← No Bullsh!t Leadership
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- [00:01]
A
Most leaders consume a lot of content. Very little of it actually changes how they lead. Today, Em and I are counting down the five episodes from this year that genuinely move the needle and why they worked.
- [00:13]
B
Welcome to the no Bullshit Leadership Podcast. In a world where knowledge has become a commodity, this podcast is designed to give you something more access to the experience of a successful CEO who has already walked the path. So join your host, Martin Moore, who will unlock and bring to life your own leadership experiences and accelerate your journey to leadership excellence.
- [00:37]
A
Hey there and welcome to episode 383 of the no Bullshit Leadership Podcast. This week's episode, the five episodes from 2025 that change the way you lead. Rather than doing a highlight reel, we've deliberately chosen five episodes that had a real impact. The ones that people didn't just listen to but actually used. What do you reckon, Em?
- [00:57]
B
Yes. And look, we're doing this properly. This isn't just a list. For each episode, we're going to break down why it resonated, what the core idea was, and most importantly, what you should take away and apply in your own leadership for 2026.
- [01:11]
A
Yep. And look, some of these episodes performed really well because they were highly practical and I love the practical episodes. But others perform well because they just challenged how leaders think. And some, again, because they spoke directly to situations a lot of people are dealing with, but not many talk about openly.
- [01:29]
B
Yeah. And we're going to count them down from number five all the way down to number one. So if you've missed any of these or if you've listened but you didn't fully apply them, this is your chance to go back and get real value out of the work. You ready, Marty?
- [01:42]
A
Thanks, Em. So let's get into it.
- [01:48]
B
All right, so let's start with number five. This was episode 334, the perfect, perfect ending for a one on one meeting. This one was massively practical and I think that's exactly why it performed so well.
- [02:00]
A
Yeah, it's just one of those episodes where people don't listen. They can use it that same day. So I know people who've contacted me via LinkedIn and just said, I had a one on one today and I was able to use that and it made a real difference to how we left the room. So leaders know they should be doing one on ones, but most of them aren't getting the performance lift they're hoping for. And it's probably because the conversation ends too loosely apart from anything else.
- [02:22]
B
Yeah. And I think it's because it's that Typical, you know, cool, we'll touch base next week ending. And it's just not a strong ending. It doesn't make anyone accountable for anything.
- [02:32]
A
Spot on in. Because vague endings create vague accountability. The deeper message in this episode is that in any one on one, you only really have one objective. Either you're there to understand the person better, or you're there to make sure the feedback lands with absolute clarity. And leaders often muddy both because they try to make it comfortable instead of clear.
- [02:53]
B
So the reason that the ending matters is because it's where clarity becomes commitment. And that's a big piece to the puzzle.
- [03:01]
A
Totally is. Totally is. So this three question close is incredibly powerful. Right. First question is, do you understand what you need to do? That's just to make sure they've got clarity and the messages have landed. The second question is, do you think it's a reasonable expectation? So this gives them the opportunity to talk about anything that's on their mind and is worrying them. And the third thing, is there anything that might stop you from delivering? And so that question basically sets them up to say, if you can foresee any issues, let me know now. Otherwise I'm going to hold you accountable for what happens in the end. And those questions flush out misunderstanding and resistance and any hidden obstacles that they may not have told you about while they were listening to you in the one on one.
- [03:42]
B
Yeah. So simple, but so effective, Marty. And so I think the real takeaway for listeners is that if your people aren't delivering, don't start by blaming motivation. Start by checking that clarity and commitment.
- [03:56]
A
Absolutely. Most performance issues are clarity issues before anything else. So if you want to listen to that episode, head to yourcomentor.com episode 334. We're going to put links in the show notes, of course, for all of these episodes. All right, Em, let's go on to number four. This is episode 337, how to do Hard Things. And this one sort of surprised me a bit because it's almost a personal discipline episode, but it clearly struck a chord.
- [04:23]
B
Yeah. I think it's because leadership isn't a knowledge problem a lot of the time. It's a courage problem. Most leaders, they already know what they should do, but they're just avoiding it. Right. That's. That's what we see across the board. So this episode gave people a way to stop negotiating with themselves ultimately.
- [04:42]
A
Yeah. Yeah. And there's a real no hacks vibe in this one.
