It's always what you don't have. Very happy that we have 120,000+ daily readers of the @AdmiredLeaders Field Notes email via @Substack. 186 countries is amazing. But nobody in Greenland? Help me find a great leader in Greenland to bring on board! Also Turkmenistan.

As crazy as the news today seems, it really was worse in the past. Real concerns were behind things like this. In 1949, an atomic bomb over the Westinghouse Plant in East Pittsburgh was the scenario for one of the first ever homeland defense exercises of the post-war world.

Time for the 80/20 rule to kick in!

I think we have found the problem.

Charlie Chaplin? Is this a thing in China?

My intuition feels like this is correct.

Pulling for my friends over @Helion_Energy.

If you didn't take the time to register for the Community Conference today - you can join the live stream here: substack.com/live-stream/408… Just going live now.

8. Deeply believe in what you are talking about. Talk about it like you deeply believe it.

My AI agent is auto-reposting this.

Turned out to be a team workout this morning.

Check this out: Mike Ditka in a game against the Steelers in 1963. This is honestly one of the best plays by a tight end in NFL history that very few people have ever seen. RIP Iron Mike.

You don't have to be a @ChicagoBears fan to find something to love about Mike Ditka. ____ From Jim Nantz on the This is Football podcast on @OmahaProd talking to @bykevinclark

🚨🚨CRAZIEST STAT EVER🚨🚨 Legendary coaches Mike Ditka, Paul Brown, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh, Nick Saban, Bo Schembechler, Lou Holtz, Bob Stoops, Les Miles, Ara Parseghian, Jim Tressel, Don James, Bill Cowher, Woody Hayes, Curt Cignetti, and Mike McCarthy were all born or raised within this 315-mile area. 18 football icons 🤯

Nihonga master’s spectacular work.

Never thought about that -- they really do look like part of the tree. Gnarled and twisted oak.

When a new leader arrives, most team members instinctively shift into impression-management mode. They highlight their significant accomplishments, position their skills, and look for opportunities to demonstrate their value. It feels like the right move. It seldom is. Seasoned leaders have seen this before. They know that nearly everyone they meet in the first 100 days is auditioning. And because they know it, they discount it. The team member who leads with their resume sparks skepticism, not confidence. The very behavior intended to build credibility erodes it. Some team members take a stronger approach. They resist self-promotion, let others carry advocacy for them, and instead convey an understanding of the problems the new leader is inheriting. What risk must be addressed first? What opportunity is being left on the table? What has the team or organization been avoiding? Demonstrating situational awareness and a willingness to deliver uncomfortable news is wiser than leading with the resume, but it still falls short of what earns genuine trust. What truly cuts through is something far less common. The most credible thing a team member can do in the early days of a leadership transition is to identify what the organization really needs — even when that assessment is inconvenient for them personally. New leaders notice immediately when someone’s advice isn’t filtered through self-interest. It’s the clearest signal they can receive that a person’s judgment can be trusted. The team member who tells a new leader, “Whether or not you choose me for this role, here is what this function needs to succeed,” has just done something most people are unwilling to do in that moment. They have put the organization before themselves. They have separated their recommendation from their fate. That is instantly and unmistakably credible. The transition period is one of the few moments in organizational life when a new leader is actively forming lasting judgments about everyone around them. Most people spend that window trying to look good. The ones who earn real trust spend it trying to be useful. That’s the credibility signal that cuts through everything else.

As a non-golfer, I will admit I was unaware of this argument:

Leaders are told, rightly so, that consistency builds trust and believability. Unfortunately, some leaders take this idea too literally. They trade real consistency for the counterfeit of sameness. admiredleadership.substack.c…