Becoming a Better Leader in an Ultra-Competitive World

Operational Pacing and Human Capacity: Why Good Financial Results Mask Systemic Execution Drift

This Fast Leader Show episode covers becoming a Better Leader in an Ultra-Competitive World. Here is what the conversation covers, then the key insights.

Lee Colan shared a story on the show about a pharmaceutical client celebrating record financial metrics for five consecutive years. Right as Lee was stepping into their headquarters to warn them that their quality and employee metrics were collapsing, his cell phone rang.

Executive Summary: Key Insights
Leading vs. Lagging Performance:
Financial metrics reflect past system outcomes, whereas leadership execution metrics serve as the primary leading indicator of future organizational health.
Cognitive Scaffolding for Workforce Onboarding:
Modern remote and hybrid operating environments eliminate informal feedback loops, requiring explicit system design to replace informal learning.
Strengths-Based System Alignment:
Designing operational environments around existing human capabilities yields significantly higher execution velocity than attempting to remediate structural deficiencies.

Lee Colan shared a story on the show about a pharmaceutical client celebrating record financial metrics for five consecutive years. Right as Lee was stepping into their headquarters to warn them that their quality and employee metrics were collapsing, his cell phone rang. The FDA had just pulled their primary product off the market, wiping out forty percent of their revenue in a single afternoon.

That is the danger of reading your wake instead of watching the horizon.

When organizations focus exclusively on lagging financial outputs, they miss the invisible erosion happening upstream. In our work studying organizational mechanics, we call this dynamic the Drift Tax.

Sit with that for a moment.

Lee highlighted how early-career professionals entering the workplace post-twenty-twenty missed out on thousands of informal data points. They missed the subtle hallway interactions, the casual suit choice corrections, and the real-time social cues that naturally polish human behavior. Without those environmental cues, the human brain relies on its Biological Autopilot to navigate daily ambiguity.

And truthfully, I overlooked this for a long time.

We often expect individuals to self-correct in a vacuum. But when the external operating environment moves faster than human processing capacity, expectation without structural support turns into systemic friction.

Consider Lee’s simple three-W approach of defining what, who, and when after every interaction. That simple operational constraint removes ambiguity before friction can take root. When organizations fail to provide those clear environmental guardrails, managers fall back on heroic individual effort to keep initiatives moving forward.

The traditional operating system was never designed for this level of operational velocity.

When systems lack supportive scaffolding, even smart people struggle to maintain alignment. Upgrading the underlying execution architecture is the only way to protect both organizational performance and human dignity.

Now that you see the bigger picture, what will you do differently?

Operational Performance and Leadership Execution: Frequently Asked Questions

How do lagging financial metrics obscure underlying operational risk?

Financial indicators measure historical outputs rather than real-time systemic capability. When an enterprise focuses exclusively on quarterly revenue, it remains blind to internal friction, process degradation, and cognitive overload occurring across mid-level management. Over time, unmeasured operational drag erodes capability until a sudden performance failure occurs, exposing the gap between strategic expectations and structural reality.

Why do traditional change initiatives fail in hybrid and dispersed work environments?

Traditional management models rely heavily on informal, in-person observations and manual coordination to maintain operational alignment. In geographically distributed or fast-moving operational settings, the sheer volume of daily ambiguity exceeds human cognitive capacity. Without supportive environmental systems and clear operational constraints, individuals revert to familiar autopilot routines rather than adopting new organizational behaviors.

What is the financial impact of relying on individual heroics rather than execution systems?

Relying on unicorn leaders to manually bridge operational gaps creates severe key-person risk and accelerates systemic burnout. When execution relies on personal willpower rather than structural design, organizations experience continuous rework, delayed decision-making, and high talent turnover. Installing governing execution frameworks protects executive intent while preserving human energy and operational margins.

Tips and Traits for Excelling in Leadership in a Competitive World

In today’s fast-paced and ultra-competitive world, being a good leader is more important than ever. But how do you become a better leader when the competition is fierce and the stakes are high?

