As I listened to David Senra's podcast on Steve Jobs , I couldn't help it but connect with this statement. "Great can come from anywhere" Steve Jobs’s legacy wasn’t just innovation—it was recognizing that greatness doesn’t have a specific origin.  It’s an actionable leadership mandate. In Make Something Wonderful , a curated anthology of Jobs’s speeches, notes, and letters, we glimpse how this mindset shaped his leadership philosophy. As edited by Leslie Berlin and unveiled by the Steve Jobs Archive, the book makes abundantly clear: rooting for ideas over pedigrees, openness over hierarchy, and curiosity over convention is the foundation of breakthroughs. Here’s why “Great can come from anywhere” matters for leaders today. 1. Unlock Hidden Potential Too often, organizations wait for greatness to show up dressed a certain way. They recruit from top schools, prize conventional resumes, and filter innovation out of existence. Meanwhile, brilliant insights emerge from unexpected places—your production team, your interns, your lost-in-the-middle-of-nowhere offices. Jobs built Apple by valuing creativity over credentials, giving space for surprising ideas to flourish. 2. Build Openness into Your Culture Make Something Wonderful  emphasizes the power of shared context—speaking directly, making ideas visible, and acting as the architect of collective ambition. When teammates feel their ideas matter, they experiment more boldly. When leadership listens beyond titles, innovation becomes distributed, not isolated. 3. Design Invitation Over Gatekeeping Steve Jobs didn’t wait for ideas to come to him; he invited  them. In the book, speeches and personal notes show him asking simple questions: “What feels missing?” “Where are we off track?” Questions that prompted game-changing contributions. Leaders don’t just evaluate ideas—they design conditions for them to surface. 4. Grow the Ecosystem of Ideas When diversity of thought is welcomed, the ecosystem expands. A warehouse team member questions a process and sparks an efficiency breakthrough. A quiet engineer shares a bold idea on a whiteboard and ignites a product pivot. That’s the hidden profit of broad-sourced creativity. And leading teams that cultivate that energy is how you scale strategic advantage. "Make Something Wonderful", isn’t nostalgia—it’s a playbook. Make Something Wonderful  reminds us: greatness is everywhere. Our job as leaders is to make sure we have the ears—and the context—to hear it. Want to exchange leadership strategies that unearth hidden talent? Let’s chat — and yes, I’ve got books to swap.

Gallup says it best: “Less than half your employees feel safe speaking up.” Let that sink in. If half of your workforce is biting their tongue, that’s half your ideas, half your innovation, and half your blind spots going unchallenged. And here’s the kicker: silence is expensive. When people avoid the tough conversations, problems don’t go away—they grow. One unaddressed issue can spread through a team like a slow leak in a tire. It doesn’t cause a blowout immediately, but it will absolutely take you off course. Why Conflict Gets a Bad Rap Most organizations treat conflict like it’s toxic—something to avoid at all costs. Leaders get uncomfortable, teams fear “rocking the boat,” and meetings tiptoe around the real issues. But here’s the truth: conflict isn’t the enemy, avoidance is. Healthy conflict—open, respectful, and focused on ideas, not egos—is where breakthrough performance lives. In sports, you see it clearly. Teammates argue on the sidelines, not because they dislike each other, but because they care about winning. They’re aligned on the goal, but unafraid to challenge how they get there. That’s how blind spots turn into breakthroughs. The Cost of Silence Think about the hidden profits lost when conflict is suppressed: Missed innovation  – Employees see a better way but stay quiet. Rework and delays  – Small issues get buried until they explode into costly crises. Team disengagement  – People stop caring if no one listens anyway. Performance is a game of inches. One uncomfortable truth shared at the right moment can save weeks of wasted effort. One courageous voice can keep a project from derailing. Building a Culture of Healthy Conflict So how do you shift from avoidance to productive debate? Normalize discomfort.  Make it clear that disagreement is part of progress, not a sign of dysfunction. Focus on the issue, not the individual.  Keep debates about the work, not personal attacks. Reward candor.  Recognize and celebrate when people speak up—even if you don’t act on every idea. Lead by example.  If leaders won’t address the elephant in the room, no one else will. From Blind Spots to Breakthroughs Healthy conflict is about courage. It’s about creating a space where your people trust that their voice matters—even if it challenges the status quo. When that happens, blind spots become visible, hidden profits surface, and your team moves faster together. At SKOR, we call this measuring Courage —a critical ingredient of every high-performing team. Because performance isn’t just about chasing efficiency; it’s about unlocking the voices already in the room. So the question is: does your culture encourage healthy conflict, or are your people holding back? The elephant is still sitting there—are you ready to talk about it? 👉 Want to see how your team stacks up? Try the SKOR Preview  and uncover the blind spots holding back performance.

