Tremendous Tracey

In The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, researchers found that the most effective salespeople weren't the "relationship builders" who made clients feel good. They were the "challengers" who pushed clients to think differently, challenged their assumptions, and created constructive discomfort.

The same is true in leadership development.

Supporter coaching says: "You're doing great! Keep it up!" Challenger coaching says, "You're doing well. Now here's where you can go deeper."

Supporter coaching feels good in the moment but produces minimal growth. Challenger coaching creates tension in the moment but produces transformation.

This past week, I did something unusual for me. I attended a conference for business coaches—not as a speaker, trainer, or MC, but simply as a participant. Pure sponge mode. No agenda except to absorb, learn, and be poured into.

And somewhere in those three days of immersion, I heard a phrase that stopped me in my tracks: "Is there a 'there' there?"

It's a question of discovery, isn't it? A question we ask when we're exploring new territory, uncertain if we'll find substance beneath the surface. Is this worth pursuing? Is there real value here? Will this journey lead somewhere meaningful?

In the kingdom of Leadership, there lived two knights of equal skill and training. Both faced the same fire-breathing dragons, the same treacherous terrain, the same impossible quests. But their approaches couldn't have been more different.

Sir Mount charged into every battle with his sword held high. When the dragon breathed fire, he didn't retreat—he found another path around. When his quest went sideways (and they always did), he adapted and pressed forward. When others needed rescuing from the tower, Sir Mount was the first to volunteer, knowing full well the climb would be brutal.

Sir Render, on the other hand, had a different strategy: surrender before the battle even began. He saw the fire-breathing dragon and immediately catalogued all the ways he'd get burned. He viewed every quest as proof that the kingdom was doomed. When asked to rescue others, he'd list seventeen reasons why it was impossible.

   This year, Tremendous Leadership celebrates its 60th anniversary—six decades of igniting lives with wisdom, wit, and the written word. As I reflect on this milestone, I am reminded of one of my father’s timeless writings from the 1980s, “A Sense of Urgency.”

   In it, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones wrote:

   “A sense of urgency is that feeling that lets you know yesterday is gone forever, and tomorrow never comes. TODAY is in your hands. Shirking today adds to wasted yesterdays, and postponing today’s work adds to tomorrow’s burden.”

Today, we are told that certain topics are "too toxic for public discourse." But when the truth itself becomes off-limits — when it's silenced because it "unleashes hate" — we are no longer protecting peace, we are revealing the condition of the human heart.

To blame Charlie Kirk's words for his murder is as twisted as blaming a firefighter for the burns he suffered while dragging someone out of a burning house, as if his courage caused the flames. Or blaming a doctor for catching a disease while treating a patient, as if healing were the problem.

Outstanding leadership isn’t about easing standards for comfort. It’s about calling people to more than they thought possible. It’s about standing firm when the easy way says, “Let it slide.”

Moses knew it. Machiavelli knew it. Steven Sample knew it. And deep down, we know it too. So let us never forget: when leaders soften the standard, organizations decay. But when leaders raise the bar, they ignite transformation.

   As a lifelong student—and teacher—of leadership, I’ve found that defining this incredible word is easier said than done. Leadership is one of the most studied, written-about, and aspired-to traits in all of human history. There are thousands of theories, models, and definitions floating around, from servant leadership to transformational leadership, from positional power to moral authority.

The phrase “A fish rots from the head down” is a blunt and timeless proverb that reminds us of a critical leadership truth: when an organization is in decline, the problem usually starts at the top—not with the staff, not with the systems, not with external conditions. The rot begins at the head.

As a lifelong student—and teacher—of leadership, I’ve found that defining this incredible word is easier said than done. Leadership is one of the most studied, written-about, and aspired-to traits in all of human history. There are thousands of theories, models, and definitions floating around, from servant leadership to transformational leadership, from positional power to moral authority.

And yet, every once in a while, you find a definition that hits the sweet spot.

Leaders are only effective when they foster a culture of ethical discernment and honest dialogue, rather than blind allegiance wrapped in emotional language, such as "non-interference" and "deference." If your team can't ask hard questions, your leadership has stopped being servant-hearted and started being self-serving.

Let us see this great nation as it is—not perfect, but profoundly united in purpose—a nation capable of confronting its past, reckoning with its flaws, and pushing forward with hope. Let us not be disillusioned by those who benefit from division—whether political activists, media outlets, or entertainment empires. Their goal is chaos; ours is covenant.

"That's the power of a book. Let me tell you about one book in particular: The Common Denominator of Success by Albert E. N. Gray. It's been my calling card for years. I don't hand out business cards. Do you know why? Because I'm sensitive—it hurts my feelings when people throw them away! So instead of a card, I give them this book."

That's the heart of Coaching Leadership—the frontier where we stop commanding from a distance and start walking beside people in development-driven relationships. Coaching isn't about giving orders. It's about giving ownership. It's about growing thinkers, not just followers. It's about aligning potential with purpose, not just performance with process.