According to Lee J. Colan, author of Healthy Leadership: How to Thrive in the New World of Work, there are several key traits that great leaders possess. Here are a few tips to help you become a better leader:

1. Develop a clear vision: A good leader has a clear idea of what they want to achieve and can communicate that vision to their team. This helps everyone stay focused and aligned towards the same goal.
2. Build a strong team: It’s important to surround yourself with talented and motivated people who share your vision. As a leader, your job is to inspire and empower your team to achieve great things.
3. Communicate effectively: Clear and open communication is essential for any successful team. Make sure you are regularly communicating with your team and actively listening to their feedback.
4. Lead by example: Great leaders set the tone for their team. By modeling the behaviors and values you want to see in others, you can create a positive and productive work environment.
5. Embrace change: In today’s world, change is constant. A good leader is adaptable and able to navigate through uncertainty and change with confidence and agility.

By developing these key traits, you can become a better leader and help your team thrive in an ultra-competitive world. Remember, leadership is a journey, and it takes time, effort, and commitment to develop these skills. But with the right mindset and a willingness to learn and grow, you can become the leader your team needs to succeed.

In this episode, Lee Colan shares his insights on how to become a better leader in today’s ultra-competitive world. He discusses key traits of great leaders, including developing a clear vision, building a strong team, communicating effectively, leading by example, and embracing change. Join us as we learn from Lee’s extensive experience and expertise in leadership development.

Lee Colan was born in Long Island, NY.  Lee moved to Ft. Lauderdale when he was 7 (also known as the southern tip of Long Island). 

Lee’s parents tried for a second child for 12 years and finally had his older sister.  Then three years later that got a BIG surprise…. Lee! So, his sister is 3 years older and his brother is 15 years older. Both parents were part of The Greatest Generation with roots from Italy and Turkey. Colan is short for Colantuono.

Youth sports and school leadership roles triggered Lee’s thirst to learn more about leading people. He always seemed to be coaching and helping others be there best and this continued with leadership roles in college at Florida State University.

While Lee was earning his doctorate in Organizational Psychology, his passion for people and leadership accelerated as he served in executive leadership roles. This enabled him to apply the science of human behavior in the world of work. These roles also gave him the opportunity to help his team members grow both personally and professionally.

In addition to his corporate leadership jobs, Lee also worked with two premier consulting firms and knew he would want to build his own firm at some point.  That happened on Jan 12, 1999, when he co-founded The L Group with his wife, Julie. It is a leadership advisory firm dedicated to healthy growth for the leader, the employees, and the business. 

Lee life to say, “Our lives were meant to give away.” So, he believes in living your legacy instead of worrying about leaving it, so he strives to serves each day – serve his family, his friends, his clients, the community, and most importantly strangers. 

He lives in the Dallas area and has been married for 35 year to Julie who is also co-founder of their firm and co-author of 8 of Lee’s 16 books).  They have three grown children who have written a book on parenting from a child’s perspective and who now work for Tik Tok, Proctor & Gamble and KraftHeinz.

Tweetable Quotes and Mentions

Listen to @LeeColan get over the hump on the @FastLeaderShow – Click to Tweet

“Good results aren’t good enough.” – Click to Tweet

“Truth is truth no matter when. It’s timely yet timeless. But the application of that truth can look very different.” – Click to Tweet

“We need to do a better job of looking at our wake.” – Click to Tweet

“The 3 principles of healthy leadership are love, positivity, and growth.” – Click to Tweet

“Positivity is not just about your positive thoughts, but it’s also about your emotions.” – Click to Tweet

“Leadership is an inside job. It starts from the inside out.” – Click to Tweet

Advice for others

Take a deeper sense of faith in yourself and your Lord.

Holding him back from being an even better leader

The things I don’t know about. More self-awareness.

Best Leadership Advice

Your job as a leader is not to know everything but to be able to fill in your ignorance within 24 hours.

Secrets to Success / Tools

3W’s – What, Who, When.

Recommended Reading

The Greatest Salesman in the World

Links and Resources

Lee’s website: https://thelgroup.com/

Lee’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-l-group/

Lee’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeeColan

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Check out other episodes on leadership: https://www.fastleader.net/leadership-lessons-2021

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