In every high-stakes sport, communication is king. In American football, quarterbacks shout audibles, coaches relay plays, and teammates read each other’s body language to adjust on the fly. Imagine if the defense didn’t know the play call. Or if the offense ran the wrong route because no one spoke up. Chaos! Now think about your company. How often are decisions made behind closed doors? How often do teams operate in silos, or employees feel like they’re the last to know? That’s the transparency gap—and it’s a silent killer of performance. Transparency isn’t just about open-door policies or sharing financials. It’s about creating a culture where context is shared, feedback flows freely, and everyone understands what’s happening, why it matters, and how they fit in. But most teams don’t get this right. Leaders assume people know more than they do. Information gets hoarded. Intentions are misread. Teams spend more time interpreting than executing. The result? Slow decisions. Missed alignment. Trust erosion. And performance that never quite clicks into gear. Here’s what the data shows: Teams with high transparency levels are more likely to take initiative, collaborate effectively, and spot problems before they spiral. In fact, according to SKOR's state of culture research, teams that rated their leaders high in transparency were 3.2x more likely to be hitting or exceeding their goals. It makes sense. When people see the full field, they play smarter. When they understand the “why” behind the “what,” they commit more fully. When they trust they’re in the loop, they stop looking over their shoulder. But transparency is a two-way game . Leaders need to be open about direction, priorities, and problems. And team members need to be encouraged to speak up—especially when something’s unclear, off-track, or wrong. Just like on the field, your organization wins when everyone’s reading from the same playbook. Want to uncover where transparency gaps are costing you? SKOR helps teams measure this critical signal—not just in how open your leaders are, but in how empowered your people feel to challenge, contribute, and ask questions. Because performance isn’t just about what’s said. It’s about what’s understood. Small tweaks. Big outcomes. That’s how hidden profits are unlocked. 🟠 Curious how your team stacks up on transparency? Take the free SKOR Preview .

In elite sports, accountability isn't optional—it's everything. Every player knows their position, their responsibilities, and their performance metrics. The quarterback knows the play. The receiver knows the route. The defense knows the scheme. Everyone is aligned because the cost of confusion is visible and immediate: a blown play, a missed tackle, a lost game. In business, the consequences of poor accountability are just as real—they're just harder to see. According to Gallup, 56% of employees don't know what's expected of them.   Let that sink in. More than half your workforce may be unclear on the basic question: "What am I accountable for?" This isn't a communication issue. It's a performance barrier. When expectations are murky, people drift. Teams duplicate effort. Deadlines slip. And leaders find themselves wondering why performance feels sluggish despite all the effort being expended. But knowing your own accountabilities is only half the equation. High-performing teams aren't just clear on their responsibilities—they hold each other to them. Think of any great sports team. It's not the coach alone that keeps players in check. It's the locker room. Peer-to-peer accountability is the true secret sauce. When teammates challenge each other to bring their best, standards rise. That same dynamic needs to exist in the workplace. But too often, it doesn't. Why? Because most organizations haven’t created a culture where healthy accountability is expected, safe, and reinforced. People fear conflict. Managers avoid tough conversations. And over time, silence becomes the norm. At SKOR, we help organizations break that cycle. Our performance diagnostic evaluates both clarity of expectations  and team-level accountability behaviors.   We ask: Do team members follow through on commitments? Do they hold one another accountable to shared goals? Are expectations visible, measurable, and consistently reinforced? When you start measuring accountability across departments and locations, patterns emerge. You spot the teams that are humming—and the ones barely surviving. You identify where leadership is enabling ownership versus where it’s accidentally creating learned helplessness. The impact is massive. When accountability goes up: Execution becomes consistent Peer trust improves Feedback flows more freely Hidden performance blockers get surfaced And yes, profit follows. Because accountability isn't just a nice-to-have. It's your operational engine. It's how you go from high potential to high performance. It's how you unlock the hidden profit hiding in plain sight: in missed meetings, unclear ownership, and unchecked mediocrity. So if you want to build a championship culture, start with clarity—but finish with shared ownership. Because performance isn't just individual. It's collective. 🔵 Curious how accountable your teams really are - take the SKOR Preview to learn more.

