Meetings are meant to move the needle, not drain your day. But for most leaders, they’ve become far too often, far too long, and far too muddy. Sound familiar?
In this episode, we'll break down why most meetings fail, what they’re really costing you, and how to redesign them to drive ACTION - real, needle-moving action, not endless discussion.
Because sometimes, leading your company better starts with leading better meetings.
Our host, executive coach and leadership expert Antonio Garrido, will guide you through essential leadership principles to help you make that shift - from task-oriented management to strategic leadership. Subscribe to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
What’s In This Episode:
00:00 Intro
02:10 Antonio’s Solutions-Oriented Leadership
04:53 What Is a Leader’s Job?
06:15 What a ‘Typical’ Meeting Looks Like
08:47 Agenda Items - Statements vs Questions
11:30 Changing Agenda Items to Questions
12:10 Examples of Good vs Bad Agenda Item
17:11 The Impact of Question-Based Agenda Items
19:42 Take the Leadership Insights Scorecard
23:03 William Kahn’s Employee Engagement Theory
26:40 Beck’s Cognitive Behavioral Triangle
28:00 Essential Questions for Productive Meetings
29:30 Your 30-Day Meeting Improvement Challenge
34:37 Outro
Leadership Resources For You:
Take our Leadership Insights Scorecard (size up your leadership skills with our simple scorecard for CEOs, executive leaders, and business owners): https://www.mydailyleadership.com/res...
Grab a copy of the My Daily Leadership book: https://www.mydailyleadership.com/book
Where To Go Next:
Antonio’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniogarrido/
My Daily Leadership’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mydailyleadership
My Daily Leadership’s Website: https://www.mydailyleadership.com
My Daily Leadership’s TikTok: / mydailyleadership
Who We Are:
We're My Daily Leadership. Most leaders we work with aren’t short on ambition - they’re short on clarity. They know their business won’t grow unless they do, but figuring out how to grow - intentionally, sustainably, and in a way that actually fits their reality - is where things stall. That’s where we come in. We work with ambitious CEOs, executive leaders, and business owners to build the mindset, habits, clarity, and leadership capability they need to get out of their own way - so their business can finally move forward. Not once a year. Not once a quarter. But every day - in ways that actually move the needle for you, your people, and your business.
Creating the world’s best leaders one day at a time.
Micromanaging doesn’t always look like control. Sometimes it looks like excess care. Leaders sitting in on meetings they don’t need to be in. Reviewing work that doesn’t need their input. Approving things that their team is more than capable of owning. It all feels helpful - until it isn’t.
In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, I'm digging into what micromanagement really is, why it’s so common in high performers, and how to shift into a leadership style that builds trust without letting go of standards. I'll break down the quiet habits that kill productivity, the perfectionism that hides behind control, and the mindset shift that frees up your time and empowers your team to lead without you.
If you’re constantly stuck in the details and feel like your team can’t move without your involvement, I'm hoping that you'll find something here that will show you a better way to lead, one that actually makes room for strategy, clarity, and growth.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
Insight isn’t about knowing more; it’s about seeing things for the way they are, not from a CEO's high horse.
If you want to lead your team to real results, stop chasing complexity. The biggest breakthroughs often come from the simplest shifts: in strategy, perspective, and execution.
In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, I'll unpack how smart leaders use clarity and insight to cut through the noise. Drawing inspiration from the game of chess, we’ll explore how simplifying your approach can sharpen decision-making, improve workload management, and boost team performance.
Because having real insight - into your business, your people, and your blind spots - changes everything. From performance analysis and company projection to listening skills and meaningful recognition, this episode is packed with tools to help you lead with precision and power.
Forget doing more. Start seeing more. Then lead like it.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
Motivate your team by fixing the one invisible issue that’s draining their energy: lack of visibility.
In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we unpack a mind-blowing LEGO Bionicle study from Dan Ariely that reveals why so much work feels pointless, and what great, gorgeous, grand, and gleaming leaders (like you) do differently.
If your team’s burning out, disengaging, or just going through the motions, it might not be a performance problem.
It might be a visibility problem.
You’ll learn six sharp, practical questions every leader should be asking, plus how to build motivation, momentum, and meaning back into the day-to-day.
