7 days ago

S2025E8 - 2026 E8 Lead with Empower Podcast

So You Wanna Be Startin' Something

The Lead with Empower Podcast is back! Join Empower Leadership's Assistant General Manager, Zack Morello, and President, Dan Jaskot, for a variety of topics all focused on empowering and inspiring 1 Million Individuals to become positive leaders in their communities.

This "experiential essentials" podcast is created by team building practitioners for individuals and teams hoping to strengthen their culture, empower individuals to become leaders, and foster a greater sense of collaboration between team members.

The topic of the episode is "planning of the start, planning of the middle and not the end". The speakers note that students, athletes, and others often focus their efforts on starting an activity and getting through the middle, but neglect planning how to ﬁnish it.

Key points from the discussion:

● Observation as Facilitators: As facilitators of team-building activities, the speakers often see groups dedicate almost all of their energy and focus to the start and middle sections of an activity. Groups will execute their plan, make serious progress toward the ﬁnish line, and then arrive at the end with no idea what to do, often missing the ﬁnish or breaking a rule.

● The Consequences of Not Planning the Finish: This lack of preparation for the end results in groups failing near completion (often 90% or more of the way through) and having to restart. The repeated struggle and failure leads to mounting frustration, ﬁnger-pointing, and blame, eventually causing negative momentum that can bleed over into even the start and middle of the activity.

● The Solution: Reverse Engineering: The recommended approach is to "start with the end goal in mind and then you almost reverse engineer your plan". This means:

<pre>

 ○  Identifying the end goal.
○  Figuring out the ﬁrst step or ﬁve steps.
○  Determining what the middle section will entail.
○  Planning for the last few percentage points of the goal.

</pre>

● Beneﬁt of Preparation: Putting in extra work at the start to plan the beginning, middle, and end is less work than having to redo the task repeatedly because the group "can't seal the deal". This approach is similar to how sports teams coach for two-minute drills or onside kicks, preparing for scenarios that may or may not happen.

● Real-World Examples: The concept of reverse engineering can be applied to business, such as in sales where a monthly goal is broken down into a daily plan. The speakers note that special people are able to see a task through to the ﬁnish line, while "anyone can start something".

● The Value of Practice: The speakers emphasize that while initial planning won't be perfect, practicing the end part of the activity helps eliminate what doesn't work and shortens the parameters for success. One speaker shared a memorable example of a group of high school students who, after one failed attempt, took two minutes to practice just putting the object in the bucket.

Find out more at https://lead-with-empower-podcast.pinecast.co