As we close out 2025 and look straight at 2026, this episode is a line in the sand.
Growth does not happen in familiar rooms. It happens when you intentionally place yourself in environments where you’re uncomfortable, challenged, and not the most experienced voice in the room.
In this episode, recorded on a cold Missouri walk, I unpack a core principle that will define elite leaders in 2026:
You don’t grow by preparing longer. You grow by exposure.
Drawing from coaching basketball, leadership work, and real-world business environments, this conversation challenges you to rethink how—and where—you pursue growth.
This is Part One of a two-part series focused on entering rooms you don’t feel ready for and learning how those rooms shape who you become.
In this episode, we cover:
If you’re serious about making 2026 a defining year—not just another calendar flip—this episode will force you to confront a simple but uncomfortable question:
What rooms are you willing to put yourself in this year?
Because the truth is this:
If all your 2026 rooms look like your 2025 rooms, nothing changes.
Key Takeaway:
The right rooms will stretch your thinking, recalibrate your standards, and force you to close gaps you didn’t even know existed.
This episode sets the foundation.
Part Two will focus on what happens after you enter the room—how to create value, how to stop being invisible, and how to belong without losing yourself.
Three Actions to Take Today:
If this episode challenged you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.
And if you’re building toward something bigger in 2026—join the conversations we’re having, connect with us, and stay close.
The room will raise you—if you’re willing to walk in.
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, we start with a Duke vs. Florida basketball moment and turn it into a leadership blueprint for IT teams and organizations. Duke guard Isaiah Evans was 0-for-7 from three. Game on the line. Instead of going away from him, Coach Jon Scheyer drew up the final play for Evans — and he buried the game-winning three.
That decision wasn’t just about X’s and O’s. It was about belief, confidence, and the energy a leader chooses to bring to their team.
We break down why your team’s confidence and energy are a reflection of you — not your slide decks, not your strategy documents, but your daily presence. Using lessons from Duke basketball, High Performance Habits, Ego Is the Enemy, and Beyond the Hammer, he walks through three non-negotiables every IT leader (and any leader) must master to build elite, high-performing teams.
You’ll hear:
This episode is for leaders, coaches, and managers who are tired of reactive, low-juice teams and want to create a culture where people feel trusted, valued, and ready to take the last shot.
Three Questions to Take Back to Your Team
Call to Action
This week, pick one teammate and intentionally “draw up a play” for them — give them a visible opportunity, tell them you believe in them, and support them through the outcome. Win or lose, you’re building a standard of belief and energy that your whole organization will feel.
Join the Conversation:
👉 Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more leadership and high-performance insights.
👉 Join Our Community and connect with like-minded leaders focused on growth and execution.
In the last episode, we named the silent accountability crisis—those moments when projects stall, standards slip, and no one speaks up. In this follow-up conversation, we tackle the next hard question leaders are wrestling with:
How do you build real accountability without turning into a controlling micromanager?Drawing from years in the IT and software space, this episode breaks down why so many leaders unintentionally suffocate initiative, why teams stop thinking for themselves, and how to shift from control to clarity, trust, and ownership. You’ll hear practical stories, from coaching athletes to leading technical teams, that show exactly what happens when leaders cling to control versus when they create space for people to own the work.
This is December’s work: reset, realign, and raise the standard without burning people out.
🔍 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
🧭 Three Clarity Checks for Your Team
Bring these into your leadership meeting this week:
✅ Three Actions to Take This Week
Join the Conversation:
👉 Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more leadership and high-performance insights.
👉 Join Our Community and connect with like-minded leaders focused on growth and execution.
How many times have you sat in a meeting, watched a project completely miss the mark, and silently thought:
“Why didn’t anyone step up?”No urgency. No honest ownership. Just quiet avoidance.
In this episode, we kick off December — the reset and realign month — by naming what’s really happening in so many organizations:
a silent accountability crisis.
You walk through what you’re seeing across IT, software, and beyond: overwhelmed leaders, drifting teams, eroding standards, low execution, and cultures that quietly accept “good enough” as the norm. You contrast that with how elite athletic programs operate: clear standards, direct accountability, and leaders who say, “This one is on me.”
This conversation is a call for leaders to reset their personal and team standards in the final month of 2025 and intentionally raise the bar going into 2026.
🔍 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
🧭 Questions to Reflect On This Week
Use these with your leadership team or in your journal:
✅ Three Actions to Take Today
🔗 Join the Conversation
👉 Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more leadership and high-performance insights.
👉 Join our Community and connect with like-minded leaders focused on growth and execution.
Episode Overview
In this follow-up to Part 1, George goes deeper into what his Jerry Maguire moment really means for his life, his work with IT leaders, and for any executive who knows they’re capable of much more.
