What if five words could fundamentally change how you show up as a leader — and how your entire team shows up with you?

In this episode executive coach R. Michael Anderson breaks down one of the most deceptively simple — and brutally honest — questions in leadership: Are you 100% in?

Most leaders think they're fully committed...but they're not. There's a world of difference between 99.9% and 100%, and that tiny gap is quietly costing you your focus, your credibility, and your team's performance. Michael explains why holding back even one small amount is holding you and your team back — and how that habit shows up more than you think.

In this episode, you'll learn:

-Why 99% commitment is not "almost there" — it's a leadership liability

-How to honestly audit the areas of your life and career where you're holding back

-What to do when you realize you're not fully in (and when it's time to disengage entirely)

-The exact conversation to have with your team to uncover hidden disengagement

-Why your 100% can't be conditional on what others do first — and what that says about your leadership

Whether it's your job, a project, your team, or a relationship — this episode will challenge you to stop playing it safe and start showing up with your whole self.

Episode Challenge (today you get two!):

Challenge #1 — The Personal Audit: Pick three areas of your life — your job, a project or committee you're on, and one key relationship. Be brutally honest with yourself: are you 100% in on each one? If not, identify the gap and ask yourself — is it closable? If it is, decide what it's going to take to get there. If it isn't, it's time to have a bigger conversation with yourself about whether to disengage.

Challenge #2 — The Team Conversation: Have the "100% in" conversation with at least one person on your team this week. Ask them directly: what percentage are you in, and what would it take to get you to 100%? Then listen. You may uncover something that's been unsaid for months — and that conversation alone could be a turning point for both of you.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Executive Coaching Certification here

Executive Coaching Certification - 2026

Do you want to join a board - but not sure where to start? In Part 1 of this masterclass, Michael sits down with Russell Dalgleish, one of the UK's most experienced board strategists, to demystify how boards really work and how you get a seat at the table.

In this episode you'll discover:

-The difference between a Board of Directors and a Board of Advisors — which one you actually need, and why getting this wrong can cost you

-How to land your first board position without paying a recruitment company — the simple, relationship-based approach that actually works

-What value you need to bring to get invited onto a board — it's not about your CV, it's about this one thing

-How to approach a company you want to advise — including the exact LinkedIn strategy Russell uses to get meetings with CEOs

-What to watch out for before you say yes — because not every board is worth your time, and Russell explains how to tell the difference early

If you're a senior professional looking to build a portfolio career, or a business owner who wants to understand how to build a board around your company — this episode is your starting point.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Executive Coaching Certification here

Executive Coaching Certification - 2026

When someone on your team shuts down in a big meeting, or a client suddenly gets cold, or a colleague comes at you with arrogance and aggression, what is actually happening? And more importantly, what do you do about it?

In this second part of the Ego and Authentic Self series, I am going to show you how to read what is really going on with the people around you and how to use that awareness to become a more powerful, more effective leader.

In this episode, we explore:

-The Intimidated Team Member: How to spot when someone has gone into their ego and what to say to bring out their best

-The Arrogant Attacker: Why aggressive, arrogant people are actually scared, and the specific tools to handle them without losing your ground

-The Influence Principle: Why you can never control whether someone is in their ego, but you absolutely can influence it

💪 Your Challenge This Week: Think about the people in your life right now. A teammate. A client. Maybe someone at home. When do they go into their ego? What does it look like? And what is one thing you can do differently the next time it happens?

And here is the thing - this principle does not stop at the office door. The same ego triggers that show up in your boardroom show up with your partner, your kids, and your friends, because this is psychology, and psychology does not clock out.

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Executive Coaching Certification here

Executive Coaching Certification - 2026

When you step into a high-level role, the biggest enemy isn't the workload—it's Imposter Syndrome. You could be leading people who have been there for a long time and know more than you do. You may find yourself sitting in executive meetings wondering if you belong at the table.

In the conclusion of this live coaching session with "Paul," we move from the intellectual to the psychological. We break down how to lead a team of experts when you aren't one, and how to project authority before you feel ready.

In this episode, you will learn:

-Leading When You Aren't the Expert: How to manage a team that knows more than you do without losing their respect (or your confidence) .

-The "Elephant in the Room": Why (and how) to verbally acknowledge your blind spots to your team to build trust rather than suspicion .

-The Acclimation Trap: How to balance the need to learn with the pressure to produce results—and how to know exactly when to switch from "listening" to "directing" .

-Commanding the Room: How to establish Executive Presence with the C-Suite, even if you feel like the "new kid" at the table .

