Happy New Year, Leaders! We are kicking off 2026 with a "power bomb" episode. If your plan for this year is simply to "be better," Tammy has some tough love for you: Better is not a strategy. Stopping the wrong behavior is.

In Episode 115, we aren't adding to your to-do list. Instead, we are identifying the five anchors weighing down your leadership and eroding your team's trust. If you want to be taken seriously in every room you enter this year, it's time to put these habits in the rearview mirror.

1. The Busyness Trap: Why being in every Slack thread and meeting doesn't make you indispensable—it makes you a bottleneck.

   • Tammy's Sandbox Truth: "Leaders create clarity; managers create motion; exhausted people create chaos."

   • Power Question: What are you still doing that your position should have outgrown by now?

2. The "Sugar-Coating" Habit: How vague feedback and "just circling back" emails are actually courage issues that create resentment.

   • Tammy's Sandbox Truth: "Unspoken expectations become resentment every single time."

   • Power Question: Who are you protecting by not naming the problem, and what is it costing the organization?

3. Managing for Consensus: Why alignment actually comes after direction, not before it, and how seeking total agreement is outsourcing your leadership.

   • Tammy's Sandbox Truth: "Alignment comes after direction, not before it."

   • Power Question: Where are you waiting for permission instead of taking responsibility in leadership?

4. Hiding Behind the Shield: Why "HR said so" or "that's just our culture" is an abdication of your authority.

   • Tammy's Sandbox Truth: "Leaders don't outsource accountability. They own it."

   • Power Question: What are you blaming instead of owning right now?

5. The Autopilot Routine: Why the version of you that worked in 2022 is officially under-qualified for the challenges of 2026.

   • Tammy's Sandbox Truth: "If you don't upgrade your inner work and get in touch with who you are as leader, what you're here to do, no skill set will save you. Upskill you on the inside first. Lead yourself well before you lead others."

   • Power Question: How are you intentionally evolving how you think, not just what you do?

Listen to this episode to get the full details on your "Sandbox Truths" and "Power Questions" for each of these five steps. Let's make 2026 the year you stop sabotaging your own momentum.

Check out the artwork mentioned in this episode: davidwightglassart.com