Whether you’re running a startup or leading a global team, this is your cheat code to building commitment, chemistry, and a culture that lasts.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
Leadership is a juggling act, but four activities keep the whole thing from crashing down: coaching, managing, training, and mentoring.
What do they actually look like in practice (outside of buzzwords and boardrooms)? This episode unpacks the messy, real-world version of those roles, and why getting them right is key to futureproofing your people, your leadership, and your business. Turns out, knowing when to lead, when to manage, and when to get out of the way might just be your most underrated skill.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
Course correction. It sounds technical, maybe even like major damage control... but for great leaders, it’s just a typical Tuesday.
Every high-performing business veers off-track. It’s normal. It’s constant. And if you’re not adjusting course regularly, well, then you’re not leading.
In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we dive deep into the art (and science) of knowing when to pivot in business, how to navigate strategic changes without losing your team, and why a little turbulence doesn’t mean your business is broken, it just means you’re in motion.
We’ll steal a trick or two from pilots (turns out, they’re pretty good at not crashing), dig into a few painful-but-true business stories, and hand you the tools to make calm, confident course corrections long before you’re 35,000 feet in the air and wildly off track.
If you’re a CEO, founder, or just a really committed overachiever, we hope you'll find yourself in these stories. Because leading means knowing when to change direction, and how to navigate your people to do the same.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
We’ve all been sold the same tired solution to our overloaded calendars and overflowing task lists: time management. Buy the planner. Download the app. Wake up earlier. Sleep less. Hustle harder.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: no matter how many hacks you stack or schedules you tweak, you can’t manage something you don’t control. That's right... Time isn’t the problem. Your behaviors are.
In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we flip the productivity script on its head. Because most leaders don’t have a time management issue, they have a behavior issue. If you’re constantly racing the clock, drowning in short-term decisions, or struggling to make space for strategic thinking, this might just be your wake up call. We break down four specific, high-impact strategies to help you stop obsessing over how to manage time, and start mastering how you lead.
From ruthless prioritization and smart delegation to behavior-driven planning and eliminating the busy work that clogs your calendar, learn the mindset shifts needed for serious business leaders who want to stop surviving the day-to-day and start leading with intention.
Because managing time won’t make you a better leader. But mastering your behaviors? That just might.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
Sales drives business growth. Obvious, right?
But here’s what’s not so obvious: most sales teams aren’t underperforming because they lack talent… they’re stuck because they lack clarity.
And that? That’s a leadership issue.
In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we’re pulling back the curtain on the real reason sales teams stall and what great leaders do differently. Spoiler alert: it has nothing to do with charisma, and everything to do with the process.
You’ll learn a simple but powerful 3-phase sales framework - pre-qualification, qualification, and post-qualification - that will get your team aligned, focused, and actually excited about closing deals (yes, really).
No jargon. No fluff. Just a clear system that helps your people stop spinning their wheels and start driving real results.
Because at the end of the day, the difference between managing a sales team and leading one is the difference between aimless activity and real business impact.
Let us help you make the switch.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
#Sales #SalesGrowth #SalesTraining
Business stories have a way of cutting through the noise. They reveal what textbooks miss, what leadership workshops skim over, and what even seasoned CEOs sometimes forget. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we unpack deceptively simple leadership lessons told through unexpected stories about putting a shark in a tank, selling shoes where no-one else sells shoes, removing the color beige from a product collection, and more that you definitely won’t have heard before that.
These kinds of leadership case studies and examples show us that insight is at the heart of all great business decisions. Insight is the real differentiator between good leaders and great ones – many organizations stagnate due to a lack of it. If you’re a leader, entrepreneur, or executive trying to make better decisions, lead with more clarity, and avoid the most common business pitfalls, watching this episode is the first step for you to stop managing, and start leading.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
Poor decision-making? Conflicting priorities? Sluggish productivity? Classic symptoms. The real problem? Your team, systems, and goals are pulling in different directions - and you’re too busy putting out fires to notice.
Most CEOs don’t lose because they’re not working hard enough. They lose because their business lacks alignment, and no amount of hustle will fix that (trust me). In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we break down the four brutal zones that, when lacking, trap even the smartest leaders: Comfort, Chaos, Confusion… and the elusive Clarity Zone.