In American football, offense and defense play very different roles. But no one questions they’re on the same team. They wear the same jersey. They’re accountable to the same scoreboard. And they only win when both sides execute — together. Now look at most companies. Sales is chasing revenue. Product is managing scope. Ops is watching risk. HR is trying to drive engagement. They’re all working — but rarely together. Different goals, different incentives, different definitions of “winning.” This is where performance breaks down. Not because people aren’t trying — but because they’re not aligned. They’re not one team. And in that misalignment lie blind spots, friction, and hidden profit . Sports teams know something most businesses forget: performance is a game of inches. Marginal tweaks — in communication, in role clarity, in trust — can unlock massive gains. You don’t need heroic effort. You need small, systemic improvements that shift momentum across the organization. At SKOR, we’ve studied what drives high-performing teams and uncovered seven repeatable indicators — the same qualities that show up on elite sports teams: Accountability  – Everyone owns their role. There are no passengers. Transparency  – Information flows freely. Everyone knows the plan. Healthy Conflict  – Teams challenge each other to get better. Feedback is a habit, not a threat. Growth Mindset  – Learning is constant. Mistakes are data. Adaptability  – Conditions shift. Great teams shift with them. Recognition  – Effort is visible. Wins are celebrated. Goals & Rewards  – Everyone plays toward the same scoreboard. When companies embed these behaviors, silos start to dissolve. Collaboration improves. And the hidden profit  that’s been leaking out through friction and misalignment gets recaptured. The problem is, most companies never measure this. They rely on lagging engagement scores or gut feel. So they miss what’s actually slowing them down — until it's too late. Want to win? Start thinking like a team. Align your players. Run the same playbook. And measure the inches that matter. 🔵 The SKOR Preview shows you where your blind spots are and how much performance (and profit) your teams are leaving on the table. Start measuring what actually drives execution.

You’ve seen the number. A 68. Or maybe a 72. Your team’s “engagement” score is in. Now what? Here’s the uncomfortable truth: engagement scores are great at measuring how people feel , but terrible at showing how teams are actually performing . Most companies run engagement surveys with good intentions. They want a sense of morale. A read on sentiment. A benchmark to compare to last year. But here’s the strategic flaw: engagement data is emotional, subjective, and backward-looking.  It’s a lagging indicator — not a performance diagnostic. By the time a dip in engagement shows up, the real problems have already taken root: Team alignment has broken down Manager effectiveness is slipping Psychological safety has quietly eroded Goals have become unclear or irrelevant And yet, we continue to bet on this approach. We measure how people feel  about work and hope it correlates with how well work is actually getting done. That’s a risky assumption. Even when scores are “high,” we’re often left asking: So… what now? That’s because traditional engagement surveys rarely tell you: Which teams are at risk Where leadership breakdowns are happening What actions will actually move the needle They produce sentiment, not strategy. The real opportunity is to stop treating engagement as a goal and start treating it as a result  — the outcome of something deeper: clarity, leadership, trust, accountability. To get there, we need to measure how culture is functioning as a system — not just how people feel about it. Ask instead: Are our teams aligned on goals, roles, and expectations? Do managers reinforce values and drive accountability? Is there space for challenge, learning, and feedback? These aren’t emotional inputs — they’re operational ones. They’re behaviors. They’re observable. And they’re leading indicators of whether performance is accelerating or stalling. → This is the gap SKOR fills. We go beyond engagement to measure how teams are led — and how that leadership is experienced — with structured questions for both managers and their team members. The result? Actionable insight, not opinion. Because performance isn't a mood — it’s a system. And systems, when measured well, can be improved. 🔵 Want to see how your leadership is shaping performance. Take the SKOR Preview.

Leadership isn’t just about big decisions and bold strategies. It ’s about the small actions — the daily clarity, accountability, and alignment — that quietly drive results. The Michelin Brothers said it best over a century ago: the smallest inefficiencies add up over time. One minute lost per hour doesn’t seem like much — until you do the math. 1 minute lost per hour = 8 minutes per workday That’s 2,400 minutes a year per employee  — about 40 hours , or a full workweek, gone. Multiply that by a 100-person company: now you’ve lost 4,000 hours annually. With an average US salary of $80,000, that’s about $40 per hour — meaning your business is quietly losing $160,000 a year  in wasted time. And that’s just from a single minute per hour. But here’s what’s important: This isn’t about people wasting time scrolling their phones. It ’s about leadership gaps. Minutes are lost when: Priorities aren’t clear Decisions are delayed Teams aren’t aligned Managers avoid tough conversations Processes are clunky, or communication is inconsistent These small leadership misses create confusion, stalls, and rework — tiny delays that compound across teams, days, and quarters. And most leaders don’t see it happening. They chase the big fires but miss the steady drip of lost clarity and alignment draining their business every day. The smart ones measure it. They track how well managers are creating clarity, reinforcing accountability, and leading their teams toward aligned goals. Because leadership, like profit, is a system. And if you’re not managing it, it’s leaking value. Small actions create big outcomes. And in today’s world, those outcomes are either driving your growth or quietly costing you six figures a year in lost time and stalled execution. Want to know where your leadership gaps are hiding? Start measuring the team experience — not just the business results. 🔵 Curious where your team might be losing time? Take the SKOR Preview.

