Season 9 Episode 21: Leading with Clarity with Seth Yelorda

Season 9 Episode 21: Leading with Clarity with Seth Yelorda

In a world often filled with noise and competing priorities, the ability to lead with clarity stands out as a vital skill for any leader aiming to build a thriving corporate culture and effective teams. In this episode of The Thermostat Podcast, host Jason Barger welcomes Seth Yelorda, a keynote speaker, leadership coach, and founder of Vision Clarity Consulting, to explore this essential topic. Drawing on his extensive background in organizational psychology and development, Seth offers practical insights into how clarity, or the lack thereof, profoundly impacts employee engagement, team alignment, and overall organizational success. There’s a strong connection between Seth’s message and Jason’s concept of “setting the temperature” for optimal performance and culture.

Summary: Cultivating Extraordinary Teams Through Clarity

The conversation centers on fostering “extraordinary employees” and the leadership required to create an environment where they can flourish. Seth Yelorda identifies three core characteristics of these exceptional team members: they genuinely love their job (finding meaning and alignment in their work), they are good at their job (possessing the necessary skills, training, and resources), and they love who they do their job with (experiencing a positive, supportive team culture). He redefines “extraordinary” not as unattainable stardom, but as the ability to thrive amidst the ordinary, everyday challenges of work and life.

Achieving this environment hinges on Seth’s “Lead with Clarity” framework. Effective leaders paint a compelling, inspiring picture of the future that resonates with employees’ own aspirations, creating shared purpose. However, a significant barrier often emerges: the illusion of not having enough time. Leaders frequently feel overwhelmed by daily demands, neglecting the crucial, non-delegable task of strategic thinking and vision-setting.

This lack of dedicated time for clarity leads to reactive leadership, often resulting in multiple, conflicting visions. As Seth powerfully states, multiple visions breed division within teams, which ultimately contributes to “divorce” – higher turnover and disengagement, particularly among top performers. The antidote is intentionality: leaders must proactively carve out time for focused thought, reflection, and clear communication, ensuring a single, unified vision permeates the organization. This investment in clarity, though seemingly time-consuming upfront, is presented as a high-value activity essential for long-term alignment, performance, and building a culture where extraordinary employees – and the organization itself – can truly thrive. Clarity leads to agreement, which in turn fosters alignment, creating a powerful pathway to success.

Notable Quotes

• On Defining Extraordinary: “Extraordinary is really when you are able to thrive in the midst of ordinary situations… In spite of the ordinary stuff that all of us go through, you’re able to thrive and operate at your highest self.” – Seth Yelorda
• On the Core of Extraordinary Employees: “Employees that experience those three things, they love their job, they’re good at their job and they love who they do their job with. They really rise above… and they really become extraordinary… you becoming an ambassador for your organization.” – Seth Yelorda
• On the Power of Vision: “That is the power of leading with clarity where you as a leader are painting a compelling picture of the future that your employees are like, ‘I want to be a part of that. I want to go there with you.'” – Seth Yelorda
• On the Danger of Ambiguity: “Anytime you have multiple visions that leads to division. Yeah. And if you have division on your team that leads to divorce. I.e. turnover.” – Seth Yelorda
• On Prioritizing Clarity: “There’s certain things as a leader that you can delegate and that you should delegate taking the time to think about the future is not one of them.” – Seth Yelorda
• On the Illusion of Time: “I would say he’s [Bill Gates] Bill Gates because he takes the time… We have to take the time and then that time, which is a leading indicator, it will then produce the thing that will give us more time. Right. But we have to prioritize it.” – Seth Yelorda
• On the Process of Alignment: “You need it starts with clarity and then you need agreement around that clarity and then you need alignment around that agreement.” – Seth Yelorda (referencing Peter Sheahan)

Question to Ponder

Reflecting on your own leadership and team environment, how much time are you intentionally dedicating to achieving strategic clarity, and how effectively is that vision being shared and aligned throughout your team or organization?

Links and References

Learn more about Seth Yelorda at https://visionclarityconsulting.com/speaking/ or follow @sethyelorda

For more insights and practical tips, be sure to check out Jason V Barger’s book Breathing Oxygen. This book dives deeper into the concepts discussed in this episode and provides additional strategies for fostering a positive mindset and effective leadership.

Visit ThermostatCulturesLive.com referenced in this episode

By incorporating these practices into your summer routine, you can breathe new life into your personal and professional endeavors. Remember, as Jason says, “The best leaders, teams, and cultures on the planet stimulate progress by recalibrating their thermostat together.”

We will be back on new episodes coming soon. Released Tuesdays at 7am EST.