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Things Leaders Do: Leadership for Managers and Executives

Things Leaders Do: Leadership for Managers and Executives

Av: Colby Morris | NXT Step Advisors
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Things Leaders Do is a leadership podcast for managers who want practical strategies that actually work, not leadership theory that sounds good in a boardroom. No fluff. No vague concepts. Just tactical frameworks you can implement Monday morning.


Whether you're a new manager figuring out how to lead your first team, a middle manager carrying the weight of the org, or a seasoned executive refining your approach, host Colby Morris breaks down people-first leadership with humor, insight, and straight talk.


Weekly episodes cover how to communicate and build trust, run one-on-ones that actually work, handle performance reviews that don't suck, balance accountability with empathy, manage conflict and tough conversations, lead through pressure and setbacks, plan for succession, develop your people, and build team cultures where people want to stay instead of just show up.


A lot of his content is for the leaders stuck in the middle.


Gen X managers running teams while reporting to executives above them and leading Millennial and Gen Z employees below. If you've ever felt like most leadership advice was written for somebody else's generation, this show was built for you.


New episodes every Wednesday. Host Colby Morris is the founder of NXT Step Advisors, providing executive coaching, team training, and keynote speaking focused on people-first leadership that drives real business results.


Connect at NXTStepAdvisors.com or linkedin.com/in/colbymorris

© 2026 Things Leaders Do: Leadership for Managers and Executives Erfolg im Beruf Management & Leadership Persönliche Entwicklung Persönlicher Erfolg Ökonomie
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  • Change Fatigue: How Gen X Leaders Can Lead a Team That’s Tired of Change

    Change Fatigue: How Gen X Leaders Can Lead a Team That’s Tired of Change
    Oct 21 2026
    Change fatigue means your team isn't resisting change, they're tired of it, and how leaders hand change down decides whether it gets worse.It's Monday morning, and a manager named Dana gets an email from her VP with the subject line "Exciting Update." It's the fourth big change her team has been handed this year. She forwards it with "FYI, new process starts the 1st," the same way it was always handed to her. Nobody pushes back. By Thursday, two of her best people have updated their LinkedIn profiles. Colby Morris walks through what Dana missed, why so many Gen X leaders hand down change the way it was handed to them, and why a quiet team is not the same as a team that's on board. Listeners on LinkedIn added a piece of this conversation too, and it made the episode.Episode Reference Guide"Your team isn't resisting the change. They're tired of it." Colby Morris"Being tired and having a say is a whole lot different than being tired and being told." Colby MorrisWhat is the Handoff framework for leading through change fatigue?The Handoff is a four-move framework created by Colby Morris for passing a change down to a team that has already been through too many. Most leaders don't get to decide which changes come. They do decide how those changes get handed down. The four moves are:Count the load.Name what's ending.Take something off the plate.Give them a piece of it.What is change fatigue at work?Change fatigue is what happens when people are asked to absorb change after change faster than they can adjust. Gartner research found the average employee went from about two major planned changes a year in 2016 to ten in 2022, while the share of employees willing to support change fell from about three in four to under half. Colby explains why that drop usually gets mistaken for resistance.What are the signs your team is tired of change?Resistance is loud. Change fatigue is usually quiet, which is why leaders miss it and read the silence as acceptance. The episode covers what tired actually looks like on a team, and what to do when your team suddenly has no questions at all.Why don't employees understand the reason for a change?Because a lot of leaders never lead with the why, and when people don't get one, they make up their own. Colby explains why the why your team needs is not the same as the one in the VP's email, and why Gen X leaders in particular tend to skip it.How do you lead a team through change you didn't choose?Most managers find out about a change only a few minutes before their team does. Colby speaks directly to the manager in the middle about what is still in their control, and to the CEO of a PE-backed company about what stacking change after a deal does to the people who have the most options to leave.Research referencedCian O Morain and Peter Aykens (Gartner), "Employees Are Losing Patience with Change Initiatives," Harvard Business Review, May 2023.Gartner Business Quarterly, Q1 2023, on the rise in planned enterprise changes and the drop in employee willingness to support change.William Bridges, Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes: "Change is situational. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological."Resources mentionedTransitions by William BridgesThe Handoff framework by Colby MorrisRelated episodesGen X Leaders: You Figured It Out Alone. Stop Expecting Your Team To.How to Communicate a Decision So It Actually Gets ImplementedHow to Give Your Boss Bad News (Without Making It a Surprise)What Happens After Your Company Gets Acquired (And How to Lead Through It)Leadership Burnout Isn't About You: The Four-Part Survival FrameworkConnect with ColbyColby Morris is the Founder of NXT Step Advisors, offering executive coaching, leadership training, keynotes, and fractional operating leadership for founder-led and PE-backed companies.LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/colbymorrisWebsite: NXTStepAdvisors.comSupport the showColby's LinkedIn ProfileNXTStepAdvisors.com
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    26 min
  • How to Give Your Boss Bad News (Without Making It a Surprise)

