots.
Hear what people are actually saying, not what you assume they mean. Create psychological safety by listening for learning moments that come from mistakes, miscalculations, or miscommunication … they will spotlight solutions.
Keep conversations active so issues don’t grow in the fog of uncertainty.
Awaken inner power. Strengthen confidence by working through self‑doubt instead of waiting for certainty. Also, learn to take time and sit with uncertainty in silent reflection.
Coachable and responsible. Talk with your executive coach, industry expert, and internal mentor to learn what they and others have done in similar situations. Don’t naysay the people, situation, or process. Remember, these experts are not there to do the work for you.

If you’re leading a team through fog right now, don’t wait for perfect clarity. That’s not leadership; that’s hesitation or avoidance dressed up as caution. Take the next step. Start the conversation. Raise the standard.

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

Equip your team with resilience, accountability, and the ability to perform in the face of uncertainty. Help your leaders move through the fog instead of getting lost or stopped by it. If you’re ready to explore what’s getting in the way, let’s talk. Together, we can identify the blind spots and strengthen you and your team’s ability to achieve intended results.

NOTE: A new presentation, Psychological Safety: The Leadership Advantage You Can’t Ignore, is now available. If you’d like to bring this conversation to your business leaders, bosses, or managers, reach out and I’ll share the details.

Are You Growing Your Career Value Through Skill Stacking?

March 5, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“Skill stacking improves the value and impact you build today; they become your legacy footprint for tomorrow.” Jeannette Seibly

Are you bored with your job? Lack clarity about how to improve your paycheck? Want a promotion that just isn’t happening? Skill stacking gives you a practical way to grow your value without waiting for someone else to hand you the next step.

What is skill stacking?

Skill stacking is when you build a set of skills that fit well together. These skills help you become more valuable and able to handle different tasks at work. Instead of trying to be the very best at one thing, you strategically and intentionally develop and grow a mix of skills that work together and open the door to new opportunities.

Why is this important?

Every legacy is built one skill, one insight, and one decision at a time. Most people don’t realize that the careers they admire, and the confidence they wish they had, are often the result of something simple and accessible: stacking skills over time.

When Daniel became a team leader, he wasn’t the most experienced person in the room. But he started stacking small skills that made a big difference. He learned how to run an effective meeting. Then he practiced giving feedback that people could actually use. Later, he took a short course on reading financial reports so he could understand how his team’s work affected the company.

None of these skills made him a superstar overnight. But together, they changed how people saw him. His team trusted him more. His decisions improved. Other departments began asking for his input because he understood the bigger picture.

Over time, Daniel’s stacked skills shaped his leadership style, and his legacy. He didn’t become a great leader because of one big moment. He became one by building skills that worked together and made a lasting impact.

Remember, skill stacking is about strategically and intentionally growing your value so your work, your impact, and your future reflect the legacy you want to leave.

4 Ways to Start Stacking Skills That Make You a More Valuable Leader

Learn the basics. Knowing how to place numbers in the right boxes doesn’t mean you know if they’re accurate or how they were created. Learn! Understanding the fundamentals gives you the confidence to ask better questions, catch mistakes, and see patterns others miss.

Expand your current skills beyond what you currently do. You may be able to do your job well, but do you understand what happens next, beyond the catchphrases you were taught to say? Understanding the upstream and downstream impact of your work helps you anticipate needs, solve problems earlier, and communicate more effectively with other departments.

Develop the depth and breadth of job responsibilities. Often, this requires meeting with industry experts and company mentors. The more you learn about your industry and profession, and learn how to use that knowledge well, the more valuable you become. Depth gives you credibility. Breadth gives you adaptability. Together, they shape a professional identity that stands out.

Engage in curiosity and ask open-ended questions. Take time to learn more from customers, coworkers, and others about your job or profession … and theirs too. This information can create new insights into how to do your job so that your company and its clients benefit. Along the way, you become a stronger employee and leader. Curiosity naturally expands your understanding, relationships, and influence.

Skill stacking is one of the simplest ways to grow your value without waiting for permission or a promotion. Each new layer of understanding, mastering the basics, expanding your role, deepening industry knowledge, and asking better questions, builds a stronger, more adaptable you.

