The Leadership Advantage

Leadership Advantage - Issue 15 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, We set goals to move forward. But what happens when life derails our plans overnight? Everyone knows about setting goals. We set them at work, at home, and in the organizations we support. Goals give us direction. They define success and help us measure progress. And there’s another practice I’ve found equally powerful: setting daily intentions. Unlike a goal, an intention isn’t about success or failure. It’s about focus. No...

Leadership Advantage - Issue 14 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, When I look back on the most pivotal moments of my career, there’s one thing that stands out above all else: the relationships I’ve built. It wasn’t my education, technical skills, or just being in the right place at the right time. It’s the people I’ve connected with. It’s the relationships I’ve built. These connections have opened doors, created opportunities, and given real meaning to the work I do. Over time, my network has...

Leadership Advantage - Issue 13 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, Do you have a photo that takes you back to the exact moment your life shifted? The kind of moment that showed you strength you didn’t know you had? For me, it is a picture of a waterfall. I keep this photo on the wall above my desk, and to most, it probably just looks like a pretty vacation picture. But it captures the day my life seemed to pivot from defeat to possibility. I was on a hike, at high-altitude, around Mammoth Lakes,...

Leadership Advantage - Issue 12 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, It’s easy to fall into the trap of blindly following frameworks that ‘everyone’ says work. But what happens when those frameworks hold you back instead of pushing you forward? Frameworks are the training wheels of problem solving. Think about when you first learned to ride a bike. Training wheels helped you get comfortable with balance, but they couldn’t give you the freedom to ride until you had the confidence to take them off....

Leadership Advantage - Issue 11 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, Are you striving to create products that truly resonate with your users? What happens when you decide to build a product not for market validation, but to share something that brings you joy? That’s exactly what happened to me when I was sick with a cold. I was just sick enough to not want to follow my normal routine, but not so sick that I needed to stay in bed. With only a 20-hour-per-week commitment to my client, I suddenly had...

Leadership Advantage - Issue 10 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, Are you looking for a way to maximize your team's impact? It's not just the charisma of leadership. It's also the grind of management. You need both for team success. 🌛 The world craves authentic leadership. But what’s leadership without its other half — management? It is vision without execution. It is like dreaming of climbing Mount Everest but not packing the gear. The ambition is high, but there is no chance of reaching the...

Leadership Advantage - Issue 9 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, This week, while I was on a coaching call, the topic of burnout was front and center. Looking back at my career, with the clarity of hindsight, the factors that both got me to that point, what helped, what didn't, and what I have learned are so much more apparent than when I was facing the situation alone. In this issue of Leadership Advantage, I want to highlight some research that gives anyone struggling with stress and burnout...

Leadership Advantage - Issue 8 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, Nothing screams 'successful team' like a well-oiled rhythm. But how do you create it? Having led numerous teams that excelled in delivering products throughout my career, I want to share the structure that will help you get a solid start. 👇 (Note: This is an excerpt from my Leadership Advantage Fundamentals course. More about that below.) First and foremost, as a leader, it is important to think through what needs to happen at...

Leadership Advantage - Issue 7 by Andrea Michalek Hi Leaders, In this issue of the Leadership Advantage, I want to talk about those events that wake you up and make you reconsider your path. For me, it started 5 years ago. Sometimes your drive to do what is right for "the business" comes first. You put it before your free time, your leisure time, and your mind is always racing. Some mornings, more than you want to count, you wake up from sleep and sit STRAIGHT up, with 100 thoughts of what...