Staff engagement rises when people can do work they’re proud of, and when “excellent” stops being vague.In this episode of M2: Managing Managers, Jim and Thomas share a lightweight, reusable 12-week cadence that helps frontline managers engage staff by co-creating a shared definition of excellent work, removing obstacles, and running small experiments.What you’ll get:* A simple frame: think puzzle, not poker. Sit on the same side of the table and solve the work together.* The flow (5–15 minutes a week): define excellence → name roadblocks → ask customers/stakeholders → draft an excellence statement → run tiny experiments → review/adjust → assign process owners → lock in wins and repeat.* Why psychological safety matters here, and how “helping” gets toxic when leaders weaponize the inputs.* How to use low-hanging fixes to build trust fast (and prove you listened).* How to run experiments without chaos: a short experiment log, clear predictions, and learning as the goal.* A warning sign many leaders miss: if the basics require heroism, your system is broken.If you manage managers, this is a practical way to teach them how to engage teams without turning “performance” into a whipping session.

Executive burnout often looks like success from the outside and feels like a trap on the inside. You’re winning. You’re needed. You’re the clutch player. Then one day you realize you built a “prison” made of dependencies, expectations, and a superhero identity you can’t sustain.In this episode of M2: Managing Managers, we unpack what executive burnout is, how to spot it, and what actually helps you climb back out.What we cover:* The signs: overwhelm, “stuck in the gears,” numbness, and the point where your normal resets stop working.* Why it’s different at the executive level: the “work harder → get promoted → work harder” loop, plus identity fused to the role.* The first move out: create blue sky—real calm and clarity—before you try to “fix leadership” or take on more change.* A fast diagnostic: saboteurs (how your strengths get used against you under stress).* High-leverage tools: elevate/delegate, stop–start–continue, time blocking, and clarifying decision rights so your inbox and your team stop dragging you back into the weeds.* The longer-term solution: redesign the role around the value the organization needs now—explicit accountabilities, clear success definitions, and a sustainable operating model.If you think you might be there, you don’t have to stay there. You can learn a better way to lead at a high level and still keep your humanity and your life. For details on Jim’s confidential Executive Leadership Blue Sky session, visit txl-lab.com.

As a manager of managers, you need to do more than build trust. You need to understand HOW trust gets built at every level, so you can ensure your subordinate managers are well-trusted by their directs.In this episode, we break trust into three pieces you can actually manage:* Competence: People trust you more when they see you can reliably deliver in the domain that matters to them.* Benevolence: People trust you more when they experience you as genuinely on their side—when your “caring” shows up as transparency, generosity, and vulnerability.* Integrity: People trust you more when your promises are clear and your follow-through is consistent. Small promises kept beat big promises made.We also tell you what fails: paint-by-numbers trust tactics, forced scripts, and one-on-ones that become a ritual instead of a relationship.We close with a practical repair move you can teach your managers: humbly ask for one thing you could do better, then change it quickly and visibly enough that people can feel it.