As these steps compound, your professional identity stands out, your opportunities expand, and your confidence grows. Skill stacking isn’t about becoming everything to everyone; it’s about strategically and intentionally building strengths that make you unmistakably valuable to employers and clients.

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience activating greatness in leaders and companies. She delivers practical coaching and solutions that elevate performance today, build legacies that stand the test of time, and support people in empowering themselves to lead with clarity and impact.

Legacies aren’t built at the finish line; they’re built in the skills you sharpen every day. Stack them with purpose. Strengthen one, stretch another, and stay curious. Ready to grow your impact? Contact me.

Leaders, Your Results Suffer When People Feel Excluded

March 2, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“The quality of your results are impacted when employees feel excluded.” Jeannette Seibly

Even small acts of exclusion, like taking sides or avoiding one another, can ripple outward, but they are preventable. Years ago, I worked with a manager I admired. Whenever her employees didn’t get along, she’d seat them next to one another. Eventually, they learned how to work well together. This simple tactic prevented people from taking sides and reduced the likelihood of coworkers feeling excluded now and in the future. She understood that effective collaboration mattered to the entire company and its customers.

Today’s leaders face far more complex forms of exclusion, and the impact can be much greater than two people who don’t get along. When employees feel excluded, they become isolated, less able to do their jobs well, and more disengaged.

People knowingly and unknowingly create silos, factions, and cliques that gossip, limit productivity, and make it difficult to achieve quality results because not everyone is invited or included. These groups quietly undermine collaboration, slow down decisions, and create costly barriers.

The costs show up in delayed customer responses, rework caused by withheld information, turnover ripple effects, and even legal exposure when patterns of exclusion go unaddressed (e.g., harassment, discrimination).

When people don’t feel invited to contribute or are prevented from participating, collaboration breaks down, productivity drops, and your best talent quietly disengages.

Leaders unintentionally enable exclusion when they ignore subtle behaviors, reward “insider” groups, or allow cliques to dominate conversations or decisions. Leadership awareness requires noticing these patterns early and addressing them directly.

What Can You Do as a Leader?

Hold Weekly Team Meetings. Address: What’s been working? What do you need help with? Share updates on new issues or concerns. Acknowledge successes. These conversations help people feel included and strengthen teamwork.

Develop Facilitation Skills. Develop strong facilitation skills for on-site, hybrid, and remote meetings to ensure all voices are heard and no one feels sidelined.

Honor Each Person’s Ideas. Some ideas may evoke laughter or scrutiny, but leaders must recognize when reactions create alienation. Acknowledge all ideas and ensure everyone feels psychologically safe to contribute.

Provide Frequent Feedback. Offer insights to people who are causing logjams or difficulties for customers or coworkers. Clear feedback helps prevent behaviors that exclude others from participating fully.

Ask the Employee. When creating a project or event, invite people directly and let them decide yes or no. Too often, leaders assume someone doesn’t want to participate because they’ve declined in the past or because someone else is quietly excluding them.

Counsel Future Leaders About the Cost of Exclusion. Instead of communicating, people of all ages will exclude others as a power play, to show they’re upset, or simply because they don’t like someone. In effective teams and profitable companies, future leaders must work well with anyone, anytime, and anywhere to ensure no one is left out.

Become Aware of the Cost, Legalities, and Psychological Safety. Ignoring people being or feeling excluded is expensive. When good people leave, the time, money, and energy invested in them walk out the door … and they are often followed by other employees and customers.

Building Strong Team Results. Be intentional about team-building activities. Not everyone plays golf, wants to ride a horse, or can climb a wall. These activities naturally exclude people. Instead, focus on communication and getting to know one another as people. Tools like PXT Select® help teams understand strengths and communication styles, making inclusion easier and more natural. Note: PXT Select also improves job fit. Miscommunication and misinformation often come from people who are not fully engaged in their roles.

When leaders address exclusion early, they strengthen trust, improve results, and create workplaces where people want to stay and contribute.

