I was talking with a leader this week. A sharp, driven, hard-working leader. The kind of person you’d bet on. And yet, they were completely burnt out.
They were exhausted. Frustrated. Running on fumes. Doing everything themselves. Their team? Sitting on the sidelines.
So, I asked the obvious question.
“Why are you doing it all?”
Their response was a greatest-hits collection of bad leadership excuses.
“It’s just easier if I do it myself.”
Translation: I don’t trust my team to step up.
“Balls will get dropped.”
Translation: I’d rather wear myself out than deal with failure.
“I need it done at a certain level of excellence.”
Translation: I have convinced myself that I am the only person who cares about quality.
“All the good ideas come from me.”
Translation: I have built a world where I am the smartest person in the room.
I let them finish. Then I looked them directly in the eyes and said, “You are in the wrong room.”
Silence.
And then I watched it hit them.
Because here’s the truth.
If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.
If you are constantly dragging people up to your level instead of being pulled higher, you are in the wrong room.
If no one is challenging your thinking, your ideas, your strategy—then your ideas aren’t getting better. They are getting weaker.
You don’t need to be the smartest. You need to be surrounded by better. Better thinkers. Better challengers. Better builders.
The reason you are exhausted is not because you are doing too much. It’s because you have built a world where everything depends on you. That is not excellence. That is control.
And the reality is, for all the effort, for all the striving, you are not even hitting excellence. You are hitting acceptable.And you know it.
So let me ask you one simple question.
Are you in the right room?
Or are you clinging to a room where you feel important instead of one where you are being challenged to grow?
Level Up Tip of the Week: The NOW, NEXT, NEVER Formula
Too many leaders are stuck in react mode.
They wake up, open their inbox, and get hijacked by other people’s priorities. Then the fires start. Client issues. Team drama. Someone messed something up. By noon, they have accomplished nothing. By five, they are exhausted. And at the end of the week, they wonder why they aren’t making progress.
This is what losing looks like.
Winning leaders don’t react all day. They build. They move forward. They take control.
Here’s how.
Thirty percent on NOW. Serve your people. Show up better. Improve what you have. But don’t let the present consume your future.
Sixty percent on NEXT. The future does not build itself. Strengthen your brand. Make strategic moves. Expand your reach. If you are not investing in what’s next, you are already behind.
Ten percent on NEVER. The fastest way to gain ground is to stop wasting time on the wrong things. Audit your commitments. Kill what’s not working. Every useless meeting, every bad yes, every outdated system is stealing from your future.
Be honest. What’s in your NEVER bucket? What are you clinging to that needs to go?
Reply and tell me. Or just sit with it and let it bother you. Either way, something needs to change.
This Week on The Level Up Leader Podcast
Brianne Schuler, MPA from the 50 Mile March Foundation joins the show this week.
She is tackling a massive problem in a way that will disrupt how you think about resilience, leadership, and the power of community.
The episode drops on March 19.
Go to www.levelupleaderpodcast.com to follow, subscribe, and get it wherever you listen to podcasts. Apple. Spotify. YouTube. It’s all there.
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#Leadership #FractionalLeadership #ExecutiveCoaching #Bravery #LevelUpLeader
About Michael King
Michael King is an award-winning executive coach and the founder of Teams.Coach, Gawker Traffic, and CatalystCo. With two master’s degrees in Leadership and Executive Coaching from Bellevue University, he helps high-performing executives simplify complexity, optimize their leadership, and build teams that actually work.
A certified executive coach, Michael has spent years guiding Fortune 500 leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams through the real work of leadership—creating clarity, building systems, and driving results without the burnout.
When he’s not coaching, Michael is an accomplished singer/songwriter and music producer with over 100 published songs to his credit. He’s also a Ducati aficionado, a die-hard Apple fan, and probably has a Starbucks in his hand right now.