- [04:45]
B
Totally. And I just love the way that you structured it into four clear Areas that leaders typically avoid. So, you know, it's super common. Speaking up, making decisions, having hard conversations, and letting go of control. I'm sure everyone listening is going, you know, oh, yeah, I'd probably do one of those four things at least. But I really like the fact that for each one, you didn't just say, you know, fix your whole leadership style. You said here, just take the first step. Do one thing to improve in that area.
- [05:15]
A
Yeah, that's right. It sounds simple, but psychologically, it's taking that first step that's the hardest. Because as soon as you take the first step, you've committed.
- [05:23]
B
Well, that's the hardest part. Right. Starting. And then once you start, you've got that motion and momentum. So the practical takeaway for this episode, I think is just like, pick that one thing that you've been avoiding and go small but decisive. Ask one question in the next meeting, make one decision that you've been sitting on, have one conversation that you've been dodging, or let go of one task that you are gripping onto with dear life. Let it go.
- [05:51]
A
That's right. And of course, the deeper theme is self esteem comes from doing difficult things, not from thinking about them.
- [05:58]
B
Yeah, exactly. So, you know, leadership confidence, it's really built through action, not intentional. And I think that came through really strongly in that episode.
- [06:07]
A
Yeah.
- [06:08]
B
Okay, let's go on to number three. So episode three, Five. Five, the new rules for building a high performing team. And I think this one did so well because it basically just called bullshit on the feel good definition of high performance. Really?
- [06:22]
A
Oh, totally. And high performing team like that was one of the very, very earliest subject areas we addressed when we started this podcast back in 2018. You know, I think episode two was how to build a high performing team. And I wanted to do a reboot of this because I've learned so much in the intervening years working with clients in all different countries and different sizes of businesses and so forth. So the high performing team is just one of those phrases that people repeat all the time and they don't even know what it means. If I had a dollar for every time someone sat across the table from me in an interview and said, well, Marty, you know, I build high performing teams. And then the minute you scratch below the surface, you find that it's. There's nothing there, it's vacuous. So you'll say, okay, high performing teams. Talk me through that. What do you call a high performing team? And all of a sudden it goes into, well, everyone got on really well. There wasn't any dissent. You know, we managed to make decisions and move forward. Everyone agreed that's the antithesis of a high performing team. So I wanted to reset the definition to make it measurable, behavioral and, you know, just a little bit confronting, as I like to do.
- [07:30]
B
Yeah. Which it was. And one of the big punches in this episode is that people confuse comfort with performance.
- [07:37]
A
Oh, absolutely. And apart from things I've already mentioned, you know, people being happy and having low turnover, it's just not what a high performing team is. There's got to be constructive tension. And you can have a brilliant team or a completely mediocre one that never gets challenged, that has those characteristics. So it's all about looking at the things that really drive performance.
- [07:59]
B
So the reason it hits is probably because leaders, they want a high standard. The leaders who listen to this podcast, they want to actually be able to create a high performing team, not just a team that gets along well and has warm and fuzzies.
- [08:12]
A
That's right. Well, the performance is really your only differentiator as a leader. You know, if you can get performance out of your team, that's what's going to set you apart from everyone else. So this is why the framework includes things like, you know, no tourists, no passengers, but you can't afford to carry people on a high performing team because that's the low watermark that everyone else sinks to. You've got to be able to produce demonstrably superior results. It's got to be clear that the performance is actually a cut above. You've got to have a ruthless prioritisation and value focus to make sure that you're always working on the right things and getting maximum traction from the resources you have. There's got to be, as I said before, that that constructive tension where people are not afraid to challenge each other and don't take it personally, but it's part of the process of finding the highest value work. And then of course, our old favorite single point, accountability. The number one lever. Yep, yep, Absolutely the number one lever in performance. If you did nothing else, just hold your people individually accountable and the performance from your team is going to be night and day. And, you know, here's the deeper truth. If you don't have accountability intention, you don't have performance. You just have appeasement.
- [09:22]
B
Okay, so the takeaway, I think the takeaway from this.
- [09:25]
A
So I got a bit excited on that one, Em. I fired up.