Most companies assume their managers are doing fine — until the best people quietly leave, burnout spreads, and teams stall out. It’s not always obvious. Teams might look productive. Meetings happen. KPIs get reviewed. But dig deeper, and you’ll find the real signal: most employees aren’t experiencing great leadership. Source: Lenny's Newsletter In a survey of over 8,000 tech workers (completed by Lenny's Newsletter ), only 26% said their manager was highly effective.  Nearly half rated theirs as ineffective. The impact? Massive. Workers with poor managers are 4.3x more likely to quit They’re more than twice as burned out And they feel 62% less enjoyment  in their jobs This isn’t a personality issue — it’s a leadership system failure. Companies often promote high performers into management roles without giving them the mindset, tools, or feedback loops to succeed. It’s like handing someone a playbook without ever running drills. The result: team members drift, feedback disappears, and what looked like a strong team starts quietly underperforming. Most organizations don’t catch this early. They rely on sentiment surveys or lagging indicators like turnover and engagement dips. But those are symptoms, not root causes. If you want to retain your best people, stop focusing only on culture as a vibe or HR initiative. Focus on the daily experience of being led. Ask yourself: Do your managers create clarity around priorities? Do team members feel safe raising concerns or pushing back? Is there recognition for contributions — or just correction for mistakes? Are you measuring these things objectively, at the team level? Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: many of your managers don’t know where they stand. And neither do you. The companies that are winning right now aren’t just training managers — they’re building systems to consistently assess how leadership is experienced across the org.  Not just at the top. Not just once a year. But team by team, role by role. Leadership can’t just be assumed. It has to be visible, experienced, and measured. Otherwise, the best people will keep walking out the door — and you won’t know why until it’s too late. Want to see how your teams actually experience their leaders? Take the SKOR Preview  — it’s free, fast, and built to show how team performance can really drive success.

Imagine every person on your team was wearing an Apple Watch — not to track their steps or heart rate, but to measure things that actually  drive performance: accountability, transparency, adaptability, and more. Now imagine all those team signals were synced , aggregated, and visualized — not individually, but collectively, showing how the team operates as a unit. That’s exactly what SKOR does. Most leaders manage teams based on observation, instinct, or occasional surveys — which leaves them flying blind. They know something’s off but can’t pinpoint what. That’s because they’re missing the team-level data  that tells the real story. At SKOR, we’ve identified seven critical indicators of high-performing teams : Accountability Transparency Healthy Conflict Growth Mindset Adaptability Recognition Goals & Rewards Now imagine if every team on your org chart was wearing a virtual watch tracking these seven metrics — not individually, but as a synchronized system . You’d quickly spot where accountability is slipping, where adaptability is lagging, or where recognition is missing entirely. SKOR gives you exactly that — a synchronized snapshot of your team’s performance DNA. It’s not about rating people. It’s about revealing the invisible team dynamics that drive — or drain — results. We collect confidential objective data across your teams, analyze it through the lens of these seven indicators, and generate a SKORcard  that shows you exactly where the gaps are — and what to do about them. Just like a health tracker tells you when your sleep or heart rate is off, SKOR highlights where a team’s performance is out of sync — whether that’s lack of clarity, poor recognition, or avoidance of conflict. And here’s the best part: when teams become aligned across these seven areas, performance improves — fast. So if your leadership playbook still relies on vibes and 1-on-1 feedback loops, it might be time for a system upgrade. Think of SKOR as your Apple Watch — for teams. And we’re here to help you get in sync. Learn more with the SKOR Preview .