As a leader, ensuring everyone on your team feels included is essential to serving the company and its clients. Small groups can quietly undermine collaboration, slow down decisions, and create costly barriers. If you’re seeing signs of exclusion and are unsure how to address them, contact me for a confidential conversation so we can identify the blind spots and strengthen your team’s ability to work well together.

NOTE: A new presentation, Psychological Safety: The Leadership Advantage, is one you cannot ignore. Contact me for details on presenting this information to your business leaders, bosses, and managers.

Psychological Safety: The Leadership Advantage You Can’t Ignore

February 23, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“Psychological safety isn’t optional. It’s a leadership responsibility.” Jeannette Seibly

Psychological safety is an often-overlooked leadership issue gaining more and more attention due to rising employment litigation, turnover, disengaged employees, and shaky bottom lines.

As a leader, you are responsible for creating and maintaining an environment where team members feel safe speaking up, taking risks, and expressing their thoughts without fear of reprisal. In addition, you are responsibility for making sure there is no subtle retaliation affecting promotions, pay increases, assignments, or professional reputation.

What Leaders Overlook About Psychological Safety

Harsh or public criticism for mistakes
Micromanagement of projects or tasks
Dismissing ideas as “stupid,” causing embarrassment or humiliation
Creating fear, doubt, or anxiety through unpredictable behavior
Squashing creativity and solutions
Team members feeling unvalued, unheard, or disrespected
Hesitating to challenge or talk through poor decisions
Avoiding admitting mistakes or failures
Allowing poor quality or inefficiencies due to fear of giving feedback
Retaliation, subtle or overt, impacting compensation, opportunities, or visibility

Leaders who foster psychological safety encourage innovation, honest feedback, and healthier workplace dynamics. It starts with awareness and a conscious commitment to how you develop and support your team.

Strategies to Create a Psychologically Safe Workplace

Share Authentically. When leaders admit their own mistakes or uncertainties, it signals that learning and growth matter more than unachievable perfection. Team members open up more readily when you model vulnerability. They also bounce back faster when they hear your stories of lessons learned.

Solution: Practice storytelling with an executive coach. Meandering or overexplaining will lose your audience.

Encourage Open Dialogue. Actively invite team members to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns. Use open-ended questions and listen with genuine curiosity.

Solution: Phrases like “What do you think?” and “I’d love to hear your perspective” create engagement. Just be sure you truly listen.

Provide Constructive Feedback. Frame mistakes as learning opportunities rather than failures. Replace blame with questions like, “What can we/you learn from this?” or “How can we/you improve next time?”

Solution: Use the sandwich or direct approach depending on the person and situation. Always provide feedback in private.

Model Active Listening. Show engagement through eye contact, nodding, and summarizing what you heard. Avoid nonverbal behaviors that signal distraction such as multitasking, doodling, checking your phone, or tapping on the table.

Solution: Stop multitasking. Be present and mindful, focusing fully on the conversation in front of you.

Set Clear Expectations and Hold Team Members Accountable. Clarify that feedback, honesty, and thoughtful risk-taking are valued. People won’t speak up if they fear negative repercussions. And many won’t deliver consistently without accountability.

Solution: Hold employees accountable for quality work, positive client interactions, and meeting deadlines, because consistent accountability helps everyone feel they’re part of a strong, high-performing team.

Recognize and Reward Effort. Learning to brag about successful outcomes, individually and as a team, is essential. Recognize people for trying new approaches, solving problems creatively and resourcefully, or helping others.

Solution: Brag about their accomplishments and ideas to others. Public recognition done in a business professional manner builds confidence and reinforces desired behaviors.

Promote Inclusivity. Ensure all voices are heard, especially those who are quiet or hesitant. Encourage diverse perspectives and stay mindful of power dynamics that may silence some individuals.

Solution: Go around the table at least twice to ensure everyone has a chance to contribute. Reinforce respect for all ideas.

Psychological safety isn’t a one-time effort. It requires consistent reinforcement. When done well, it transforms teams, strengthens trust, and fuels innovation.

As a leader, being responsible for psychological safety will ensure team members have the resources, responsibilities, and support needed to excel. If you’re unsure how to make meaningful changes, contact me.

