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ARTICLES BY DR. ANDY NEILLIE, CSP

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Keep It Simple: Navigating Leadership Through Three Foundational Questions

By Andy Neillie | October 30, 2024

Inspired by Good to Great by Jim Collins, leadership boils down to focusing on three essential questions that drive purpose and success.

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Leading Through Change: Guiding Your Team with Purpose and Resilience

By Andy Neillie | October 16, 2024

Do you remember the last time you played “Bop the Gopher?” One of our teams did last year’s holiday celebration at a pizza parlor/arcade game center. Before I knew what was happening, one of my employees armed me with a plastic mallet, and I found myself trying to hit “gophers” that kept popping up faster and faster while all our team members gathered round, laughing at my slow hand/eye coordination. Change can often feel like a game of “Bop the Gopher.” As soon as you think you’ve managed one challenge,…

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Leadership Lessons from Bali: Rich in Character Virtues

By Andy Neillie | September 30, 2024

I just wrapped up two incredible weeks in Bali, Indonesia. This trip was the perfect blend of a peaceful vacation with my wife and an inspiring gathering at the Global Speakers Federation biannual meeting. As I explored this beautiful island and connected with fellow leaders, a few timeless leadership principles struck me deeply—principles that transcend borders and cultures.

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Sometimes They Just Need Time

By Andy Neillie | September 5, 2024

From Canyon Lake to Austin by way of a call from Houston

Lake showed up two months ago. We got the call from the Houston Golden Beginnings Golden Retriever Rescue organization: there was a young Golden that urgently needed to be picked up from a surrendering family outside Austin and then briefly fostered. Could we pick up this dog and keep him for a few weeks until GBGRR could find him a permanent family?

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The Top 20 Leadership Books for 2024 (Plus Two Essential Bonus Reads)

By Andy Neillie | August 14, 2024

As we head into the fall, leadership continues to be a crucial topic for professionals across industries. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or just stepping into a leadership role, the right book can provide the insights and inspiration needed to excel. Here is a curated list of the top 20 leadership books that should be on your reading list this year, along with two bonus selections by John Maxwell.

  1. “Dare to Lead”

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The 4 Levels of Leadership Conversations

By Andy Neillie | July 23, 2024

Today we’re tackling an essential yet challenging aspect of leadership: navigating difficult conversations. In this short video blog, we’ll explore the four levels of leadership conversations, from asking clarifying questions to addressing serious problems.

Here’s a quick summary:

1. Questions: I recommend starting with open-ended questions like, “Help me understand,” or “Can you explain further?” to encourage deeper dialogue.

2. Concerns: Share your concerns transparently and invite your team to do the same.

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Leader: Sometimes you need to just show up

By Andy Neillie | July 8, 2024

The start of a four-year journey
At the beginning of the Covid lock-down, my athletic wife got me started on my CrossFit journey. The gym she was going to immediately pivoted to free Zoom classes. My life of travel as a business consultant had come to a screeching halt, I finally had time to get serious again about fitness, and I followed my wife’s lead on joining these on-line classes streamed to an iPad in our backyard.

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Over Requires Under

By Andy Neillie | June 12, 2024

In my experience serving on the advisory board of a nonprofit that’s doing incredible work by combining physical fitness with spiritual growth. The journey of the nonprofit’s founder is nothing short of inspiring. One key takeaway from this episode is the importance of understanding that to effectively lead and expand your influence, you must also remain under the authority of others. This episode is packed with insights that can help shape your leadership approach and drive your personal and professional growth.

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“Leadership Excellence” is often a contradiction in terms

By Andy Neillie | May 22, 2024

Several of them dropped the balls again. In the midst of “generally managing everything,” several of our swim school General Managers let their site-specific social media postings fall off the radar in the past several weeks.

On the one hand I understand: we are heading into our busiest time of the year, and most of them are short-staffed. On the other hand, our customers live on their smartphones. If we aren’t posting regularly,

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