60-Second PLAYBOOK: 7 Signs You Have a Leader Problem

Empowered leadership isn’t about working harder—it’s about creating trust, clarity, and ownership so your team can thrive. Yet too many leaders slip into habits that quietly disempower the very people they’re trying to lead.

Here are seven common red flags that signal it might be happening to you:

You’re the bottleneck. Every decision requires your approval, slowing everything down.

You can’t stop fixing. When you jump in to correct, you teach your team to wait instead of act.

Problems come without solutions. That’s not delegation—it’s dependency.

Meetings drag. If time is spent on reporting instead of real progress, you’re wasting trust and energy.

Your team seeks unnecessary permission. That’s a symptom of unclear guardrails or a lack of trust.

Top performers are quiet—or leaving. The best people crave ownership, not babysitting.

You’re overwhelmed. Your calendar is full of tasks your team should own.

👉 If you see two or more of these, you’re likely stuck in what I call the leadership chokehold—a pattern that kills velocity, erodes trust, and burns out both you and your people.

The fix starts with empowerment.
That means building trust, communicating with radical clarity, encouraging growth, and creating systems of accountability. When you focus on those four pillars, you stop being the bottleneck and start being the catalyst.

Action step: Ask yourself this week—Which of these red flags is costing my team the most momentum right now? Then commit to removing just one barrier.

Because the truth is simple: empowered leaders create empowered teams—and empowered teams create results.