He unpacks the current reality he sees inside software and IT organizations—overwhelmed leaders, burnt-out teams, low standards, weak execution—and contrasts it with what’s actually possible when leaders raise their standards and draw a hard line in the sand.
This episode is both a personal declaration and a direct challenge:
In This Episode, You’ll Hear George Talk About:
Core Message for Leaders
Leadership at the next level comes down to three pillars:
Three Actions to Take This Week
Join the Conversation:
👉 Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more leadership and high-performance insights.
👉 Join Our Community and connect with like-minded leaders focused on growth and execution.
In this episode, George pulls back the curtain on a defining decision in his life and business: going all-in on April 1st. He frames it as his Jerry Maguire moment—the point where clarity meets courage and “good enough” stops being acceptable.
You’ll hear why he’s done watching elite people walk the halls like “The Walking Dead,” why he believes IT organizations are drastically under-coached, and how he’s choosing to step out of the on-deck circle and finally take his at-bat.
This isn’t just about George’s journey. It’s a direct challenge to every leader:
In This Episode, We Cover:
Key Themes & Takeaways
Three Actions to Take Today:
Join the Conversation:
👉 Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more leadership and high-performance insights.
👉 Join Our Community and connect with like-minded leaders focused on growth and execution.
Most leaders say they want to grow their people and build high-performing teams… but then keep doing everything themselves.
In this episode, George breaks down key ideas from Dan Martell’s book Buy Back Your Time and reframes them through a leadership lens. This isn’t about becoming a “busier” entrepreneur — it’s about becoming a stronger leader who builds people, systems, and cultures that can execute without you hovering over every task.
If you’re tired of spinning in the mud, exhausted from carrying the team on your back, and frustrated that your calendar doesn’t match your ambition, this conversation will give you a practical framework to change that.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Key Takeaways for Leaders & Executives
If this episode hits home, share it with another leader, manager, or business owner who’s carrying too much and needs a better way to build their team.
Join the Conversation:
👉 Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more leadership and high-performance insights.
👉 Join Our Community and connect with like-minded leaders focused on growth and execution.
What happens when you try to lead, build, sell, strategize, and “just handle it” all by yourself? In this episode, I break down how Dan Martell’s book Buy Back Your Time quietly doubles as one of the most important leadership books you can read—especially if you’re a leader who’s stuck in the loop of doing instead of leading.
I unpack why leadership without structure always ends in burnout, why so many leaders keep saying, “I’ll just do it myself,” and how that mindset caps not only their impact, but their team’s potential. Using real stories—from a successful landscaping owner in St. Louis to a bowling alley/restaurant owner who actually empowers his right-hand leader to “shop for the groceries”—we explore what real delegation, ownership, and trust look like in the real world.
This conversation is not about sitting on a beach with passive income. It’s about the freedom to do the work that brings the most value, drives the biggest impact, and lights you up—and building systems and people around you so your entire organization can win. We’ll walk through Martell’s Buy Back Loop (Audit → Transfer → Fill) and translate it into practical leadership moves you can use, even if you’re not an entrepreneur.
If you’re serious about owning the mission, leading with purpose, and winning with discipline, this episode will challenge how you’re spending your time, where your energy is going, and how you’re either multiplying or limiting the performance of your team.
Key Takeaways
Three Actions to Take Today
Join the Conversation
👉 Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more leadership and high-performance insights.
👉 Join Our Community and connect with like-minded leaders focused on growth and execution.
If this episode hits home, share it with one leader who’s still trying to do everything themselves. That’s how we grow the mission.
Great leaders don’t bark orders — they build alignment.
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, George breaks down how elite organizations like the Ritz-Carlton build cultures of empowerment, trust, and execution — not by demanding obedience, but by creating clarity so strong that permission isn’t needed.
Drawing lessons from Brian Gottlieb’s book Beyond the Hammer and real-world leadership models from sports and business, this episode explores how alignment, daily rhythms, and purpose-driven communication create unstoppable teams.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
Three Actions to Take This Week:
Key Takeaways:
“You don’t align people by barking orders. You align them by helping them see their part in the mission.”“That’s what great leadership does — it replaces permission with clarity.”
“Alignment turns good intentions into great execution.”
“Stop pushing people. Start pulling them forward.”
Episode Summary:
This episode challenges the old-school view of leadership as command and control.
True alignment doesn’t come from top-down pressure — it comes from trust, purpose, and clarity.
George unpacks how the best leaders remove confusion by teaching, coaching, and empowering their people to act. Whether you’re leading a corporate team, a startup, or a basketball program, alignment isn’t a quarterly event — it’s a daily discipline.