NOTE: A new presentation, Psychological Safety: Workplace Solutions, is now available for your business leaders, bosses, and managers. Contact me for details.

When Good Employees Stop Communicating

February 16, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“When an employee goes out of communication, good leaders step in and resolve the issue.” Jeannette Seibly

It’s important for leaders and bosses, actually crucial, to recognize when employees stop asking for help, information, or background insight when addressing and learning about a new assignment, new client, or workplace changes.

When employees, even top talent, fail to ask or update you, it’s not because they already know their job so well. It’s because they remember the bad vibe they received the last time they asked you for help. Or, they lack insight into potential challenges or opportunities. Or, it’s because they have simply given up.

Silence is rarely about whether or not your employees knowing their job. It’s almost always about psychological safety, trust, or past experiences.

A few of the many red flags to pay attention to and resolve:

Drop in quality
Errors rise
Morale erodes
Attitude shift from positive to neutral or negative
Assignments are late
Team members or customers are complaining

As the leader and boss, being proactive can prevent upsets, frustrations, and miscommunication. Ignoring the red flags only widens the communication gap and makes a good employee-leader relationship harder.

Solutions to Resolve an Employee’s Lack of Communication

Communication Is Required for Successful Employee-Boss Interactions

When making new assignments, or when there has been a change in client engagements, even slight, it’s important to have a pow‑wow and talk through these small but never insignificant changes. Even if it is about a co‑worker or team issue, talking it out instead of waiting it out keeps people communicating and intended results occurring. Silence grows in spaces where leaders assume instead of ask.

Solution: Embrace the tough conversations; these can offer the greatest rewards. Get in communication with your executive coach if you’re concerned about what and how to do this.

The Employee Was Moved to a Different Position or Given Responsibilities That Don’t Fit Them

Too often, we ignore job fit as an important component of someone’s success in the job. But when you place employees in jobs that don’t fit them, silence ensues. Misalignment creates insecurity, and insecurity shuts down communication. Not only does this diminish the employee feeling valued, it’s the most expensive and overlooked issue in companies today.

Ask these questions, “Have you placed:

A detail‑oriented person in a high‑ambiguity role?
A creative thinker in repetitive tasks?
A technical expert into a manager role?
A conflict‑averse employee in a negotiation role?”

These scenarios don’t support their growth, and they will avoid you out of fear of you finding out they are failing.

One company took a top‑producing inside sales person and placed him in an outside sales role in a different state per the employee’s request. He failed miserably, and the few times he asked for help, the boss didn’t know how to help him since he didn’t have objective data to guide him or the knowledge of how to best coach the person. The employee eventually took a job with a competitor. Job fit isn’t optional … it’s foundational.

Solution: Get employees back in jobs that naturally fit them, even if they made the request for a job change. Without objective data, you cannot make a valid decision and will make an error in changing their job.

Check in on You: A Change in Your Leadership Habits

Answer these questions:

Are you normally good at responding to your employees? But now are short-tempered.
Do you keep the door open for their questions? But now keep it closed?
Have you had a difficult interaction with your boss, board, co‑workers, or other team members?
Have you failed to get the issue resolved?
Have you experienced a personal or professional failure or mistake?

If you’ve answered yes to more than one of these questions, its impacting employees feeling comfortable talking with you. Yes, really. Remember, nonverbal communication accounts for more than 90 percent of what someone is communicating (gestures, tone, energy level).

Leaders and bosses love to think staying quiet about their own challenges protect their employees, and hope the issue resolve itself. It rarely does. Staying quiet and withdrawing actually leaks into other areas of your leadership and management styles. Employees stop wanting to talk with you since you’re not focused on them, just yourself. Your silence signals that communication isn’t valued, even if that’s not your intention.

Solution: Hire an executive coach and get this handled ASAP. Waiting only makes it worse and can take a small issue and balloon it into a huge one.

Communication is the backbone of any employee‑leader/boss relationship. If an employee has gone quiet, it’s up to you to resolve the issue. Contact me for a confidential conversation to identify the gaps and strengthen your impact as a leader.