- [09:27]
B
I know, I was like, whoa, okay, tearing down the gauntlet. I think the takeaway here is almost a diagnostic. So there's an awesome free downloadable for this episode. Make sure you go and grab it. It's. You can basically make a diagnostic on your own team. And to see how much of high performers they really are, go grab that@your ceomentor.com Episode 3 5, 5. I will absolutely put these links in the show notes.
- [09:54]
A
Awesome. Awesome. So, you know, ask yourself, are we actually getting better outcomes or we're just functioning pleasantly? Do we just have a social club? Like, we're just doing coffee together or actually doing stuff that makes a difference? Because high performing teams have speed, they have energy, and they have discipline. And you can feel it like you don't even need to be part of the team. You can see it when you walk through an office floor. Those teams that have those things, 100%. All right, number two is episode 344, how to build a winning team culture in just four steps. You know how much I love a.
- [10:25]
B
Listicle M Sounds so simple, doesn't it?
- [10:28]
A
But this was a standout and it's got that Formula one motor racing hook which people love, which I love anyway.
- [10:35]
B
Well, it is your favorite team, Marty McLaren, that we're talking about in the start here and Zach Brown's no blame culture angle. I think the reason listeners loved this is because it takes culture out of the abstract and makes it really operational. Most leaders and most leadership quotation marks, gurus talk about culture like it's a vibe. And this episode basically says culture is the system that decides how you behave under pressure. And I just love that.
- [11:04]
A
Yeah, it's fantastic. And if you want to know what a vibe's like, all you have to do is go back and watch that old Australian movie, the Castle, where suburban lawyer Dennis Danuto decided to take on the Australian constitutional regime by saying, it's the vibe of the thing. So it's the vibe, you know, the.
- [11:22]
B
Vibe I never thought we were talking about. I never thought we would talk about the Castle on this podcast.
- [11:28]
A
Dennis denudo, Suburban Lawyer Look, Formula One is pressure at its highest form. I am staggered at the maturity and grace under pressure of these drivers who are in their 20s. Most of these drivers, they're in their 20s. They're young, really young. And the way they handle the pressure of this high performance sport is just amazing. And of course, you know, congratulations to Lando Norris, as much as it pains me that his teammate Oscar Piastri didn't win. But there'll be plenty more world championships for Oscar in his future, I'm sure.
- [12:01]
B
Totally Got to get you to. Got to get you to an F1 and meet Oscar.
- [12:04]
A
You know, yesterday.
- [12:05]
B
Call out to the podcast, podcast listeners.
- [12:11]
A
Please. No, yesterday. Yesterday, at a Christmas party, I ran into a good friend of mine who lives in Singapore, and so we're already. Already conspiring to make the Singapore Grand Prix in 2026.
- [12:21]
B
Okay, well, any clients in Singapore, you let us know. We'll be over there. Okay, so back to the episode, F1.
- [12:29]
A
Oh, that's right. Sorry.
- [12:30]
B
It's tiny margins, it's brutal performance feedback. It's high consequences. So it's just such a great lens to talk about what separates teams who win from teams who make excuses. And I think the core arc of this episode is that McLaren didn't win because of one magical upgrade. They won because leadership and culture finally created traction. They stopped blaming the engine. They stopped blaming everything that was happening externally. And they looked in the mirror.
- [13:00]
A
They did. They did. And they realised that it took a whole team to make that work. I did an episode years and years ago about the fact that, you know, if you want to build a really good team, you've got to have coverage across all areas of diversity in terms of performance and discipline. And, of course, they brought in a designer into McLaren from Red Bull who designed the famous Red Bull car, and then they brought this same person into McLaren to give them that edge. So it's finding the people who are at the top of their game, putting it together into a system and a culture that liberates their talent, that helps them produce at their very, very best. So, you know, the point about blame is massive the minute you stop blaming. And, you know, I've done other podcast episodes about guys like Guenther Steiner, who was a massive, massive blamer of external factors as the Haas team went from bad to worse over a period of years. But, you know, this is really showing how it should be done in McLaren.
- [13:56]
B
Yeah. And the four steps that you put in this episode were really practical. So, first, one, believe there's dormant potential in your team. Number two, stop blaming. Take ownership of what you can control. Number three, make the hard decisions, especially on talent and standards. And number four, be patient, because winning cultures aren't built in two weeks. And I think that's just like such a. You look at those four things and ask yourself, do I do that? Is my culture like that? And that's a really good place to start. That's why I think people loved it so much.
