The Seven Shifts
Behavioral Redesign: The specific behaviors that separate guides from drivers
This layer defines exactly what leaders must do differently. Leadership fails when fixing feels faster than guiding, when stepping in feels responsible, when control feels safer than development.
The Seven Shifts replace those instincts with deliberate behavioral alternatives. Each shift must be practiced in real work and installed through weekly reinforcement.
Agreement does not equal adoption. These shifts must be practiced until they become default.
Driving vs Guiding: The Central Distinction
The core question leaders must ask is simple: "Am I guiding, or driving, right now?"
Driving Behaviors
- Push for compliance
- Protect short-term outcomes
- Rely on authority or urgency
- Feel efficient
- Create dependence
Guiding Behaviors
- Create ownership
- Feel slower at first
- Require restraint
- Scale leadership
- Hold under pressure
What leaders must do differently
Lead Yourself First
Leaders cannot require what they don't exemplify. Self-leadership is the prerequisite for team leadership.
Demanding behaviors you don't model
Demonstrating the standard before expecting it
Ask yourself: "Am I asking others to do what I consistently do myself?"
Lead for Them
The distinction between 'for' and 'from' determines whether your leadership builds trust or dependence.
Leading from ego, fear, or personal comfort
Leading for the growth and success of others
Ask yourself: "Am I doing this for them, or from myself?"
Know to Grow
A knowing gap needs clarity and direction. A growing gap needs struggle and coaching. Misdiagnosis creates dependence.
Confusing knowing gaps with growing gaps
Diagnosing correctly before intervening
Ask yourself: "Does this person need information or development?"
Ask, Don't Answer
Questions that raise thinking transfer ownership. Answers that provide solutions transfer dependence.
Providing answers that create dependence
Asking questions that transfer ownership
Ask yourself: "Am I helping them think, or thinking for them?"
Standards = Support
Holding people to high standards is not harsh. It is the clearest form of belief in their capability.
Lowering standards to avoid discomfort
Holding standards as the highest form of support
Ask yourself: "Am I protecting them from growth or supporting them through it?"
Win Together
Sustainable success requires shared ownership. Heroics create dependence on heroes.
Individual heroics over team success
Creating collective ownership of outcomes
Ask yourself: "Is this building collective capability or individual dependence?"
Build What Lasts
Leaders who drive fix today's problem. Leaders who guide build systems that prevent tomorrow's.
Optimizing for short-term results
Building systems that outlast individuals
Ask yourself: "Am I solving this problem or building the capability to prevent it?"
How the shifts get installed
The Seven Shifts answer the question: "What must leaders actually do differently when pressure hits?" But knowing the shifts is not the same as practicing them.
Each shift must be installed through Monday Morning Implementation (MMI), where one behavior at a time is practiced in real work until it becomes default.
Continue exploring the operating system
Ready to install these behaviors?
The Seven Shifts define what to change. MMI is how it becomes real. Start a conversation about building leadership infrastructure.