Believing You’re the Exception Is a Very Expensive Leadership Mistake to Make

February 9, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“When you feel that you’re the exception to the rules and policies because of your job title, you can destroy your career and company.” Jeannette Seibly

Has this ever happened to you?

Believing you’re the exception to the rules
Ignoring basic business practices because you think they don’t apply to you
Getting upset when employees mimic your behavior as if the rules don’t apply to them either
Feeling embarrassed or defensive when your decisions are questioned
Relying on gut reactions instead of objective data and the company pays the price for it

Believing you’re the exception doesn’t elevate you … it accelerates your downfall.

It’s the fastest way to fail as a leader
Trouble follows quickly
You put your career at risk
You put yourself, your team, and your company in danger
You’re seen as going “off the rails” and not trustworthy

Leaders who see themselves as exempt from basic business practices inevitably create the very problems they think they’re avoiding.

This is when you must dial up your humility and dial down your ego.

The bottom line: Leaders fail fast when they believe they’re the exception to the rules. It’s the most expensive mistake they can make.

Example: Too often, these leaders don’t follow their own hiring policies because they believe they can tell who is going to be a good fit (aka intuitive hiring). Without using objective data during their hiring process, it’s predictable (and avoidable) they will experience of turnover, disengagement, customer loss, and lawsuits.

It’s Time to Get Real and Drop the Superiority Mindset

Leaders who do this strengthen their credibility, improve decision‑making, and create workplaces where people want to stay and contribute.

Remember, you can’t go back and undo business errors, repair a damaged reputation overnight, or easily recover from financial failure. But you can prevent them by setting aside your ego and being aware of how often you hold yourself as the exception to the rules.

Develop trust. Your ego can make you difficult to work with, especially if you dismiss others’ input or rely too heavily on your own instincts. When your ego (male or female) kicks in, pause. Breathe. Identify what triggered you. Then re‑enter the conversation with curiosity instead of defensiveness. This simple reset builds trust and keeps communication productive.

Grow your emotional intelligence. Your interpersonal skills may need recalibrating. If you’ve relied on your title, financial status, or the ability to push or manipulate situations or people into compliance, you’ll miss important details and then blame others when things go wrong. That pattern drives away top talent, customers, investors, and financing. Strengthening emotional intelligence helps you listen better, respond better, and lead better.

Be realistic. When you assume you’re performing better than you are, mistakes happen. Sometimes big ones that are difficult, if not impossible, to fix.

Overconfidence blinds leaders to risks such as:

Incorrect accounting practices
Technical issues you were warned about
Poor hiring and management decisions
Recurring quality problems
Miscommunication created by employees trying to protect themselves

Staying grounded and realistic keeps you proactive instead of reactive.

Build competence. Leaders who let their ego drive their decisions often struggle with people issues, technology concerns, or financial responsibilities. Competence can be built. Skills can be learned. Job fit can be found. But only when ego steps aside. Seek out an executive coach, and hire the person now.

Ask for help. When your ego blocks delegation or collaboration, you limit your own success. Believing you’re the only one who can do something “the right way” slows progress and increases burnout. Leaders who ask for help, share responsibility, and trust others build stronger teams and better outcomes.

Your leadership grows when you set your ego aside. When you realize you are not the exception to the rules, you elevate your leadership. You make better decisions, build stronger relationships, and create a culture where people feel safe to contribute their best ideas. You also protect your reputation, your business, and your future. Great leaders aren’t defined by being the exception. They’re defined by their willingness to learn, listen, and grow.

Every step in the right direction, away from the belief you are the exception to the rules, strengthens your leadership and sets the tone for your team, your company, and your legacy. Contact me. Your leadership growth starts now.

Do You Allow Self-Doubt to Sabotage Your Results?

January 19, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“Self-doubt can be a saboteur and cause us to miss out on achieving intended results.” Jeannette Seibly

Self‑doubt is far more common among leaders than most people admit. It shows up when coaching team members, navigating project snafus, or learning new skills. The good news is that everyone experiences self‑doubt, including the most effective leaders.

The bad news is that self‑doubt often convinces leaders to stop doing the work needed to move forward, avoid needed conversations, or allow fear to take over the driver’s wheel. That’s precisely when self-doubt wins and you stop, which is the wrong move.