Top CEOs know: alignment is a non-negotiable. It’s the difference between leading decisively and constantly second-guessing. Between scaling smoothly and spinning in circles.
If you’re ready to stop making avoidable business mistakes (happens to the best of us), this is where you start. Because let’s face it: leadership shouldn’t feel like you're herding cats. I’ll say it again it’s that important (we even have a tea towel with this printed on – yes, seriously): leadership should NEVER feel like you're herding cats.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
The comfort zone. It feels safe. Familiar. Like a cozy pair of warm, soft, pink, fluffy slippers. You might even convince yourself it’s where you’re performing at your best - running the business, managing your team, checking each and every box. But the uncomfortable truth about the comfort zone is that it’s where your leadership growth quietly stalls. Stay there too long, and you’ll plateau and stagnate without even noticing. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we’re pulling back the curtain on the leadership habit that keeps even the smartest CEOs and entrepreneurs playing small. I’ll walk you through the Comfort Zone Model - the four zones every leader moves through (whether they know it or not). You’ll learn why the comfort zone feels productive but actually sabotages your leadership, how to push yourself into the fear zone, and exactly what it takes to move even further into the learning zone - and ultimately, the growth zone.
Because leadership courage isn’t optional. Staying comfortable might feel like the right move… but over time, it costs you opportunities, impact, and momentum.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
A growth mindset is the one of the most significant, defining traits that separates successful leaders from those who stay stuck. If you’re feeling frustrated with your leadership growth, struggling to inspire your team, or constantly second-guessing yourself, Houston, we have a (mindset) problem. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we’re breaking down the growth mindset vs fixed mindset conversation - not just in theory, but in practice. Because your mindset is the invisible force driving (or destroying) your leadership. I’ll show you the subtle but critical ways a fixed mindset creeps into leadership decisions, why failing forward is the secret move of every top CEO, and how to rewire your thinking for bigger impact, faster growth, and smarter leadership. Because staying stuck will be severely limiting you, your people, and your business (and it’ll be costing you severely too.) Let me help you change that.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
Employee engagement doesn’t start with your team, it starts with you. But if you don’t trust your team, you can forget about loyalty, respect, or results.
Doesn't sound like a good time, does it?
Well, here’s another uncomfortable truth: most leaders believe they’re trusting, but their teams don’t. The leaders micromanage. They dodge difficult conversations. They expect employees to be completely honest while holding back the full picture themselves. And the worst part? They don’t even realize they’re doing it.
In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we’re tackling the silent killer of employee engagement - trust (or lack of it). Because when trust erodes, so does morale, performance, and, eventually, your best people leave.
We’ll break down the trust formula every leader needs to understand, as well as explain why truth-telling is the most underrated leadership skill and share the three most common mistakes that are quietly damaging your credibility. If you’ve ever struggled with disengaged employees, workplace conflict, or a team that just won’t open up, we're here to help you fix it.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
Feedback is one of the most misunderstood leadership tools. Get it right, and you build confidence, performance, and trust. Get it wrong, and, well, you’ve probably experienced what happens. Defensiveness, disengagement, doubt, dysfunction, diminished drive, and to top it all off, learned helplessness. Most leaders think they’re giving constructive critique, but in reality, their feedback is either too weak, too vague, or too harsh. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we’re breaking down the 5 Levels of Feedback. Three will seriously undermine your leadership, one is fine but lacks impact, and one separates great leaders from the rest. If you’re questioning why your feedback isn’t driving real change then watch this episode and by the end, you’ll have a clear, practical framework to make your feedback more effective (without sugarcoating, without micromanaging, and without making it personal).
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
The world’s best leaders swear by ancient wisdom. Why? Well, it turns out that Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus were sharing timeless leadership insights centuries before the modern theories we learn about today. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, I’ll be taking you through 10 Stoic lessons that will forever change the way you think about leadership - whether you’re running a Fortune 500 company or a small family-owned business. You’ll learn how to stay cool under pressure (think Marcus Aurelius in a board meeting), turn every obstacle into an opportunity (thank you, Seneca), and finally stop letting outside chaos (like Karen from accounting) ruin your day. We’ll even cover why “control what you can, let go of what you can’t” is more than just fridge magnet wisdom.