When everyone knows the mission, understands their role, and feels empowered to execute — that’s when culture becomes unstoppable.
Ready to build a culture of clarity and purpose?
Join our growing community of leaders and professionals who are transforming how they lead and build elite teams. Gain access to exclusive resources, actionable insights, and real conversations that drive growth.
Connect with Us
What makes teams elite isn’t talent — it’s alignment.
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, George breaks down one of the most misunderstood truths in leadership:
Teams rarely fail because they’re lazy. They fail because they’re misaligned.
Drawing lessons from Brian Gottlieb’s Beyond the Hammer, George explores how belief, purpose, and alignment form the foundation for execution — and how leaders can shift from controlling outcomes to influencing people.
You’ll hear why alignment and purpose are the glue that hold execution together, why meaning beats motion every time, and why great leaders spend more time coaching humans than managing tasks.
Inside This Episode
Three Actions to Take This Week
Key Takeaways
“People don’t burn out from hard work. They burn out from meaningless work.”“Teams don’t fail because they’re lazy. They fail because they’re misaligned.”
“Alignment isn’t control — it’s clarity in motion.”
“Leaders coach people. Managers manage tasks. Elite teams need both.”
Why It Matters
If your people don’t know why they’re working, the what won’t matter.
Alignment fuels clarity. Clarity drives execution. And execution builds belief.
When you lead with purpose, influence replaces pressure — and culture replaces chaos.
Ready to build an aligned, purpose-driven culture?
Join our growing community of leaders and professionals who are transforming the way they lead and build teams. Gain access to exclusive resources, actionable insights, and a network of like-minded individuals dedicated to driving success. Don’t just read about leadership—live it.
Connect with Us
What if the real reason people stay—or leave—has nothing to do with pay, perks, or projects… but everything to do with how they’re led?
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, George dives into one of the most powerful truths from Beyond the Hammer by Brian Gottlieb:
People don’t stay for the work. They stay for the leader.
When leadership is built on belief, care, and development—not control or transaction—it transforms everything. Your people stop “doing tasks” and start chasing greatness. Your culture shifts from obligation to ownership. And suddenly, your organization isn’t just productive—it’s alive.
George explores why belief is transferable, how great leaders leave echoes of belief long after meetings end, and why coaching people—not managing tasks—is the most urgent skill missing in leadership today.
Inside This Episode
Key Takeaways
“People don’t stay for what they do. They stay for how they’re led.”“Your leadership today becomes your culture tomorrow.”
“Belief is transferable. Doubt is, too.”
“Leaders are spending too much time managing tasks and not enough time coaching people.”
“The echoes of your leadership either build belief or spread whispers of doubt.”
Three Actions to Take This Week
Mic-Drop Moment
“Leadership is either building the echoes of belief or the whispers of doubt. Choose wisely.”
Because at the end of the day, leadership isn’t about control—it’s about conviction.
And when you lead with care, belief, and high standards, people don’t just stay… they thrive.
Ready to build a culture of belief, discipline, and elite performance?
Join our growing DeadThree community of leaders who are owning the mission, leading with purpose, and winning with discipline.
Connect with Us
What separates a manager from a leader?
It’s not the title, the office, or the authority — it’s belief.
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, George unpacks one of the most powerful ideas from Beyond the Hammer by Brian Gottlieb: the greatest leaders don’t build through force — they build through belief. Real leadership is about seeing potential in people long before they see it in themselves and transferring that belief through your words, your actions, and your consistency.
This episode isn’t about motivational clichés or surface-level encouragement — it’s about building a culture of belief that fuels execution, ownership, and trust. When your team knows you believe in them, they’ll rise to the standard you set — not because they have to, but because they want to.
💡 Inside This Episode
🔑 Key Takeaways
“Leadership is the transfer of belief. People rise when they feel believed in.”“You can’t coach someone into greatness if you secretly doubt their ability to get there.”
“Encouragement is free — but the impact lasts forever.”
“Belief builds momentum. Doubt destroys it.”
“The strongest teams are built on conviction, not compliance.”
Three Actions to Take This Week
Because the best leaders don’t inspire through fear or authority — they lead through faith, conviction, and consistency.
When you start transferring belief, you stop managing and start multiplying.
Connect with Us
What if the missing ingredient in your team’s performance wasn’t accountability — but empathy?
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, George breaks down a leadership truth that many overlook: you can’t demand discipline from people who don’t first feel understood. Leaders who rush to enforce standards without connection end up managing compliance, not commitment.