Self‑doubt may feel like a stop sign, but more often it’s a green light. It signals that you’re entering unfamiliar territory, a place where growth, innovation, and new results become possible. The real challenge is not the doubt itself, but the lack of clarity, skills, or perspective needed to move forward. That’s where mentors, coaches, and collaborators make all the difference.

Using Self-Doubt as Leverage

Take Time for Reflection: What Worked / What Didn’t Work

This simple exercise, grounded in objective data, reveals what needs attention: conversations, work assignments, your expectations, or structural changes to the project or how you leverage an opportunity. Without data, self‑doubt fills in the blanks with fear instead of facts.

Have the Tough Conversations

These conversations aren’t easy, but they don’t have to be painful. Preparation matters. Use your reflection data, stay open to feedback, and be willing to hear what you may have missed.

Plan to Listen for:

signals where you’re on the right track
where you went off-track
gaps in conversations or financial projections
team members doing the bare minimum
quiet changes that could derail the project

Ask Open‑Ended Questions

Listening is your competitive advantage. There may be unseen dynamics slowing progress: political, relational, or operational. A mentor, executive coach, or industry expert can help you interpret what you’re hearing. Always ask: “What would you do?”

Be Coachable

Admitting there’s a problem is uncomfortable. Hearing someone else point it out can be even harder. But coachability is a leadership multiplier. Stay more committed to results than to ego. If doubt persists, talk with one or two additional mentors (not five or ten) to uncover what’s really driving your hesitation.

A company owner frustrated with poor hiring results blamed candidates, recruiters, and the economy. The real issue? He wasn’t using valid, legal, and scientifically sound selection tools to understand a candidate’s thinking style, behavioral traits, and occupational interests. His biases were not objective data. But he used them to drive decisions. Retention dropped. Customers left.

To achieve true job fit (and keep customers), use objective, replicable data to transform hiring quality and your long‑term results.

Ask Yourself: “What Can I Learn?”

This is one of the most important questions. Self‑doubt always carries a message. Ask: “What is this teaching me?” Listen for the answer in silence, not in the noise of others’ opinions. Then turn insight into action by talking with your coach, taking a course (or teaching one), and having the conversation(s) you’ve been avoiding.

Overcoming self-doubt when faced with a challenge can be difficult. That’s why having an executive coach to guide you through the process is important. Contact me for a confidential conversation to discover where you are sabotaging your results.

Why Companies Fail to Hire Top Talent

January 12, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“If you don’t know what you are looking for, your hiring process will fail, costing you time, money, and sleepless nights.” Jeannette Seibly

If your job ad has been running for weeks, the problem isn’t the talent pool. It’s your hiring preparation, your lack of clarity, and your poor follow through.

We’ve all seen the posts: “We can’t find the right person.” Yet the same ads run week after week, sometimes month after month, while leaders insist they’ve reviewed hundreds of applicants with no success.

Let’s be honest: the problem isn’t the talent pool. The problem is the company, the hiring boss or leader, and/or lack of a clear selection system.

Top talent hasn’t disappeared. It’s being overlooked, filtered out, or scared away by hiring practices that haven’t evolved since 2020.

Why Does This Really Happen?

Lack of objective data. This is the #1 culprit. Too many leaders still trust their “gut” which is just bias wearing a nice suit.
Lack of clarity. Job descriptions are skimmed, recycled, or written by committee. If you can’t articulate what success really looks like, you can’t hire for it.
Combining jobs to save money. Wanting someone who is both detail obsessed and a big picture innovator? That’s not a unicorn. That’s a fantasy. And fantasies don’t reduce turnover.
Not involving the team. Instead of asking the people who actually depend on the right person being hire, leaders guess what the job requires.
Failure to onboard. If you can’t clearly explain expectations to a candidate and don’t have a 180‑Day Success Plan, you have wishful thinking.