The Stoics didn’t believe in overthinking or excuses. They believed in taking action, leading with humility, and taming your ego before it takes over. Three things today’s leaders really need to learn – do you? And we’ll sprinkle in some modern magic too, including Growth Mindset and Emotional Intelligence, so you’re armed with everything you need to improve your leadership skills. If you’re ready to stop managing and start leading with timeless, battle-tested wisdom, hit play.
Sometimes employees underperform - but what's the root cause? Is it a work ethic issue or a commitment issue? Most leaders get this wrong. Those leaders that get it right, though, spend less time managing and more time leading. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, I'm diving into a 4-box model that’ll help you figure out the dynamics of your team, and break down why low performance isn’t always what it seems. I’m going to show you how to spot and nurture the ‘Dedicated Achievers’ (those employees who actually drive results) as well as how to handle the ‘Casual Participants’ (you know, the ones who are just coasting along). Because when you understand the difference, you'll avoid the common leadership mistake that keeps underperforming employees in the business for far too long and you'll start investing in the people who’ll take your business to the next level. If you’ve ever wrestled with performance management, employee engagement, work engagement, or poor performance at work, this episode is your all-important resource to leading more effectively and building a high-performing team.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
What do Olympic athletes, world-class teams, and top-performing leaders all have in common? Simple. They understand the theory of marginal gains. You’ve like heard this before: “success doesn’t happen overnight.” Rather it happens as a result 1% improvements over time. The teensy, teeny, tiny, strategic adjustments that, when stacked consistently, create extraordinary results. It’s how a struggling British Cycling team became an unstoppable force. It’s how Novak Djokovic became world number 1 in tennis. And it’s exactly how you can start leading with more precision, more impact, and more success. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, I’ll unpack the theory of marginal gains, why it matters, and most importantly, how to use it to sharpen your leadership and develop your team. Because if you’re still chasing big, dramatic breakthroughs… you’re doing it wrong.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
All the best leaders adopt this one single self improvement habit. It’s a simple one. A deceptively simple one. A habit so powerful that if someone tells you they’re serious about growth and development but they don’t do this one thing… well, don’t believe them. I didn’t take it seriously either until a CEO I used to work for asked me one question that changed everything. Now, it’s the single most effective tool I use to sharpen self-awareness, strengthen emotional intelligence, and accelerate leadership growth. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, I’ll show you exactly how to build this powerful self improvement habit into your daily routine – and explain why, if you’re not doing it yet, you’re leading with one hand tied behind your back.
I’m Antonio and in this episode, I’ll be your leadership coach. I'll guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
66% of workers report feeling they do not have a proper work-life balance… and yet 72% of employees acknowledge its importance. Something’s not quite right there, I’m sure you’ll agree. Work-life balance has become somewhat of an overused buzzword over the last five years, BUT it’s a pressing challenge faced by every leader we speak to. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we help you to understand your stress and intensity levels, and their impact on you and your team. The two models we introduce in this episode (the RADAR Wheel and the Work-Life Balance Model available to download on our website) will help you assess where you stand in your work-life balance today and make informed decisions about priorities, boundaries, and energy allocation. If you’ve ever felt torn between high-pressure demands at work and the life you’re building outside it, it’s time to start shifting your mindset from “doing more” to “leading smarter.”
Our host, executive coach, and leadership expert Antonio Garrido, will guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
David Ogilvy, the legendary “Father of Advertising,” left us with plenty iconic marketing campaigns, but he also left us with a timeless leadership lesson through a surprising tool: Russian nesting dolls. Intrigued? That makes two of us. In this episode of Stop Managing, Start Leading, we’ll uncover how Ogilvy used these traditional dolls to deliver a powerful message to new employees working at Ogilvy & Mather. And in a departure from our usual podcast format, we’ll share this leadership philosophy in a way David Ogilvy himself would have approved of - by telling you a story. Get your cuppa and a sticky bun ready and join us as we explore the leadership wisdom of one of history’s most visionary minds.
Our host, executive coach, and leadership expert Antonio Garrido, will guide you through essential leadership models to help you understand the differences between leadership and management. Subscribe for weekly Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast episodes to make a habit of leadership development, overcome common leadership challenges, and become the kind of leader your people and your business deserve.
