A Leadership Narrative - January 30, 2026

The Story Leaders Must Convey To Get Their Teams To Believe

I recently read an article that described the importance of a leader’s narrative - the story they share about themselves, the story they tell their team about the mission they are on collectively, and how they communicate and conduct themselves. A leader’s narrative is made up of all these things, and more, and these things form the leader’s identity.  It is the team’s belief in this narrative and identity, or their doubts thereon, that impacts the cohesiveness and success of the team in achieving their mission.  I have spent a lot of time studying leadership, in my desire to be a better leader, but this article was the first time I had come across the concept of a “leader’s narrative”.  So naturally this got me thinking about what my leadership narrative would be.  

A key component of my narrative is to always do the right thing, at the right time (credit to author Ryan Holiday for emphasizing the timing of doing the right thing).  The right thing to do, regardless of whether it’s embarrassing, or an admission of fault, or costly (personally or to your organization), should be obvious, if you are honest, have good judgement and use common sense.  Here are a couple of personal examples:

• Many years ago my older son played minor hockey and I was dropping him off at practice.  I pulled up behind another car that was bringing the team goalie to the practice.  The goalie took his equipment bag out of his trunk and put it on the ground.  I didn’t see the equipment bag and ran over it with my vehicle.  In the process I severely damaged his face-mask. The goalie was very upset, and I apologized profusely.  My son had witnessed this event, as did several other teammates and their parents.  After everyone had calmed down, I told the goalie and his Mom that I would buy him a new mask.  It was my mistake and there was no doubt in my mind that the right thing to do was to replace the goalie’s mask.  A few days later the goalie and his Mom, my son and I went to a hockey equipment store; the goalie found a suitable replacement and I paid for it.  It never occurred to me to dodge the responsibility for the accident, and hopefully it provided a lesson to all the teammates on the hockey team (as word of what happened travelled fast), on always doing the right thing. 

• A few years ago I served as the volunteer President of an elite youth baseball program.  One year, a 14 year old player joined the organization and he was one of the most talented players to come to the Club in a long time.  During the winter, during off-season training, all the players and coaches went South for Spring Training.  When the players and coaches returned home from the training trip I heard from one of the Moms of some bad behaviour in the hotel by some of the players. As we investigated the reported incident , we learned of multiple occurrences of inappropriate behaviour by multiple players, including this “phenom” I mentioned above. Several players were suspended from team activities for various durations.  Our investigation revealed that this phenom had committed some egregious acts, and our Board of Directors agreed he should be removed from the Club.  Despite this player being one of the most talented players in the Club, at age 14, the right thing to do was to permanently suspend him.  Obviously word had travelled amongst the players and parents about what had transpired and so setting the right example, especially for the players, who were between the ages of 14-18, was the right thing to do.  

Another part of my narrative is to always do what you say you're going to do.  This is something I adopted in my personal work ethic, early in my career. As one progresses through their career, developing a reputation for being reliable and dependable goes a long way towards your personal brand.  One should always walk the walk, not just talk the talk. One leadership example is as follows:

• A few years ago, I was the CEO of a start-up company in an emerging industry.  We had a small team, they worked hard and did good work; sometimes they did extra work without being asked - they simply did what needed to be done.  We had secured some orders from some new but important customers, and that required our team to put in extra hours to deliver the products that had been ordered, on time.  I told the team about these new important orders and why they were being asked to put in the extra effort.  Not one member of the team questioned the directive.  Even though there was no push-back from the team, I had decided to incent the team with a bonus, if they could achieve these production targets in-excess of our normal production volume.  It meant the team would have to put in extra hours, and work more efficiently than normal.  The team was able to achieve the aggressive production targets - they did their part.  However, two of these new customers cancelled their orders, the day before the previously agreed upon delivery date.  There was no money coming in from these “important" customers, and our company cash flow was tight.  Yet our team had done their part and achieved the production targets asked of them. I had told them bonuses would still be paid for the extra effort.  My decision was simple - the company had to pay out the bonuses, even though it would put us in a tight cash position - our team had walked the walk, and so I had to as well - I never thought twice about paying out the bonuses; they had to be paid. 

Another part of my leadership narrative is to tackle difficult conversations head on.  Postponing these types of conversations only makes things worse.  The other party is thinking about it, you’re thinking about it, and dwelling on these thoughts for a period of time is counter-productive.  At your earliest opportunity, sit-down, face-to-face, and deliver the news, directly and sincerely.  It may be painful and perhaps emotional, but in the end you’re doing the other party a favour by being direct and timely, and you’ll be showing them the respect they deserve.  A good example of this type of conversation is when you have to terminate someone’s employment.  If you hired them in the first place, then making a bad hire is your fault, as the hiring manager; it’s not the fault of the person being fired - you made a bad hire! Unfortunately I made some bad hires, and had to have some difficult conversations.  On one such occasion, I had to fire an engineer; we gave her some modest severance amount.  She didn’t think it was enough, so she asked for a follow up meeting, which I granted promptly.  She showed up for the meeting, with her newborn child in a stroller, and her husband, a blue collar worker, in his ill-fitting, but only suit. They talked about retaining a lawyer to seek a larger settlement amount.  I responded by saying that there would be no more severance forthcoming, but they were well within their rights to spend money on a lawyer.  I never heard from them again, but I hope they appreciated the prompt and direct manner in which their situation was handled.  

Another part of my narrative is taking time to explain to the team, “why” the organization is pursuing certain initiatives, or taking certain actions, or why the organization is not doing something.  If the people on the team are being asked to follow a course of action, they should know and understand why.  This is not to suggest that every decision of leadership is up for debate, but the team will appreciate that leadership respected them enough to share the logic and thought that went into the mission they are on.  As a CEO, I’ve had to explain certain product decisions to the team, and help them understand that those decisions were driven by our understanding of what the customers wanted and would pay for.  We had developed a profile of our typical customers and were producing products that fit that profile.  Our team may not have agreed with every aspect of product decisions, but they respected that thought and logic had gone into the product decisions.  

So, in summary, my leadership narrative is made up of:

• Do The Right Thing

• Do What You Say Your Going To Do

• Tackle Difficult Conversations Head-On

• Explain The “Why”

Thanks for reading.