Through personal reflections, sports analogies, and lessons from the SDC Playbook (Standards, Discipline, Consistency), George explores how empathy and accountability are not opposites — they’re partners. Empathy earns trust; trust fuels discipline; and discipline drives results.
This episode will challenge how you see your role as a leader — not as an enforcer, but as an example. Because if your people don’t believe you care, they’ll never care how much you know.
Inside This Episode
Key Takeaways
“You can’t demand discipline from people who don’t believe you care.”“Empathy isn’t weakness — it’s what gives discipline its power.”
“When your team feels seen, they’ll push themselves harder than you ever could.”
“Connection builds commitment. Commitment fuels consistency. Consistency wins.”
Three Actions to Take This Week
Because leadership isn’t about control. It’s about connection.
And when empathy meets discipline, teams stop working for you — and start working with you.
Ready to build a culture of empathy, accountability, and elite performance?
Join our growing DeadThree community and connect with leaders committed to standards, discipline, and care.
Connect with Us
What if the real measure of greatness wasn’t how high you rise — but how long you can keep showing up when no one’s watching?
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, we strip away the hype and get brutally honest about what greatness actually looks like in real life — the early mornings, the unseen hours, the boring repetition, the emotional fatigue. Because here’s the truth: greatness isn’t built in moments of motivation. It’s built in the quiet, exhausting, consistent work that no one celebrates.
You’ll hear why motivation is overrated and why discipline and consistency are the true differentiators of elite performers — in business, in sports, and in life. George shares stories and principles from his coaching and consulting work, reflecting on how leadership energy, commitment, and ownership are responsibilities — not moods.
This episode is a wake-up call for anyone who’s tired, overwhelmed, or ready to quit. It’s a reminder that fatigue isn’t failure — it’s proof that you’re doing something meaningful.
Inside This Episode
Key Takeaways
“Greatness isn’t built in bursts of motivation. It’s built in the boring, exhausting, repetitive work that no one claps for.”“You don’t rise to the level of your motivation — you fall to the level of your standards.”
“Fatigue isn’t failure. It’s the receipt for the work you’ve done.”
“If you only work when it’s convenient, you’ll never be great when it counts.”
Three Actions to Take This Week
Because greatness isn’t a moment. It’s a maintenance plan.
And every rep, every early morning, every late night — that’s where the real work lives.
Ready to take your team and leadership to the next level?
Join our community and connect with other leaders committed to discipline, purpose, and high performance.
Connect with Us
Own the Mission. Lead with Purpose. Win with Discipline.
Who Do You Want to Become?
How identity, humility, and disciplined action shape your path to real greatness.
This episode goes straight at a question most leaders avoid: Who are you becoming—on purpose? Not your title, not your goals, not your possessions. Your identity. Because until you define that, you’ll keep chasing outcomes that don’t change who you are.
Drawing from Ryan Holiday’s Ego Is the Enemy and DeadThree’s playbook, we break the pursuit of greatness into two non-negotiables: (1) Know who you want to be. (2) Know the path you’re willing to take. That second line matters—willing to take—because capability isn’t the limiter; willingness is.
We talk ego vs. humility. Ego hunts spotlight and shortcuts. Humility chooses process, feedback, unseen hours, and progress. One will make you loud. The other will make you great. This is where identity meets standards: if you say you want to be disciplined, encouraging, grounded, and consistent…your daily behaviors must prove it—today.
You’ll hear the athlete’s arc (freshmen want to play; seniors just want to win) and how that maps to leadership maturity: skip the press conference, get to the parade. Impact over image. Results over recognition.
Finally, we give you a minimalist framework you can act on this week: Identity before ambition. Define the person, then build the path—habits, repetitions, and decisions you’re willing to live with in the unseen hours. That’s how teams and people actually change.
Inside this episode
Key lessons (quotable)
Three challenges for the week
Quote to remember
“Ego chases approval; discipline chases progress.”Call to action
🎧 Listen now on your favorite app and share with a leader who needs this reset.
🔥 Join the community: community.deadthreecoaching.com
📘 Tools + planner: deadthreecoaching.com
Own the Mission. Lead with Purpose. Win with Discipline.
Episode 115: “Don't Be the Reason They Quit”
What happens when the same kid, with the same talent and love for the game, goes from loving a sport one year… to hating it the next?
It’s rarely about the sport. It’s almost always about the coach.
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, we unpack the raw truth about leadership — that the person leading can either ignite passion or extinguish it. Whether on the court or in the boardroom, the same principle applies: a leader can make or break someone’s belief in themselves.
This isn’t just about sports. It’s about leadership at every level — in business, in teams, and in life. You’ll hear powerful reflections on how great coaches create confidence, ownership, and joy in their people, while poor leadership drains belief, motivation, and culture.
