Hi Reader,

I thoroughly enjoy bringing you stories of fulfillment, leadership and in many cases, a zig-zag journey from their beginning to today.

This week on episode 306, you'll hear about how Mike Tetreau's leadership story began on the sidelines in high school football. His father was a high school football coach, and Mike grew up in locker rooms watching him lead, working hard to get players into college, and giving back through efforts like the Special Olympics.

In high school, Mike played quarterback for a different school than the one his dad coached, so father and son ended up on opposite sides of the field. That planted an instinct to give back and make a difference that's shaped his entire career.

Mike's career spanned from engineering team projects to five years at Andersen Consulting, leading a software company's business in Europe, and doubling revenue at a four-location wholesale distribution company in San Diego.

In each scenario, Mike kept learning the same lesson: the team wins or loses, not the individual.

After years of career-related travel, Mike moved home to Fairfield, Connecticut, volunteered on town planning and zoning and the Board of Finance, and was selected to finish the term as the town's first selectman, which is the equivalent of mayor. He then won election and served as mayor for eight years, leading Fairfield through Storm Irene, Super-Storm Sandy, a Metro-North train crash, a school swatting incident, and state budget challenges.

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Mike describes the mayor's job as running 14 different companies, i.e., city departments, each led by an expert who knew the work better than he did.

Fairfield, Connecticut at the time of his mayoral tenure was a town of 60,000 residents, 40,000 of whom were voters. Mike said it was like having 40,000 bosses. 😳

He explains that, in business, when you think someone is out to get you, it may or may not be true. In the First Selectman role, the other party was always working to make his job difficult. He says that playing football helped him prepare for the thick skin needed in that role.

On episode 306, Mike shares his journey from the football field to his current role as a Vistage Chair where he coaches CEOs, helping them grow their businesses.

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In this week's episode 306 the main point is this.

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Each video is produced with visual elements to help bring the story alive beyond the audio. If podcast consumption on YouTube is new to you, give it a try! 😎

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The Coach's Corner Weekly insights and actionable tips from my lens as an executive coach—helping you lead, grow, and thrive.

Put the Horse Before the Cart in Your AI Plan

On this week's episode 306 of the Life Fulfilled podcast, Vistage Chair Mike Tetreau said the most important aspect of leadership is clarity. I couldn't agree more, especially where AI is concerned.

Let me tell you about a CEO I'll call Dan.

Dan runs a 120-person company. Last year, a peer at a conference told him his competitors were already using AI and he was falling behind. A month later, Dan directed his IT team to buy an AI platform. He announced it in a company-wide email and scheduled a training session.

Six months later, hardly anyone was using the AI tools. The people who were using them couldn't say why or report business results. And in the break room, everyone was asking the same question: "Whose job is the AI going to replace?"

Dan had put the cart before the horse.

What he'd missed was that he already had a clear business plan. His company planned to launch a new product line in the spring. They were expanding into two new regional markets. And they had committed to keeping headcount flat for the year. That plan was his "horse." It was supposed to pull everything else, including AI.

So Dan started over. He brought his team together and said, "Let's focus on where we're committed to going this year. We're launching a new product and entering two new markets, and we're doing it with the team we have. AI is a big part of how we'll execute our plan without burning you out."

That last sentence connected AI to the business plan. The fear didn't go away overnight, but the conversation changed. People stopped asking, "Is this replacing me?" and started asking, "Where can this help me?"

That's the Human Dividend™ at work. When strategy leads, AI serves the people carrying out the plan. When AI leads, people start to wonder whether they're part of the plan at all.

Before your next AI decision, ask yourself one question: Can I explain in one sentence how this serves our business plan? If you can't, the cart is in front of the horse.

Put the horse first. Clarity will follow.

Download The Human Dividend White Paper: A Leader's Guide to Human-Led AI Transformation

​https://fulfilledatworkacademy.com/services/human-led-ai-transformation/​

Read the full article here.

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You Can Catch This Week's Episode:

Listen on Apple​
Listen on Spotify​
Listen on Overcast​
Listen on our Website​
Watch on YouTube​

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Clarity Is the Leadership Skill That Accelerates Growth

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Mike Tetreau is a Vistage Chair in Fairfield, Connecticut, facilitating monthly meetings of non-competing CEOs and coaching each member one on one. In this conversation with Bernie on episode 306, Mike connects the huddle, city hall, and the Vistage room, and explains why his one word for leadership is clarity.

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​Who This Is For

• CEOs and business owners trying to scale, who know they need to be a different leader tomorrow than they are today.
• Leaders who manage experts who know their jobs better than they do.
• Vistage members and CEO peer group participants, or anyone considering joining one.
• Leaders whose teams are busy but aren't moving in the same direction.
• Anyone leading in a fishbowl, where every decision gets judged in public.

Five Key Takeaways

• Clarity is the leader's most important job. Mike's one word for leadership is clarity: absolute clarity on each person's role and on where the team is going. In a huddle, everyone has to know who they block and where the play is going. In his words, “the greater the clarity, the greater the growth.”
• Don't wait for certainty. Mike says leaders can't wait for things to be certain. They have to decide when they have enough information to move in the right direction.
• When your team knows more than you, look for the gaps. As mayor, Mike supervised department heads with decades in their roles. He added value where they lacked training, in communication, budgeting, and planning, and by bringing the residents' voice into the conversation.
• Question answers instead of giving them. Mike's favorite Vistage phrase: “We're not here to give them the answers. We're here to question their answers.” Good questions help leaders reach the right answer, even in areas where the coach isn't the expert.
• Measure what you promise. At his wholesale distribution company, Mike turned same-day shipping into a measurable commitment (orders in by 5 o'clock went out that night) and even publicized the rare night they missed after 220 straight days. Competitors could match a price cut in seconds, but they couldn't match proven consistency.

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Is Your Team Ready for AI?

Stay fulfilled,
Bernie Borges
Founder: The Fulfilled@Work Academy™
Host, Life Fulfilled Podcast

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