- [14:32]
A
Indeed. And I got to use one of my favorite lines as well, which once Again, a very old podcast episode I did on this, the quote being, no noise equals no change. Like, if you're bringing change and you're doing it properly, there'll be a few people who you're disrupting who are going to squeal about it. So no noise, no change.
- [14:50]
B
Yeah, exactly. You just can't transform a culture without some discomfort. You know, if everything just feels smooth, then you're probably not shifting anything meaningful. So I think the key takeaway from this episode is that if you want a winning culture, start by removing excuses and raising standards, not by writing new values on a wall.
- [15:11]
A
Oh, my God. You know how much I hate glossy brochures, right?
- [15:14]
B
I know. So, okay, Marty, I'm gonna give you number one to go through episode three, five, four, how to lead in a Toxic Culture, your survival guide. This episode became the top because it speaks to what so many leaders are quietly dealing with.
- [15:30]
A
Yeah. Toxic cultures are more common than people think, or certainly more common than they want to admit. And they're often not, you know, cartoon villain toxic. It's politics, it's insecurity, it's blame, it's vague and weak leadership, you know, backstabbing peers, egos coming into play. Like, there's all sorts of reasons why cultures can become toxic. And the hardest part is it's so easy to lead when everything's healthy. The test is whether or not you can lead when it's not.
- [16:00]
B
This episode also has a really big range. So it's not just how to survive your boss, but it's managing up, managing across, and insulating yourself from the wider dysfunction of your team that you might be having to deal with.
- [16:13]
A
Yeah, exactly. And coming back to, you know, our other episode on the High performing team, episode 355, you know, this is really the key thing, right? Performance is what you have to focus on, and that's what's going to differentiate you and make your team stand out. So we broke this into three chunks. So there's managing up with different types of bosses, leading across boundaries with different peers in different situations, because, remember, their KPIs are very rarely going to align with yours and navigating the overall culture with tools that you can actually use. So I think the core concept here is you don't fix the whole system overnight, but you can create an island of excellence. And we often talk about islands of excellence because, you know, most of the leaders in our community aren't CEOs at the top of their companies. They're dealing with shit decisions that roll downhill and Hit them. So you've got to be able to manage in that environment. I'm sure you all know exactly what I'm talking about.
- [17:05]
B
And this is such a relief for leaders, Marty, because I think a lot of people are just stuck thinking, well, if I can't fix this whole culture, then I'm powerless.
- [17:14]
A
Yeah. And that's wrong because you can still set a standard in your neck of the woods. You know what they say, Charity starts at home. So you can set the standards, you can deliver the outcomes. You can build a reputation for being solid and calm and. And effective and someone that people want to work for because you stretch them and you give them that impact that they otherwise won't get.
- [17:32]
B
So I think the key takeaway here is don't get dragged into the emotional drama. Stay principled, stay strategic. Map stakeholders, manage information and play the long game.
- [17:44]
A
Yeah. And be really smart about how you escalate. So don't just react to escalation every time because you want to show that you can do the job for yourself. Don't be filled with drama and try not to burn the relationships when you have to escalate. Take people with you. Deal with it strategically and think about it for the long term.
- [18:01]
B
And for anyone who would prefer to watch this episode, you can do that because it was actually taken from a webinar replay that we did. So head to your ceomentor.com Episode 3, 5, 4 if this has resonated with you at all. Okay, Marty, that is our top five. The top five episodes that really move the needle for. For our leaders this year.
- [18:24]
A
Yeah. If you missed any of these episodes, go back and have a good listen to them because they're really going to set you up for 2026 in a great way. Don't just binge them like they're entertainment. Like you just let it all wash over you and do nothing different. They are tools. They're tools to be used, and they're tools that are going to help you to improve the way you lead.
- [18:42]
B
And if one of these episodes has helped you this year, please share it with a leader that you care about and follow or subscribe to the podcast. That is how this podcast podcast reaches the people who need it most. I don't know, maybe even write a post on your LinkedIn about which episode was most valuable to you so that others can reap the rewards.
- [19:01]
A
That's awesome, Em. Thank you so much to everyone in our audience for listening for another year. And we're going to see you in the next episode of the no Bullshit Leadership podcast.