Let’s Get Real in 2026

Follow a well-designed strategic job‑fit hiring plan. One client had over 100% turnover. They said, after implementing a structured hiring system and holding managers accountable, turnover dropped below ten percent. (SEE Chapter 2, Hire Amazing Employees for guidance to develop a practical system.)
Use qualified assessments. Valid, reliable honesty‑integrity and job‑fit assessments reveal who the candidate really is not who they pretend to be in an interview. (SEE Chapter 9, Hire Amazing Employees)
Use a structured interview format. Feelings and intuition derail good decisions. Ask every candidate the same job‑related questions and use the Rule of 3 to dig deeper. (SEE Chapters 4 and 10, Hire Amazing Employees for practical guides to get started. One employment attorney said the questions alone are worth the price of the book.)
Stop delaying decisions. Strong candidates won’t wait while you “think about it.” If they meet or exceed requirements, complete your due diligence and make the offer. (SEE Chapter 19, Hire Amazing Employees)
Onboard with intention. Culture, expectations, and weekly follow‑up matter. When top talent leaves, others follow. Onboarding is retention. (SEE Chapter 20, Hire Amazing Employees)

The Truth Leaders Need to Hear

Companies don’t have a talent shortage—they have a clarity shortage.
If you’re still hiring the way you did five years ago, you’re already behind.
Top talent isn’t rejecting you because they’re picky. They’re rejecting you because they can tell you’re not ready for them.
Hiring is not a scavenger hunt. It’s a strategic discipline.
If your hiring process depends on luck, you’re not hiring, you’re gambling.

If you want to win the talent game in 2026, stop treating hiring as a side job. Top performers can instantly tell whether a company is prepared or improvising. The companies that rise will be the ones willing to do the unglamorous work of preparation and follow‑through. Good hiring isn’t luck.

Need help discerning what is working and not working in your hiring plan? Contact me for a confidential conversation to ensure you’re ready to hire top talent.

Developing Inner Leadership Skills Are Required to Achieve Amazing Results

January 5, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

“Developing inner leadership skills create readiness to achieve amazing results with your team and clients.” Jeannette Seibly

Many business leaders and thought leaders are talking about the importance of “leadership skills” as companies move forward during 2026. However, too often the focus is on external skills: how others react to you, how quickly you make decisions, and whether you use well‑developed communication skills as reflected in employee and customer satisfaction and retention surveys.

In order to develop leadership effectiveness that positively impacts results, you must strengthen the inner leadership skills that define who you are as a leader. These inner skills, often referred to as soft skills, include:

Self-awareness
Responsibility and accountability
Trust and integrity
Resilience and resourcefulness
Mindfulness and presence

Waiting to develop these when you have time is not the mindset for 2026. These are developed over time. They are not a one-time, read a book or watch a video or watch a master influencer type of learning experience.

Why are inner leadership skills important? When you fail to develop inner leadership skills, you will react poorly, make avoidable mistakes, and lose credibility. Another challenge is when new opportunities arise, team challenges escalate, or client expectations shift and you’re not ready. You default to relying on external skills that often lack depth and authenticity and invite controversy. Unfortunately, many will not get a second chance to redeem the snafu.

This year, let’s be ready!

Self-awareness. This is the most critical skill since lack of awareness impacts your ability to develop the other skills. It’s important to recognize your strengths, blind spots, triggers, and motivations. Leaders who cultivate self-awareness can influence others, develop respect, and not be worried about like-ability (that fluctuates depending on your team, client, or other situations beyond your control).

Responsibility and accountability. When making choices and determining outcomes, especially when circumstances are difficult, are you owning the results (e.g., the good, the failures, the so-so results)? Strong leaders take responsibility for all successes, failures, and missteps. They follow through on commitments, and address issues directly rather than deflecting or blaming others.

Trust and integrity. If you trust yourself and honor your word, you can become a good leader. Trust and integrity require consistency, doing what you say you will do, making ethical decisions, and being transparent, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Resilience and resourcefulness. Navigating uncertainty, setbacks, and change requires composure. Mistakes and failures will happen. Your ability to adapt, find workable solutions, and work with and through people, while using the tools around you effectively, create positive influence. Resourceful leaders look for options instead of obstacles, ask open-ended questions, and take the opportunity to talk it out with their executive coach and mentors to gain clarity and determine their next best step.