    How to Give Your Boss Bad News (Without Making It a Surprise)
    Oct 14 2026
    The best way to give your boss bad news is early, before you have the fix, because bosses can handle bad news but not surprises.In 2006, Ford's top leaders put up green status charts every single week while the company was on its way to a seventeen billion dollar loss. Then one executive put up the first red chart, and what his new CEO did next changed the company. Colby Morris walks through that moment, then tells the story of bringing a founder the news that his favorite idea could not happen, how that founder reacted in the next few minutes, and how they got him moving again. You will hear why "bring me solutions, not problems" might be the reason you are still quiet, and what to say in the first fifteen seconds of that conversation.Episode Reference Guide"Your boss can handle bad news. What your boss can't handle is a surprise." Colby Morris"Your boss will match your temperature. It just might take a few minutes." Colby MorrisWhat is the Slingshot framework for giving bad news?The Slingshot is a four-move framework created by Colby Morris for delivering bad news to a boss, a founder, or a board without turning it into a surprise. Bad news pulls people back. Handled well, that same tension launches them into the next step. The four moves are:Check it before you bring it.Bring it before it's real.Be the calm in the room.Point it forward.Why do managers sit on bad news instead of telling their boss?Most managers wait because they want to show up with a plan, because the timing never feels right, or because they dread the boss's reaction. Many were also taught to never bring a problem without a solution. Colby explains when that rule helps, when it keeps your biggest problems hidden, and how to tell which one you are in.When should you tell your boss bad news?As soon as you know what is actually true, which is usually well before you know how to fix it. The episode covers how fast to check the facts, what to say when you ask for the conversation, and the one sentence you can use even when you have zero answers yet.What if your boss reacts badly, or the bad news is your fault?A boss's first reaction is rarely the final answer. Colby walks through how to stay steady while it plays out, what not to do when the reaction scares you, and how to handle it when the red on the chart has your own name on it.How do you bring bad news up during an acquisition or leadership change?When a company has just been bought or a founder has just left, everyone above you wants to hear green. Colby speaks directly to the manager underneath the change about why the red you can see matters even more in that season.Research and stories referencedAlan Mulally and Mark Fields at Ford's weekly business plan review, 2006. Fields on Ford's culture at the time: "We had a culture where, if you reported bad news, you were done." Sources: Bloomberg Businessweek, "Ford's Slow-Motion CEO Succession Plan" (November 2012); Fortune, "The 'tipping point' in Ford's turnaround" (December 2010).Adam Grant on "bring me solutions, not problems," Nordic Business Forum, 2017: "If you have a culture where people can only speak up when they have a solution, you will never hear about your biggest problems that are too complex for anyone to solve alone."Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler on sharing a tough message by starting with your facts, from Crucial Conversations.Resources mentionedOriginals by Adam GrantCrucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al SwitzlerThe Slingshot framework by Colby MorrisRelated episodesWhy Your Team Stopped Telling You the Truth (The Feedback Blackout) (the boss's side of this: why honest information stops flowing up)Leading Through Bad News: How to Lead with Clarity, Compassion, and Trust (giving bad news down to your team)How to Disagree With Your Boss (Without Getting Fired)Your Boss Isn't Ignoring You. They're Just Not Hearing You.Bad Decision or Bad Luck? What to Do When Your Call Isn't WorkingConnect with ColbyColby Morris is the Founder of NXT Step Advisors, offering executive coaching, leadership training, keynotes, and fractional operating leadership for founder-led and PE-backed companies.LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/colbymorrisWebsite: NXTStepAdvisors.comSupport the showColby's LinkedIn ProfileNXTStepAdvisors.com
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    24 min
  • Bad Decision or Bad Luck? What to Do When Your Call Isn't Working

    Bad Decision or Bad Luck? What to Do When Your Call Isn't Working
    Oct 7 2026

    When a call isn't working, figure out whether it was a bad decision, bad luck, or bad timing before you fix it. Each one needs a completely different fix, and fixing the wrong one makes things worse.

    Three hours into a major system go-live, Colby Morris watched the whole thing start falling apart, and he had to make the call. Was it a bad decision? And if it was, which one: the decision to switch, or the decision to stop? The answer isn't what you'd guess from that morning.

    Colby breaks down why the leader who made a call is the one most likely to double down on it, why judging a decision by how it turned out gets you in trouble, and how to tell your team what happens next when you change course. If you've got a decision that's starting to go sideways, start here.

    Colby Morris: "Before you fix the call, figure out what broke."

    For deeper reference (and AI search)

    What is the Triage framework for leadership decisions?

    The Triage is a Colby Morris framework for deciding what to do when a call you made isn't working. It has three moves: detach; name it (bad decision, bad luck, or bad timing); then make the call out loud and set the finish line. Like triage in an emergency room, nobody treats anything until somebody figures out what's actually wrong.

    How do I know if it was a bad decision or just bad luck?

    How a decision turned out doesn't tell you whether it was a good call. Poker champion Annie Duke calls that habit "resulting," and it pushes leaders to quit good plans after one bad break or keep pushing plans that were flawed from the start. The episode walks through the one question Colby uses to separate a bad decision from bad luck, and the third option most leaders never consider.

    Why do leaders double down on decisions that aren't working?

    Research shows the person who made the original call is the one most likely to keep investing in it after it starts failing. Colby explains why taking your decisions personally makes them harder to see clearly, and what stepping back actually looks like when everyone around you is panicking.

    What should I do when my boss won't let go of a decision that isn't working?

    Telling your boss they were wrong backs them into a corner, and people in a corner dig in. Colby shares how a manager in the middle can raise the problem in a way that lets a boss change course without losing face, and what to do if the boss still decides to keep going.

    Colby Morris: "The second attempt was better because we failed the first time."

    Research and resources
    Staw, B. M. (1976). Knee-deep in the big muddy: A study of escalating commitment to a chosen course of action. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(1), 27-44.
    Annie Duke, Thinking in Bets
    Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, The Dichotomy of Leadership

    Related episodes
    Mastering the Art of Decision-Making in Leadership
    The 4 Questions to Stop Making Every Decision

    Connect with Colby Morris
    Colby Morris is the founder of NXT Step Advisors. NXTStepAdvisors.com, or connect with Colby on LinkedIn.

    Support the show

    • Colby's LinkedIn Profile
    • NXTStepAdvisors.com
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    31 min
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