Team performance issues rarely show up in the boardroom until it’s too late. Missed targets. Slow execution. Slipping margins. By the time it’s visible in the numbers, the damage is already done. The truth? Underperforming teams are one of the most overlooked profit killers in business. And most of it comes down to one thing: leadership. According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace Report , only 27% of managers are engaged . Global employee engagement has dropped to 21% . And the most significant factor driving both? The way teams are being led. Most Leaders Don’t Know Where the Gaps Are Companies often assume culture and engagement are “fine” — until people start quitting or execution slows to a crawl. But the early signals are almost always there: confusion, disengagement, misalignment, lack of accountability. We just don’t measure them. Instead, we look at lagging indicators like attrition, productivity dips, or whether people “seem happy.” But these don’t tell us what’s really happening inside teams. Manager Performance Is the Leading Indicator The manager is the single biggest factor in team performance. When managers lack clarity, courage, or consistency, teams drift. Goals blur. Feedback disappears. Accountability fades. And performance stalls. The problem is that leadership performance — especially at the team level — is rarely measured in a structured, consistent way. It’s Not Culture. It’s How You’re Leading. That’s the gap. And it’s costing companies more than they realize. It Can Be Measured — From Both Sides The good news: team dynamics, leadership impact, and culture health can  be measured — if you're looking through the right lens. SKOR does this by assessing both the manager and the team separately , giving a full 360° view of how leadership is being delivered and  experienced. People Leaders  are assessed on how they lead — are they setting clear goals, reinforcing values, and creating psychological safety? Individual Contributors  are assessed on how they experience leadership — do they feel supported, recognized, accountable, and aligned? When you bring both perspectives together, you get a much clearer picture of where leadership is driving performance — and where it’s holding teams back. Culture Isn’t Soft. Poor Leadership Is Expensive. This isn’t about engagement for engagement’s sake. This is about understanding how leadership behavior impacts execution — before it shows up in missed numbers or lost people. If you’re seeing stagnation, misalignment, or inconsistency across teams, it may not be a strategy problem. It’s Not Culture. It’s How You’re Leading. It might just be a leadership one. And yes — it can be measured. Try the SKOR Preview to learn more.

In football, like all sports, talent matters — but it’s not what wins championships. What wins is structure. Alignment. Clear leadership. Every unit — offense, defense, special teams — has its own playbook, coach, and responsibilities. But they’re united around one goal: winning the game. Now imagine if the offensive line didn’t know the quarterback’s plan. Or the defensive coordinator skipped practice. The game would fall apart — fast. That’s what happens in most companies. Most Teams Aren’t Losing Because of Talent — They’re Losing Because of Leadership We pour money into culture initiatives and training programs. We run engagement surveys and talk about alignment. But we often ignore the most critical role in team performance: the manager . When managers aren’t clear, equipped, or supported, teams drift: Goals become murky Accountability fades Culture weakens Results stall And yet, most companies assume that once a manager is trained, they’re set. Like leadership is a static skill — not an evolving responsibility. But here’s the hard truth: most teams have no idea how well they’re being led . No scoreboard. No post-game review. Just... vibes. Great Teams Don’t Guess. They Measure. High-performing teams are built like high-performing sports programs — they review film, check the stats, and coach every play. That’s where SKOR helps. SKOR gives companies a structured way to understand how teams are functioning — and how leadership is showing up in real time. It determines how managers/leaders lead their people/teams, and asks the team members, how they are being led, providing a 360 on team evaluation. And it doesn’t rely on a one-size-fits-all view. Leaders and their teams are assessed differently , because effective leadership isn’t self-reported — it’s experienced. The result? Teams start to operate like units on a mission. Leaders get better, faster. And the organization plays — and wins — like it’s built to. If you want better performance, don’t just train your team. Coach the managers (coaches). Then measure what matters. 🔵 Start with the SKOR Preview — and see how leadership is actually playing out on the field.

Most companies invest in manager training with the right intentions. Better communication, stronger leadership, more engaged teams. And that’s a great start. But it’s not enough. Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can’t improve what you don’t measure. And most organizations don’t actually know if their managers are getting better — or just getting by. According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace  report: Only 44%  of managers say they’ve received any kind of leadership development. Even fewer are evaluated against meaningful leadership standards . Meanwhile, engagement continues to slide and productivity stalls. The result? Training becomes a checkbox. A feel-good initiative. A cost center that’s rarely tied to outcomes. From “We Trained Them” to “We Know They’re Leading Better” The real shift organizations need isn’t more training — it’s accountability. Not in the punitive sense, but in the measured, intentional, data-driven  sense. Are your managers reinforcing values? Are goals consistently communicated and tracked? Is feedback normalized, not feared? Can their team challenge ideas without consequence? These are leadership signals. And they’re measurable — when you have the right lens. Measurement Turns Training into Impact High-performing teams consistently exhibit: Clarity around priorities Cohesion around values and goals Courage to grow, challenge, and adapt But you can’t teach that in a workshop alone. You need to know if it’s showing up after the training ends. That’s why forward-thinking companies are integrating leadership measurement into: Quarterly reviews Manager scorecards Team performance dashboards Culture and engagement diagnostics Because once you can see  how leadership shows up, you can coach it, support it, and improve it. Training is where leadership starts. Measurement is where it actually takes hold. 🔵 Want to know if your managers are truly leading? Try the SKOR Preview  and move from hope to proof.