Mindfulness and presence. Emotional intelligence and emotional integrity are key components to mindfulness and being present. To adjust appropriately in conversations, and to understand the external impact on others, you must be mindful. Being present is important because it improves your listening and decision‑making skills, while also having you remember what you said and promised.

Leaders who neglect or ignore developing their inner skills often plateau despite strong external skills. Developing them requires intentional reflection, being coachable, and consistent practices like journaling, meditation, or structured feedback loops.

For 2026, make a promise to yourself, and honor that promise. Hire a coach and develop these inner leadership skills today.

What is your game plan for 2026? If being a successful leader is part of that plan, it pays to have the right coach. Waiting and thinking about it only creates excuses and limits your effectiveness while delaying the results you want. Contact me to get started.

2026 Is Right Around the Corner! Are You Ready to Achieve Real Sales Results?

December 23, 2025 by Jeannette Seibly

“If you want to improve your results, focus on objective data to get you unstuck and moving forward.” Jeannette Seibly

As 2025 winds down, every company is asking the same question: are we truly on track for a profitable finish? Some will succeed. Many won’t. And whether you’re ready or not, 2026 is around the corner.

Beyond sales and profitability numbers, objective data is scarce. Too often, we lean on excuses: Why someone couldn’t follow through, or stories like, “our top customer has been out of the country for six months.” We downplay lackluster results and cling to hope. But hope is not a strategy.

In 2026, let’s replace hope with hard data. Let’s turn numbers into strategies, and strategies into results so by year’s end, you don’t just meet your projections, you surpass them.

7 Tips to Achieve Real Results

1. Hire the Right People. Not everyone can sell your products or services, no matter what they’ve sold before. As the old saying goes, “Just because they can sell Cadillacs in Boston doesn’t mean they can sell Lincolns in Denver.” The key is to get real about who you hire and get real data about their natural ability to prospect, persist, and close. Use a qualified job-fit sales assessment that provides consistent, objective data.

Low assertiveness: A candidate who is “too nice” may build rapport but struggle to ask for the sale.
Team-dependent: Someone who thrives only in group settings may falter when left to hunt alone.
Mismatch of style: A polished corporate seller may not adapt well to scrappy startup environments.

2. Coach with Laser-Focused Accuracy. The right job fit assessment also sharpens your coaching. (SEE Chapter 9, Hire Amazing Employees) Address the real “why” behind a salesperson’s struggles. For instance, telling a rep to meet more people when they already have plenty of contacts won’t help. Instead, coach them on how to engage those contacts and uncover buying interest.

3. Stop Relying on Technology to Fix Sales Performance. A new CRM or AI tool won’t magically improve results. These are tools, not producers. Without the right salespeople, technology only makes things worse. Low performers hide behind learning systems, while high performers resent being slowed down from meeting prospects and closing deals.

4. Engage Customers Every Quarter. Quarterly engagement keeps customers loyal and more likely to refer you. Use a scorecard to focus conversations on quality, service, and pricing, and how you can help them in the future. Training is essential to make these discussions effective.

5. Hold Daily Sales Team Huddles. If you’re not already doing this, start now. A 10- to 20-minute STAND-UP HUDDLE each morning keeps everyone accountable. Standing shortens the meetings and makes it harder for low performers to hide. Focus on progress and needed adjustments. Don’t let excuses derail creativity and sales results.

6. Train for the Details. Years ago, a sales expert told me: successful salespeople know the details of their products and services. That wisdom made a huge difference in my own results. Provide weekly training, updates, and stories. And remember, repetition works.

7. Acknowledge Results. Recognition works wonders. Acknowledge individuals and your team by sharing brags. Use a dashboard to show weekly results. This builds support when someone is stuck and motivates everyone to do more of what’s working.

Jeannette Seibly, an award-winning Talent Advisor, Leadership Results Coach, and Business Author, has guided thousands of executives and business leaders to achieve remarkable success over the past 33 years. Her specialty is delivering innovative solutions for hiring, coaching, and leadership challenges—with excellence and accountability at the core.

Want objective, real-world data on your sales team? Contact me today to find out how.