Through real stories and personal experiences, this episode challenges every leader, coach, and parent to ask:
“When people leave a conversation with me… do they feel lifted or drained?”Inside This Episode
Key Lesson
“People don’t quit sports, jobs, or teams — they quit leaders who kill belief.”Leaders and coaches have one responsibility above all else: to transfer belief.
When you believe in your people more than they believe in themselves, you don’t just build skill — you build confidence, ownership, and culture.
Quote to Remember
Key Takeaways
Three Challenges for the Week
Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube.
Join our community: community.deadthreecoaching.com
Read more at: deadthreecoaching.com/blog
Own the Mission. Lead with Purpose. Win with Discipline.
Motivation Fades. Inspiration Doesn’t.
What if the reason you keep losing momentum isn’t discipline—or even motivation—but the kind of fuel you’re running on?
In this episode, I break down one of the biggest misconceptions in performance, leadership, and life: the idea that motivation is what moves us. The truth? Motivation burns out. Inspiration endures.
This isn’t another pep talk about working harder or staying positive. This is a mindset shift—a complete reframe of how you lead yourself and others when the fire starts to fade.
Because motivation might get you to the starting line…but inspiration is what gets you across the finish line.
I share stories and principles from my work with high-performing teams, coaching conversations with executives and athletes, and real moments of exhaustion that taught me what true inspiration actually feels like.
You’ll hear why hype and adrenaline never last, how inspired leaders sustain belief even when energy fades, and the difference between motivating people for a moment and inspiring them for a mission.
We’ll talk about:
Every leader eventually hits the wall. But the elite ones know this truth:
Motivation fades. Inspiration doesn’t.Key Takeaways
Every one of these lessons points back to one truth:
You don’t need more motivation—you need more meaning.
When you anchor your energy to belief, when your vision fuels your consistency, and when your purpose becomes your power—your results stop depending on how you feel.
So today, stop chasing motivation.
Start living inspired.
Three Actions to Take This Week
Quote to Remember
“Motivation plays on your emotions. Inspiration anchors in your purpose.”
LISTEN NOW on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube
Join our community: community.deadthreecoaching.com
Grab the DeadThree Performance Planner: deadthreecoaching.com/planner
Follow @DeadThreeCoaching for daily leadership content and reels
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, we confront one of the biggest barriers to growth — the permission trap.
Most people are sitting in the audience, waiting to be chosen. Waiting for validation. Waiting for someone to notice their effort, hand them the opportunity, and tell them it’s “their time.”
But here’s the truth: nobody’s coming. The spotlight isn’t handed out — it’s taken.
Drawing from powerful stories and real experiences, George challenges you to stop waiting for the right time, the right approval, or the perfect conditions — and to simply move.
This episode dives deep into the difference between humility and hesitation, between fear and courage, and between average and elite.
You’ll hear lessons inspired by leaders like Ben Newman, Ed Mylett, and Jesse Itzler, along with a vivid story of a motivational speaker holding up two books — one simple act that reveals the truth about action, confidence, and self-belief.
👉 Inside This Episode
🔥 Three Actions to Take Today
💬 Quote to Remember
“When your preparation is solid and your habits are tight, you don’t need permission. Your work becomes your validation.”In this episode of The DeadThree Coaching Show, we explore one of the most overlooked — yet defining — qualities of elite leadership: the ability to inspire instead of manipulate.
Too many leaders rely on pressure, titles, or authority to drive results. But true leadership? It’s not about forcing people to perform — it’s about inviting them to believe. It’s about inspiring ownership, purpose, and pride. When people feel seen, valued, and inspired, their performance doesn’t need to be managed… it becomes self-sustaining.
Drawing from recent DeadThree client experiences, sports analogies, and real-world leadership examples, this episode dives deep into the mindset shift that separates short-term managers from lifelong leaders.
👉 Inside this episode:
🔥 Three Actions to Take This Week:
Because leaders who manipulate may win the moment,
but leaders who inspire?
They win for a lifetime.
In this episode of the DeadThree Coaching Show, we unpack one of the most underestimated skills in leadership: awareness.
Too often, leaders believe their job is simply to make decisions. The truth? If you don’t understand yourself, your people, and your environment, every decision is just a guess.
We break awareness into three levels:
From Ed Mylett’s principle of transferring belief, to Danny Hurley’s crash course in emotional self-awareness, to lessons from Jocko Willink and legendary coach Don Meyer — this episode shows how the best leaders sharpen their radar.
👉 Inside this episode:
Because here’s the bottom line:
If you can’t read the room, the room will read you.