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Executive Coaching Certification here

Executive Coaching Certification - 2026

Have you ever snapped at someone on your team, avoided a hard conversation, or micromanaged a project you should have let go? That wasn't a leadership failure. That was your ego. And in this episode, I'm going to show you exactly what that means and how to fix it.

Every tool I teach traces back to this one principle. Once you understand it, you will never look at your own behavior the same way again.

In this episode, we explore:

-The Ego Trigger: Why your brain reacts the same way to a hostile boardroom as it does to a physical threat, and what that chemical reaction is silently doing to your leadership

-The Authentic Self Advantage: Why the leaders people actually want to follow are not the loudest or toughest in the room, they are the calmest

-The Leadership Cost: How every poor leadership trait, micromanaging, blame-shifting, avoiding hard conversations, traces back to one single source

💪 Your Challenge This Week: Pick one situation where you know you get triggered. Before you walk into it, ask yourself: "Am I in my ego or my authentic self right now?" That one question is often enough to shift everything.

You are safe. Lead from that.

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Executive Coaching Certification here

Executive Coaching Certification - 2026

Starting a new executive role is high-stakes. You have 90 days to prove your value, navigate office politics, and set a strategic vision—all while learning a new culture from scratch.

In this live coaching session, I work with "Paul," a newly hired Senior VP of HR at a 5,000-person company. He is stepping into a 100-year-old organization that is successful but stuck in its ways.

In Part 1 of this 2-part series, we break down the Preparation Phase. We discuss how to decode the hidden motivations of the C-Suite and how to build a 30-60-90 Day Plan that establishes immediate credibility.

In this episode, you will learn:

-The Key Objective: The #1 thing you need to do to ensure that the company, and the team, are glad they hired / promoted you.

-A 30-60-90 Framework you can follow to guide the expectations you set and achieve that makes it manageable and successful

-The "Tenure Trap": How to respect the history of a company without letting it kill innovation .

Resources:

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Executive Coaching Certification here

Executive Coaching Certification - 2026

When top-tier executives come to me for coaching, their #1 request is always the same: "I want to know where my blind spots are." They know that the things holding them back aren't their obvious weaknesses—they are the invisible patterns they have accepted as "normal."

Finding those blind spots requires you to challenge your current thinking.

In this short, experimental episode, I am not giving you a framework or a 5-step process. Instead, I am going to ask you 11 "What If" questions.

These questions are designed to bypass your ego and force you to look at how you handle conflict, intuition, power, and ownership.

In this episode, we explore:

-The Intuition Gap: Why you are ignoring that gut feeling about the person in the wrong role—and what it is costing you .

-The Power of Apology: What if you apologized to fix a broken relationship, even if you aren't sure it was your fault?

-The "Nice Leader" Syndrome: Why holding back your passion and frustration is actually a disservice to a team that needs to be woken up .

-The Ownership Reality: What happens when you stop blaming your industry, your boss, or your team, and take 100% ownership of exactly where you are today?

💪 The Challenge for This Week: Don't just listen to this on 1.5x speed.

Listen to the 11 questions.

When one hits you in the gut, hit pause.

Take one immediate action—send a text, schedule a meeting, or put a task on your calendar to address it.

Resources

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Executive Coaching Certification here

Executive Coaching Certification - 2026

Whether you are a professional coach, a consultant, an HR leader, or simply a manager trying to influence the C-suite, you need to know how to interact with people at the highest levels of an organization .

Many talented professionals hold themselves back from these conversations. They assume they need more credentials or a better "model." But high-level leaders do not care about your certifications. And if you try to use standard behavioral tactics with them, they will show you the door.

In this special live Masterclass recording, we dive deep into the psychology of interacting with top-tier executives . You will learn exactly what C-suite leaders are actually looking for in an advisor, and how to position yourself to earn their trust.

In this episode, you will learn:

-The "Executive Mask": Why CEOs build armor to survive, the 3 types of masks they wear (Competence, Resilience, Control), and why your ability to break through it dictates your influence.

-The Behavioral Trap: Why standard frameworks (like asking, "What are your goals?") fail with executives, and why you must learn to coach their identity, not just their behavior .

-The 3 Keys to High-Level Influence: How to develop the Credibility to get in the room, the Tools to break the mask, and the Presence to tell a $2 billion CEO the unvarnished truth .

-Live Coaching: Listen as I challenge "Bob," a consultant, to stop accepting meetings at the bottom of the ladder and start demanding time with the CEO .

Resources

-Questions on this? Ask me in the Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-want to coach c-level leaders confidently? Sign up here

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Executive Coaching Certification here

Executive Coaching Certification - 2026